Verb
dispose (third-person singular simple present disposes, present participle disposing, simple past and past participle disposed)
- (intransitive, used with "of") To eliminate or to get rid of something.
I dispose of my trash in the garbage can.
- To distribute or arrange; to put in place.
1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:Now, dear soldiers, march away: / And how thou pleasest, God, dispose the day!
1811, [Jane Austen], Sense and Sensibility […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:Marianne’s pianoforte was unpacked and properly disposed of, and Elinor’s drawing were affixed to the walls of their sitting rooms.
1934, Rex Stout, Fer-de-Lance, Bantam, published 1992, →ISBN, page 47:I sat down within three feet of the entrance door, and I had no sooner got disposed than the door opened and a man came in […] .
1950 September, “Central London Railway Jubilee”, in Railway Magazine, page 620:By disposing the driving power over a number of cars instead of concentrating it in a single locomotive a great advance was made towards a high rate of acceleration.
- To deal out; to assign to a use.
- 1818 (first published), John Evelyn, diary entry for 1634
- what he designed to bestow on her funeral, he would rather dispose among the poor
- To incline.
In these uncertain times, I am disposed towards caution.
(Used here intransitively in the passive voice)
1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:Endure and conquer; Jove will soon dispose / To future good our past and present woes.
1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Suspicion”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:They [suspicions] dispose kings to tyranny, husbands to jealousy, and wise men to irresolution and melancholy.
1892, Walter Besant, chapter II, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:At twilight in the summer […] the mice come out. They […] eat the luncheon crumbs. Mr. Checkly, for instance, always brought his dinner in a paper parcel in his coat-tail pocket, and ate it when so disposed, sprinkling crumbs lavishly […] on the floor.
- (obsolete) To bargain; to make terms.
1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:She had disposed with Caesar.
- (obsolete) To regulate; to adjust; to settle; to determine.
Translations
to get rid of something
- Bulgarian: отстранявам (bg) (otstranjavam), избавям се от (bg) (izbavjam se ot)
- Danish: bortskaffe
- Finnish: hävittää (fi), päästä eroon
- French: se débarrasser de (fr), éliminer (fr)
- German: beseitigen (de), entsorgen (de)
- Hebrew: נפטר (he) (niftár)
- Hungarian: leselejtez (hu), kiselejtez (hu), megszabadul (hu), eltávolít (hu), eltüntet (hu), felszámol (hu)
- Icelandic: farga (is) f
- Italian: eliminare (it), disporre (it), mettere (it), depositare (it)
- Latin: abiciō (la)
- Maori: whakarei, ākiri
- Polish: pozbyć się czegoś
- Portuguese: [2-3] dispor
- Russian: избавля́ться (ru) impf (izbavljátʹsja), изба́виться (ru) pf (izbávitʹsja)
- Spanish: deshacerse (es)
- Swedish: kasta (sv)
- Telugu: తీసివేయు (te) (tīsivēyu)
- Turkish: kurtulmak (tr)
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to distribute and put in place
Noun
dispose
- (obsolete) The disposal or management of something.
1680, John Bunyan, The Life and Death of Mr Badman:By thus doing, he submits himself to God's rod, commits himself to the dispose of his providence; yea, by thus doing, he casteth the lot of his present and future condition into the lap of his creditors, and leaves the whole dispose thereof to the Lord […]
- (obsolete) Behaviour; disposition.