All 3 Uses of
dispose
in
White Noise, by Don DeLillo
- Jack Gladney would not do, he said, and asked me what other names I might have at my disposal.
Part 1disposal = command
- I had been generous with the power and madness at my disposal, allowing my subject to be associated with an infinitely lesser figure, a fellow who sat in La-Z-Boy chairs and shot out TVs.
Part 1 *
- They spent two more days in the kiosk, the weak and faltering sister venturing out to scavenge food scraps from the cartoon-character disposal baskets with swinging doors.†
Part 1
Definitions:
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(1)
(dispose as in: dispose of the waste) to throw away
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(2)
(dispose as in: dispose of the matter) to settle something so it no longer requires attention
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(3)
(dispose as in: dispose of the assets) sell or transfer to another
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(4)
(dispose as in: disposed the troops along...) the arrangement, positioning, or use of thingsThis sense of dispose can be used in the form disposal to indicate that a person can use something as they wish -- as in:
- I am at your disposal.
- She has many assets at her disposal.
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(5)
(dispose as in: Is she disposed to help?) inclined (with a tendency to; or in the mood to)This is usually seen in the form "disposed to..." or "disposed toward..."
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(6)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Less commonly, disposing of can imply killing someone.