Emily Dickinson Lexicon

DIS-CUSS', v.t. [L. discutio, discussum; dis and quatio; Fr. discuter; Sp. discutir. Quatio may be allied to quasso, and to cudo and cædo, to strike. See Class Gs, No. 17, 23, 68, 79, and Class Gd, No. 38, 40, 76. Literally, to drive; to beat or to shake in pieces; to separate by beating or shaking.]

1. To disperse; to scatter; to dissolve; to repel; as, to discuss a tumor; a medical use of the word.
2. To debate; to agitate by argument; to clear of objections and difficulties, with a view to find or illustrate truth; to sift; to examine by disputation; to ventilate; to reason on, for the purpose of separating truth from falsehood. We discuss a subject, a point, a problem, a question, the propriety, expedience or justice of a measure, &c.
3. To break in pieces. – Brown.
4. To shake off. [Not in use.] – Spenser.
5. The primary sense of the word is heard in the colloquial phrases, to discuss a fowl, to discuss a bottle of wine.