Dis`po*si"tion (?), n. [F. disposition, dispositio, fr. disponere to dispose; dis- + ponere to place. See [Position], and cf. [Dispone].]

1.

The act of disposing, arranging, ordering, regulating, or transferring; application; disposal; as, the disposition of a man's property by will.

Who have received the law by the disposition of angels. Acts vii. 53.

The disposition of the work, to put all things in a beautiful order and harmony, that the whole may be of a piece. Dryden.

2.

The state or the manner of being disposed or arranged; distribution; arrangement; order; as, the disposition of the trees in an orchard; the disposition of the several parts of an edifice.

3.

Tendency to any action or state resulting from natural constitution; nature; quality; as, a disposition in plants to grow in a direction upward; a disposition in bodies to putrefaction.

4.

Conscious inclination; propension or propensity.

How stands your disposition to be married? Shak.

5.

Natural or prevailing spirit, or temperament of mind, especially as shown in intercourse with one's fellow-men; temper of mind.

"A man of turbulent disposition." Hallam. "He is of a very melancholy disposition."

Shak.

His disposition led him to do things agreeable to his quality and condition wherein God had placed him. Strype.

6.

Mood; humor.

As I perchance hereafter shall think meet To put an antic disposition on. Shak.

Syn. -- Disposal; adjustment; regulation; arrangement; distribution; order; method; adaptation; inclination; propensity; bestowment; alienation; character; temper; mood. -- [Disposition], [Character], [Temper]. Disposition is the natural humor of a person, the predominating quality of his character, the constitutional habit of his mind. Character is this disposition influenced by motive, training, and will. Temper is a quality of the fiber of character, and is displayed chiefly when the emotions, especially the passions, are aroused.

© [Webster 1913].

disposition (definition)