DISS

diss, a market town in the southern parliamentary division of norfolk, england; near the river waveney (the boundary with suffolk), 95 m. n.e. by n. from london by the great eastern railway. pop. of urban district (1901) 3745. the town lies pleasantly upon a hill rising above a mere, which drains to the waveney, having its banks laid out as public gardens. the church of st mary exhibits decorated and perpendicular stone and flint work. there is a corn exchange and the agricultural trade is considerable; brushes and matting are manufactured. the poet and satirist, john skelton (d. 1529), was rector here in the later part of his life, and is doubtfully considered a native. dissection (from lat. _dissecare_, to cut apart), the separation into parts by cutting, particularly the cutting of an animal or plant into parts for the purpose of examination or display of its structure. dissenter (lat. _dis-sentire_, to disagree), one who dissents or disagrees in matters of opinion, belief, &c. the term "dissenter" is, however, practically restricted to the special sense of a member of a religious body in england which has, for one reason or another, separated from the established church. strictly, the term includes the english roman catholics, who in the original draft of the relief act of 1791 were styled "protesting catholic dissenters." it is in practice, however, restricted to the "protestant dissenters" referred to in sec. ii. of the toleration act of 1688. the term is not applied to those bodies who dissent from the established church of scotland; and in speaking of members of religious bodies which have seceded from established churches abroad it is usual to employ the term "dissidents" (lat. _dissidere_, to dissent). in this connotation the terms "dissenter" and "dissenting," which had acquired a somewhat contemptuous flavour, have tended since the middle of the 19th century to be replaced by "nonconformist," a term which did not originally imply secession, but only refusal to conform in certain particulars (e.g. the wearing of the surplice) with the authorized usages of the established church. still more recently the term "nonconformist" has in its turn, as the political attack on the principle of a state establishment of religion developed, tended to give place to the style of "free churches" and "free churchman." all three terms are now in use, "nonconformist" being the most usual, as it is the most colourless. (see congregationalism, &c.)