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th; to disturb; to disorder; to unsettle; to break up. Or discomposed the headdress of a prude. Pope.

Uncivil; rude; wanting in courtesy or good manners; uncourteous. -- Dis*cour"te*ous*ly, adv. -- Dis*cour"te*ous*ness, n.

Rudeness of behavior or language; ill manners; manifestation of disrespect; incivility. Be calm in arguing; for fierceness makes Error a fault, and truth discourtesy. Herbert.

scernment, especially in avoiding error or evil, and in the adaptation of means to ends; prudent; sagacious; judicious; not rash or heedless; cautious. It is the discreet man, not the witty, nor the learned, nor the brave, who guides the conversation, and gives measures to society. Addison. Satire 's my weapon, but I '…

nagement; cautious discernment, especially as to matters of propriety and self- control; prudence; circumspection; wariness. The better part of valor is discretion. Shak. The greatest parts without discretion may be fatal to their owner. Hume.

or disarrange; to throw into confusion; to confuse. Disordering the whole frame or jurisprudence. Burke. The burden . . . disordered the aids and auxiliary rafters into a common ruin. Jer. Taylor.

; as, to divert a river from its channel; to divert commerce from its usual course. That crude apple that diverted Eve. Milton.

riest; a clergyman. The first divines of New England were surpassed by none in extensive erudition. J. Woodbridge.

hey address to, dogging him from place to place, till they even extort an answer to their rude requests. South.

A rude ancient ax or hatchet, seen in museums.

To deal out in small portions; to distribute, as a dole; to deal out scantily or grudgingly. The supercilious condescension with which even his reputed friends doled out their praises to him. De Quincey.

A character in Dickens's novel "Barnaby Rudge," a beautiful, lively, and coquettish girl who wore a cherry-colored mantle and cherry-colored ribbons.

Sober; prudent; sedate; modest. [Scot.] And this is a douce, honest man. Sir W. Scott.

Like dough; soft and heavy; pasty; crude; flabby and pale; as, a doughy complexion.

d's heir bearing the same name; -- chiefly applied to widows of personages of rank. With prudes for proctors, dowagers for deans. Tennyson. Queen dowager, the widow of a king.

party to another, directing the payment of money; a bill of exchange. I thought it most prudent to deter the drafts till advice was received of the progress of the loan. A. Hamilton.

ut him, and lies down to pleasant dreams. Bryant. All the decent drapery of life is to be rudely torn off. Burke. Casting of draperies. See under Casting. The casting of draperies . . . is one of the most important of an artist's studies. Fairholt.

; -- used for sprinkling flour, as on meat or a breadboard; -- called also dredging box, drudger, and drudging box.

A fool; a drudge. See Drivel.

, as soldiers, in military evolutions and exercises; hence, to instruct thoroughly in the rudiments of any art or branch of knowledge; to discipline. He [Frederic the Great] drilled his people, as he drilled his grenadiers. Macaulay.