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An ambiguous speech; a figure in which a word is used an equivocal sense. [R.]

The act of plundering, despoiling, or snatching away. [R.] Speed.

aven and earth discoasted lie. G. Fletcher. To discoast from the plain and simple way of speech. Barrow.

. in some disconformity to ourselves. Milton. Disagreement and disconformity betwixt the speech and the conception of the mind. Hakewill.

Consecutive speech, either written or unwritten, on a given line of thought; speech; treatise; dissertation; sermon, etc.; as, the preacher gave us a long discourse on duty.

To break the natural order and relations of; to make incoherent; as, a disjointed speech.

To dispose of speedily, as business; to execute quickly; to make a speedy end of; to finish; to perform. Ere we put ourselves in arms, dispatch we The business we have talked of. Shak. [The] harvest men . . . almost in one fair day dispatcheth all the harvest work. Robynson (More's Utopia).

Bent on haste; intent on speedy execution of business or any task; indicating haste; quick; as, dispatchful looks. Milton.

Unpleasing; offensive; unpleasant. [Obs.] Speed. -- Dis*pleas"ant*ly, adv. [Obs.] Strype. -- Dis*pleas"ant*ness, n. [Obs.]

wer or right of control. [Obs.] But such is the dispose of the sole Disposer of empires. Speed.

of that which clothes or decorates; as, autumn disrobes the fields of verdure. Two great peers were disrobed of their glory. Sir H. Wotton.

Disseizin. Speed.

oposed; nonagreement, nonconcurrence, or disagreement. The dissent of no small number [of peers] is frequently recorded. Hallam.

Something which excites distaste or disgust. [Obs.] Speed.

he Reformed Church. The word is also applied locally in the United States, in colloquial speech, to any clergyman.

To administer a stimulant to (a horse) to increase his speed. It is a serious offense against the laws of racing. [Race-track Slang]

Stupid; foolish. [Obs.] Senseless speech and doted ignorance. Spenser.

The acts or speech of a dotard; drivel. [R.]

One of the twelve peers of France, companions of Charlemagne in war. [Written also douzepere.] [Obs.] Big-looking like a doughty doucepere. Spenser.

The difference between the speed of a screw steamer under sail and that of the screw when the ship outruns the screw; or between the propulsive effects of the different floats of a paddle wheel. See Citation under Drag, v. i., 3. Drag sail (Naut.), a sail or canvas rigged on a stout frame, to be dragged by a vessel thr…