▪ I. † disˈclose, n. Obs.
[f. disclose v.: cf. close n.2]
The act of disclosing; = disclosure (in various senses).
| 1548 Gest Pr. Masse 73 Wolde God..soch a person..had openly publyshed the worthy disclose and disprove of the unsufferable abhomination of the popyshe private pryvye masse. 1602 Shakes. Ham. iii. i. 174 There's something in his soule, O're which his Melancholly sits on brood, And, I do doubt the hatch, and the disclose Will be some danger. 1622 Wither Mistr. Philar. Wks. (1633) 623 They [those lips] are like in their discloses To the mornings dewie roses. 1625 W. B. True School War 42 It is an Embryo that..waites the good houre for the disclose and deliuery. 1742 Young Nt. Th. ix. 1576 Glasses..Haue they not led us deep in the disclose Of fine-spun nature. |
▪ II. † disˈclose, ppl. a. Obs.
Also 4 desclos.
[a. OF. desclos, pa. ppl. of desclore to disclose:—Romanic (and med.L.) disclaus-us, pa. pple. of disclaudĕre: see disclose v.]
Disclosed; unclosed; let out. In quots., used as pa. pple.
| 1393 Gower Conf. I. 285 For drede it shulde be disclose And come unto her faders ere. Ibid. II. 354 A maiden, which was..kept so clos, That selden was, whan she desclos Goth with her moder for to play. |
▪ III. disclose, v.
(dɪsˈkləʊz)
[ME. des-, dis-closen, a. OF. desclos- pres. stem (pres. subj. desclose) of desclore, -clorre to unclose, open, free = Pr. desclaure:—Romanic (and med.L.) disclaudĕre, f. dis- 4 + L. claudĕre to close, shut.]
† 1. trans. To open up (that which is closed or shut); to unclose, unfold; to unfasten. Obs.
| a 1400–50 Alexander 3632 Þire Olifantis..disclosid þai þe chaviles. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. ii. 331 Almoundes me may make..her shelles to disclose. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. (1586) 67 b, It [a rosebud] discloseth it selfe and spreadeth abroad. 1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. v. 16 Full oft about her wast she it enclos'd, And it as oft was from about her wast disclos'd. 1596 B. Griffin Fidessa (1876) 31 Armes still imbrace and neuer be disclosed. c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. liv, The perfumed tincture of the Roses..When Sommers breath their masked buds discloses. |
† b. To hatch (an egg). Cf. 3 b. Obs.
| a 1626 Bacon (J.), It is reported by the ancients, that the ostrich layeth her eggs under the sand, where the heat of the sun discloseth them. |
2. intr. (for refl.) To unclose or unfold itself by the falling asunder of parts; to open.
| 1591 Garrard Art Warre 101 Which upon occasion disclosing again may let out the shot. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), To Disclose..to bud, blow, or put out Leaves. 1626 T. H. Caussin's Holy Crt. 166 If the hen brood not her eggs, she hath no desire to make them disclose. 1727–46 Thomson Summer 1138 Over head a sheet Of livid flame discloses wide, then shuts And opens wider. |
3. trans. To uncover (anything covered up from view); to remove a cover from and expose to view (anything material).
| 1393 Gower Conf. II. 262 As she, that was with thaire enclosed And might of no man be desclosed. 1530 Palsgr. 518/1, I disclose, I uncover a thing that is hydde..This treasure shall never be disclosed for me. 1611 Bible Isa. xxvi. 21 The earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more couer her slain. 1696 Tate & Brady Ps. cvi. 9 The parting Deep disclos'd her Sand. 1795 Southey Joan of Arc x. 197 The open helm Disclosed that eye. 1832 Tennyson Œnone 65 He smiled, and opening out his milk⁓white palm Disclosed a fruit of pure Hesperian gold. 1838 Lytton Leila i. iv, Her full rich lips disclosed teeth, that might have shamed the pearl. |
b. To uncover or set free (a young bird, etc.) from the egg; to hatch; also fig. to ‘hatch’ (mischief). Rarely, to exclude or lay (eggs).
| 1486 Bk. St. Albans A ij a, Now to speke of hawkys. first thay been Egges. and afterwarde they bene disclosed hawkys. 1602 Shakes. Ham. v. i. 310 Anon as patient as the female Doue, When that her golden Cuplet are disclos'd. 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. x. lv. (1612) 245 Papists heere, forren and Land-leapt Foes, Did mischiefes that imported more our practiz'd State disclose. 1653 H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. xxx. 122 They leave the eggs there till they think the young ones are disclosed. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 633 Snakes, familiar, to the Hearth succeed, Disclose their Eggs, and near the Chimney breed. 1707 Curios. in Husb. & Gard. 322 Forcing Eggs to disclose their Young by the artificial Heat of an Oven. 1816–26 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. (1843) II. 18 As soon as one of these young caterpillars is disclosed from the egg it begins to feed. |
† 4. To open up to one's own knowledge, to discover. Obs.
| c 1450 Crt. of Love 112 Many a thousand other bright of face: But what they were, I coud not well disclose. 1599 Sandys Europæ Spec. (1632) 168 He was disclosed and ceased [= seized] on by his Master. c 1611 Chapman Iliad xxi. 467 Old Priam in his sacred tow'r stood, and the flight disclos'd On his forc'd people, all in rout. |
5. To open up to the knowledge of others; to make openly known, reveal, declare (secrets, purposes, beliefs, etc.).
| 1393 Gower Conf. II. 277, I dare min herte well disclose. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xxix. (Percy Soc.) 142 They are not all disposed So for to do as ye have here disclosed. 1551 T. Wilson Logike (1580) 77 b, If you will promise me to kepe that close, whiche I shall disclose unto you. 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. i. 22 The faithful should not admit him [God] to be any other than such as he had disclosed himself by his word. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. ii. i. 298 Tell me your Counsels, I will not disclose 'em. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 6 Their Arms, their Arts, their Manners I disclose. 1712–4 Pope Rape Lock ii. 9 Her lively looks a sprightly mind disclose. 1726 Adv. Capt. R. Boyle 44 As for disclosing the Secret, it is what I never can do. 1874 Green Short Hist. iii. §2. 121 The great league which John had so long matured at last disclosed itself. Ibid. vii. §7. 413 The strange civilization of Mexico and Peru disclosed by Cortez and Pizarro. 1876 Mozley Univ. Serm. iii. 64 The modest light of faith discloses a real future life. |
† b. intr. (for refl.) To show itself, to come to light. Obs.
| 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. 349 The displeasure atwene the Kynge & his barons began to appere and disclose. 1627–77 Feltham Resolves i. xii. 18 Vices..which I can see, when they do disclose in them. 1746–7 [see disclosing ppl. a.]. |
Hence disˈclosed ppl. a. (a) In senses of the vb.;(b) Her.: see quots.
| 1486 [see disclose v. 3 b]. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. xvii. §5. 62 Another diuersitie of Methode there is..and that is Enigmaticall and Disclosed. 1891 Echo 7 Dec. 2/7 The defendant..pleaded that he was only an agent for a disclosed principal. |
| 1864 Boutell Heraldry Hist. & Pop. x. 64 The expanded wings..of all birds that are not Birds of Prey, are disclosed. 1882 Cussans Her. vi. 91 The most common attitude in which the Eagle appears in Heraldry, is Displayed. This term is peculiar to Birds of Prey; when other Birds (such as the Dove) are represented with their wings expanded..they are said to be Disclosed. |