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, orindirect, 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.