disemic 
disemic (di-se'mik), a. [< LL. disemus, < Gr. 
Moi/uof, having two inoree, of doubtful quantity, 
< Ai-, two-, + aiifia, a sign, mark, aq/ifiov, a sign, 
mark, unit of time, mora.] In anc. pros., con- 
taining or equal to two mora?, or units of time ; 
equivalent to or constituting two normal shorts 
or one ordinary long: as, a disemic time, thesis, 
or arsis. A disemic long is the ordinary long, equal to 
~ ~, as distinguished from the trisemic, tetrasemic, and 
pentasemir, longs, equal to ^ ^ ^, ^ ^ ^ ~, and w w ^ w^w 
respectively. A disemic pause (also called a prostfiesis) 
Is a pause of two times (~ ) : that is, a space of two shorts 
essential to the rhythm, but not represented by syllables 
in the text. A pyrrhic, or foot of two short syllables, is 
apparently disemic, but according to the best authorities 
was really trisemic in delivery. See dichronmts. 
disemployt (dis-em-ploi'), v. t. [< dis- priv. + 
employ, i\] To throw out of employment; re- 
lieve or dismiss from business. 
If personal defailance be thought reasonable to di- 
employ the whole calling, then neither clergy nor laity 
should ever serve a prince. 
Jer. Taylor, Works (eil. 1835), II. 245. 
disemployedt (dis-em-ploid'), a. [< dis- priv. 
+ employed.'} Unemployed. 
The smallest sins and irregularities of our life, which 
usually creep upon idle, disemployed, and curious persons. 
Jfr. Taylor, Holy Living, i. 1. 
disemploymentt (dis-em-ploi'ment), n. [< dis- 
priv. + employment.] Want of employment; 
the state of being unemployed. 
In this glut of leisure and diseinployment, let them set 
apart greater portions of their time for religion. 
Jer. Tat/lor, Holy Living, i. 1. 
disempower (dis-em-pou'er), r. t. [< dis- priv. 
+ empower.'] To divest or deprive of power or 
authority previously conferred or enjoyed. 
disenable! (dis-eu-a'bl), r. t. [< dis- priv. + en- 
able.] To deprive of power, natural or moral; 
disable ; deprive of ability or means. 
The sight of it might damp me and disenable me to 
speak. State Trial*, Abp. Laud, an. 1640. 
Not ditsinabld to sustain those many glorious labours of 
his life both in peace and war. Milton, Hist. Eitg., v. 
Through indisposition of body, he is disenabled from 
going forth again. New England's Memorial, App., p. 467. 
disenamoured (dis-en-am'ord), a. [< dis- 
priv. + enamoured; = F. dc'senamoure.] Freed 
from the bonds of love. Also spelled (Usen- 
et mored. 
He makes Don Quixote diseiutmoured of Dulcinea del 
Toboso. Shelton, tr. of Don Quixote, IV. xviii. 
disenchain (dis-en-ehan'), r. t. [< OF. desen- 
chainer, F. desencliatner = Sp. desencadenar = 
Pg. desencadear, desencadeiar ; as dis- priv. + 
enchain.] To set free from chains or restraint. 
Foe. 
disenchant (dis-en-chanf), . t. [< OF. desen- 
chanter, F. desenchanter = Sp. Pg. desencantar 
= It. disincantare, < L. dis- priv. + incantare, 
enchant: see dis- and enchant.'] To free from 
enchantment ; deliver from the power of charms 
or spells, or of an enchanter ; free from fasci- 
nation or delusion. 
Let your own brain disenchant yon. Sir P. Sidney. 
Haste to thy work ; a noble stroke or two 
Ends all the charms, and disenchants the grove. 
Dnjden. 
No reading or study had contributed to d'aeiichant the 
fairy.land around him. (ioldsmith, The Bee, No. 2. 
disenchanter (dis-en-chan'ter), ii. [< disen- 
chant + -er\ Cf. F. desenchanteur.] One who 
or that which disenchants. 
disenchantment (dis-en-chant'ment), n. [< F. 
desenchantement = Sp. desencantamiento = Pg. 
desencantamento ; as disenchant + -ment.] The 
act of disenchanting, or the state of being dis- 
enchanted. 
All concluded in the promise, which he held for certain, 
of the disenchantment of Dulcinea. 
Shelton, tr. of Don Quixote, IV. xxii. 
disenchantress (dis-en-chan'tres), n. [< F. 
desenchanteresse ; as disenchanter + -ess.] A 
female disenchanter. 
It he loveA his disenchantress? AchGott! His whole 
heart and soul and life were hers. 
Carhjle, Sartor Resartus (ed. 1831), p. 101. 
disencharmt (dis-en-charm'), v. t. [< dis- priv 
4- "encharm, < en-1 + charm.] To free from a 
charmed or enchanted condition ; disenchant. 
This lasted till he was told of his duty and matter of 
obedience, and the fear of a sin had diseiieliarmed him 
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 763. 
disenclose, v. t. See disinclose. 
disencourage (dis-en-kur'aj), v. t. ; pret. and 
pp. disencouraged, ppr. disencouraging. [< dis- 
priv. + encourage. Cf. discourage.] To de- 
prive of encouragement; discourage. Mme. 
D'Arblay. 
1660 
disencouragementt (dis-en-kur'aj-ment), i. 
[< disencourage + -ment.] Deprivation or ab- 
sence of encouragement; discouragement. 
On the 24th of July, 1659, our author [South] preached 
the assize sermon at St. Mary's, wherein he took occasion 
to speak of the great disincouragetnent of learning. 
Wood, Athena? Oxon. 
disencreaset, r. i. [ME. disencresen ; as dis- 
priv. + increase.] To decrease. Chaucer. 
disencreaset, n. [ME. disencrese; from the 
verb.] Diminution. Complaint of the Black 
Knight. 
disencumber (dis-en-kum'ber), v. t. [< OF. 
desencombrcr, F. desencombrer = Pr. desencom- 
brar; as dis- priv. + encumber. Cf. discumber.] 
To free from encumbrance or from whatever 
tends to encumber, burden, hamper, or impede ; 
disburden : as, the troops disencumbered them- 
Belves of their baggage; to disencumber the 
mind of its prejudices; to disencumber an es- 
tate of debt. 
Ere dim night had disencumber' d heaven. 
Milton, P. L., v. 700. 
I have disencumbered myself from rhyme. 
Drydtn, All for Love, Pref. 
The struggling elements of the modern Spanish were 
disencumbering themselves from the forms of the corrupt- 
ed Latin. Ticknor, Span. Lit., I. 37. 
disencumberment (dis-en-kum'ber-ment), n. 
[< disencumber + -ment.] The act of disencum- 
bering, or of freeing from encumbrance : as, the 
disencumbermen t of an estate from debt by pay- 
ing off the mortgage. 
disencumbrance (dis-en-kum'brans), n. [< 
disencumber + -ance. Cf. encumbrance.] Free- 
dom or deliverance from encumbrance or from 
whatever tends to encumber or burden : as, the 
disencumbrance of an estate. 
There are many who make a figure below what their 
fortune or merit entitle them to, out of mere choice, and 
an elegant desire of ease and disencumbrance. 
Steele, Spectator, No. 264. 
disendow (dis-en-dou'), ' t. [< dis- priv. + 
endow.] To deprive of an endowment or of en- 
dowments, as a church or other institution. 
Mr. Borla.se seems, almost as a matter of course, to as- 
sume that the Church is to be presently disendmeed upon 
the scheme of the Liberation Society. 
Nineteenth Century, XX. 567. 
disendowed (dis-en-doud'), a. [< rfis-priv. + 
endowed.] Not endowed; destitute of means 
or privileges ; in a state of poverty or depen- 
dence ; hence, proletarian ; plebeian. 
He implored them to bestow upon the disendowed class- 
es, as they were called, all the benefits of civilization. 
Victor Hugo and his Times. 
disendowment (dis-en-dou'ment), n. [< disen- 
dow + -ment.] The act of depriving or divest- 
ing of an endowment or endowments. 
There must, of course, be Disendowment [of the Estab- 
lished Church] as well as Disestablishment, and the appro- 
priation of the funds will be incomparably the more im- 
portant process of the two. 
R. J. Hinton, Eng. Radical Leaders, p. 25. 
disenfranchise (dis-en-fran'chlz), v. t. ; pret. 
and pp. disenfranchised, ppr. disenfranchising. 
[< dis- priv. + enfranchise.] To disfranchise. 
Booth. [Rare.] 
disenfranchisement (dis-en-fran'chiz-ment), 
. [< disenfranchise + -ment.] Disfrancnise- 
ment. Booth. [Rare.] 
disengage (dis-en-gaj'), v. ; pret. and pp. disen- 
gaged, ppr. disengaging. [< OF. desengager, F. 
desenganer, < des- priv. + engager, engage : see 
dis- and engage.] I. trans. 1. To set free or 
release from pledge or engagement ; release 
from promise, engagement, or vow. 
disenslave 
der the adversary's, when the previous relative 
position or engagement of the blades is to the 
opponent's advantage. The movement is exe- 
cuted by describing with the point of the wea- 
pon a very small circle. Rolando (ed. Forsyth). 
- - Engaging and disengaging machinery. Sec engage. 
= Syn. Discutftifff 1 , Release, Liberate, Disentangle, Din- 
embarrass, Extricate, are here arranged in the order of 
strength. Disengage suggests that one has been caught 
in some way and detained ; release, that he has been caught 
and held ; liberate, that he has been caught anil held se- 
curely ; disentangle, that he has been well snarled up, and 
can be set free only with time and painstaking ; dintm- 
barrass, that he has been kept from pi-ogress by something 
that hampered him or weighed him down ; extricate, that 
he has got into a pitfall or quagmire and needs to be 
wl: 
2. To release or set free from union, attach- 
ment, or connection ; detach ; loosen or unfas- 
ten, and set free ; release : as, to disengage a 
metal from its gangue, or a garment from a 
clinging bramble ; to disengage the mind from 
study. 
Common sense and plain reason, while men are disen- 
Untied from acquired opinions, will ever have some general 
influence upon theirminds. Swift, Nobles and Commons, v. 
In saying this she disengaged her hand, with a look which 
I thought a sufficient commentary upon the text. 
Sterne, Sentimental Journey, p. 20. 
She had sunk twice, nor was it in my power to disengage 
myself in time to bring her relief. Goldsmith, Vicar, iii. 
Faraday found the quantity of electricity disengaged by 
the decomposition of a single grain of water in a voltaic 
cell to be equal to that liberated in 800,000 discharges of 
the great Leyden battery of the Royal Institution. 
Tyndall, Light anil Elect., p. 154. 
3. In fencing, to carry or pass the point of (the 
weapon) from one side to the other over or uu- 
pulled out. Physical suggestions thus qualify the mean- 
ings of them all. 
II. -intrans. To withdraw; become separated. 
Providence gives us notice, by sensible declensions, that 
we may disengage from the world by degrees. 
Jeremy Collier, Thought. 
From a friend's grave how soon we disengage ! Young. 
disengaged (dis-en-gajd'), [< dis- priv. + 
engaged.] 1 . Not engaged ; not under engage- 
ment; unoccupied; at liberty. 2. Free from 
care or attention ; easy. 
Everything he says must be in a free and disengaged 
manner. Spectator, No. 618. 
3. In entoni., not adhering to other parts, ex- 
cept at the base. Specifically applied to the maxilla; 
when they are free from the labruni and ligula, or con- 
nected only by membrane. 
disengagedness (dis-en-ga'jed-nes), M. 1 . The 
state of being unengaged or unpledged. 2. 
The state of being disengaged, unattached, or 
free from union, entanglement, or preoccupa- 
tion ; freedom from occupation, care, attention, 
prejudice, etc. 
It is probable also that France will continue to be the 
principal scene of these interesting observations [on hyp- 
notism]; partly owing to a spirit of disengagedness and 
openness to new ideas, which seems specially to character- 
ise the medical faculty of that country. 
E. Gnrney, Mind, XII. 217. 
disengagement (dis-en-gaj'ment), M. [< OF. 
disengagement, F. disengagement, < desengager, 
disengage: see disengage and -ment.] 1. The 
act or process of disengaging or setting free; 
a releasing or freeing ; extrication. 
If the paste is heated, a copious disengagement of sul- 
phur dioxide takes place and the colour turns to a scarlet. 
Benedikt, Coal-tar Colours (trans.), p. 20'2. 
It is easy to render this disengagement of caloric and 
light evident to the senses. Lavoisier (trans.). 
2. The state of being disengaged or free. 
The disengagement of the spirit from the voluptuous ap- 
petites of the flesh is to be studied and intended. 
M'. Montague, Devoute Essays, II. x. 1. 
3. Freedom from engrossing occupation; va- 
cancy; leisure. 
Disengagement is absolutely necessary to enjoyment. 
Bp. Butler. 
4. Freedom from constraint; ease; grace. 
Oh, Madam! your Air! The Negligence, the Disen- 
gagement of your Manner ! Steele, The Funeral, iii. 1. 
5. A manceuver in fencing. See disengage, 
v. t., 3. 
The disengagement is made either as an attack, or as a 
return after defending one's self from a thrust, and is exe- 
cuted both under and over the wrist or foils. 
Encyc. Brit., IX. 70. 
disennoble (dis-e-no'bl), v. t. ; pret. and pp. 
disennobled, ppr. disennobling. [< dig- priv. + 
ennoble.] To deprive of title, or of that which 
ennobles ; render ignoble ; degrade. 
An unworthy behaviour degrades and disennobles a man 
in the eye of the world. Guardian, No. 137. 
disenroll (dis-en-rol'), v. t. [< OF. desenronlcr, 
F. desenrdler, < des- priv. + enrouler, enroll : 
see dis- and enroll.] To erase from a roll or 
list. Also spelled disenrol. 
From need of tears he will defend your soul, 
Or make a rebaptizing of one tear ; 
He cannot (that's, he will not) disenroll 
Your name. Donne, To the Countess of Bedford. 
disensanityt (dis-en-san'i-ti), n. [Irreg. < dis- 
(here intensive) + "ensanity for insanity.] In- 
sanity; folly. 
What tediosity and discnxanity 
Is here among ye ! 
Fletcher (and another), Two Noble Kinsmen, iii. a. 
disenshroud (dis -en -shroud'), v. t. [< dis- 
priv. + enshroud.] To divest of a shroud or 
similar covering ; unveil. 
The disenshroudcd statue. Krowninii. 
disenslavet (dis-en-slav'), v. t. [< dis- priv. + 
enslave.] To free from bondage or an enslaved 
condition. 
They expected such an one as should ditii'iidai'e them 
from the Roman yuke. Xo/A. Works. III. vlil. 
