describe, v.
(dɪˈskraɪb)
Also 6–7 descrybe, discrybe, 8 discribe.
[ad. L. dēscrīb-ĕre to copy off, transcribe, write down, write off, sketch off in writing or painting, mark off, etc., f. de- I. 2 + scrībĕre to write. Preceded in ME. use by descrive (through OF.), of which describe may be considered as an assimilation to the orig. L. form. The spelling dis- arose from confusion with words having the prefix des-, dis-: see des-.]
† 1. To write down, set forth in writing or in written words; to transcribe, copy out. Obs.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 233 So Peter Bercharius in his dictionary describeth it. 1607 Topsell Serpents (1653) 625 Whose verses I will here describe [verses follow]. 1649 Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. Exhort. §12 Christ our Lawgiver hath described all his Father's will in Sanctions and Signatures of laws. |
† b. To write down in a register; to enrol. Obs.
| 1535 Coverdale 1 Chron. iv. 41 These that are now descrybed by name. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World II. iv. v. §6. 218 He was indeed gone into ægypt..describing a royall Army. a 1667 Jer. Taylor Wks. (1835) I. 262 (Cent. Dict.) His name was described in the book of life. |
† c. To write down as one's opinion; to declare, state. Obs. rare.
| 1771 Fletcher Checks Wks. 1795 II. 300 Is it modest to describe ecathedra, that the dead Ephesians..could not work for life? |
2. To set forth in words, written or spoken, by reference to qualities, recognizable features, or characteristic marks; to give a detailed or graphic account of. (The ordinary current sense.)
| 1513 Bradshaw St. Werburge i. 203 As auncyent Cronycles descryben it full playne. 1538 Starkey England ii. i. 144 Hys perfayt state..of vs before descrybyd. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 220 Describe we next the Nature of the Bees. 1727 Swift Gulliver ii. viii. 173 Discribing the rest of his household-stuff. 1833 Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Wedding, I am ill at describing female apparel. 1874 Morley Compromise (1886) 38 He was described for us..by a master hand. |
b. with complement.
| 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. i. iii. (1611) 7 The institution thereof is described as being established. 1600 E. Blount tr. Conestaggio 314 That the Iland was no lesse fortified then had beene described unto them. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) V. 71 Glanville describes a fine to be an accommodation of a..suit. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 23 Pleasures as well as opinions may be described as good or bad. |
3. To set forth in delineation or pictorial representation; to represent, picture, portray; in quot. 1526 fig. Obs. or arch.
| 1526 Tindale Gal. iii. 1 To whom Jesus Christ was described before the eyes. 1535 Coverdale Ezek. iv. 1 Take a tyle..and descrybe vpon the cite off Ierusalem. 1600 J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa ii. 149 Then describe they certaine signes upon the hands and forehead. 1620 E. Blount Horæ Subsec. 352 A Gladiatore..admirably described in Marble. 1665 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 362 Accept the preceeding Map..This describing India on the other side Ganges. 1774 J. Bryant Mythol. II. 123 We find the Sun to be described under the appearance of a bright star. |
† b. Of things: To represent or stand for pictorially. Obs.
| 1643 Vicars Looking-glass Malign. 13 The picture of a man in a tub..to describe a Roundhead. 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 317 These twelve Divisions are to describe the twelve Hours of the Day. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §121 A second model.. to describe the external form. |
4. To delineate, mark out the form or shape of, trace the outline of (a geometrical figure, etc.): a. said of personal agents.
| 1552 Huloet, Describe, circumscribo. 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 122 Describe the like arck from B to A. 1570 Billingsley Euclid i. i. 8 A triangle..set or described vpon a line. 1669 Dryden Tyrannic Love iv. i, With chalk I first describe a circle here. 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 126 To measure and describe the Ground-plot. 1831 Brewster Optics i. §15 Describe arches of circles. |
b. said of things.
| 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 55 A lyne, moved..can but describe a plat forme..And a plat forme moved..describeth a Body. 1570–6 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 239 It beginneth to divide it selfe two waies, and to describe the Ile of Thanet. 1821 Craig Lect. Drawing i. 7 Representing objects by lines which describe their contours or dimensions. |
5. To form or trace by motion; to pass or travel over (a certain course or distance).
| 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 34 The most northely circle which the Sonne describeth. 1662 Hobbes Seven Probl. Wks. 1845 VII. 10 The arches are the spaces which these two motions describe. 1713 Berkeley Hylas & Phil. i. Wks. 1871 I. 281 A body that describes a mile in an hour. 1869 Phillips Vesuv. ix. 252 They describe parabolic curves. 1869 Tyndall Notes Lect. Light 29 The white-hot particles of carbon in a flame describe lines of light. |
6. To mark off or distribute into parts; to map or parcel out. rare.
| 1535 Coverdale Josh. xviii. 6 Descrybe ye the londe in seuen partes [so 1611 and R.V.; Wyclif, discryue]. |
† b. To apportion, assign under limits. [So in Lat.] Obs. rare.
| 1531 Elyot Gov. i. ii, I wyll therfore kepe my penne within the space that is discribed to me. |
¶ 7. = descry v.1 Cf. descrive v.4 and the converse confusion in descry v.2
| 1574 Rich Merc. & Soldier H viij, Venus was first described, sittynge in her Waggon. 1592 Greene Tullies Love (1609) G, As soone as she had discribed him, and for certainty knew that it was he, yonder quoth she comes that odde man of Rome. 1620 Shelton Quix. IV. xxii. 185 Over⁓night we described this Wharf. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 567, I describ'd his way Bent all on speed, and markt his Aerie Gate. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. xlvii. (1792) VIII. 312 The smallest blemish has not been described by..jealous..eyes. |
Hence deˈscribed ppl. a.
| 1552 Huloet, Described, circumscriptus. 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 196 Their described width. 1865 Tylor Early Hist. Man. iv. 64 In the described position of the three relations of speech. |