▪ I. disconsolate, a. (n.)
(dɪsˈkɒnsələt)
[a. med.L. disconsōlāt-us comfortless (Du Cange), f. dis-, dis- 4 + L. consōlātus: see consolate ppl. a. Cf. 16th c. F. desconsolé, It. sconsolato, Sp. desconsolado.]
1. Destitute of consolation or comfort; unhappy, comfortless; inconsolable, forlorn.
| 1429 Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 145 Rewe on the poore and folk desconsolate. 1494 Fabyan Chron. v. cxl. 127 Thou mother to wretchis and other disconsolate. 1594 Spenser Amoretti lxxxviii, So I alone, now left disconsolate, Mourne to my selfe the absence of my love. 1663 Pepys Diary 19 Oct., The King..is most fondly disconsolate for her, and weeps by her. a 1704 T. Brown Two Oxf. Scholars Wks. 1730 I. 7 A poor disconsolate widow. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 23 ¶2 The Disconsolate soon pitched upon a very agreeable Successor. 1863 Longfellow Wayside Inn i. Falc. Ser Fed. xix, She..passed out at the gate With footstep slow and soul disconsolate. 1864 Tennyson En. Ard. 678 On the nigh-naked tree the robin piped Disconsolate. |
2. Of places or things: Causing or manifesting discomfort; dismal, cheerless, gloomy.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus v. 542 O paleys desolat!.. O paleys empti and disconsolat! 1655–62 W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. (1669) 256/2 When the Christians affairs are most disconsolate, he may soon meet with a happy change. 1691 Ray Creation (1714) 66 The disconsolate Darkness of our Winter Nights. 1720 De Foe Capt. Singleton ix. (1840) 156 It was..a desolate, disconsolate wilderness. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 665 The island..to French courtiers was a disconsolate place of banishment. |
B. as n. A disconsolate person.
| 1781 S. J. Pratt Emma Corbett III. 14 Raymond, our poor disconsolate, the mutual joy of our hearts. |
▪ II. † disˈconsolate, v. Obs.
[f. prec. adj.: cf. consolate v.]
trans. To make disconsolate or comfortless; to deprive of consolation. Also refl.
| 1530 Palsgr. 518/1, I disconsolate, I bring out of comfort, je desconsolate. This terme is nat yet comenly used. Who hath thus disconsolated hym: qui la ainsi desconsolaté? 1601 R. Yarington Two Lament. Traj. ii. iii. in Bullen O. Pl. IV, Ah, do not so disconsolate your selfe. 1642 Sir T. Stafford in Lismore Papers Ser. ii. (1888) V. 84 We are..disconsolated when report brings vs the contrarie. |
Hence disˈconsolated ppl. a., rendered or become disconsolate; disˈconsolating ppl. a.
| a 1665 J. Goodwin Filled w. Spirit (1867) 68 Everything that is of a discouraging and disconsolating nature in or from the world. 1695 Tryon Dreams & Vis. vi. 64 What a disconsolated..Condition would this be to the soul. a 1768 Sterne Serm. III. xxv. (R.), A poor disconsolated drooping creature. |