dispose

Formsdisposes, disposing, disposed

1. 1
   verbintransitivewith of

   To get rid of or eliminate something, usually by throwing it away or destroying it.

   Hospitals dispose of used needles in sealed containers.

   The cleanup crew disposed of the debris over two long days.

   Similardiscard, dump, scrap, destroy, eliminate

   Oppositekeep, retain, save

   Note

   Of is what turns the verb toward getting rid of things: you dispose of trash, of used needles, of debris. The preposition stays with the verb even in the passive, so the debris was disposed of, never simply disposed. Without of, the verb moves toward the arranging sense, so the small word changes the meaning entirely.

2. 2
   verbtransitive

   To arrange or distribute things, placing them in their proper positions.

   Commanders dispose their forces carefully before any battle.

   The architect disposed the rooms around a central courtyard.

   Similararrange, position, deploy, array, marshal

   Note

   The older, more orderly sense can trip up modern readers. When Jane Austen writes in Sense and Sensibility (1811) that Marianne's pianoforte was "properly disposed of," it was set in place, not thrown out. Rex Stout's narrator "got disposed" in a chair in 1934, and Railway Magazine in 1950 writes of disposing driving power over many cars. The sense was still at home in technical prose.

3. 3
   verbtransitive

   To deal out or assign something to a particular use or recipient.

   The trustees dispose the income to several educational programs each year.

   She disposed her savings to the causes she cared about most.

   Similarallocate, assign, allot, distribute, apportion

   Note

   Here the verb hands things out to people rather than setting them in places. John Evelyn's diary has a man who would rather dispose among the poor what he meant to spend on a funeral. It takes among or to with the recipients, which separates it from the arranging sense, where the object is simply put somewhere.

4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To make someone inclined or likely to act, think, or feel a certain way.

   Years of training dispose soldiers to follow orders without hesitation.

   His friendly tone disposed the crowd to forgive his mistake.

   Similarincline, predispose, prompt, lead, induce

   Oppositedisincline, discourage, deter, indispose

   Note

   The active, causative use is the older literary one. In Francis Bacon's essay "Of Suspicion" (1625), suspicions "dispose kings to tyranny." Everyday English mostly uses the past participle instead: disposed towards caution, or eating lunch "when so disposed," as in Walter Besant's The Ivory Gate (1892). In modern writing, I am disposed to is far more natural than it disposes me to.

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