derange, v.
(dɪˈreɪndʒ)
[(18th c.) a. mod.F. déranger, in Cotgr. (1611) desranger ‘to disranke, disarray, disorder’, in OF. desrengier, f. des-, dé-, L. dis- + renc, reng, mod.F. rang rank, order. Not in Johnson; considered by him as French:—
‘It is not easy to guess how Dr. Warburton missed this opportunity of inserting a French word, by reading,—and the wide arch Of derang'd empire fall!—Ant. & Cl. i. i, which, if deranged were an English word, would be preferable both to ruined and ranged’. Shaks. 1765 VII. 107.]
1. trans. To disturb or destroy the arrangement or order of; to throw into confusion; to disarrange.
| 1777 Robertson Hist. Amer. (1778) II. vi. 173 Lest the order of the procession should be deranged, he moved so slowly, that the Spaniards became impatient. 1793 Craufurd in Ld. Auckland's Corr. III. 111 The approach of an army would..probably derange what has been decreed in regard to the Vendée. 1836 Macgillivray tr. Humboldt's Trav. ii. 31 A country recently deranged by volcanic action. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 531 This letter deranged all the projects of James. 1889 Spectator 12 Oct., If a dancing-girl deranges her dress too much. |
† b. ‘To remove from place or office, as the personal staff of a principal military officer’ (Webster 1828). Obs.
| 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 244 The officers who have been deranged by the several resolutions of Congress, upon the different reforms of the army. |
2. To disturb the normal state, working, or functions of; to put into a disordered condition; to cause to act abnormally.
| 1776 Adam Smith W.N. iv. vii. (1868) II. 214 Both these kinds of monopolies derange more or less the natural distribution of the stock of the society; but they do not always derange it in the same way. 1789 Mills in Phil. Trans. LXXX. 89 The hill Knock Renestle is a magnetic mass of rock, which considerably deranges the compass. 1804 Abernethy Surg. Obs. 130 His constitution was so deranged by the irritation of the sore. 1862 Sir B. Brodie Psychol. Inq. II. ii. 39 Habits..which tend in any degree to derange the animal functions, should be scrupulously avoided. |
3. To disorder the mind or brain of; to unsettle the reason of.
| 1825 Southey Tale of Paraguay iv. 60 The trouble which our youth was thought to bear With such indifference hath deranged his head. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 532 Minds deranged by sorrow. |
4. To disturb, interrupt.
| 1848 Fraser's Mag. XXXVIII. 273, I ventured to derange your leisure. 1882 Stevenson New Arab. Nts. 251, I am sorry to have deranged you for so small a matter. |
Hence deˈranging vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1795 Jemina II. 30 Her share in this deranging incident. 1870 Daily News 5 Oct., All kinds of deranging influences are at work. |