资料来源 : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Direct \Di*rect"\, a. [L. directus, p. p. of dirigere to direct:
cf. F. direct. See {Dress}, and cf. {Dirge}.]
1. Straight; not crooked, oblique, or circuitous; leading by
the short or shortest way to a point or end; as, a direct
line; direct means.
What is direct to, what slides by, the question.
--Locke.
2. Straightforward; not of crooked ways, or swerving from
truth and openness; sincere; outspoken.
Be even and direct with me. --Shak.
3. Immediate; express; plain; unambiguous.
He nowhere, that I know, says it in direct words.
--Locke.
A direct and avowed interference with elections.
--Hallam.
4. In the line of descent; not collateral; as, a descendant
in the direct line.
5. (Astron.) In the direction of the general planetary
motion, or from west to east; in the order of the signs;
not retrograde; -- said of the motion of a celestial body.
{Direct action}. (Mach.) See {Direct-acting}.
{Direct discourse} (Gram.), the language of any one quoted
without change in its form; as, he said ``I can not
come;'' -- correlative to {indirect discourse}, in which
there is change of form; as, he said that he could not
come. They are often called respectively by their Latin
names, {oratio directa}, and {oratio obliqua}.
{Direct evidence} (Law), evidence which is positive or not
inferential; -- opposed to {circumstantial, or indirect,
evidence}. -- This distinction, however, is merely formal,
since there is no direct evidence that is not
circumstantial, or dependent on circumstances for its
credibility. --Wharton.
{Direct examination} (Law), the first examination of a
witness in the orderly course, upon the merits. --Abbott.
{Direct fire} (Mil.), fire, the direction of which is
perpendicular to the line of troops or to the parapet
aimed at.
{Direct process} (Metal.), one which yields metal in working
condition by a single process from the ore. --Knight.
{Direct tax}, a tax assessed directly on lands, etc., and
polls, distinguished from taxes on merchandise, or
customs, and from excise.
资料来源 : WordNet®
direct fire
n : fire delivered on a target that is visible to the person
aiming it