discompose

verb — 2 senses

discompose

verb

Etymology From dis- + compose.

1

To destroy the composure of; to disturb or agitate.

  • 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.1815, Jane Austen, Emma, volume III, chapter 6:
  • You will not be discomposed by the Lord Chancellor, I dare say?1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, chapter 3, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC:
1 more example
  • 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.1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 127:
2

To disarrange, or throw into a state of disorder.

  • If e'er with airy horns I planted heads, Or rumpled petticoats, or tumbled beds, Or caus'd suspicion when no soul was rude,1712-17, Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock (London: Chiswick Press. 1925), canto IV
Related terms
decompose

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.

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