disperse, desperse, disparse

t. & i. [Fr. disperser.] (DISPERSE, a.] A. Transitive : 1. To scatter, to drive to different parts or in different directions. "For the recollecting of our navy, if it should be des. persed."-Sir F. Drake: The World Encompa ed , p. 16. "The roving Spanish bands are reached at last, Charged, and dispersed like foam." Words worth: The French and the Spanish Guerillas. 2. To separate; to betake in different directions. "We will disperse ourselves." Shakesp.: Richard II., ii. 4. 3. To di ipate, to cause to vanish, to dispel. "At length the sun, gazing upon the earth, Disperst those vapors that offended us." Shakesp.: Comedy of Errors , i. 1. 4. To distribute, to carry into different parts. "The gate vein which disperseth that blood." - Bacon . 5. To di ipate, to destroy, to put an end to, to expel. "All his manly powers it did disperse ." Spenser: F. Q. , I. ix. 48. *6. To distribute abroad, to send out. "William Page, that dispersed the copies, and Single ton the printer were apprehended." - Baker: Queen Eliza beth (an. 1581). *7. To spread abroad, to di eminate. "The lips of the wise disperse knowledge."- Prov . xv. 7. *8. To make public, to declare publicly. "The poet entering on the stage to disperse the argument."-Ben Jonson. fate, făt, fare, amidst, what, fåll, father; we, wět, hëre, camel, her, thêre; B. Intransitive: 1. To separate or scatter in different directions. "Straight to the tents the troops dispersing bend." Pope: Homer's Iliad , 11. 474. marine; gō, pot, pine, pit, sire, sir, dispersed 2. To become di ipated, to break up, to vanish. "Glory is like a circle in the water, Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself, Till by broad spreading it disperse to nought." Shakesp.: Henry VI ., Pt . I. , 1. 2. For the difference between to disperse and to dispel, see DISPEL; for that between to disperse and to spread, see SPREAD. dis-pěr sed, pa. par. or a. [DISPERSE, v.] A. As pa. par.: (See the verb.) B. As adjective: 1. Ordinary Language: 1. Scattered. "William, the captain of a coalition, had brought together his dispersed forces."- Macaulay : Hist. Eng ., ch. 2. Disheveled. "On your shoulders spread dispersed hairs."-Greener Looking-gla for England , p. 142. ( Davies .) *3. Published, divulged, made known. "By their owne divulged and dispersed ignominie." Pa enger of Benvenuto (1612). II. Music : Dispersed harmony is that in which the notes composing the chord are at wide intervals from each other. dis-pers-ěd-ly, adv. [Eng. dispersed; -ly.] In a dispersed or scattered manner; here and there, occasionally. "Those observations upon texts of Scripture, which have been made dispersedly in sermons these forty years and more."- Bacon: Advancement of Learning, p. (ed. 1851). dis pērs-ěd-ne , s. [Eng. dispersed; -ne .] The quality or state of being scattered about. "Lastly from their dispersedne , ready from every part to be reflected."-More: Antidote against Atheism , bk. vi., ch. xvi. *dis per se-ne , s. [Eng. disperse; -ne .] Dispersedne , sparsene , thinne . "The torrid parts of Africa are by Piso resembled to a leopard's skin, the distance of whose spots represent the disperse ne of habitations or towns in Africa."- Brere . wood: On Languages.