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Disband   Listen
verb
Disband  v. t.  (past & past part. disbanded; pres. part. disbanding)  
1.
To loose the bands of; to set free; to disunite; to scatter; to disperse; to break up the organization of; especially, to dismiss from military service; as, to disband an army. "They disbanded themselves and returned, every man to his own dwelling."
2.
To divorce. (Obs.) "And therefore... she ought to be disbanded."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Disband" Quotes from Famous Books



... life. It is now a good time to stop. Of one American we will gain a quarter of a million lira—a fortune—and of the other one hundred and fifty thousand lira. With what we already have it is enough and more. Quietly we will disband our men and go away. In another land we live the respectable life, in peace with all, and Tato shall be the fine lady, and forget she once was a ...
— Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad • Edith Van Dyne

... at once withdraw all troops and munitions of war from Ireland, disband the R.I.C. and invite the leaders of the Sinn Fein movement and of the I.R.B. to submit to a course of psychiatric treatment conducted by an international board of specialists, from which all representatives of the belligerent Powers should ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 158, June 9, 1920 • Various

... be respected; that no taxes should be raised without the assent of the barons; that all men who had taken up arms against his authority should be held free; and that the barons on Prince John's side should return peaceably home and disband their forces. Seeing, under the circumstances, that there was no way before him but to yield to these demands, Prince John accepted the terms. The mercenaries were ordered to march direct to London, and orders were given that ships should be at once prepared to take them across to Normandy, ...
— Winning His Spurs - A Tale of the Crusades • George Alfred Henty

... least it waits and most hath need of thee, Can startle the dull spirit suddenly With grandeur welled from unsuspected springs, — Long as the light of fulgent evenings, When from warm showers the pearly shades disband And sunset opens o'er the humid land, Shows thy veiled immanence in orient skies, — Long as pale mist and opalescent dyes Hung on far isle or vanishing mountain-crest, Fields of remote enchantment can suggest So sweet to wander in it matters nought, They hold no place but in impassioned ...
— Poems • Alan Seeger

... after his retreat the movements of his army are somewhat confused. Dundee marched his cavalry to Reading, where he was joined by Dumbarton. Thence they were ordered to Uxbridge to consult with Feversham on the chances of a battle. But hardly had they got there when the latter received orders to disband the army, and heard at the same time of the King's flight from London. The Scottish troops clamoured for Dundee to lead them back to their country. He marched them to Watford, and while there, it is said, received a letter from William, who had now advanced to Hungerford, bidding him stay where ...
— Claverhouse • Mowbray Morris

... bond of union. They were always ready for revolt, and gave away the highest prizes to fortunate generals. They sold the imperial dignity, and became the masters rather than the servants of the emperors. Diocletian was obliged to disband the Praetorian band. The infantry, which had penetrated the Macedonian phalanx, threw away their defensive armor, and were changed to troops of timid horsemen, whose chief weapon was the bow. And they wasted their strength ...
— The Old Roman World • John Lord

... remnants of his army, and reached Lyons on the 7th of November. Commines, meanwhile, was sent on a further errand to Venice, where he vainly endeavoured to negotiate a treaty, but found the Signoria determined to maintain the cause of Ferrante of Naples. The Venetians were not sorry to disband their army and see the French cross the Alps; but none the less their indignation was great at the Duke of Milan's breach of faith in concluding a separate peace, and sharp words passed between the ambassadors of Spain and Naples and the ...
— Beatrice d'Este, Duchess of Milan, 1475-1497 • Julia Mary Cartwright

... the paymaster had ceased to pretend to pay off the men regularly so that there was now a large amount of back pay due them. Largely through Washington's patriotic exhortations had they kept fighting to the end; and, with peace upon them, they did not dare to disband because they feared that, if they left before they were paid, they would never be paid. Washington felt that, if thousands of discontented and even angry soldiers were allowed to go back to their homes without the means of taking up any work or business, ...
— George Washington • William Roscoe Thayer

... formed part of the system under which he was endeavouring to organize a standing army. With this view he at the same time recalled Mohamad Beg from the siege of Raghogarh and attempted, vainly, to induce that Chief to disband ...
— The Fall of the Moghul Empire of Hindustan • H. G. Keene

... make up your minds that it is a good deal like our politics here at home, mighty badly mixed. Now you go and get me a wash basin of hot soft water, and some rags, and I will clean this gun, and you disband your army, and appoint a good Jew for colonel, and when he says the affair is ripe for a fight you can spiel," and the old man took the gun apart and ...
— Peck's Uncle Ike and The Red Headed Boy - 1899 • George W. Peck

... unexpended in the hands of the commissioner and surveyor, it was left discretionary with them to continue the survey down the Rio Grande as far as the means at their disposal would enable them or at once to disband the commission. A special messenger has since arrived from the officer in charge of the survey on the river with information that the funds subject to his control were exhausted and that the officers and others employed in the service were destitute alike of the ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Volume - V, Part 1; Presidents Taylor and Fillmore • James D. Richardson

... course he ought to take. All his officers of greatest experience were unanimous in advising him to retire, and to decline a battle with an enemy who courted it from despair. The imperialists, they observed, would either be obliged in a few weeks to disband an army which they were unable to pay, and which they kept together only by the hope of plunder, or the soldiers, enraged at the nonperformance of the promises to which they had trusted, would rise in some furious mutiny, which would allow their generals to think of nothing ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 9 • Various

... Almagro should deliver up to him all those immediately implicated in the death of Pizarro, and should then disband his forces. On these conditions the government would pass over his treasonable practices, and he should be reinstated in the royal favor. Together with this mission, Vaca de Castro, it is reported, sent a Spaniard, disguised as ...
— History Of The Conquest Of Peru • William Hickling Prescott

... you threw me higher. Now, made a knight of Arthur's Table Round, And since I knew this Earl, when I myself Was half a bandit in my lawless hour, I come the mouthpiece of our King to Doorm (The King is close behind me) bidding him Disband himself, and scatter all his powers, Submit, and hear the judgment of ...
— Idylls of the King • Alfred, Lord Tennyson

... said the great son of Beorn, "I yielded to your kingly will in the council, that, before we listened to Godwin, he should disband his men, and submit to the judgment of the Witan. The Earl hath sent to me to say, that he will put honour and life in my keeping, and abide by my counsel. And I have answered as became the man who will never snare a foe, or betray ...
— Harold, Complete - The Last Of The Saxon Kings • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... more—disband your Rebel Troops, And strait with me to Abdelazer's Tent, Where all his Claims he shall resign to you, Both in my self, the Kingdom, and the Crown: You being departed, thousands more will leave him, And you're alone the Prop ...
— The Works of Aphra Behn, Vol. II • Aphra Behn

... the midst of his speech the aid-de-camp of the militia colonel came up with a dispatch to Col. White, to the effect that the militia had become mutinous and could no longer be controlled, but were going to join the mob; that the colonel would disband his forces, and would then go and report to the Governor the true condition of the country; that Col. White must take and make use of all the means in his power to protect the people from the mob, for the Government officers were ...
— The Mormon Menace - The Confessions of John Doyle Lee, Danite • John Doyle Lee

... party ought to disband. I think they would be a great deal stronger disbanded, because they would get rid of their reputation ...
— The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Volume VIII. - Interviews • Robert Green Ingersoll

... wealthy citizens grudged nothing to a redcoat, and were indeed so liberal of their best wine, that warlike saints were sometimes seen in a condition not very honourable either to their religious or to their military character. Some refractory regiments Monk ventured to disband. In the mean time the greatest exertions were made by the provisional government, with the strenuous aid of the whole body of the gentry and magistracy, to organise the militia. In every county the ...
— The History of England from the Accession of James II. - Volume 1 (of 5) • Thomas Babington Macaulay

... I should suggest the discontinuance of your school, at least for the present; for in these stormy times one scarce knows what a day may bring forth: and, indeed, your pupils are dropping off within the last few days, and you had better disband voluntarily." ...
— Inez - A Tale of the Alamo • Augusta J. Evans

... the cause was not far to seek. Ever since the Governor's visit there had been sinister rumours abroad concerning Louis Racine, which the Cure and the Avocat and others had taken pains to contradict. It was known that the Seigneur had been requested to disband his so-called company of soldiers with their ancient livery and their modern arms, and to give them up. He had disbanded the corps, but he had not given up the arms, and, for reasons unknown, the Government had not pressed the ...
— The Judgment House • Gilbert Parker

... away for ever. I cling not merely to the name and form, but to the spirit and purpose of the Union which our fathers made. It was for domestic tranquillity; not to organize within one State lawless bands to commit raids upon another. It was to provide for the common defense; not to disband armies and navies, lest they should serve the protection of one section of the country better than another. It was to bring the forces of all the States together to achieve a common object, upholding each the ...
— The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government • Jefferson Davis

... came two fresh announcements, of which the first—a letter from Sir Caesar, continuing Mr. Pope in his office—gratified everyone. But the second was terrible indeed. The War Office had decided to disband the garrison and remove ...
— Major Vigoureux • A. T. Quiller-Couch

... Marsac on the morrow, nor could I now bring myself to consider it with any degree of interest. I would communicate with Chatellerault to inform him that I accounted my wager lost. I would send him my note of hand, making over to him my Picardy estates, and I would request him to pay off and disband my servants both in Paris and ...
— Bardelys the Magnificent • Rafael Sabatini

... this time many parts of the City fell a prey to fire, he formed a company of freedmen in seven divisions to render assistance on such occasions, and appointed a knight as their leader, thinking soon to disband them. He did not do this, however. Having ascertained by experience that the aid they gave was most valuable and necessary, he kept them. The night-watchmen exist to the present day, subject to special regulations, ...
— Dio's Rome, Vol. 4 • Cassius Dio

... were minute-men, with the heart of a lion, the eye of an eagle, and feet swift to meet the battle call. Before the sun was hot, the morning after the news, the Covenanters had crowded Stirling. The city authorities seeing their strength meekly besought them to disband and return home. These Covenanters were patient, long-suffering, full of charity, believing all things, hoping all things. Receiving the promise of better treatment, they drew off as quickly as they had come. They refused to leave Edinburgh when threatened; they consented ...
— Sketches of the Covenanters • J. C. McFeeters

... he will object to any of us going," replied Marcy. "During the riot, when Dixon marched us back into the armory, he said he intended to disband the whole thing at once. Matters were coming to such a pass that he couldn't and ...
— True To His Colors • Harry Castlemon

... reinforcement. The Electress of Bavaria, who had been left Regent of that State in the absence of the Elector in Flanders, had now no resource left but submission; and a treaty was accordingly concluded in the beginning of November, by which she agreed to disband all her troops. Trarbach was taken in the end of December; the Hungarian insurrection was appeased; Landau capitulated in the beginning of the same month; a diversion which the enemy attempted on Treves was defeated by Marlborough's activity ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol 58, No. 357, July 1845 • Various

... order to get rid of so incompetent an officer, and at the same time punish the insubordination of the men, it was resolved to disband the company. Thus was afforded to Frank the opportunity, which seemed to him almost providential, of joining Captain Edney's company, and to John Winch the desired chance to quit the service, of which he had so ...
— The Drummer Boy • John Trowbridge

... replied that he had no designs against the king, but only against the traitor Somerset, and he said that if the king would order Somerset to be arrested and brought to trial, he should be satisfied, and would disband his forces. ...
— Margaret of Anjou - Makers of History • Jacob Abbott

... Popes, such as Gregory VII and Innocent III, were the most prompt to set in motion the machinery of war in defence of their territories or in punishment of rebels against their authority. Not one of them was in a position to bid kings disband their armies, or ever dreamed of enjoining them to do more than observe a few days' truce or keep their swords from each other in order to save them for the ...
— The War and the Churches • Joseph McCabe

... command of the army during seven years, and to make over to them the next nomination of the lord admiral, the judges, and the officers of state. The insulting[b] silence with which this message was treated did not deter him from a third attempt. He asked whether, if he were to disband his forces, dismantle his garrisons, and return to his usual residence in the vicinity of the parliament, they, on ...
— The History of England from the First Invasion by the Romans - to the Accession of King George the Fifth - Volume 8 • John Lingard and Hilaire Belloc

... occasioned the delay. "It is not," said he, "in the pages of history to furnish a case like ours. To maintain a post within musket shot of the enemy for six months together, without ammunition; and at the same time, to disband one army and recruit another, within that distance of twenty-odd British regiments, is more than, probably, ever was attempted. But if we succeed as well in the latter, as we have hitherto done in the former, I shall think it the most fortunate ...
— The Life of George Washington, Vol. 2 (of 5) • John Marshall

... interrupted communications, and, darting to and fro between the British posts, which he had not the power to overcome, showed that nothing but that power was necessary to enable him to challenge with them the possession of the soil. That he should disband his men at one moment, and be able by a word to bring them together when they were again wanted, proves a singular alliance between the chieftain and his followers, which is characteristic only of the most romantic history. It shows a power, on the part of the former, such as we ascribe to the winding ...
— The Life of Francis Marion • William Gilmore Simms

... 25. and brought back ignominiously to Paris. Count Dampierre is massacred under the King's eyes. The Marquis de Bouille writes a menacing letter to the assembly on the subject of the King. An order is intimated to the King to disband his body guards. All the royal functions are suspended. The King is kept a close prisoner. Monsieur, the King's brother, escapes to Coblentz. July 9. M. de Cazeles resigns his place as a deputy. ...
— Historical Epochs of the French Revolution • H. Goudemetz

... used to defend military conscription which could not be equaled with as powerful an argument for civil conscription. I am not at all sure that if the State in Ireland decided to utilize two years of every young man's life for State purposes that we could not disband most of our expensive constabulary and make certain squads of our civil recruits responsible for the keeping of public law and order, leaving only the officers as permanent professionals, for of course there must be expert ...
— National Being - Some Thoughts on an Irish Polity • (A.E.)George William Russell

... years excluded Presbyterians from all the departments of the legal profession. The lawyers, some hundreds in number, formed themselves into a battalion of infantry, and for a time effectually kept down the multitude. They paid, however, so much respect to William's authority as to disband themselves when his proclamation was published. But the example of obedience which they had set was not imitated. Scarcely had they laid down their weapons, when Covenanters from the west, who had done all that was to be ...
— The History of England from the Accession of James II. - Volume 3 (of 5) • Thomas Babington Macaulay

... General Sherman issued orders for the future movements of his army. Its work was done, and nothing remained for the greater portion of it not required to garrison the conquered country but to return home and disband. ...
— History of the Eighty-sixth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, during its term of service • John R. Kinnear

... than he is anti-war. He adopts tactics of non-violence because that is the most effective way in which a disarmed and disorganized multitude can resist armed troops and police. He has never suggested that when India attains full independence it shall disband the Indian army. The Indian National Congress ... never for one moment contemplated abandoning violence as the necessary instrument of the State they hoped one day ...
— Introduction to Non-Violence • Theodore Paullin

... as thou hast heard, Caesar seized Ptolemy, the young King, and his sister Arsinoe, and bade the army of Cleopatra and the army of Ptolemy, under Achillas, which lay facing each other at Pelusium, disband and go their ways. And for answer Achillas marched on Caesar, and besieged him straitly in the Bruchium at Alexandria, and so, for a while, things were, and none knew who should reign in Egypt. But then Cleopatra took up the dice, and threw them, and this was the throw she made—in truth, it ...
— Cleopatra • H. Rider Haggard

... within thirty miles of their destination, and halted to send out scouts. Two prisoners were captured, from whom it was learned that Clark had abandoned his proposed expedition. [Footnote: Haldimand MSS. Captain A. Thompson to De Peyster, September 26, 1781.] Instantly the Indians began to disband, some returning to their homes, and others scattering out to steal horses and burn isolated cabins. Nor could the utmost efforts of their leaders keep them together. They had no wish to fight Clark unless it was absolutely necessary, ...
— The Winning of the West, Volume Two - From the Alleghanies to the Mississippi, 1777-1783 • Theodore Roosevelt

... was unable to accomplish anything against him, and brought forward every possible proposition which was sure of not being accepted. The chief of these was that all persons in arms must lay these down and disband their legions, or else they should not strip Caesar of his weapons and expose him to the forces of his rivals. This he said, not because he wished Caesar to do it, but because he well understood that Pompey would not yield obedience ...
— Dio's Rome • Cassius Dio

... whole Creation shakes off night, And for thy shadow looks the Light; Stars now vanish without number, Sleepie Planets set and slumber, The pursie Clouds disband and scatter, All expect some ...
— A Dish Of Orts • George MacDonald

... measured by the fact that on June 9, 1783, word came that eighty soldiers were on their way to Philadelphia to demand relief. They stacked their arms in front of the State House, where the Congress was then sitting, and refused to disband, when requested by Col. Alexander Hamilton, as the representative of the Congress, to do so. When Congress appealed to the government of Pennsylvania for protection, it was advised that the Pennsylvania militia was likewise insubordinate. The Congress ...
— The Constitution of the United States - A Brief Study of the Genesis, Formulation and Political Philosophy of the Constitution • James M. Beck

... bishops. "Pax vobis! pax vobis!" he painfully repeated. But it was already too late. The young and rash Emperor of Austria, driven to extremity, thought himself sufficiently strong to contend at once against France and the revolution. He summoned Piedmont to disband such of her regiments as were composed of Lombards and Venetians, who were Austrian subjects. As this was refused, he declared war. He fell into a second error. He assumed the offensive tardily, and did not push forward rapidly to the ...
— Pius IX. And His Time • The Rev. AEneas MacDonell

... and quicken the flight of those who have the everlasting gospel to preach, the voice may cease to sound, even in the valleys and over the goodly hills of Lebanon! Your infant seminary for training native preachers may droop, or disband; your congregations on the mountains, and on the plain, may be left without any one to break to them the bread of life; and your press may cease to drop those leaves, which are for the healing of the nations. All this may, ...
— History Of The Missions Of The American Board Of Commissioners For Foreign Missions To The Oriental Churches, Volume I. • Rufus Anderson

... granted and similar confidence must be given to some one. The Unlisted Stock Committee were not self-appointed because they came into being at the instigation and suggestion of the Committee of Five, and to disband them after they had started upon their work, substituting other individuals in their places, would merely stimulate fresh antagonism that might wreck the entire project. The fact that these men were dealers in outside properties especially ...
— The New York Stock Exchange in the Crisis of 1914 • Henry George Stebbins Noble

... stirred from the ranks. Here was a difficult card to play, now, for the authorities, because it would have been inconvenient to try the whole regiment by court martial, and the soldiers were quite too valuable to be mowed down en masse. The only course left was to disband the regiment, which was done. The disaffected men were distributed into regiments serving in India and other remote colonies, and the officers, none of whom, we believe, were involved in the mutiny, were provided for in various quarters. ...
— Continental Monthly, Vol. III, No IV, April 1863 - Devoted to Literature and National Policy • Various

... unto the end; these can be written in no earthly book of remembrance. Its life is lived; its work is done; its memorial is sealed. It assembles to-day to take one parting look across its years; to breathe in silence its unutterable thanksgiving; to disband its membership, and cease to be. Reviewing its experience of labor and endurance, the united voices of its members testify that it has been a service whose reward was in itself; and contemplating the grandeur of the work ...
— History of Woman Suffrage, Volume I • Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage

... convention or executive committee meeting was held, only frequent informal conferences, until after the vote was taken on November 8, 1910. The final executive committee meeting was held at Seattle in January, 1911, when it was voted to continue the association until all bills were paid and then disband. It was decided to present the large silken banner "Votes for Women" to the next State having a campaign and it went to California the following year. The unfinished business was completed by the old officers, Mrs. DeVoe, Mrs. Leckenby ...
— The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume VI • Various

... side. He was very willing to tell how he happened to be there, and he explained that he was the manager of a circus, which had been playing to very good business all winter in Spain. In an evil hour he decided to come to Italy, but he found the prices so ruinously low that he was forced to disband his company. This diving girl was all that remained to him of its many attractions, and he was trying to make a living for both in a country where the admission to a circus was six of our cents, ...
— Henry James, Jr. • William Dean Howells

... opportune, for the Portuguese troops with Wellington were completely demoralized, and exhausted, by the failure of their government to supply them with food, pay, or clothes. So deplorable was their state that Wellington had been obliged to disband the militia regiments, and great numbers of desertions had taken place from ...
— Under Wellington's Command - A Tale of the Peninsular War • G. A. Henty

... enough to mount what men we had. There were fifteen thousand men, or thereabouts, up near Harper's Ferry, and no horses to put them on. Well, the other day Grant sent to me about these very men, just as I expected; but what he wanted to know was whether he could make infantry of 'em or disband 'em. He doesn't ask impossibilities of me, and he's the first General I've had that didn't." On another occasion Lincoln said of Grant: "The great thing about him is his cool persistency of purpose. He is not easily excited, and he has the grip of a bulldog. When he once gets his teeth in, ...
— The Every-day Life of Abraham Lincoln • Francis Fisher Browne

... Prince must court his subjects to give him leave to raise an army, and when that's done, tell him when he must disband them; that if he wants money, he must assemble the States of his country, and not only give them good words to get it, and tell them what 'tis for, but give them an account how it is expended before he asks for more. The subjects in such a government ...
— Daniel Defoe • William Minto

... Italy was afraid to disband her army, because she could not employ the men and was afraid of idleness. He said that the differential, which had kept England preeminent in international trade, was the underpayment of labor, and that this differential ...
— The Story of The American Legion • George Seay Wheat

... first organized, some months ago, it had to encounter bitter hostility from the white troops at Port Royal, and there was great exultation when General Hunter found himself obliged to disband it. Since its reorganization this feeling seems to have almost disappeared. There is no complaint by the privates of insult or ill-treatment, formerly disgracefully common from ...
— History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880. Vol. 2 (of 2) - Negroes as Slaves, as Soldiers, and as Citizens • George Washington Williams

... Congress on the last day of the last session, which directed that all the noncommissioned officers, musicians, and privates of that regiment who had been in service in Mexico should, upon their application, be entitled to be discharged. The effect of this provision was to disband the rank and file of the regiment, and before their places could be filled by recruits the season had so far advanced that it was impracticable for it to proceed until the ...
— Complete State of the Union Addresses from 1790 to the Present • Various

... order to obtain it, it is necessary to have an army of a hundred thousand men, I have nothing to say against it. It is an enjoyment bought by a sacrifice. Let me not be misunderstood upon the extent of my position. A member of the assembly proposes to disband a hundred thousand men, for the sake of relieving the tax-payers of ...
— Essays on Political Economy • Frederic Bastiat

... Wales on being so near the goal of their desires. The Premier had definitely said that before the session closed a Bill would be introduced to give women the suffrage, and he hoped that next year they would be able to disband their League, its work being finished. The Bill was introduced in 1901 but was lost ...
— The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV • Various

... innocent person; but it is certain, that too resolute conclusions drawn from hence, are bold usurpations upon spotless Sovereignty: and tho' some things if suffered to be common, would subvert this Government, and disband, yea ruine Humane Society; yet God doth sometimes suffer such things to evene, that we may thereby know how much we are beholden to him, for that restraint which he lays upon the Infernal Spirits, who would else reduce a World into a Chaos. That the Resolutions ...
— The Wonders of the Invisible World • Cotton Mather

... middle and the low, could gain their favor. They must needs hold a council and put their two hundred thick heads together, and then there comes this fellow Aylward and another, as their spokesmen, to say that they will disband unless an Englishman of good name be set over them. There are many of them, as I understand, who come from some great forest which lies in Hampi, or Hampti—I cannot lay my tongue to the name. Your dwelling is in those parts, and so their thoughts ...
— The White Company • Arthur Conan Doyle

... resisted to the last. But it soon became apparent that the loss sustained by the English was so severe, that Surrey was in no condition to avail himself of the opportunity; and in fact, shortly afterwards, he was compelled to disband his army. ...
— Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers and Other Poems • W.E. Aytoun

... approach turned the slow dispersal to a stampede. A few arrests were made, the remaining groups were charged by the soldiers, and presently the square lay bare as a storm-swept plain, though the people still hung on its outskirts, ready to disband at the first ...
— The Valley of Decision • Edith Wharton

... it is the only time That with thy glory doth best chime: All now are stirring; every field Full hymns doth yield; The whole creation shakes off night, And for thy shadow looks the light;[152] Stars now vanish without number; Sleepy planets set and slumber; The pursy clouds disband and scatter;— All expect some sudden matter; Not one beam triumphs, but, from ...
— England's Antiphon • George MacDonald

... French. They did a great deal more; the first of them influenced the dispositions of the divan and the capital, and the second those of the grand vizir and the army; and as the proud Mahmoud resisted, and would only accept an honourable peace, these treacherous Greeks contrived to disband his army, and compelled him, by insurrections, to sign the degrading treaty of Bucharest with ...
— History of the Expedition to Russia - Undertaken by the Emperor Napoleon in the Year 1812 • Count Philip de Segur

... they may confide, and I request your majesty to take graciously into consideration that it is this time the people that must render Prussia victorious. It is true, the regiments of volunteers that have already been organized would not disband, even though Kalkreuth or Tanentzien should be appointed general-in-chief of the Prussian or Silesian army, but the regiments that have not yet been organized and equipped will hesitate and retire, unless they know that a general will command ...
— NAPOLEON AND BLUCHER • L. Muhlbach

... Governor took his measures with true military promptness. He immediately dispatched to the Missouri camp Secretary Woodson with copies of his inaugural, and the adjutant-general of the Territory with orders to disband and muster out of service the Missouri volunteers,[12] while he himself, at the head of three hundred dragoons and a light battery, moved rapidly to Lawrence, a distance of twelve miles. Entering that town at sunrise, he found a few hundred men hastily organized for defense in the ...
— Abraham Lincoln, A History, Volume 2 • John George Nicolay and John Hay

... between the husband and wife as politicians. On the contrary, according to our estimate of a proper civilization, we look to the family relation as being the true foundation of our republican institutions. Strike out the family relation, disband the family, destroy the proper authority of the person at the head of the family, either the wife or the husband, and you take from popular government all ...
— History of Woman Suffrage, Volume III (of III) • Various

... our forts and ships of war, disband our army and navy, and apply the lighted torch to our military munitions and to our physical means of defence of every description; let it be proclaimed to the world that we will rely solely upon the consciences of nations for justice, and that we have no longer either the ...
— Elements of Military Art and Science • Henry Wager Halleck

... Applying to Spain for aid, the Spanish court sent him eight thousand troops from the Netherlands; he also raised, in his own dominions, ten thousand men. Having assembled this force he sent word to the Protestants, that if they would disband their force he would do the same, and that he would confirm the royal edict and give full security for the maintenance of their civil and religious privileges. The Protestants refused to disband, knowing that they could place no reliance upon the ...
— The Empire of Austria; Its Rise and Present Power • John S. C. Abbott

... the defence of the country, you know what garrisons are necessary, and what are not; you know what number of troops is sufficient in one garrison, and not sufficient in another; you will cause the necessary garrisons to be reinforced, and will disband those that are useless?" "I should be of opinion," said Glaucon, "to leave none of them on foot, because they ruin a country, on pretence of defending it." "But," Socrates objected, "if all the garrisons were taken away, there would be nothing to hinder the first ...
— The Memorable Thoughts of Socrates • Xenophon

... Charlton Island to await the coming of the Company's yearly boats. When the hungry French rushed into the fort, they found small store of food, but an enormous loot of furs. The season was advancing. The Chevalier de Troyes bade his men disband and find their way as best they could to Quebec. Only enough English prisoners were retained to carry the loot of furs back overland. The rest were turned adrift in the woods. Of fifty prisoners, only twenty survived the winter ...
— The "Adventurers of England" on Hudson Bay - A Chronicle of the Fur Trade in the North (Volume 18 of the Chronicles of Canada) • Agnes C. (Agnes Christina) Laut

... without a struggle that poor Mrs. Haller consented to disband her little family—and virtually to divorce herself from her husband. No matter how cruel the latter had been, nor how deplorable the condition of the former, her heart still retained its household affections, ...
— The Lights and Shadows of Real Life • T.S. Arthur

... Porte de Namur I found that the Garde Civique in Brussels had been ordered to disband and that the plan for the defense of the city had been completely abandoned. It was the wise thing to do, for there was no hope of defending the town with the small force of Gardes at the disposal of the military governor. It would have been quite futile and ...
— A Journal From Our Legation in Belgium • Hugh Gibson

... Boston Neck and fortified it. The military stores in the arsenals of Cambridge and Charlestown were conveyed to Boston, and the general assembly was ordered to disband. ...
— The Hero of Ticonderoga - or Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys • John de Morgan

... obliged to disband his Irish forces, and their commanders were sent orders for that purpose. They had instructions, however, to keep the men at home and together, so that they might easily be collected again if they could be made ...
— An Illustrated History of Ireland from AD 400 to 1800 • Mary Frances Cusack

... travelling, to have the Justice and Constable to drive them up together. "If you want a fat wether, there's nothing like penning up the whole flock in a corner. I guess," said he, "if General Campbell knew what sort of a man that 'ere magistrate was, he'd disband him pretty quick; he's a regular suck egg—a disgrace to the country. I guess if he acted that way in Kentucky, he'd get a breakfast of cold lead some morning, out of the small eend of a rifle, he'd find pretty difficult to digest. ...
— The Clockmaker • Thomas Chandler Haliburton

... Charles's fortune to see the fulfilment of the long labour in which he had played so great a part. Not till three years later—in June, 19l3—did the Congo Reform Association feel that its work was completed, and that it could disband ...
— The Life of the Rt. Hon. Sir Charles W. Dilke, Vol. 2 • Stephen Gwynn

... jealousy of concluding one, except with the House of Bourbon: in a peace concluded with it we should have confidence, but we can have none in the present Government of France. I say, were that event arrived, and the House of Bourbon seated on the throne, the Minister should be impeached who would disband a single soldier; and that it would be equally criminal to make peace under a new King as under a republican government, unless her heart and mind were friendly to it. France, as a republic, maybe a bad neighbour; ...
— Selected Speeches on British Foreign Policy 1738-1914 • Edgar Jones

... was lost, by the government, in marching the promised force to Hyderabad. The French, 14,000 strong, refused to disband, and were joined by the Nizam's household force, which was in the French interest. The Nizam, terrified at the prospect of a contest, the success of which was doubtful, abandoned the capital and took refuge in a fortress, there to await the issue ...
— The Tiger of Mysore - A Story of the War with Tippoo Saib • G. A. Henty

... with many eminent men of Kentucky, including a large majority of her members of Congress, I do not remember that any one of them, or any other person, except your Excellency and the bearers of your Excellency's letter, has urged me to remove the military force from Kentucky or to disband it. One other very worthy citizen of Kentucky did solicit me to have the augmenting of the ...
— The Papers And Writings Of Abraham Lincoln, Complete - Constitutional Edition • Abraham Lincoln

... the war of 1870. We were retreating toward Pont-Audemer, after having passed through Rouen. The army, consisting of about twenty thousand men, twenty thousand routed men, disbanded, demoralized, exhausted, were going to disband ...
— Maupassant Original Short Stories (180), Complete • Guy de Maupassant

... impossible for the king ever to retrieve it. The foot, the best that he was ever master of, could never be supplied; his army in the west was exposed to certain ruin; the north overrun with the Scots; in short, the case grew desperate, and the king was once upon the point of bidding us all disband, and shift for ourselves. ...
— MacMillan's Reading Books - Book V • Anonymous

... of War has given orders to disband the regiments, and to bring the officers and men responsible before a court-marital." East ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 152, June 20, 1917 • Various

... filling up the grave, the friends, relatives, neighbors, and, in fact, all persons that attend the funeral, give vent to their sad feelings by making the whole pueblo howl; after the tremendous uproar subsides, they disband and leave the body to rest until Gabriel blows his trumpet. When the ceremonies are performed with all the pomp of the Catholic church, the priest receives a fair compensation for his services; otherwise he officiates for the yearly rents ...
— A Further Contribution to the Study of the Mortuary Customs of the North American Indians • H.C. Yarrow

... soon followed by another, no less painful. The leaders of the Revolution had sent an army of volunteers to dislodge the old King and his Guard from Rambouillet. They did not turn him out, first of all because the King himself had decided to disband his guard and retire to Cherbourg with no escort but four companies of his bodyguard; and, secondly, because these same volunteers, numerous as they were on leaving Paris, melted away rapidly on the road, and above all things took good care not to venture within range of the Guard's fire. ...
— Memoirs • Prince De Joinville

... followed that the Congress of the Confederation accomplished practically nothing. As will be shown later, it could secure no treaties of any importance, since its impotence to enforce them was patent. It managed to disband the remaining troops with great difficulty and only under the danger of mutiny, a danger so great that it took all of {135} Washington's personal influence to prevent an uprising at Newburg in March, 1783. ...
— The Wars Between England and America • T. C. Smith

... noble organization is 'Grue's Overseas Grouches,' and our humble object is to rebuke the only taint of Prussianism which we have personally encountered in an otherwise perfectly good man's army. When we've done that we intend to disband." ...
— Torchy and Vee • Sewell Ford

... around the table, and foaming mugs of ale were freely quaffed for "sorrow's dry," they said. But neither laugh, song nor jest attended their draughts. They were to keep that night's vigil in honor of their captain, and then were to disband and separate forever. ...
— Capitola's Peril - A Sequel to 'The Hidden Hand' • Mrs. E.D.E.N. Southworth

... [Reform, i.e. disband. See "Memoirs of Sir John Reresby," September 2nd, 1651. "A great many younger brothers and reformed officers of the King's army depended upon him for their meat and drink." So reformado, a discharged ...
— Diary of Samuel Pepys, Complete • Samuel Pepys

... were nearly equal, eight thousand men being engaged in all. Two thousand, or one quarter of the whole, were left dead upon the field. After his defeat, Cruz signed an agreement recognizing Montt as the legitimate President, and promising to disband all his forces, and make no farther attempt to disturb the peace of the country, on condition that his offence and that of his associates should be pardoned. It was thought that this event would insure the tranquillity of the country for many years; and Bulnes was received at Valparaiso ...
— The International Monthly, Volume 5, No. 3, March, 1852 • Various

... that your arms can never crush the rebellion; that you are inferior in courage to the slave-holding rebels; that you must admit your defeat, throw down your muskets, return in disgrace to your homes, disband the army, lay up the navy, recall Generals Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Meade, and Gilmore, and Admirals Farragut, Porter, Dupont, Davis, and Winslow, and leave it to the civilians of Chicago, Vallandigham, Harris, Long, PENDLETON, and ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No. 6, December 1864 - Devoted To Literature And National Policy • Various

... across the Missouri. In September, President Pierce appointed Gray Governor of Kansas. Arriving at Lecompton, he released Robinson and other Free State prisoners on bail, and ordered all hostile forces to disband. On September 15, three regiments of Missourians with cannon attacked Lawrence. Governor Gray with United States troops compelled them to retire. December 15, Lecompton, a partisan judge, was removed on demand of the Governor, and Harrison of Kentucky was appointed. The Free State preponderance ...
— A History of the Nineteenth Century, Year by Year - Volume Two (of Three) • Edwin Emerson

... passed. Ingoldsby was determined to stay, Leisler just as determined that he should go. At length Leisler sent Ingoldsby a notice to disband his force in two hours, or take the consequences. Ingoldsby refused to disband his force. So from the fort Leisler fired upon the soldiers in the town hall, and several were killed. More trouble seemed likely to follow, but some of Leisler's soldiers had already had enough, ...
— This Country Of Ours • H. E. Marshall Author: Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall

... irresponsible recruiting officers. But is the Government itself an irresponsible recruiting officer? and if men have volunteered in good faith on the written assurances of the Secretary of War, is not Congress bound, in all decency, either to fulfill those pledges or to disband the regiments? ...
— Army Life in a Black Regiment • Thomas Wentworth Higginson

... where he arrived at the time of the winter solstice. There he crossed the sea, and landed at Oricum; from whence he dispatched Vibullius, one of Pompey's friends, whom he had brought prisoner thither, with proposals of a conference between him and Pompey, in which they should agree to disband their armies within three days, renew their friendship, confirm it with solemn oath, and then both return to Italy. Pompey took this overture for another snare, and therefore drew down in haste to the sea, and secured all the forts ...
— The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch - Being Parts of The "Lives" of Plutarch • Plutarch

... remained at Edinburgh. In the spring of 1814 the waning star of Napoleon had, to all appearances, set, and he was on his way to his miniature kingdom, the Isle of Elba (28th April). Europe commenced to disband its huge armies, Great Britain among the rest. On 21st June the West Norfolks received orders to proceed to Norwich by ship via Leith and Great Yarmouth. The Government, relieved of all apprehension of an ...
— The Life of George Borrow • Herbert Jenkins

... house, there was a porch from which the boss gave orders usually about four o'clock in the morning and at which they would disband in the evening between nine and ten—no certain time but more or less not earlier than nine and not often later than ten. Back of the house and beyond it was a fence extending clear across the yard. In one corner of this fence was ...
— Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States - Volume II. Arkansas Narratives. Part I • Work Projects Administration

... association called the "Combined Society," the members of which were bound to secrecy by oaths and other solemn pledges. The purpose of the Combined Society became known, and the force of public opinion compelled the members to disband. Some of them were men of ...
— Stories Of Georgia - 1896 • Joel Chandler Harris

... only that the war might last as long as possible, so that they might continue the life of lawless wandering at the expense of the country, which they considered the best life possible; people who at the sight of wine, women or plunder would disband themselves, hungering, turning against ...
— The Shadow of the Cathedral • Vicente Blasco Ibanez

... that, ere you all disband, Some one would take my bargain off my hand: To keep a punk is but a common evil; To find her false, and marry,—that's the devil. Well, I ne'er acted part in all my life, But still I was fobbed off with some such wife. I find the trick; these poets take no pity Of one that is a member of the ...
— The Works of John Dryden, Vol. 6 (of 18) - Limberham; Oedipus; Troilus and Cressida; The Spanish Friar • John Dryden

... after being environed for fifteen days, was about to fall into his hands, when the Queen suddenly arrived in the camp, and communicated some information, probably referring to a threatened conspiracy of the nobles, which induced him to throw up the siege, disband his army, and return northward in haste. This unexpected step probably retarded, but could not prevent the dreadful purpose of death which had already ...
— Specimens with Memoirs of the Less-known British Poets, Complete • George Gilfillan

... be a dangerous resource, and one not to be resorted to but in great extremity. But I am supposing the case of our being driven to extremity. It might be dangerous to disband such an army, and reduce them with the habits of soldiers, to their former condition of laborers. It might be found necessary, when once embodied, to keep them so, and subject to military discipline—a permanent standing army. This in time of peace would ...
— Cotton is King and The Pro-Slavery Arguments • Various

... congress has recourse to teachers of history, to women, and to the clergy, with the advice to the latter to preach on the evil of war and the blessing of peace every third Sunday in December. To attain the second object the congress appeals to governments with the suggestion that they should disband their armies and replace war ...
— The Kingdom of God is within you • Leo Tolstoy

... Chosroes to a speedy retreat: he burnt, in his passage, the vacant town of Melitene; and, without consulting the safety of his troops, boldly swam the Euphrates on the back of an elephant. After this unsuccessful campaign, the want of magazines, and perhaps some inroad of the Turks, obliged him to disband or divide his forces; the Romans were left masters of the field, and their general Justinian, advancing to the relief of the Persarmenian rebels, erected his standard on the banks of the Araxes. The great Pompey had formerly halted within three days' march of the Caspian: ...
— The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 4 • Edward Gibbon

... Thessalians, and some of the Greek cities in the neighbourhood of Macedon, gradually formed his troops, which in the beginning were probably militia, to the exact discipline of a standing army. When he was at peace, which he was very seldom, and never for any long time together, he was careful not to disband that army. It vanquished and subdued, after a long and violent struggle, indeed, the gallant and well exercised militias of the principal republics of ancient Greece; and afterwards, with very little struggle, the effeminate and ill exercised militia of the great Persian empire. The fall of the ...
— An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations • Adam Smith

... personal gain betrayed the interests of his country. Had he now seen that the attempt of a majority in the Estates of Holland to resist the will of the majority in the States-General could only lead to civil war, and had he resigned his post, advising the Estates to disband the Waardgelders and yield to superior force, a catastrophe might have been averted. There is no reason to believe that in such circumstances Maurice would have countenanced any extreme harshness in dealing ...
— History of Holland • George Edmundson

... facts, will any of the Allied Powers be so foolish as to disband this great system of national factories and nationally worked communications? Moreover, we have already risked the prophecy that this war will not end with such conclusiveness as to justify an immediate beating out of our ...
— What is Coming? • H. G. Wells

... To avenge this inroad the inhabitants immediately began preparations for a descent upon St. Augustine; and an expedition consisting of two French privateering vessels and about 500 men was organized and about to sail, when a new governor, James Colleton, arrived and ordered it to disband.[475] Colleton was instructed to arrest Governor Moreton on the charge of encouraging piracy, and to punish those who entertained and abetted the freebooters;[476] and on 12th February 1687 he had a new and more explicit law to suppress the ...
— The Buccaneers in the West Indies in the XVII Century • Clarence Henry Haring

... voyage from Gimli. The Prince-Protector Simon Bentrik spoke: The illegal rule of the traitor Makann was ended. His deluded followers were advised to return to their allegiance to the Crown. The People's Watchmen were ordered to surrender their arms and disband; in localities where they refused, the loyal people were called upon to co-operate with the legitimate armed forces of the Crown in exterminating them, and would be furnished arms as soon ...
— Space Viking • Henry Beam Piper

... insurgents in the plain. The effect of this, connected with the report, which every moment gained strength, that the Commissary was about to quit the colony was so evident, that Toussaint's wishes seemed likely to be accomplished. The insurgents did not, indeed, disband: they had been too often deceived by the Commissary's bland promises to do that before they had gained their point: but there was every reason to believe that they would march upon the town, only to secure the departure of Hedouville and ...
— The Hour and the Man - An Historical Romance • Harriet Martineau

... general discontent. Hence any public measure involving further disbursements met with angry opposition. Large arrears of pay were due to soldiers, and bounties had been promised to induce them to disband peacefully, and to compensate them for the depreciation of the currency. Congress had also granted five years' extra pay to officers, in lieu of the half-pay for life which was first voted. The army, in consequence, became very unpopular. A great clamor ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No. 88, February, 1865 • Various

... against the Committee. J. Neely Johnson was Governor of the State, and controlled the militia. He was petitioned by the Law and Order Organization to take action and issue a proclamation requiring the Vigilance Committee to disband. Governor Johnson came from Sacramento to San Francisco by steamboat on Friday night, and was met at the wharf by a deputation of the Law and Order body. Subsequently, up town, a committee from the Vigilance Committee, accompanied by Col. Baillie ...
— The Vigilance Committee of '56 • James O'Meara

... Put to their mouths the sounding alchemy, By herald's voice explained; the hollow Abyss Heard far and wide, and all the host of Hell With deafening shout returned them loud acclaim. Thence more at ease their minds, and somewhat raised By false presumptuous hope, the ranged Powers Disband; and, wandering, each his several way Pursues, as inclination or sad choice Leads him perplexed, where he may likeliest find Truce to his restless thoughts, and entertain The irksome hours, till his great Chief return. Part on ...
— Paradise Lost • John Milton

... of their army. For the infantry, which outnumbered ours by 1500, were now at our mercy; some faint resistance they made, just enough to give us occasion to break into their ranks with our horse, where we gave time to our foot to defeat others that stood to their work, upon which they began to disband, and run every way they could; but our horse having surrounded them, we made a ...
— Memoirs of a Cavalier • Daniel Defoe



Words linked to "Disband" :   dissolve, dispel, break up, disperse, dissipate, disbandment, scatter



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