Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To put into a willing or receptive frame of mind; incline.
  • intransitive verb To place or set in a particular order; arrange.
  • intransitive verb To determine the course of events.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Disposal; power of disposing; management.
  • noun Dispensation; act of government; management.
  • noun Cast of behavior; demeanor.
  • noun Disposition; cast of mind; inclination.
  • To set in order; place or distribute in a particular order; put; arrange: as, the ships were disposed in the form of a crescent; the trees are disposed in the form of a quincunx.
  • Specifically To regulate; adjust; set in right order.
  • To place, locate, or settle suitably: chiefly reflexive.
  • To give direction or tendency to; set, place, or turn (toward a particular end, consequence, or result, or in a particular direction); adapt.
  • To incline the mind or heart of.
  • To make over or part with, as by gift, sale, or other means of alienation; alienate or bestow: as, “he disposed all church preferments to the highest bidder,”
  • Synonyms To range, rank, group.
  • Order, regulate, fit.
  • Lead, induce.
  • To make disposition; determine the arrangement or settlement of something.
  • To bargain; make terms.
  • To exercise control over; direct the disposal or course of: as, they have full power to dispose of their possessions.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To distribute and put in place; to arrange; to set in order.
  • transitive verb To regulate; to adjust; to settle; to determine.
  • transitive verb To deal out; to assign to a use; to bestow for an object or purpose; to apply; to employ; to dispose of.
  • transitive verb To give a tendency or inclination to; to adapt; to cause to turn; especially, to incline the mind of; to give a bent or propension to; to incline; to make inclined; -- usually followed by to, sometimes by for before the indirect object.
  • transitive verb To determine the fate of; to exercise the power of control over; to fix the condition, application, employment, etc. of; to direct or assign for a use.
  • intransitive verb obsolete To bargain; to make terms.
  • noun obsolete Disposal; ordering; management; power or right of control.
  • noun obsolete Cast of mind; disposition; inclination; behavior; demeanor.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb intransitive To eliminate or to get rid of something.
  • verb To distribute and put in place.
  • verb To deal out; to assign to a use.
  • verb To incline

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb throw or cast away
  • verb give, sell, or transfer to another
  • verb make receptive or willing towards an action or attitude or belief
  • verb place or put in a particular order
  • verb make fit or prepared

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English disposen, to arrange, from Old French disposer, alteration (influenced by poser, to put, place) of Latin dispōnere, to arrange : dis-, apart; see dis– + pōnere, to put; see apo- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French disposer.

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Examples

  • Constitution for the people of the United States to "dispose of" their public lands, and I think I may venture to assert with confidence that no case can be found in which a trustee in the position of Congress has been authorized to "_dispose of_" property by its owner where it has been held that these words authorized such trustee to give away the fund intrusted to his care.

    A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents Volume 5, part 4: James Buchanan 1878

  • Constitution for the people of the United States to "dispose of" their public lands, and I think I may venture to assert with confidence that no case can be found in which a trustee in the position of Congress has been authorized to "_dispose of_" property by its owner where it has been held that these words authorized such trustee to give away the fund intrusted to his care.

    A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents Volume 5, part 4: James Buchanan 1878

  • The assertors of this inverse ratio between piety and amusement must, in short, dispose as best they can, of the fact that along with the growth of Christian intelligence, Christian benevolence, and Christian activity, there has been developed in the church itself a growing sympathy with many of the very forms of amusement most condemned by the religious sentiment of an earlier age.

    Amusement: A Force in Christian Training Marvin Richardson Vincent 1878

  • The best why does my toilet flush slowly to affect your offering festive in the dojos to dispose is to hide skilled that your lye stays meaningful, and the best caregiver to do that is to lay all the body in advance.

    Wii-volution 2010

  • The Department of the Army, whose stewardship of the cemetery has been questioned since an investigation found widespread burial problems there last year, confirmed that the contractor, Omni Construction - which later merged with Clark Construction, a venerable Bethesda firm - was to "dispose" of the urns.

    Arlington cemetery urns turn up on auction block, but how'd they get there? Christian Davenport 2011

  • I guess Harlow has a rather generous definition of "dispose"; or maybe he is simply disposed to facile arguments.

    Insight Scoop | The Ignatius Press Blog: 2009

  • Army officials said the original request for renovation proposals instructed the contractor to "dispose" of the urns.

    Arlington cemetery urns to be returned instead of auctioned Christian Davenport 2011

  • Newsletters of a trade group representing egg producers regularly note the need to find new markets to "dispose" of spent hens.

    Old-hen meat fed to pets and schoolkids 2009

  • Army officials said the original request for renovation proposals instructed the contractor to "dispose" of the urns.

    Arlington cemetery urns to be returned instead of auctioned Christian Davenport 2011

  • Army officials said the original request for renovation proposals instructed the contractor to "dispose" of the urns.

    Arlington cemetery urns to be returned instead of auctioned Christian Davenport 2011

Comments

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  • DispOSE

    November 18, 2009