distinguish (gu as gw)

t. & i. [Fr. dis. tinguer; Sp. & Port. distinguir: Ital. distinguere, from Lat. distinguo =to mark with a prick, to dis tinguish: dis away, apart, and a form stinguo (not found) to prick; cogn. with Eng. sting and stigma (q. v.).] A. Transitive : 1. To make distinct, or indicate difference by an external mark. 2. To separate from others by some distinctive characteristic; to constitute a mark of difference or distinction in things. 3. To cla ify or arrange according to different or distinctive properties, characteristics or qualities. "Moses distinguishes the causes of the flood into those that belong to the heavens, and those that belong to the earth: the rains and the aby ."-Burnet: Theory of the Earth. 4. To note or perceive the distinction or difference between different things; to recognize the individuality of; to discriminate between. (1) By the senses. "Being set before you both together, A judging sight doth soon distinguish either." Drayton: Matilda to K. John. (2) By the understanding or reason. "By our reason we are enabled to distinguish good from evil." Watts: Logic. 5. To perceive the existence of with the senses: as, To distinguish a sound. *2. To become distinct, distinguishable, or differentiated. "The little embryo first distinguishes into a little knot." Jer. Taylor. (1) Blair thus discriminates between the two words to distinguish and to separate : "We dist in guish what we want not to confound with another thing; we separate what we want to remove from it. Objects are distinguished from one another by their qualities; they are separated by the distance of time or place." ( Blair : Lect. on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres (1817), vol. i., p. 229.) (2) Crabb thus discriminates between to distinguish and to discriminate: "To distinguish is the general, to discriminate is the particular term: the former is an indefinite, the latter a definite action. To discriminate is in fact to distinguish specifically: hence we speak of a distinction as true or false, but of a discrimination as nice. We distinguish things as to their divisibility or unity; we discriminate them as to their inherent properties: we distinguish things that are like or unlike, to separate or collect them; we discriminate things only that are different for the purpose of separating one from the other: we distinguish by means of the senses as well as the understanding; we discriminate by the understanding only: we distinguish things by their color. or we distinguish moral objects by their truth or falsehood; we discriminate the characters of men. or we discriminate their merits according to circumstances." (Crabb: Eng . Synon.) For the difference between to distinguish and to perceive, see PERCEIVE; for that between to dist in guish and to signalize , see SIGNALIZE. dis-tin-guish-a-ble (gu as gw), a. [Eng. dis tinguish; -able.] 1. That may or can be distinguished or discriminated from others; capable of being distinguished. "Left a race behind Like to themselves, distinguishable scarce From Gentiles." Milton: P. R. , iii. 423-25. 2. Capable of being perceived by the senses; perceptible. "Things that move so swift as not to affect the senses distinctly with several distinguishable distances of their motion."- Locke : Human Understanding , bk. ii., ch. xiv. *3. Worthy of note or of regard; distinguished, notable. "I would endeavor that my betters should seek me by the merit of something distinguishable."-Swift.