† comˈpone, v. Obs.
[ad. L. compōnĕre to put together, compose, settle, etc., f. com- together + pōnĕre (:—posnere) to place, put. In early use, perh. sometimes to be referred to OF. compondre, pr. pple. componant, whence compoune, compound. It continued to be used, esp. in Scotland, in senses regularly taken up by compound and compose: cf. the analogous Sc. depone, propone, repone, etc., also the literary postpone.]
1. trans. To make up (of parts); to compose.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iii. i. (Tollem. MS.), His parties of þe whiche he is made and componed [compositus est]. 1562 Leigh Armorie (1597) 11 Of so bright a hewe, being componed: for it is made of two bright colours, which is Redde and Yellowe. 1839–48 Bailey Festus xix. 61/2 Whose soul's componed Of diverse powers and passions. |
2. To make up or compose rhetorically.
| 1393 Gower Conf. III. 138 How Tullius his rhetorique Componeth. |
3. To put together, assemble.
| 1613 M. Ridley Magn. Bodies 2 This stone will attract, hold, disperse, and compone like a little earth other lesse Magnets. |
4. To compose or settle (differences, troubles, etc.); to put in order, adjust.
| 1523 Wolsey in Fiddes Life ii. (1726) 69 Thereby to compone and order their great Causes and Affairs. 1541 St. Papers Hen. VIII, I. 669 Some difference..whiche he trusted shulde be nowe well pacified, and shortelie componed. a 1555 Bp. Gardiner in Ellis Orig. Lett. ii. 146 II. 209 The Kynges Majestie hath, by the inspyracyon of the holy Ghost, componed all maters of Religion. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. ii. (1887) 132 Quhen al things in yrland war weil componed. |
b. To compose oneself, one's gesture, etc.
| 1591 Bruce 11 Serm. S ij a (Jam.), To compone thy gesture, and refraine thy tongue. |
5. intr. To make an arrangement, settlement, or bargain; to compound with debtors or offenders.
| 1478 Paston Lett. III. 217 If ye myght compone with hym or he wyst what the valew wer, it wer the better. 1538 Leland Itin. V. 93 The Menne of the Wichis componid with the Abbay that ther should be no Salt made. 1582–8 Hist. Jas. VI (1804) 239 He hade his interpretors, quha componit with all pairties according to his awin directioun. |
6. To make composition (for a debt, offence, or privilege); to compound.
| c 1460 Henryson Mor. Fables, Tale of Dog 126 Slave sall he be, or with the Juge compone. c 1565 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (1814) I. 20 He [the Governor] compelled thame to compone for thamselfis. a 1639 Spottiswood Hist. Ch. Scot. v. (1677) 273 People of all sorts being forced to compone and redeem themselves. 1645 Baillie Lett. (1841) II. 320 If we be not willing to compone in what tearms, both for religion and state, they please. |