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through the voluble motions of the organs from one stop or figure to another, that they modify and discriminate the voice, without appearing to discontinue it. Holder's Elements of Speech. DISCONTINU ́ITY. n. s. [dis and continuity.] Disunity of parts; want of cohesion.

That discontinuity of parts is the principal cause of the opacity of bodies, will appear by considering that opaque substances become transparent by filling their pores with any substance of equal, or almost equal, density with their parts. Newt. DISCONVENIENCE. n. s. [dis and convenience.] Incongruity; disagreement; opposition of nature.

Fear ariseth many times out of natural antipathies of nature; but, in these disconveniences of nature, deliberation hath no place at all.

Bramball's Answer to Hobbes. DISCORD. n. s. [discordia, Latin.] 1. Disagreement; opposition; mutual anger; reciprocal oppugnancy.

See what a scourge is laid upon your hate, Theat heav'n finds means to kill your joys with love!

And I, for winking at your discords too,
Have lost a brace of kinsmen. Shakspeare.

He is a false witness that speaketh lies, and that soweth discord among brethren. Proverbs. 2. Difference or contrariety of qualities, particularly of sounds.

Take but degree away, untune that string,
And hark what discord follows; each thing meets
In mere oppugnancy.
Shakspeare.

Discord, like that of music's various parts,
Discord that makes the harmony of hearts;
Discord, that only this dispute shall bring,
Who best shall love the duke and serve the
king.

Dryden.

2. Opposite; contrarious.

The discordant attraction of some wandering comets would certainly disorder the revolutions of the planets, if they approached too near them. Cheyne

3. Incongruous; not conformable.

Hither conscience is to be referred; if by a comparison of things done with the rule there be a consonancy, then follows the sentence of approbation; if discordant from it, the sentence of condemnation. Hale's Origin of Mankind. DISCORDANTLY.adv. [from discordant.] 1. Inconsistently; in disagreement with itself.

2. In disagreement with another.

Two strings of a musical instrument being struck together, making two noises that arrive at the ear at the same time as to sense, yield a sound differing from either of them, and as it were compounded of both; insomuch, that if they be discordantly tuned, though each of them struck apart would yield a pleasing sound, yet being struck together they make a harsh and troublesome noise.

Boyle.

3. Peevishly; in a contradictious manner. To DISCOVER. v. a. [découvrir, Fr. dis and cover.]

1. To show; to disclose; to bring to light; to make visible.

2. To expose to view.

3.

Pope.

All nature is but art unknown to thee; All chance, direction which thou canst not see; All discord, harmony not understood; All partial evil, universal good. 3. [In music.] Sounds not of themselves pleasing, but necessary to be mixed with others.

It is sound alone that doth immediately and incorporeally affect most; this is most manifest in music, and concords and discords in music : for all sounds, whether they be sharp or flat, they be sweet, have a roundness and equality; and if they be harsh, are unequal: for a discord itself is but a harshness of divers sounds meeting. Bacon. It is the lark that sings so out of tune, Straining harsh discords and unpleasing sharps. Shakspeare.

How doth music amaze us, when of discords she maketh the sweetest harmony! Peacham, To DISCORD. v. n. [discordo, Latin.] To disagree; not to suit with.

Sounds do disturb and alter the one the other; sometimes the one drowning the other, and making it not heard; sometimes the one jarring and discording with the other, and making

Bacon.

a confusion. DISCORDANCE. n. s. [from discord.] DISCORDANCY. S Disagreement; op

position; inconsistency. Disco RDANT. adj. [discordans, Latin.] 1. Inconsistent; at variance with itself.

Myrrha was joy'd the welcome news to hear, But, clogg'd with guilt, the joy was unsincere; So various, so discordant is the mind,

That in our will a different will we find. Dryd

4.

The cover of the coach was made with such joints, that as they might, to avoid the weather, pull it up close, so they might put each end down, and remain as discovered and open-sighted as on horseback.

Go draw aside the curtains and discover The several caskets to this noble prince.

Sidney.

Shakspeare He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death. Job. To show; not to shelter; to expose. And now will I discover her lewdness. Hesea. Law can discover sin, but not remove. Milton. To make known; not to disguise; to reveal.

Isaiab.

We will pass over unto those men, and we will discover ourselves unto them. Eve, who unseen,

Yet all had heard, with audible lament Discover'd from the place of her retire. Milton. 5. To ken; to espy.

When we had discovered Cyprus, we left it on the left hand.

Acts.

6. To find out; to obtain information. He shall never, by any alteration in me, discover my knowledge of his mistake. Pope's Lett. To detect; to find though concealed. Up he starts, Discover'd and surpris'd.

7.

Milton.

Man with strength and free will arm'd Complete, to have discover'd and repuls'd Whatever wiles of foe or seeming friend.

Milton.

8. To find things or places not known

before.

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The goodly prospect of some foreign land,
First seen, or some renown'd metropolis
With glist'ring spires and battlements adorn'd.

Milton.

Milton.

Not light, but rather darkness visible,
Serv'd only to discover sights of woe.
DISCOVERABLE. adj. [from discover.]
1. That may be found out.

That mineral matter, which is so intermixed with the common and terrestrial matter, as not to be discoverable by human industry; or, if disserable, diffused and scattered amongst the crasser matter, can never be separated.

Woodward's Natural History. Revelation may assert two things to be joined, whose connection or agreement is not discoverable by reason. Watts.

2. Apparent; exposed to view.

They were deceived by Satan, and that not in an invisible situation, but in an open and discoverable apparition, that is, in the form of a serpent. It is concluded by astronomers, that the atBrown's Vulgar Errours. mosphere of the moon hath no clouds nor rains, but a perpetual and uniform serenity; because nothing discoverable in the lunar surface is ever covered and absconded by the interposition of any clouds or mists. DISCOVER. . s. [from discover.] Bentley. 1. One that finds any thing not known before; a finder out.

PIS

But him that palmer from that vanity,
With temperate advice discounselled.
DISCOUNT. n. s. [dis and count.]
sum refunded in a bargain.

If more be found out, they will not recompense the discoverer's pains, but will be fitter to Holder.

be cast out.

Places receive appellations, according to the language of the discoverer, from observations made upon the people.

Broome.

The Cape of Good Hope was doubled in those early times; and the Portuguese were not the first discoverers of that navigation. Arbuthnot.

Spenser.
The

His whole intention was, to buy a certain quantity of copper money from Wood, at a large discount, and sell them as well as he could. Swift.

To DISCOUNT. v. a. [from the noun.]
To count back; to pay back again.
My father's, mother's, brother's death I
pardon :

An old maiden gentlewoman is the greatest discoverer of judgments; she can tell you what sin it was that set such a man's house on fire. 2. A scout; one who is put to descry Addison's Spectator. the posture or number of an enemy; speculator.

My prayers and penance shall discount for these,
And beg of heaven to charge the bill on me.

The farmers, spitefully combin'd,
Force him to take his tithes in kind;
And Parvisol discounts arrears
By bills for taxes and repairs.
To DISCOUNTENANCE.
countenance.]

Here stand, my lords, and send discoverers forth, To know the numbers of our enemies. Shaksp. DISCOVERY. n... [from discover.] 1. The act of finding any thing hidden.

Dryden.

. a. [dis and Swift.

1. To discourage by cold treatment.
Unwilling they were to discountenance any man
who was willing to serve them.
The truly upright judge will always coun-
Clarendon.
tenance right, and discountenance wrong. Aiter.
To abash; to put to shame.

Of all who since have us'd the open sea,
Than the bold English none more fame have

won;

Beyond the year, and out of heaven's high

way,

2.

They made discoveries where they see no sun. 1. The act of revealing or disclosing any Dryden.

secret.

What, must I hold a candle to my shame? They in themselves, good sooth, are too, too

light.

Shakspeare.

Wisdom, in discourse with her,

Loses discountenanc'd, and like folly shews.

Milton. He came, and with him Eve, more loth, tho' first

To offend; discountenanc'd both and discompos'd.
Milton.

Milton.

How would one look from his majestic brow, Seated as on the top of virtue's hill, DISCOUNTENANCE. n. s. [dis and counDiscount'nance her despis'd! tenance.] Cold treatment; unfavourable aspect; unfriendly regard.

Why 'tis an office of discovery, love, And I should be obscur’d. Things that appeared amiable by the light of this world, appear of a different odious hue in the clear discoveries of the next.

South.

It would be necessary to say something of the tate to which the war hath reduced us; such a discovery ought to be made as late as possible. Swift. [dis and counsel.]

TO DISCOUNSEL. v. a.

To dissuade; to give contrary advice.

Obsolete. VOL. II.

He thought a little discounte ance upon those persons would suppress that spirit. Clarendon. All accidental misfortunes, how inevitable soever, were still attended with very apparent discountenance. In expectation of the hour of judgment, he Clarendon. patiently bears all the difficulties of duty, and the discountance he meets with from a wicked and prophane world. DISCOUNTENANCER. n. s. [from disRogers. countenance.] One that discourages by cold treatment; one that depresses by unfriendly regard.

Rumours of scandal, and murmurs against the king, and his government, taxed him for a great taxer of his people, and discountenancer of his nobility. To DISCOURAGE. v.a. [décourager, Bacon. French; dis and courage.]

1. To depress; to deprive of confidence; to deject; to dastardise.

I might neither encourage the rebels insolence, nor discourage the protestants loyalty and patience. King Charles.

The apostle with great zeal discourages too unreasonable a presumption. Rogers.

2. To deter; to fright from any attempt: with from before the thing.

Wherefore discourage ye the heart of the chil dren of Israel from going over into the land? Numbers.

3. It is irregularly used by Temple with to before the following word.

You may keep your beauty and your health,

D

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The general maxims we are discoursing of are not known to children, ideots, and a great part of mankind. Locke.

3. To reason; to pass from premises to consequences.

And yet the pow'rs of her discoursing thoughts, From the collection is a diverse thing. Davies. Brutes do want that quick discoursing power. To DISCOURSE. v. a. [from the noun.] Davies. To treat of; to talk over; to discuss. Go with us into the abbey here, And let us there at large discourse all our forShakspeare. DISCOURSER. n. s. [from discourse.] 1. A speaker; a haranguer.

tunes.

The tract of every thing Would by a good discourser lose some life, Which action's self was tongue to.

Shaksp. 2. A writer on any subject; a dissertator.

Philologers and critical discoursers, who look beyond the obvious exteriors of things, will not be angry at our narrower explorations. Brown.

But it seems to me, that such discoursers do reason upon short views, and a very moderate compass of thought.

Swift. DISCOURSIVE. adj. [from discourse.] 1. Passing by intermediate steps from premises to consequences.

2.

The soul
Reason receives, and reason is her being,
Discoursive, or intuitive; discourse

Is oftest yours, the latter is most ours. Milton.
Containing dialogue; interlocutory.
The epic is every where interlaced with dia-
logue, or discoursive scenes.
Dryden.
DISCOURTEOUS. adj. [dis and courteous.]
Uncivil; uncomplaisant; defective in

good manners. Glanville.

2. Conversation; mutual intercourse of language; talk.

He waxeth wiser than himself, more by an hour's discourse than by a day's meditation.

Bacon.

In thy discourse, if thou desire to please, All such is courteous, useful, new, or witty; Usefulness comes by labour, wit by ease, Courtesy grows in court, news in the city.

Herbert.

The vanquish'd party with the victors join'd, Nor wanted sweet discourse, the banquet of the mind. Dryden.

3. Effusion of language; speech.

Topical and superficial arguments, of which there is store to be found on both sides, filling the head with variety of thoughts, and the mouth with copious discourse, serve only to amuse the understanding and entertain company. Locke. 4. A treatise; a dissertation either written or uttered.

The discourse here is about ideas, which, he says, are real things, and seen in God. Locke. Plutarch, in his discourse upon garrulity, commends the fidelity of the companions of Ulysses. Pope's Odyssey. To DISCOURSE. v. n. [from the noun.] 1. To converse; to talk; to relate. How wert thou handled, being prisoner?

He resolved to unhorse the first discourteous knight he should meet. Morteux's Don Quix. DISCOURTESY. n. s. [dis and courtesy.] Incivility; rudeness; act of disrespect.

As if chearfulness had been tediousness, and good entertainment had been turned to discourtesy, he would ever get himself alone. Sidney.

Be calm in arguing; for fierceness makes Error a fault, and truth discourtesy. Herbert. He made me visits, maundering as if I had done him a discourtesy. Wiseman. DISCOURTEOUSLY. adv. [from discourtecus.] Uncivilly; rudely. Dr'scous. adj. [from discus, Latin.] Broad; flat; wide. Used by botanists to denote the middle, plain, and flat part of some flowers, such as the flos solis, &c. Quincy. DISCREDIT. n. S. [decrediter, Fr.] Ignominy; reproach; lower degree of infamy; disgrace; imputation of a

fault.

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That they may quit their morals without any credit to their intellectuals, they fly to several stale, trite, pitiful objections and cavils.

South.

Tis the duty of every christian to be con-
cerned for the reputation or discredit his life
may bring on his profession.
Rogers.

Alas! the small discredit of a bribe
Scarce hurts the lawyer, but undoes the scribe.
Pope.

To DISCREDIT. v. a. [décrediter, Fr.]
1. To deprive of credibility; to make
not trusted.

He had framed to himself many deceiving pro-
mises of life, which I have discredited to him,
and now is he resolved to die. Shakspeare.

2. To disgrace; to bring reproach upon; to shame; to make less reputable or honourable.

You had left unseen a wonderful piece of work, which not to have been blest withal, would have discredited you. Shakspeare.

He is commended that makes a saving voyage, and least discredits his travels, who returns the Wotton.

same man he went.

He, like a privileg'd spy, whom nothing can
Discredit, libels now 'gainst each great man.

Donne.

DI'SCREPANCE. n. s.

Reflect how glorious it would be to appear in countenance of discredited duty, and by example of piety revive the declining spirit of religion. Without care our best actions will lose much Rogers. of their influence, and our virtues will be often discredited with the appearance of evil. Rogers. 3. To distrust; not to credit; not to hold

certain.

[discrepantia, Latin.] Difference; contrariety; disagreement.

Diversity of education, and discrepancy of those principles wherewith men are at first imbued, and wherein all our after reasonings are founded. Lord Digby to K. Digby. DISCREPANT. adj. [discrepans, Latin.] Different; disagreeing; contrary. To DISCRETE. v. a. [discretus, Lat.] To separate; to discontinue."

As for its diaphaneity, it enjoyeth that most eminently; as having its earthly and salinous parts so exactly resolved, that its body is left imporous, and not discreted by atomical termiBrown.

nations.

DISCRETE. adj. [discretus, Lat.] 1. Distinct; disjoined; not continuous. Discrete quantity, or different individuals, are measured by number, without any breaking continuity; that is, in things that have continuity, as continued quantity and motion. Hale. 2. Disjunctive: as, I resign my life, but not my honour, is a discrete proposition.. 3. Discrete Proportion is, when the ratio between two pairs of numbers or quantities is the same; but there is not the same proportion between all the four: thus, 6 8: 3:4 DISCRETION, n. s. [from discretio, Lat.} Harris. 1. Prudence; knowledge to govern or direct one's self; skill; wise manage

DISCREET. adj. [discret, French.] 1. Prudent; circumspect; cautious; sober; not rash; not precipitant; not careless; not hardly adventurous. Honest, discreet, quiet, and godly learned men, will not be with-drawn by you. Whitgift. Less fearful than discreet, You love the fundamental More than you doubt the charge of 't. Shaksp. part of state, To elder years to be discreet and grave, Then to old age maturity she gave. It is the discreet man, not the witty, nor the Denham. learned, nor the brave, who guides the conversation, and gives measures to society.

Addison's Spectator.

2. Modest; not forward. Not well au-
thorized.

Dear youth, by fortune favour'd, but by love,
Alas! not favour'd less, be still as now
Discreet.

Thomson.

DISCREETLY. adv. [from discreet.] Pru-
cently; cautiously; circumfpectly.
Poets lose half the praise they should have

got,

Could it be known what they discreetly blot.,

The labour of obedience, loyalty, and subjec fion, is no more but for a man honestly and disWaller. rectly to sit still. Profit springs from husks discreetly us'd. South.

The dullest brain, if gently stirr'd,

The most

Perhaps may waken to a humming bird; Congenial object in the cockle kind. recluse, discreetly open'd, find

Philips.

Pope.

DISCREETNESS. n. s. [from discreet.]

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There is no talent so useful towards rising in the world, or which puts men more out of the reach of fortune, than discretion, a species of lower prudence. 2. Liberty of acting at pleasure; unconSwift. trolled and unconditional power: as, he surrenders at discretion; that is, without stipulation.

unre

DISCRETIONARY. adj. [from discretion.]
Left at large; unlimited;
strained.]

A deacon may have a dispensation for enter-
ing into orders before he is twenty-three years
of age; and it is discretionary in the bishop to
admit him to that order at what time he thinks
fit.
The major being a person of consummate
Ayliffe's Parergon.
experience, was invested with a discretionary
power.
Tatier.

The quality of being discreet; discre- DISCRETIVE. adj. [discretus, Latin.]

tion.

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are such wherein various, and seemingly opposite, judgments are made, whose variety or distinction is noted by the particles but, though, yet, &c. as, travellers may change their climate, but not their temper; Job was patient, though bis grief was great. Watts. 2. [in grammar.] Discretive distinctions are such as imply opposition: as, not a man, but a beast. DISCRIMINALBE. adj. [from discriminate.] Distinguishable by outward marks or tokens. Dia. To DISCRIMINATE. v. a. [discri mino, Latin.]

1. To mark with notes of difference; to distinguish by certain tokens from another.

Oysters and cockles and muscles, which move not, have no discriminate sex.

Bacon's Nat. Hist. There are three sorts of it, differing in fineness from each other, and discriminated by the natives by three peculiar names. Boyle. The right hand is discriminated from the left by a natural, necessary, and never to be confounded distinction. South.

Although the features of his countenance be no reason of obedience, yet they may serve to discriminate him from any other person, whom she is not to obey. Stilling fleet. There may be ways of discriminating the voice; as by acuteness and gravity, the several degrees of rising and falling from one tone or note to another. Holder.

2. To select or separate from others.

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Any kind of spitting of blood imports a very discriminous state, unless it happens upon the gaping of a vein opened by a plethory. Harvey. DISCUBITORY. adj. [discubitorius, Lat.] Fitted to the posture of leaning.

After bathing they retired to bed, and refreshed themselves with a repast; and so that custom, by degrees, changed their cubiculary beds into discubitory. Brown's Vulgar Erreurs. DISCUMBENCY. n. s. [discumbens, Lat.] The act of leaning at meat, after the ancient manner.

The Greeks and Romans used the custom of discumbency at meals, which was upon their left side; for so their, right hand was free and ready To DISCUMBER. v. a. [dis and cumber.] for all service. Brown's Vulgar Errours.

To disengage from any troublesome weight; to disengage from impediment. His limbs discumber'd of the clinging vest, He binds the sacred cincture round his breast. To DISCU ́RE. v. a. [decouvrir, French.] Pope's Odyssey To discover; to reveal. A word perhaps peculiar to Spenfer.

I will, if please you it discure, assay To ease you of that ill. Fairy Queen. DISCURSIVE. adj. [difcursif, Fr. from discurro, Latin.]

You owe little less for what you are not, than for what you are, to that discriminating mercy, to which alone you owe your exemption from miseries. Boyle. 1. DISCRIMINATENESS. n. s. [from discriminate.] Distinctness; marked difference. Dict. DISCRIMINATION. n. s. [from discrinatio, Latin.]

1. The state of being distinguished from other persons or things.

There is a reverence to be shewed them on the account of their discrimination from other places, and separation for sacred uses. Stillinfl. 2. The act of distinguishing one from another; distinction; difference put.

A satire should expose nothing but what is corrigible; and make a due discrimination between those that are, and those who are not, the proper objects of it. Addison's Spectator.

By that prudent discrimination made between the offenders of different degrees, he obliges those whom he has distinguished as objects of

mercy.

Addison's Freeholder.

3. The marks of distinction.

Take heed of abetting any factions or applyng any publick discriminations in matters of religion. Letters arise from the first original discrimiKing Charles. nations of voice, by way of articulation, whereby the ear is able to judge and observe the differences of vocal sounds. Holder.

DISCRIMINATIVE. adj. [from discriminate.]

1. That makes the mark of distinction; characteristical,

Moving here and there; roving; desultory.

Some noises help sleep; as the blowing of the wind, and the trickling of water: they move a gentle attention; and whatsoever moveth attention, without too much labour, stilleth the natural and discursive motion of the spirits.

Bacon.

2. Proceeding by regular gradation from premises to consequences; argumentative. This is sometimes, perhaps not improperly, written discoursive.]

tion.

There is a sanctity of soul and body, of more efficacy for the receiving of divine truths, than the greatest pretences to discursive demonstraMore's Divine Dialogues. There hath been much dispute touching the knowledge of brutes, whether they have a kind of discursive faculty, which some call reason. DISCURSIVELY. adv. [from discursive.] Hale's Origin of Mankind. By due gradation of argument.

We have a principle within, whereby we think, and we know we think; whereby we do discursively, and by way of ratiocination, deduce DISCURSORY. adj. [discursor, Lat.] Arone thing from another. gumental; rational.

Hale.

DISCUS. n.s. [Latin.] A quoit; a heavy piece of iron thrown in the ancient sports.

From Elatreus' strong arm the discus flies, And sings with unmatch'd force along the skies.

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