DIMENSIONS: MEASURE / Proportion
R E F E R E N C E S
Disperse vb dispersed; dispersing [ME dyspsorsen, fr. MF disperser, fr. L dispersus, pp. of dispergere to scatter, fr. dis- + spargere to scatter - more at Spark] vt [14c] 1a: to cause to break up [police dispersed the crowd] b: to cause to become spread widely c: to cause to evaporate or vanish [sunlight dispsersing the mist] 2: to spread or distribute from a fixed or constant source: as a archaic: Disseminate b: to subject [as light] to dispersion c: to distribute [as fine particles] more or less evenly throughout a medium -vi 1: to break up in random fashion [the crowd dispersed on request] 2a: to become dispersed b: Dissipate , Vanish [the fog dispersed toward morning]
-syn See Scatter
Dispersion n [14cx] 1 cap: Diaspora la 2: the act or process of dispersing: the state of being dispersed 3: the scattering of the values of a frequency distribution from an average 4: the separation of light into colors by refraction or diffraction with formation of a spectrum: also: the separation of radiation into components in accordance with some varying characteristic [as energy] 5a: a dispersed substance b: a system consisting of a dispersed substance and the medium in which it is dispersed: Colloid 2b
[Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th Edition. Springfield, MA, USA: Merriam-Webster, Inc. 1995.]
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