Dis*pose" (?), v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Disposed (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Disposing.] [F. disposer; pref. dis- +
poser to place. See Pose.] 1. To
distribute and put in place; to arrange; to set in order; as, to
dispose the ships in the form of a crescent.
Who hath disposed the whole world?
Job xxxiv. 13.
All ranged in order and disposed with
grace.
Pope.
The rest themselves in troops did else
dispose.
Spenser.
2. To regulate; to adjust; to settle; to
determine.
The knightly forms of combat to
dispose.
Dryden.
3. To deal out; to assign to a use; to bestow
for an object or purpose; to apply; to employ; to dispose
of.
Importuned him that what he designed to bestow on her
funeral, he would rather dispose among the poor.
Evelyn.
4. 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.
Endure and conquer; Jove will soon dispose
To future good our past and present woes.
Dryden.
Suspicions dispose kings to tyranny, husbands
to jealousy, and wise men to irresolution and
melancholy.
Bacon.
To dispose of. (a) 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.
Freedom to order their actions and dispose of
their possessions and persons.
Locke.
(b) To exercise finally one's power of
control over; to pass over into the control of some one else, as by
selling; to alienate; to part with; to relinquish; to get rid of; as,
to dispose of a house; to dispose of one's
time.
More water . . . than can be disposed
of.
T. Burnet.
I have disposed of her to a man of
business.
Tatler.
A rural judge disposed of beauty's
prize.
Waller.
Syn. -- To set; arrange; order; distribute; adjust;
regulate; adapt; fit; incline; bestow; give.
Dis*pose" (?), v. i. To bargain;
to make terms. [Obs.]
She had disposed with Cæsar.
Shak.
Dis*pose", n. 1.
Disposal; ordering; management; power or right of control.
[Obs.]
But such is the dispose of the sole Disposer of
empires.
Speed.
2. Cast of mind; disposition; inclination;
behavior; demeanor. [Obs.]
He hath a person, and a smooth dispose
To be suspected.
Shak.
