• (GA) IPA: /dɪsˈpoʊz/
• (RP) IPA: /dɪˈspəʊz/

dispose (disposes, present participle disposing; past and past participle disposed)

1. (intransitive, used with "of") To eliminate or to get rid of something.

   I dispose of my trash in the garbage can.

2. To distribute or arrange; to put in place.
   • 1600, William Shakespeare, Henry V (play), act 4, scene III

     Now, dear soldiers, march away: / And how thou pleasest, God, dispose the day!

   • 1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, chapter 6

     Marianne’s pianoforte was unpacked and properly disposed of, and Elinor’s drawing were affixed to the walls of their sitting rooms.

   • 1934, Rex Stout, Fer-de-Lance, 1992 Bantam edition, ISBN 0553278193, page 47:

     I sat down within three feet of the entrance door, and I had no sooner got disposed than the door opened and a man came in […] .

3. To deal out; to assign to a use.

   • what he designed to bestow on her funeral, he would rather dispose among the poor

4. To incline.

   In these uncertain times, I am disposed towards caution. (Used here intransitively in the passive voice)

   • Endure and conquer; Jove will soon dispose / To future good our past and present woes.

   • 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Suspicion

     They [suspicions] dispose kings to tyranny, husbands to jealousy, and wise men to irresolution and melancholy.

   • 1892, Walter Besant, chapter II, in The Ivory Gate: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], OCLC 16832619 ↗:

     At twilight in the summer […] the mice come out. They […] eat the luncheon crumbs. Mr. Checkly, for instance, always brought his dinner in a paper parcel in his coat-tail pocket, and ate it when so disposed, sprinkling crumbs lavishly […] on the floor.

5. (obsolete) To bargain; to make terms.
   • 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Ivlivs Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene ii]:

     She had disposed with Caesar.

6. (obsolete) To regulate; to adjust; to settle; to determine.

   • the knightly forms of combat to dispose

• incline
• discard

• indispose
• disincline

• French: se débarrasser, éliminer
• German: beseitigen, entsorgen
• Italian: eliminare, disporre, mettere, depositare
• Russian: избавля́ться
• Spanish: deshacerse

• Italian: distribuire, propendere, essere incline

dispose

1. (obsolete) The disposal or management of something.
2. (obsolete) Behaviour; disposition.