disport
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /dɪˈspɔːt/
ipa: /dəˈspɔɹt/
rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)t
Forms: form: disports
form: disporting
form: disported
form: disported
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: disport
form: disport
form: disported
form: disport
form: disportest
form: disported
form: disportedst
form: disports
form: disporteth
form: disported
form: disport
form: disported
form: disport
form: disported
form: disport
form: -
form: disporting
form: disported
Etymology: The verb is derived from Middle English disporten, desporten (“to take part in entertainment, sport, etc., to pass time, amuse oneself, be merry; to amuse, entertain; to cheer, console; to behave (in a particular way), deport; to be active, to busy; to relieve (someone of a task); to prevent (someone from attending)”), from Anglo-Norman desporter, Old French desporter, deporter, depporter (“to amuse, entertain; to pass time, amuse oneself; to forbear; to stop”), from Latin deportāre, present active infinitive of dēportō (“to bring, convey; to bring or take home; to carry along or down; to banish, transport”), from dē- (prefix meaning ‘from, off’) + portō (“to bear, carry; to bring, convey”) (from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to carry forth; fare”)). The English word is a doublet of deport and sport.
The noun is derived from Middle English disport, desport (“activity providing amusement, pleasure or relaxation; entertainment, recreation; game, pastime, sport; pleasure derived from an activity; source of comfort; consolation, solace; conduct, deportment; customary behaviour, manner; act, activity; departure”), from Anglo-Norman disport, Old French desport, deport (“game, pastime, sport; pleasure, recreation; disport”), from desporter: see further above.
Senses: examples: text: Afterward, as appeareth by Euſtachius, there was ſome Greekes diſported themſelues herein, as he which turned Atlas for his heauie burthen in ſupporting Heauen, to Talas, that is, Wretched; Arete, Vertue, into Erate, that is, Louely; Ilaros, Merrie, into Liaros, that is, warme.
ref: 1629, M. N. [pseudonym; William Camden], “Anagrams”, in Remaines Concerning Brittaine: But Especially England, and the Inhabitants thereof: […], 4th edition, London: Printed by A[dam] I[slip] for Symon Waterson, […], →OCLC, page 145:
text: For my part, I love not to disport myself at the weakness of any man, or to turn his folly into laughter: for what were this, but to reflect dishonour upon the same nature, wherein he partakes with myself?
ref: 1644 January 27, Thomas Jackson, quoting Daniel Taylor, chapter III, in The Life of John Goodwin, […], 2nd greatly improved edition, London: Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer, published 1872, →OCLC, page 77:
text: He ſummons ſtrait his Denizens of air; / The lucid ſquadrons round the ſails repair: / [...] / Looſe to the wind their airy garments flew, / Thin glitt'ring textures of the filmy dew; / Dipt in the richeſt tincture of the skies, / Where light diſports in ever-mingling dies, [...]
ref: 1714, Alexander Pope, “The Rape of the Lock”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, →OCLC, canto II, page 133:
text: Childe Harold bask'd him in the noon-tide sun, / Disporting there like any other fly; / Nor deem'd before his little day was done / One blast might chill him into misery.
ref: 1812, Lord Byron, “Canto I”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. A Romaunt, London: […] [F]or John Murray, […]; William Blackwood, Edinburgh; and John Cumming, Dublin; by Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, stanza IV, page 5:
text: In the silent watches of the night, calm night that breedeth thoughts, / When the task-weary mind disporteth in the careless play-hours of sleep, / I dreamed; [...]
ref: 1838, Martin Farquhar Tupper, “Of Rest”, in Proverbial Philosophy: A Book of Thoughts and Arguments, Originally Treated, London: Joseph Rickerby, […], →OCLC, stanza 1, page 57:
text: What generous, ardent, imaginative soul has not a secret pleasure-place in which it disports?
ref: 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 3, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:
text: [B]eautiful bays, where the transparent waves leap one after another on the sand, leaving behind them wreaths of foam, or playfully clasp the pointed rocks, like beautiful sea-nymphs disporting themselves in the joyous sunlight; [...]
ref: 1855, Frederick Lawrence, “Mont Orgueil Castle and William Prynne”, in [Anna Maria Hall], editor, Sharpe’s London Magazine of Entertainment and Instruction, for General Reading, volume VI (New Series), London: Published for the proprietor, by Virtue, Hall, and Virtue, […], →OCLC, page 160:
text: [T]he political activity which produced the rebellion against the Stuarts, saved the Scotch mind from stagnating, [...] When the contest was ended, and peace was restored, the faculties which, for three generations, had been exercised in resisting the executive authority, sought other employment, and found another field in which they could disport themselves. Hence it was, that the boldness which, in the seventeenth century, was practical, became, in the eighteenth century, speculative, and produced a literature, which attempted to unsettle former opinions, and to disturb the ancient landmarks of the human mind.
ref: 1861, Henry Thomas Buckle, “An Examination of the Scotch Intellect during the Eighteenth Century”, in History of Civilization in England, volume II, London: Parker, Son, and Bourn, […], →OCLC, page 410:
text: O soul, voyagest thou indeed on voyages like those? / Disportest thou on waters such as those?
ref: 1870, Walt Whitman, “Passage to India”, in Leaves of Grass […], Philadelphia, Pa.: David McKay, publisher, […], published 1892, →OCLC, stanza 9, page 322:
text: It was there [Cadiz, Spain] that on Sunday I had seen the populace disport itself, and it was full of life then, gay and insouciant.
ref: 1905, William Somerset Maugham, chapter XXXVIII, in The Land of the Blessed Virgin: Sketches and Impressions in Andalusia, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC, page 215:
text: “Here’s one I wrote. My heroine is disporting herself at a ball ‘glittering from head to foot with large diamonds of the first water.’
ref: 1915, L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery, Anne of the Island, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, →OCLC:
text: Concern—and consternation—about the flapper are general. She disports herself flagrantly in the public eye, and there is no keeping her out of grown-up company or conversation.
ref: 1922 April 16, Margaret O'Leary, “More Ado About the Flapper”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
synonyms: cheer
divert
enjoy
frolic
glosses: To amuse oneself divertingly or playfully; in particular, to cavort or gambol.
Derived terms: disportment