discomposure
(dɪskəmˈpəʊʒ(j)ʊə(r))
[f. discompose, after composure.]
The fact or condition of being discomposed.
1. Disorder, confusion, derangement. ? Obs.
| 1641 Milton Animadv. (1851) 223 The Prelates..which way soever they turne them, put all things into a foule discomposure. 1677 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. iv. vii. 348 The Wonder and Miracle is ten times greater in the state of things as they now stand, than it would be in such a discomposure of Nature. 1756 Bullock in Phil. Trans. XLIX. 402 Several pieces of minerals were dropped from the sides and roof, but all the shafts remained intire, without the least discomposure. |
† b. Derangement of health, indisposition. Obs.
| 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl. ii. i. (1845) 98 You left me free from any other discomposure than that which your leaving me is wont to give me. 1669 W. Simpson Hydrol. Chym. 275 In cases of uterine discomposures. 1734 Watts Reliq. Juv. (1789) 110 Latrissa is often indisposed..Last Friday she was seized with her usual discomposures. |
† c. The condition of being taken to pieces; dismemberment. Obs.
| 1660 W. Secker Nonsuch Prof. 73 We see more in the discomposure of a Watch then when its wheels are set together. |
2. Disturbance of mind or feelings; agitation, perturbation. (Cf. composure, sense 10.)
| 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. (1843) 13/1 And he continued in this melancholic and discomposure of mind many days. 1690 Norris Beatitudes (1692) 66 Without any the least shew of Impatience or Discomposure of Spirit. 1741 Richardson Pamela (1742) IV. 205 Did I betray any Impatience of Speech or Action, any Discomposure? 1828 Scott F.M. Perth vi, His face was pale, his eyes red; and there was an air of discomposure about his whole person. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 471 A series of sermons was preached there by Popish divines, to the great discomposure of zealous churchmen. |
† 3. Want of harmony; disagreement, dissension. Obs. rare.
| 1661 Boyle Style of Script. (1675) 73 How exquisite a symmetry..Omniscience doth..discover in the Scripture's method, in spite of those seeming discomposures that now puzzle me. 1673 Wood Life (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) II. 271, I was not there..because of the present discomposures between the scholars and townsmen. |