different between discus vs discuss

English

Etymology

1656. From Latin discus, from Ancient Greek ?????? (dískos, “disk, quoit, platter”). Doublet of dais, desk, disc, dish, and disk.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?d?s.k?s/
• Rhymes: -?sk?s

Noun

discus (plural discuses)

1. A round plate-like object that is thrown for sport.
   • 2004, Frank Fitzpatrick, "The amazing story of the first discus medal winner", The Philadelphia Inquirer, August 18,

     He [Robert Garrett] won even though he hadn't ever touched a real discus until just before the event was held.

   • 2008, John Branch, "Estonia's Kanter Celebrates Gold Medal in the Discus His Way", The New York Times, August 23,

     [Gerd] Kanter had agreed to demonstrate his throwing skill on Friday, but rather than bringing his own discuses—he usually travels with about five of them, […]

2. (uncountable) The athletics sport of discus throwing.
   • 2008, "Weir lays down marker in Beijing", BBC, September 8,

     And Chris Martin took a silver medal in the discus on the opening day in the Bird's Nest, […]

3. (plural: discus) A discus fish (genus Symphysodon)
   • 2008, Carol Roberts, "History of Discus", North American Discus Association,

     The main body of the Amazon River is too fast, too deep, and too silt laden for discus.

4. (rare, dated) A chakram.
   • 1893, Krishna-Swaipayana Vyasa, translated by K. M. Ganguli, The Mahabharata, Adi Parva, Section XIX,

     And Narayana instantly cut off with his discus the well-adorned head of the Danava who was drinking the Amrita without permission.

   • 1899, Thomas William Rhys Davids (transl.), Digha Nikaya, "Sàmañña-Phàla Sutta",

     If with a discus with an edge sharp as a razor he should make all the living creatures on the earth one heap, one mass, of flesh, […]

Usage notes

• Although an alternative Latinate plural disci is often cited, it is hardly ever used in practice.

Synonyms

• (round plate): quoit

Derived terms

• discus fish
• discus throw
• discus thrower

Translations

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin discus, from Ancient Greek ?????? (dískos). First attested in the eighteenth century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?d?sk?s/
• Hyphenation: dis?cus
• Rhymes: -?sk?s

Noun

discus m (plural discussen, diminutive discusje n)

1. discus

   Synonym: werpschijf

Derived terms

• discuswerpen

Related terms

• dis
• disc
• diskette

Descendants

• ? Indonesian: diskus

Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ?????? (dískos).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?dis.kus/, [?d??s?k?s?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?dis.kus/, [?d?iskus]

Noun

discus m (genitive disc?); second declension

1. a discus, quoit
2. a dish shaped like a discus
3. disc of a sundial

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Descendants

• Old French: deis, dois
  • French: dais
  • ? Middle English: deis
    • English: dais
    • Scots: deas, deece
• Old Italian: desco
  • Italian: desco
  • ? Medieval Latin: desca
    • ? Middle English: deske, desque
      • English: desk
        • ? Irish: deasc
        • ? Welsh: desg
      • Scots: dask
• Old Occitan: [Term?]
  • Occitan: des
• Old Spanish: [Term?]
  • Spanish: desca, desga
• ? Albanian: dhisk
• ? Albanian: dishkë
  • Albanian: dishtë
• ? Asturian: discu
• ? Catalan: disc
• ? Danish: diskos
• ? Dutch: discus
• ? French: disque
  • ? English: disc
  • ? Norman: disque
  • ? Persian: ????? (disk)
  • ? Romanian: disc
• ? English: discus
• ? Galician: disco
• ? West Germanic: *disk (see there for further descendants)
• ? Hebrew: ??????????? (dískus)
• ? Italian: disco
• ? Portuguese: disco
• ? Spanish: disco
  • ? Basque: disko
• ? Swedish: diskus

References

• discus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• discus in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• discus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• discus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• discus in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• discus in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

English

Etymology

From Middle French and Anglo-Norman discusser (French discuter), from Latin discussus, past participle of discuti? (“to strike or shake apart, break up, scatter; examine, discuss”), from dis- (“apart”) + quati? (“to shake”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d?s?k?s/, /d?s?k?s/
• (US) IPA^(key): /d?s?k?s/
• Rhymes: -?s

Verb

discuss (third-person singular simple present discusses, present participle discussing, simple past and past participle discussed)

1. (transitive) To converse or debate concerning a particular topic.

2. (transitive, obsolete) To communicate, tell, or disclose (information, a message, etc.).
   • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, act 1, scene 3:

     Nym: I will discuss the humour of this love to Page.

   • c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Henry V, act 4, scene 1:

     Pistol: Discuss unto me; art thou officer? Or art thou base, common and popular?

3. (obsolete, transitive) To break to pieces; to shatter.
4. (obsolete, transitive, colloquial) To deal with, in eating or drinking; consume.
   • 1854, Samuel White Baker, The Rifle and the Hound in Ceylon:

     We sat quietly down and discussed a cold fowl that we had brought with us.

   • 1858, James Hogg, Titan (volume 27, page 306)

     In the first room we entered, a soldier and a man, like a clerk or dominie, were discussing a bottle of red wine; they immediately sprang up and politely proffered us each a bumper.

5. (transitive, law) To examine or search thoroughly; to exhaust a remedy against, as against a principal debtor before proceeding against the surety.
6. (obsolete, transitive) To drive away, disperse, shake off; said especially of tumors.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.i:

     For she was giuen all to fleshly lust,
     And poured forth in sensuall delight,
     That all regard of shame she had discust,
     And meet respect of honour put to flight […]

   • June 15, 1751, Samuel Johnson, letter in The Rambler

     The softness of my hands was secured by medicated gloves, and my bosom rubbed with a pomade prepared by my mother, of virtue to discuss pimples, and clear discolourations.

   • 1642, Henry Wotton, Short View of the Life and Death of George Villers Duke of Buckingham

     Many arts were used to discuss the beginnings of new affliction.

Synonyms

• (converse about a topic): bespeak, betalk, debate, talk about

Derived terms

Related terms

• quash

Translations

See also

• argue

Further reading

• discuss in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• discuss in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• discuss at OneLook Dictionary Search