A Dictionary of Cont..

When direct is used as a verb and means
order, it may be followed by an infinitive, as in
we directed him to return. When it means aim
at it may be followed by the -ing form of a verb
with the preposition to or at, as in he directed
his energies to improving conditions.
disassemble; dissemble. To disassemble is to take
apart (The mechanic disassembled the motor).
To dissemble is to give a false semblance to,
to conceal the real nature of something (usually
one’s emotions or motives) under a semblance
of something else (She dissembled her annoyance
under a smiling face).
disaster. See holocaust; tragedy.
disbar. See debar.
disbeliever. See agnostic; skeptic.
discern. See descry.
disciples; apostles. A disciple is one who is taught.
An apostle is one who is sent forth to teach
others. Since Christ’s disciples were also, with
one exception, the first apostles of Christianity,
there is some natural confusion in the use of
the terms. The twelve disciples are: SS. Peter
(also called Simon), Andrew, James (the
Greater), John, Thomas (also called Didymus),
James (the Less), Jude (also called Judas,
Thaddeus, and Lebaeus), Philip, Bartholomew
(identified with Nathanael), Matthew (also
called Levi), Simon (called Zelotes), and Judas
Iscariot. The twelve apostles are the same except
that Matthias replaces Judas Iscariot. St. Paul
is always called an apostle and so are a few
others, such as St. Barnabas. The chief missionary
to a country is sometimes called its apostle.
Thus St. Patrick is often called the apostle of
Ireland.
In the Mormon Church an apostle is one of
the council of twelve officials presiding over the
Church and administering its ordinances. Disciples
of Christ, sometimes called Campbellites,
is a Protestant religious body founded in the
United States in the nineteenth century.
disclose; expose; reveal; divulge. To disclose is
to allow to be seen, to make known, to lay open
and thereby to invite inspection of, something
which had been concealed (He smiled, and
opening out his milk-white palm,/ Disclosed a
fruit of pure Hesperian gold. The Gunpowder
Plot was disclosed by a letter from one of the
conspirators to a friend urging him not to
attend Parliament on the fatal day). See also
discover.
To expose is to exhibit openly, to display to
public gaze (The wind had ripped away the clapboards
and exposed the studding), to so display
with a view to unmasking or holding up to ridicule
or reproof (He saw the deception and
exposed it). To reveal is to uncover as if by
drawing away (For a moment the mask of
benevolence fell and the real man was revealed.
Daylight will reveal the disposition of their
troops). To divulge is to communicate what was
intended to be confidential, secret (Those apprehended
hastened to save themselves by divulging
all they knew
_.
of
.._
Torrio’s plans). It is a word
that would probably sound a little affected to
137 discreet
the common ear; telling would seem more natural
than divulging.
disclosure. See revelation.
discomfit; discomfort. To discomfit is to defeat,
to rout utterly (Thrice hath this Hotspur,
Mars in swathing clothes,/ Discomfited great
Douglas), or to throw into confusion or utter
dejection, to disconcert (Dombey was quite discomfited
by the question). To discomfort means
to disturb the comfort or happiness of, to make
uneasy. One might be discomforted by tight
shoes or a hard bench or a mosquito in the bedroom,
but the word, which is rarely used in its
proper sense, is frequently misused for discomfit
(as in The Turks, discomforted with the invincible
courage of these old soldiers, betook themselves
to flight). Since, of course, he who is discomfited
is often discomforted in the process,
there are many instances in which one cannot
be certain that the wrong word has been used.
Thus when Stephen Spender writes, When Z
asked myself these questions, Z had to admit
that what Z really wanted was that others should
live as Z did, not that Z should “join the
workers”: a prospect which discomfited me, we
have no way of knowing whether the prospect
utterly routed him or merely made him uneasy.
The latter seems more likely and, if so, discomforted
should have been used.
discover; disclose. In the sense of removing a
covering (Zf the house be discovered by tempest,
the tenant must in convenient time repair it),
discover is now obsolete, having been replaced
by uncover. In the sense of exposing to view,
revealing, or showing what was up to that time
kept secret (ZZis refusal to sit at the same table
with Carver discovered an unexpected narrowness)
it is rare, having been replaced by disclose,
reveal, or expose. In Elizabethan England to
have discovered a plot would have been to have
revealed its existence. In modern English it
would be to find it out, probably by accident.
discover; invent. Discover is used chiefly now to
suggest the bringing to light of something which
had previously been in existence but had hitherto
been unknown (The discovery of gold in the
Klondike. . . . Columbus’s discovery was at
first misunderstood). To invent is to make or
create something new, especially, in modern
usage, something ingeniously devised to perform
mechanical operations (The invention of calculating
machines has extended the whole field
of conjecture). Where that which.is created is
an idea or a system of thought or an abstraction,
such as a new way of doing something, it is said
to have been originated. Idiomatically, however,
a lie is always invented-perhaps in recognition
of the mechanical nature of most prevarications.
discreet; discrete. Discreet means wise or judicious
in avoiding mistakes, prudent, circumspect,
cautious, not rash (His wife being very
reserv’d and discreet in her husband’s presence,
but in his absence more free and jolly . . .).
Discrete means separate, detached from others,
distinct by itself (The grains of sand were clean
and discrete, not stuck together in wetness).