Emily Dickinson Lexicon

DIS-CERN', v.t. [s as z; L. discerno; dis and cerno, to separate, or distinguish, Gr. κρινω; It. discernere; Sp. discernir; Fr. discerner; Eng. screen. The sense is to separate.]

1. To separate by the eye, or by the understanding. Hence,
2. To distinguish; to see the difference between two or more things; to discriminate; as, to discern the blossom-buds from the leaf-buds of plants. – Boyle. Discern thou what is thine. – Gen. xxxi.
3. To make the difference. [Obs.] For nothing else discerns the virtue or the vice. – B. Jonson.
4. To discover; to see; to distinguish by the eye. I discerned among the youths a young man void of understanding. – Prov. vii.
5. To discover by the intellect; to distinguish; hence, to have knowledge of; to judge. So is my lord the king to discern good and bad. – 2 Sam. xiv. A wise man's heart discerneth time and judgment. – Eccles. viii.