dishevel

dishevel

English

Etymology

From Old French descheveler (nowadays écheveler).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɪ(s)ˈʃɛvl̩/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛvəl

Verb

dishevel (third-person singular simple present dishevels, present participle disheveling or dishevelling, simple past and past participle disheveled or dishevelled)

1. (transitive) To throw into disorder; upheave.
2. (transitive) To disarrange or loosen (hair, clothing, etc.).
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, stanza 12:

     With garments rent, and haire discheueled, / Wringing her hands, and making piteous mone;

   • 1785, William Cowper, The Garden

     Like the fair flower dishevell'd in the wind.

   • 1964 April, G. Freeman Allen, “The BRB shows traders the Liner train prototypes”, in Modern Railways, page 262:

     [...] the natural finish seems much less likely to show up the stains of travel which might soon dishevel the golden ochre or dark blue—especially the latter—[...].

3. (intransitive) To spread out in disorder.

Derived terms

• dishevelment

Translations

throw into disorder

Bulgarian: разхвърлям (bg) (razhvǎrljam) Czech: rozházet m Dutch: het laten hangen German: in Unordnung bringen, herumschmeißen (de), verwirren (de) Kazakh: бобырау (bobyrau) Spanish: desordenar (es)

disarrange or loosen

Finnish: pörröttää German: zerzausen (de), zerwühlen (de), zerstrubbeln (de), verlottern (de) Russian: растрепать (ru) (rastrepatʹ)

References

• “dishevel”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

• he-devils, she-devil