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A discourser. [Obs.] L. Addison.

a blot. Uncommon expressions . . . are a disfigurement rather than any embellishment of discourse. Hume.

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

To deal in dissertation; to write dissertations; to discourse. [R.] J. Foster.

A formal or elaborate argumentative discourse, oral or written; a disquisition; an essay; a discussion; as, Dissertations on the Prophecies.

One who writers a dissertation; one who discourses. Boyle.

The distribution of a discourse into parts; a part so distinguished.

Full of grief; sad; sorrowful; doleful; dismal; as, a dolorous object; dolorous discourses. You take me in too dolorous a sense; I spake to you for your comfort. Shak.

object aimed at or intended; intention; hence, also, import or meaning of a sentence or discourse; aim. He has made the drift of the whole poem a compliment on his country in general. Addison. Now thou knowest my drift. Sir W. Scott.

shed with great care; studied; executed with exactness or painstaking; as, an elaborate discourse; an elaborate performance; elaborate research. Drawn to the life in each elaborate page. Waller.

Bestowing praise; praising; eulogistic; laudatory; as, an encomiastic address or discourse. -- En*co`mi*as"tic*al*ly, adv.

nation; close; limit; as, the end of a field, line, pole, road; the end of a year, of a discourse; put an end to pain; -- opposed to Ant: beginning, when used of anything having a first part. Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof. Eccl. vii. 8.

with it. Abbott. -- To enlarge one's self, to give free vent to speech; to spread out discourse. "They enlarged themselves on this subject." Clarendon. -- To enlarge the heart, to make free, liberal, and charitable.

Diffusiveness of speech or writing; expatiation; a wide range of discourse or argument. An enlargement upon the vices and corruptions that were got into the army. Clarendon.

. "Beware of entrance to a quarrel." Shak. St. Augustine, in the entrance of one of his discourses, makes a kind of apology. Hakewill.

To treat or discourse; hence, to enter into negotiations, as for a treaty. [Obs.] Of which I shall have further occasion to entreat. Hakewill. Alexander . . . was first that entreated of true peace with them. 1 Mac. x. 47.

A funeral song or discourse; an elegy. [R.] Donne.

The closing part of a discourse, in which the principal matters are recapitulated; a conclusion.

An exclamatory sentence, or striking reflection, which sums up or concludes a discourse.

To make an epitome of; to shorten or abridge, as a writing or discourse; to reduce within a smaller space; as, to epitomize the works of Justin.