22C:096
Computation, Information, and Description
Department of Computer Science
The University of Iowa
Lecture 1
Definition of "discreet"
To be confused with "discrete."
From Webster's New World Dictionary.
- discreet
- careful about what one says or does; prudent.
From the Oxford English Dictionary.
- discreet (dI'skri:t), a. (adv. and sb.). Forms: 4-6 discret, 4-7
discrete, 6-7 discreete, 5- discreet, (5 discrett, dyscrete, 5-6 Sc.
discreit, 6 disscrete). [ME. discret, discrete, a. Fr. discret, -ete
(12th c. in Littre), `qui se conduit avec discernement', ad. L.
discretus, in late L. and Rom. sense: cf. Ital. and Sp. discreto
`discreet, wise, wary, considerate, circumspect' (Florio), `discreet, wise to
perceiue' (Minsheu). A doublet of DISCRETE, differentiated in sense
and spelling.
In cl. Lat., discrt-us had only the sense `separate, distinct', as
pa. pple. of discern re, whence the corresponding mod.Fr. sense of
discret, and Eng. DISCRETE. The late L. sense, which alone came down in
popular use in Romanic, seems to have been deduced from the cognate sb.
discretin-em, originally the action of separating, distinguishing, or
discerning, and then the faculty of discernment; hence the adjective may
have taken the sense `possessed of discernment'.
In Eng., discrete was the prevalent spelling in all senses until late
in the 16th c., when on the analogy of native or early-adopted words in
ee from ME. close, as feet, sweet, beet), the spelling discreet
(occasional from 1400) became established in the popular sense,
leaving
discrete for the scholastic and technical sense in which the kinship to
L. discretus is more obvious: see DISCRETE. Shakspere (1st Folio) has
always discreet.]
- A adj.
1 Showing discernment or judgement in the guidance of one's own speech
and action; judicious, prudent, circumspect, cautious; often esp. that
can be silent when speech would be inconvenient. a Of persons.
1340 [implied in DISCREETLY]. C. 1386 CHAUCER Doctor's T. 48 (Ellesm.)
Discreet she was in answeryng alway [so Heng.; Harl. & Corp. discret, 3
MSS. discrete]. 1388 WYCLIF Ecclus. xxxi. 19 Vse thou as a discreet and
temperat man these thingis. C. 1440 Gesta Rom. i. 4 The clerke..is a
discrete confessour. 1500-20 DUNBAR Poems lxxxii. 66 Gar 3our merchandis
be discreit, That na extortiounes be. 1534 TINDALE Titus ii. 5 To be
discrete [so CRANMER & Geneva; 1611 discreet], chast, huswyfly. 1569 J.
ROGERS Gl. Godly Love 180 A wife ought to be discret. 1579 LYLY Euphues
(Arb.) 145 To be silent and discreete in companye..is most requisite
for a young man. 1598 FLORIO, Discreto, discreet. 1644 MILTON Jdgm.
Bucer (1851) 332 We must ever beware, lest..we make our selvs wiser and
discreeter then God. 1660 F. BROOKE tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 251 His wife
being very reserv'd and discreet in her husbands presence, but in his
absence more free and jolly. 1733 POPE Hor. Sat. II. i. 69 Satire's my
weapon, but I'm too discreet To run a muck, and tilt at all I meet. 1832
W. IRVING Alhambra II. 111 You are a discreet man, and I make no doubt
can keep a secret: but you have a wife. 1839 THIRLWALL Greece. VI. 33 A
well-meaning and zealous officer, but not very discreet or scrupulous.
b Of speech, action, and the like.
C. 1374 CHAUCER Troylus III. 894 (943) So wyrcheth now in so discret a
wyse, That I honour may haue and he plesaunce. 1393 LANGL. P. Pl. C. VI.
84 Preyers of a parfyt man and penaunce discret. 1483 CAXTON Gold. Leg.
217/1 She aroos up with a glad visage a dyscrete tongue and wel spekyng.
1533 ELYOT Cast. Helthe II. xix. (1539) 346 There is neyther meate nor
drynke, in the use wherof ought to be a more discrete moderation, than
in wyne. 1601 SHAKS. Twel. N. IV. iii. 19 A smooth, discreet, and stable
bearing. 1608 BP. HALL Char. Virtues & V. 47 Not by flattery, but by
discreet secrecie. 1667 MILTON P.L. VIII. 550 What she wills to do or
say Seems wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best. 1791 COWPER Iliad
XIII. 562 At length as his discreeter course, he chose To seek neas.
1883 WILLS Mod. Persia 48 We maintained a discreet silence.
2 In Sc. applied more to behaviour towards others; hence, well-spoken,
well-behaved, civil, polite, courteous; `not rude, not doing anything
inconsistent with delicacy towards a female' (Jam.).
1727-46 THOMSON Summer 1370 Dear youth!..By fortune too much favoured,
but by love, Alas! not favoured less, be still as now Discreet. 1782
SIR J. SINCLAIR Observ. Scot. Dial. 100 (Jam.) He is a very discreet
(civil) man, it is true, but his brother has more discretion (civility).
1812 A. FULLER Let. in Life C. Anderson vii. (1854) 198 You are what
your countrymen call `a discreet man'. 18.. Blackw. Mag. (O.), I canna
say I think it vera discreet o' you to keep pushing in before me in that
way. 1860 RAMSAY Remin. Ser. I. (ed. 7) 105 Discreet..civil, kind,
attentive.
3 Rare 16th c. spelling of DISCRETE, q.v.
B as adv. = DISCREETLY. Obs.
1586 A. DAY Eng. Secretary II. (1625) 101 Best advised, discreetest
governed, and worthiest.
C sb. A discreet person; a sage counsellor; a confidential adviser:
applied to ecclesiastics; cf. DISCRETION 8. Obs.
1528 ROY Rede me (Arb.) 90 Wardens, discretes, and ministers, And
wother offices of prelacy. 1533 MORE Apol. xxii. Wks. 882/2 A great
some remaining after al the spiritual folke sufficiently prouided for,
then had it bene good that he hadde yet farther deuysed, how it would
please him that his discretes should order the remanaunt.
Last modified: 19 December 1996
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odonnell@cs.uchicago.edu