D 1 S 
$70 
lians fay: Per troppa ■dibatter, la verita f jerde. This pro¬ 
verb is too often realized by talkative loquacious per- 
fons, and by thofe who indulge in loofe and idle conver- 
fation. 
To DISCOU'RSE, v. n. To converfe ; to talk ; to re¬ 
late : 
How wert thou handled, being prifoner ? 
Difcourfe, I pr’ythy, on this turret’s top. Shakfpeare. 
To treat upon in a foletnn or fet manner.—The general 
maxims we are difcourfmg of are not known to children, 
idiots, and a great part of mankind. Locke. —To reafon ; 
to pafs from premifes to confequences.—Brutes do want 
that quick difcourfmg power. Davies. 
To DISCOU'RSE, v. a. To treat of; to talk over ; to 
difcufs : 
Go with us into the abbey here, 
And let us there at large difcourfe all our fortunes. Skakef 
DISCOUR'SER, f. A fpeaker; anharanguer: 
The tradl of every thing 
Would by a good difcourfer lofe forne life, 
Which action’s felf was tongue to. Shakefpcare. 
A writer on any fubjeCt; a dilfertator.— Philologers and 
critical dfcourfers, who look beyond the obvious exte¬ 
riors of things, w ill not be angry at our narrower explo¬ 
rations. Brown. 
DISCOUR'SIVE, adj. Palling by intermediate Heps 
from premifes to confequences : 
The foul 
Reafon receives, and reafon is her being, 
Difcourfive , or intuitive ; difcourfe 
Is oftelt yours, the latter is molt ours. Milton. 
Containing dialogue ; interlocutory.—The epic is every 
where interlaced with dialogue, or difcourfive feenes. Dryd. 
DISCOUR'TEOUS, adj. Uncivil; uncomplaifant; 
defective in good manners.—He refolved to unhorfe the 
fir ft difeourteous knight he Ihould meet. Don Quixotte. 
DISCOUR'TESY,/. Incivility; rudenefs; adtofdif- 
refpedt: 
Be calm in arguing ; for fiercenefs makes 
Error a fault, and truth difeourtefy. Herbert. 
DISCOUR'TEOUSLY, adv. Uncivilly; rudely. 
DIS'COUS, adj. [from dfeus, Lat.] Broad; flat; 
wide. Ufed by botanifts to denote the middle, plain, 
and flat, part, of forne flowers, fuch as the flos lolis, &c. 
DISCRE'DIT, J'. [ decrediter , Fr.] Ignominy; re¬ 
proach ; lower degree of infamy ; uifgrace ; imputation 
of a fault..—’Tis the duty of every Chriftian to be con¬ 
cerned for the reputation or dferedit his life may bring 
on his profeflion. Rogers. 
Alas, the frnall dferedit of a bribe 
Scarce hurts the lawyer, but undoes the feribe. Pope. 
To DISCRE'DIT, v. a. [decrediter, Fr.] To deprive 
of credibility ; to make not trufted.—He had framed to 
himfelf many deceiving promifes of life, which I have 
diferedited to him, and now is he refolved to die. S/iake- 
fpearc. —To di(grace ; to bring reproach upon ; to fliame ; 
to make lefs reputable or honourable.—He is commended 
that makes a laving voyage, and lead dferedits his travels, 
who returns the fame man he went. IVotton.' —Without 
care our belt actions will lofe much of their influence, 
and our virtues will be often diferedited with the appear¬ 
ance of evil. Rogers. —To diftruft ; not to credit; not to 
hold certain. 
DISCRE'ET, adj. [ diferet , Fr.] Prudent; circum- 
fpeft ; cautious ; fober ; not rafli; not precipitant; not 
carelefs ; not hardily adventurous..—It is the difereet man, 
not the witty, nor the learned, nor the brave, who guides 
the converfation, and gives meafures to fociety. AJdifcm. 
To elder years to be difereel and grave. 
Then to old age maturity Are gave. Denham . 
D I S 
Modeft; not forward. Not well authorifed: 
Dear youth, by fortune favour’d, but by love, 
Alas! not favour’d lefs, be Hill as now 
Difcre'et. ■ Thomfon. 
“ Discreet women have neither eyes norears.” That 
is, they will neither fee nor hear, or at lead not regard, 
any expreffion that can prejudice the perfons or reputa¬ 
tions of others. It may likewife be underdood, that they 
will overlook frnall faults in a hulband, or family, rather" 
than indulge the baneful ideas of jealoufy, or fow the 
feeds of difeord. 
DISCREET'LY, adv. Prudently; cautioufly; cir- 
cumfpedtly.—The labour of obedience, loyalty, and fub- 
jeftion, is no more but for a man honeftly and dbfcreetly 
to fit dill. South. , 
The dulled brain, if gently ftirr’d, 
Perhaps may waken to a humming bird ; 
The mod reclufe, djfcreetly open’d, find 
Congenial objeft in the cockle kind. Pope. 
DISCREET'NESS, f. The quality of being difereet; 
diferetion. 
DIS'CREPANCE,/. [diferepantia, Lat.] Difference ; 
contrariety; dilagreement.—Diverfity of education, and 
difcrepaucy of thole principles wherewith men are at firft 
imbued, and wherein all our after reafonings are founded. 
Lord Digby. 
DIS'CREPANT, adj. [diferepans , Lat.] Differeht; 
difagreeing ; contrary. 
To DISCRE'TE, v. a. [difcrctus, Lat.] Tofeparate; 
to difeontinue.—As for its diaphaneity, it enjoyeth that 
mod eminently ; as having its earthly and falinous parts 
fo exactly refolved, that its body is left imporous, and 
not difereted by atomical terminations. Brown. 
DISCRE'TE, adj. [diferetus, Lat.] Didincl; disjoin¬ 
ed; not continuous.—Disjunctive; as, “ I refign my 
life, but not my honour,” is a dferete propofition. 
DISCRE'TE, or Disjunct, Proportion,/, is th«t 
in which the ratio between two or more pairs of numbers 
is the fame, and yet the proportion is not continued, fo as 
that the ratio may be the fame between the confequent 
of one pair and the antecedent of the next pair. Thus, - 
if the numbers or proportion 6:8:: 3 : 4 be confidered : 
the ratio of 6 to 8 is the lame as that of 3 to 4., and there¬ 
fore thefe four numbers are proportional: but it is only 
diferetely or disjundlly, and not continued ; for 8 to 3 is 
not the fame ratio as the former; that is, the proportion 
is broken offbetween 8 and 3, and not continued all along, 
as it is in thefe following four numbers, which are called 
continual proportionals, viz. 3 : 6 :: 12 : 24. 
DISCRE'TE QUANTITY, /. is fuch as is not con¬ 
tinued and joined together. Such, for indance, is any 
number; for its parts, being didinift units, cannot be 
united into one continuum ; for in a continuum there are ho 
adhial determinate parts before divifion, but they are po¬ 
tentially infinite : fo that it is ufually and truly faid that 
continued quantity isdiviflble in infinitum. 
DISCRE'TION, f. [from dificretio, I.at.] Prudence; 
knowledge to govern or diredf one’s felf; Ikill; wife 
management.—The pleafure of commanding our paffions 
is to be preferred before any fenfual pleafure ; becaule 
it is the pleafure of wifdom and diferetion. Tillotfon. 
But care in poetry mud dill be had, 
It alks diferetion ev’n in running mad. Pope. 
Liberty of adling at pleafure; uncontrolled and uncon¬ 
ditional power: as, he furrenders at diferetion ; that is, 
without dipulation. 
“ An ounce of Discretion is worth a pound of wit.” 
Wit, valuable as it is, often tends to the difadvantage of 
thofe who podefs it, which diferetion can never do. Wit, 
ufed with diferetion, is therefore the fafed, as well as the 
mod pleafing. 
DISCRE'TIONARY, adj. Left at large ; unlimited; 
unredrained.—A deacon may have a difpenfation for en¬ 
tering 
