▪ I. comport, v.
(kəmˈpɔət)
[ad. L. comportā-re to carry together, and F. comport-er to endure, bear, suffer, conduct (oneself), behave: the L. f. com- + portāre to carry.]
† 1. trans. To bear, endure; to tolerate. Obs.
| 1588 A. King tr. Canisius' Catech. 175 We that ar stark (sayes the apostle) man comport the imbecillitie of the waiker. 1597 Daniel Civ. Wares i. lxx, The malecontented sort, That..never can the present state comport. a 1619 ― Coll. Hist. Eng. (1626) 129 A Queene Dowager of England..could not comport a superior so neare her doore. 1667 G. Digby Elvira ii. in Hazl. Dodsley XV. 25 How does that noble beauty..Comport her servile metamorphosis? 1716 M. Davies Athen. Brit. iii. Pallas Angl. 31 Whose Necessities they are oftentimes as far from..Bearing or Comporting. 1818 Colebrooke Oblig. & Contracts I. 70 Words taken in a sense which they comport. |
† b. To bear, suffer, allow, permit that. Obs.
| 1616 Brent tr. Sarpi's Hist. Council Trent (1676) 662 The time did not comport that the course of divine matters..should be hindred by humane contentions. 1646 F. Hawkins Youth's Behav. iii. §2 (1663) 14 Amongst them the custome doth comport in certain places that they Thou one another more freely. |
† 2. intr. to comport with: to bear with, put up with, tolerate, endure, suffer. Obs.
| 1565 Sir W. Cecil in Ellis Orig. Lett. ii. 172 II. 296 She..prayeth hir Ma{supt}{supy} here to comport with hir untill she will send on of hirs hyther. a 1661 Fuller Worthies ii. 9 Being unable to comport with his Oppression. 1679 in Gutch Coll. Cur. I. 274 If the University of Oxford..were to comport with the privileges granted before to the King's Printers. 1697 R. Pierce Bath Mem. i. xi. 242 She needed both drinking, bathing, and pumping, but had not Strength to comport with either. 1851 Carlyle Sterling iii. v. (1872) 214 The family..could at any rate comport with no long absence. |
† b. refl. in same sense. Obs. rare.
| 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. iii. i. §2 Many..Bishops..unable to Comport themselves with his harshness..quitted their preferments. |
3. refl. To conduct or behave oneself; to act in a particular manner, to behave. Also transf.
| 1616 Lane Sqr.'s Tale xi. 53 How thwhole court of knightes gann them comport in glorious wellcoms. 1669 Woodhead St. Teresa ii. iii. 20 He comported himself with extraordinary courage. 1830 Herschel Stud. Nat. Phil. 314 The heat which accompanies the sun's rays comports itself, in all respects, like light. 1858 J. Martineau Stud. Christianity 221 It would be curious to know how the Christians comported themselves when the priest of the Sun became monarch of the world. |
† 4. intr. (for refl.) To behave. Obs.
| 1616 Lane Sqr.'s Tale xi. 233 Wheare they with goodliest complementes comported. 1663 R. Hawkins Youths Behav. 100 Comport, to compose the gesture. 1673 Rules of Civility ix. 86 How we are to Comport in our Congratulations and Condolements with great Persons. a 1734 North Lives (1826) III. 371, I cannot say how he would have comported under it. |
† b. to comport with: to deal with, treat. Obs.
| 1675 tr. Machiavelli's Prince xv. Wks. 219 In what manner a prince ought to comport with his subjects. 1689 Dial. betw. Timothy & Titus 11 Now how do you Comport with it in your Practice? |
5. intr. to comport with: to agree with, accord with; to suit, befit.
| 1589 R. Bruce Exhort. 2 Tim. ii. (Wodrow) 375 Sik a meaning as the words may bear, and as their signification may comport with. 1603 Daniel Def. Rhime (1717) 31 A Tragedy would indeed best comport with a Blank Verse. 1685 Evelyn Mrs. Godolphin, How her detachment from Royall servitude would comport with her. 1734 Watts Reliq. Juv. (1789) 214 They do all that nature and art can do to comport with his will. 1884 T. Speedy Sport xvi. 288 Such wholesale slaughter does not comport with our opinion as to what really constitutes sport. |
† 6. trans. ? To befit, or ? to bear upon. Obs. rare.
| 1604 Drayton Moses 1, What respects he the negociating Matters comporting emperie and state? |
† 7. lit. To carry or bring together, collect. Obs. rare.
| a 1641 Bp. R. Montagu Acts & Mon. 40 The materialls were comported from the Gentiles. a 1660 [see comportation]. |
† 8. to comport the pike: to carry it grasped near the middle and pressed to the right side of the body, with the point raised. Obs.
See description and figure in Pistofilo, Oplomachia (1621), where this ‘modo’ is said to be new, and practised by some French captains, particularly those of the King's Guard; also in Alfieri La Picca (1641) 16 ‘Come porti la picca il capitano.’ (In neither of these is any particular name applied to this ‘modo’.) The mode of coming to the ‘comport’ is fully described in The Perfection of Military Discipline after Newest Methods (1690) p. 24.
| 1635–43 W. Barriffe Mil. Discip. cxiii. (1661) 150 Comporting your Half-pikes martching, is to be understood, when you martch under Trees, or some such place where they cannot be ordered or advanced. 1634 Peacham Compl. Gent. (1661) 299 Postures for the Pike. (15) Shoulder. (16) Port your Pikes. (17) Comport your Pikes. (18) Order your Pikes. 1650 R. Elton Art Milit. viii. (1668) 6 The comporting of the Pike is only useful to the souldier marching up a hill; for if then he should be shouldered, the butt-end of the Pike would always be touching of the ground. 1688 J. S. Art of War 7 Captains and Lieutenants are to carry their pikes comported. |
▪ II. † comport, n.1 Obs.
(kəmˈpɔət)
[a. obs. F. comport, f. comporter to comport. But in sense 1 taken immediately from the Eng. verb.]
1. The action or position of comporting a pike: see comport v. 8.
| 1635 W. Barriffe Mil. Discip. ii. (1643) 9 From Comport, Cheeke, or Traile. 1650 R. Elton Art Milit. i. iii, From the Comport charge to the Front, Right, Left, Reer. 1690 Perfection Milit. Discip. 24. |
2. Behaviour, comportment.
| 1660 Jer. Taylor Worthy Commun. Introd. 11 Our comport and conversation in and after it [the Holy Communion]. a 1700 Dryden Fables, Ceyx & Alcyone 41, I know them well, and mark'd their rude comport. |
▪ III. ˈcomport, n.2
[ad. F. compote: see compotier.]
A dessert dish raised upon a stem or support.
| 1771 in J. E. Nightingale Contrib. E.E. Porcelain (1881) 26 Four shell pattern comports, enamel'd in flowers. 1783 Ibid. p. lxxxii, A capital desert service of Worcester,..containing 18 comports of various shapes. 1811 in Jewitt Ceramic Art Gt. Brit. (1878) II. 107, 4 Comports of Landscapes, 6 Comports of plants. 1862 Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit. II. No. 6769 Dessert service of flint glass,..consisting of decanters, carafes, finger basins, ice plates, elevated comports, jugs,..and other glasses. 1881 Porcelain Wks., Worcester 7 Comports for dessert services. 1883 Daily News 18 Dec. 3/7 The dessert service of Crown Derby china which is to be presented to Mr. Gladstone..consists of 26 pieces—18 plates and eight comports. 1924 H. Barnard Chats on Wedgwood Ware 91 Dessert baskets, comports, compotiers, custard stands and cups, and candlesticks..in plain glazed cream colour. |