From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Discipline \Dis`ci*pline\, n. [F. discipline, L. disciplina,
from discipulus. See Disciple.]
1. The treatment suited to a disciple or learner; education;
development of the faculties by instruction and exercise;
training, whether physical, mental, or moral.
[1913 Webster]
Wife and children are a kind of discipline of
humanity. --Bacon.
[1913 Webster]
Discipline aims at the removal of bad habits and the
substitution of good ones, especially those of
order, regularity, and obedience. --C. J. Smith.
[1913 Webster]
2. Training to act in accordance with established rules;
accustoming to systematic and regular action; drill.
[1913 Webster]
Their wildness lose, and, quitting nature's part,
Obey the rules and discipline of art. --Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
3. Subjection to rule; submissiveness to order and control;
habit of obedience.
[1913 Webster]
The most perfect, who have their passions in the
best discipline, are yet obliged to be constantly on
their guard. --Rogers.
[1913 Webster]
4. Severe training, corrective of faults; instruction by
means of misfortune, suffering, punishment, etc.
[1913 Webster]
A sharp discipline of half a century had sufficed to
educate us. --Macaulay.
[1913 Webster]
5. Correction; chastisement; punishment inflicted by way of
correction and training.
[1913 Webster]
Giving her the discipline of the strap. --Addison.
[1913 Webster]
6. The subject matter of instruction; a branch of knowledge.
--Bp. Wilkins.
[1913 Webster]
7. (Eccl.) The enforcement of methods of correction against
one guilty of ecclesiastical offenses; reformatory or
penal action toward a church member.
[1913 Webster]
8. (R. C. Ch.) Self-inflicted and voluntary corporal
punishment, as penance, or otherwise; specifically, a
penitential scourge.
[1913 Webster]
9. (Eccl.) A system of essential rules and duties; as, the
Romish or Anglican discipline.
Syn: Education; instruction; training; culture; correction;
chastisement; punishment.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Discipline \Dis"ci*pline\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Disciplined; p.
pr. & vb. n. Disciplining.] [Cf. LL. disciplinarian to
flog, fr. L. disciplina discipline, and F. discipliner to
discipline.]
1. To educate; to develop by instruction and exercise; to
train.
[1913 Webster]
2. To accustom to regular and systematic action; to bring
under control so as to act systematically; to train to act
together under orders; to teach subordination to; to form
a habit of obedience in; to drill.
[1913 Webster]
Ill armed, and worse disciplined. --Clarendon.
[1913 Webster]
His mind . . . imperfectly disciplined by nature.
--Macaulay.
[1913 Webster]
3. To improve by corrective and penal methods; to chastise;
to correct.
[1913 Webster]
Has he disciplined Aufidius soundly? --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
4. To inflict ecclesiastical censures and penalties upon.
Syn: To train; form; teach; instruct; bring up; regulate;
correct; chasten; chastise; punish.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
discipline
n 1: a branch of knowledge; "in what discipline is his
doctorate?"; "teachers should be well trained in their
subject"; "anthropology is the study of human beings" [syn:
discipline, subject, subject area, subject field,
field, field of study, study, bailiwick]
2: a system of rules of conduct or method of practice; "he
quickly learned the discipline of prison routine"; "for such
a plan to work requires discipline";
3: the trait of being well behaved; "he insisted on discipline
among the troops" [ant: indiscipline, undiscipline]
4: training to improve strength or self-control
5: the act of punishing; "the offenders deserved the harsh
discipline they received" [syn: discipline, correction]
v 1: develop (children's) behavior by instruction and practice;
especially to teach self-control; "Parents must discipline
their children"; "Is this dog trained?" [syn: discipline,
train, check, condition]
2: punish in order to gain control or enforce obedience; "The
teacher disciplined the pupils rather frequently" [syn:
discipline, correct, sort out]