discompose

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁

Proto-Indo-European *d(w)is-

Proto-Italic *dis-

Latin dis-

Old French des-bor.

▲

Latin dis-bor.

Middle English dis-

English dis-

English compose

English discompose

From dis- + compose.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Southern England):

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Verb

discompose (third-person singular simple present discomposes, present participle discomposing, simple past and past participle discomposed)

1. (transitive) To destroy the composure of; to disturb or agitate.

   Synonyms: perturb, unsettle; see also Thesaurus:upset

   • 1815, Jane Austen, Emma, volume III, chapter 6:

     I am glad I have done being in love with him. I should not like a man who is so soon discomposed by a hot morning.

   • 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, chapter 3, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC:

     You will not be discomposed by the Lord Chancellor, I dare say?

   • 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 127:

     That thought appeared to discompose her greatly, though Jasper made light of it by rapidly back-scratching with his hind legs and giving a short stern bark, just to assure her that strangers would be rushed off the property on sight.

2. (transitive) To disarrange, or throw into a state of disorder.

   Synonyms: betumble, derange, displace, disrange, ruffle up, unsettle

   • 1712-17, Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock (London: Chiswick Press. 1925), canto IV:

     If e'er with airy horns I planted heads,
     Or rumpled petticoats, or tumbled beds,
     Or caus'd suspicion when no soul was rude,
     Or discompos'd the head-dress of a prude...

Translations

to disturb or agitate

• Bulgarian: безпокоя (bg) (bezpokoja), смущавам (bg) (smuštavam)
• Polish: niepokoić (pl) impf, zaniepokoić pf

See also

• decompose

Italian

Verb

discompose

1. third-person singular past historic of discomporre