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Discomfited; overthrown. [Obs.]

The act of discomfiting, or the state of being discomfited; rout; overthrow; defeat; frustration; confusion and dejection. Every man's sword was against his fellow, and there was a very great discomfiture. 1 Sam. xiv. 20. A hope destined to end . . . in discomfiture and disgrace. Macaulay.

To oppose by argument or assertion; to attempt to overthrow; to controvert; to express dissent or opposition to; to call in question; to deny the truth or validity of; as, to dispute assertions or arguments. To seize goods under the disputed authority of writs of assistance. Bancroft.

To cause to go down; to make descend; to put down; to overthrow, as in wrestling; hence, to subdue; to bring down. [Archaic or Colloq.] "To down proud hearts." Sir P. Sidney. I remember how you downed Beauclerk and Hamilton, the wits, once at our house. Madame D'Arblay.

Sudden fall; downfall; overthrow. Milton.

To overthrow or subvert. [Obs.] Glanvill.

Tending to evert or overthrow; subversive; with of. A maxim eversive . . . of all justice and morality. Geddes.

To overthrow; to subvert. [R.] Ayliffe.

To be overthrown or captured; to be destroyed. Heaven and earth will witness, If Rome must fall, that we are innocent. Addison.

o and of Rome. Addison. Our wills and fates do so contrary run That our devices still are overthrown. Shak. The whizzing arrow sings, And bears thy fate, Antinous, on its wings. Pope.

A member of a secret organization, consisting mainly of Irishment, having for its aim the overthrow of English rule in ireland.

tage of; -- a figure probably derived from wresting. Shak. -- To smite hip and thigh, to overthrow completely; to defeat utterly. Judg. xv. 8.

or up; as, to hunt up the facts; to hunt out evidence. Evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him. Ps. cxl. 11.

or lessen the force of; to destroy the authority of; to render of no force or effect; to overthrow; as, to invalidate an agreement or argument.

Not refragable; not to be gainsaid or denied; not to be refuted or overthrown; unanswerable; incontestable; undeniable; as, an irrefragable argument; irrefragable evidence. -- Ir*ref"ra*ga*ble*ness, n. -- Ir*ref"ra*ga*bly, adv.

Of force sufficient to fell or completely overthrow; as, a knockdown blow; a knockdown argument. [Colloq.]

To bring to a lower level; to overthrow; to topple down; to reduce to a flat surface; to lower. And their proud structures level with the ground. Sandys. He levels mountains and he raises plains. Dryden.

owed by the infinitive), had nearly; came little short of. Had like to have been my utter overthrow. Sir W. Raleigh Ramona had like to have said the literal truth, . . . but recollected herself in time. Mrs. H. H. Jackson. Like figures (Geom.), similar figures.

Cast down; dejected; overthrown; slain. [Obs.] When he saw them so piteous and so maat. Chaucer.

; to dig in the earth for minerals; to dig a passage or cavity under anything in order to overthrow it by explosives or otherwise.