What is $(selector).autocomplete("disable") supposed to do?

What is $(selector).autocomplete("disable") supposed to do?

I just tried using it in my code and the only difference I can see is that the result box becomes slightly transparent with the theme I'm using. It still does the search and clicking on the result still has the same effect.

I was expecting autocomplete("disable") to essentially turn off the autocomplete functionality until I called autocomplete("enable") again. Is that how it's supposed to work?

Kindly,
Marcus