Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Discipline

Discipline , noun

[French discipline, Latin 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.
Wife and children are a kind of discipline of humanity. — Bacon
Discipline aims at the removal of bad habits and the substitution of good ones, especially those of order, regularity, and obedience. — C. J. Smith
2.
Training to act in accordance with established rules; accustoming to systematic and regular action; drill.
Their wildness lose, and, quitting nature's part, Obey the rules and discipline of art. — Dryden
3.
Subjection to rule; submissiveness to order and control; habit of obedience.
The most perfect, who have their passions in the best discipline, are yet obliged to be constantly on their guard. — Rogers
4.
Severe training, corrective of faults; instruction by means of misfortune, suffering, punishment, etc.
A sharp discipline of half a century had sufficed to educate us. — Macaulay
5.
Correction; chastisement; punishment inflicted by way of correction and training.
Giving her the discipline of the strap. — Addison
6.
The subject matter of instruction; a branch of knowledge. — Bp. Wilkins
7.
(Ecclesiastical) The enforcement of methods of correction against one guilty of ecclesiastical offenses; reformatory or penal action toward a church member.
8.
(Roman Catholic Church) Self-inflicted and voluntary corporal punishment, as penance, or otherwise; specifically, a penitential scourge.
9.
(Ecclesiastical) A system of essential rules and duties; as, the Romish or Anglican discipline.

Discipline , transitive verb

[Compare Late Latin disciplinarian to flog, from Latin disciplina discipline, and French discipliner to discipline.]

1.
To educate; to develop by instruction and exercise; to train.
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.
Ill armed, and worse disciplined. — Clarendon
His mind... imperfectly disciplined by nature. — Macaulay
3.
To improve by corrective and penal methods; to chastise; to correct.
Has he disciplined Aufidius soundly? — Shakespeare
4.
To inflict ecclesiastical censures and penalties upon.