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discuss

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English

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Etymology

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From Middle English discussen, from Middle French and Anglo-Norman discusser (French discuter), from Latin discussus, past participle of discutiō (“to strike or shake apart, break up, scatter; examine, discuss”), from dis- (“apart”) + quatiō (“to shake”).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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discuss (third-person singular simple present discusses, present participle discussing, simple past and past participle discussed)

  1. (transitive) To converse or debate concerning a particular topic.
    Let's sit down and discuss this rationally.
    I don't wish to discuss this further. Let's talk about something else.
  2. (transitive, obsolete) To communicate, tell, or disclose (information, a message, etc.).
  3. (obsolete, transitive) To break to pieces; to shatter.
  4. (obsolete, transitive, colloquial) To deal with, in eating or drinking; consume.
    • 1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], chapter II, in Wuthering Heights: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC:
      When the preparations were finished, he invited me with—“Now, sir, bring forward your chair.” And we all, including the rustic youth, drew round the table: an austere silence prevailing while we discussed our meal.
    • 1854, Samuel White Baker, The Rifle and the Hound in Ceylon:
      We sat quietly down and discussed a cold fowl that we had brought with us.
    • 1858, James Hogg, Titan, volume 27, page 306:
      In the first room we entered, a soldier and a man, like a clerk or dominie, were discussing a bottle of red wine; they immediately sprang up and politely proffered us each a bumper.
  5. (transitive, law) To examine or search thoroughly; to exhaust a remedy against, as against a principal debtor before proceeding against the surety.
  6. (obsolete, transitive) To drive away, disperse, shake off; said especially of tumors.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
      For she was giuen all to fleshly lust, / And poured forth in sensuall delight, / That all regard of shame she had discust, / And meet respect of honour put to flight […]
    • 1635, James Guillimeau [i.e., Jacques Guillemeau], “Of Gripings and Fretting in the Belly, which Trouble Little Children”, in The Nvrsing of Children. Wherein is Set Downe the Ordering and Government of Them from Their Birth. Together with the Meanes to Helpe and Free Them from All Such Diseases as may Happen unto Them. Written in French by Iames Guillimeau, the French Kings Chirurgion in Ordinary, London: Printed by Anne Griffin, for Ioyce Norton, and Richard Whitaker; published in Child-birth, or, The Happy Delivery of VVomen. VVherein is Set Downe the Government of Women. In the Time of Their Breeding Childe: Of Their Travaile, both Naturall and Contrary to Nature: And of Their Lying in. Together with the Diseases, which Happen to VVomen in Those Times, and the Meanes to Helpe Them. To which is Added, a Treatise of the Diseases of Infants, and Young Children: With the Cure of Them, and also of the Small Pox. With a Treatise for the Nursing of Children. Written in French by Iames Gvillimeav the French Kings Chirurgion, London: Printed by Anne Griffih, for Ioyce Norton, and Richard Whitaker, 1635, →OCLC, page 52:
      If too much milke be the cauſe, then the Nurſe ſhall not give the childe ſucke ſo often, nor in ſuch plenty: If it proceed from wind, and that doe cauſe the childe to be thus troubled, it ſhall be diſcuſſed with Fomentations applied to the belly and navell; and with Carminative Cliſters, which ſhall bee given him, […]
    • June 15, 1751, Samuel Johnson, letter in The Rambler
      The softness of my hands was secured by medicated gloves, and my bosom rubbed with a pomade prepared by my mother, of virtue to discuss pimples, and clear discolourations.
    • 1642, Henry Wotton, A Short View of the Life and Death of George Villiers:
      Many arts were used to discuss the beginnings of new affliction.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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Further reading

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