DirectDi*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.
6. (Political Science) Pertaining to, or effected immediately by, action of the people through their votes instead of through one or more representatives or delegates; as, direct nomination, direct legislation.
Direct action. (a) (Mach.) See Direct-acting. (b) (Trade unions) See Syndicalism, below. -- 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 evidence, 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.