DISPIRIT • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Dispirit

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verb

Dispirit v. t. (past & past part. dispirited; pres. part. dispiriting)

To deprive of cheerful spirits; to depress the spirits of; to dishearten; to discourage. "Not dispirited with my afflictions." "He has dispirited himself by a debauch."

To distill or infuse the spirit of. (Obs. or R.) "This makes a man master of his learning, and dispirits the book into the scholar."

Synonyms: To dishearten; discourage; deject; damp; depress; cast down; intimidate; daunt; cow.

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Etymology of 'Dispirit'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Dispirit" Quotes from Famous Books

... which the theories of the erring brother and the prodigal son were clung to, despite all evidence of facts to the contrary. There was a kind of boyishness in the rumors which the newspapers circulated (not seldom with intent to dispirit), and the people believed on the authority of reliable gentlemen from Richmond, or Union refugees whose information could be trusted. At one time the Rebels had mined eleven acres in the neighborhood of Bull Bun; at another, there were regiments of giants on ...

— The Writings of James Russell Lowell in Prose and Poetry, Volume V - Political Essays • James Russell Lowell

... not built to be easily dispirited, well, it is not easy to dispirit one. I looked at the doctor, and something in my expression seemed to make him smile. When he smiled he looked so pleasant that my conscience smote me. I told myself he certainly deserved some reparation for the ordeal I ...

— The Man From the Clouds • J. Storer Clouston

... discovered, for the first time, that he was the captain's nephew, and appointed to serve on board as a midshipman. What a primary reception was this, for such a youth to experience! It did not, however, dispirit him; and he was, no doubt, now heartily greeted and encouraged, with the golden hopes always inspired, among young seamen, by the ...

— The Life of the Right Honourable Horatio Lord Viscount Nelson, Vol. I (of 2) • James Harrison

... entirely assured that those who have done best among us are the least satisfied with what they have done, and will admit a sorrowful concurrence in my belief that the spirit, or rather, I should say, the dispirit, of the age, is heavily against them; that all the ingenious writing or thinking which is so rife amongst us has failed to educate a public capable of taking true pleasure in any kind of art, and that the best designers never satisfy their own requirements of themselves, unless by vainly addressing ...

— On the Old Road Vol. 1 (of 2) - A Collection of Miscellaneous Essays and Articles on Art and Literature • John Ruskin