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To contend for in words or arguments; to strive to maintain by reasoning; to dispute; to contest; to discuss; to argue for and against. A wise council . . . that did debate this business. Shak. Debate thy cause with thy neighbor himself. Prov. xxv. 9.

e; determination, as of a question or doubt; settlement; conclusion. The decision of some dispute. Atterbury.

To have a difference, cause of variance, or quarrel; to dispute; to contend. We 'll never differ with a crowded pit. Rowe.

To fight like gladiators; to contend fiercely; to dispute violently. [Obs.] Digladiating like Æschines and Demosthenes. Hales.

Capable of being disputed; liable to be called in question, controverted, or contested; or doubtful certainty or propriety; controvertible; as, disputable opinions, propositions, points, or questions. Actions, every one of which is very disputable. Jer. Taylor.

Proneness to dispute. [Obs.] Bp. Ward.

One who disputes; one who argues A singularly eager, acute, and pertinacious disputant. Macaulay.

Inclined to dispute; apt to civil or controvert; characterized by dispute; as, a disputatious person or temper. The Christian doctrine of a future life was no recommendation of the new religion to the wits and philosophers of that disputations period. Buckminster. -- Dis`pu*ta"tious*ly, adv. -- Dis`pu*ta"tious*ness, n…

Disposed to dispute; inclined to cavil or to reason in opposition; as, a disputative temper. I. Watts.

Dispute; discussion. [Obs.] Chaucer.

who separates from the service and worship of an established church; especially, one who disputes the authority or tenets of the Church of England; a nonconformist. Dissenters from the establishment of their several countries. Burke. Robert Brown is said to have the first formal dissenter. Shipley.

To discourse or dispute; to discuss. [R.] We have disserted upon it a little longer than was necessary. Jeffrey.

pecially in moral and religious knowledge; to teach. It does not appear probable that our dispute [about miracles] would either edify or enlighten the public. Gibbon.

To dispute. [R.] B. Jonson.

The agency by which the law excludes evidence to dispute certain admissions, which the policy of the law treats as indisputable. Wharton. Stephen. Burrill.

se. -- Ex parte council, one that assembles at the request of only one of the parties in dispute. -- Ex parte hearing or evidence (Law), that which is had or taken by one side or party in the absence of the other. Hearings before grand juries, and affidavits, are ex parte. Wharton's Law Dict. Burrill.…

Hence, to fight or dispute in the manner of fencers, that is, by thrusting, guarding, parrying, etc. They fence and push, and, pushing, loudly roar; Their dewlaps and their sides are batDryden. As when a billow, blown against, Falls back, the voice with which I fenced A little ceased, but recommenced. Tennyson.…

Any like assumption made for convenience, as for passing more rapidly over what is not disputed, and arriving at points really at issue.

A sum of money paid as the settlement of a claim, or by way of terminating a matter in dispute; especially, a payment of money imposed upon a party as a punishment for an offense; a mulct.

A sudden burst of anger or passion; an angry dispute. [Colloq.]