Dis`po*si"tion (?), n. [F.
disposition, dispositio, fr. disponere to
dispose; dis- + ponere to place. See Position,
and cf. Dispone.] 1. The act of
disposing, arranging, ordering, regulating, or transferring;
application; disposal; as, the disposition of a man's property
by will.
Who have received the law by the disposition of
angels.
Acts vii. 53.
The disposition of the work, to put all things
in a beautiful order and harmony, that the whole may be of a
piece.
Dryden.
2. The state or the manner of being disposed
or arranged; distribution; arrangement; order; as, the
disposition of the trees in an orchard; the disposition
of the several parts of an edifice.
3. Tendency to any action or state resulting
from natural constitution; nature; quality; as, a disposition
in plants to grow in a direction upward; a disposition in
bodies to putrefaction.
4. Conscious inclination; propension or
propensity.
How stands your disposition to be
married?
Shak.
5. Natural or prevailing spirit, or
temperament of mind, especially as shown in intercourse with one's
fellow-men; temper of mind. "A man of turbulent
disposition." Hallam. "He is of a very melancholy
disposition." Shak.
His disposition led him to do things agreeable
to his quality and condition wherein God had placed him.
Strype.
6. Mood; humor.
As I perchance hereafter shall think meet
To put an antic disposition on.
Shak.
Syn. -- Disposal; adjustment; regulation; arrangement;
distribution; order; method; adaptation; inclination; propensity;
bestowment; alienation; character; temper; mood. --
Disposition, Character, Temper.
Disposition is the natural humor of a person, the
predominating quality of his character, the constitutional habit of
his mind. Character is this disposition influenced by motive,
training, and will. Temper is a quality of the fiber of
character, and is displayed chiefly when the emotions, especially the
passions, are aroused.
