What does "disposition" mean?

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

Additional senses

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 4.Conscious inclination; propension or propensity. How stands your disposition to be married Shak.
  4. 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.
  5. 6.Mood; humor. As I perchance hereafter shall think meet To put an antic disposition on. Shak. -- 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.

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