consistence
English
Etymology
From Middle French. Compare French consistance.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /kənˈsɪst(ə)ns/
Audio (UK) (file)
- (General American) IPA(key): /kənˈsɪstəns/
Noun
consistence (countable and uncountable, plural consistences)
- (archaic) The physical quality which is given by the degree of firmness, solidity, density, and viscosity; consistency.
- 1731, John Arbuthnot, An Essay Concerning the Nature of Aliments, and the Choice of Them, According to the Different Constitutions of Human Bodies. […], 1st Irish edition, Dublin: […] S. Powell, for George Risk, […], George Ewing, […], and William Smith, […], OCLC 756901661:
- If they [expressed juices] be boiled into the Consistence of a Syrup.
- 1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, Olympia Press:
- All these things, and many others too numerous to mention, were well mixed together in the famous pot and boiled for four hours, until the consistence of a mess, or poss, was obtained, […]
-
- The staying together, or remaining in close relation, of non-physical things.
- Her performance has lacked consistence over the last year.
- This composer's musical work is of extraordinary consistence.
- (obsolete) Standing still; quiescence; state of rest.
- (obsolete) The condition of standing or adhering together, or being fixed in union, as the parts of a body; existence; firmness; coherence; solidity.
- 1631, Francis [Bacon], “(please specify |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], OCLC 1044372886:
- Water, being divided, maketh many circles, till it restore itself to the natural consistence.
- 1650 October (published 1651), Jer[emy] Taylor, “[XXVIII Sermons Preached at Golden Grove; Being for the Summer Half-year, […].] Sermon XXVIII. A Funeral Sermon, Preached at the Obsequies of the Right Honorable and Most Vertuous Lady, the Lady Frances Countesse of Carbery: Who Deceased October the 9th 1650. at Her House Golden-grove in Carmarthen-shire.”, in ΕΝΙΑΥΤΟΣ [Eniautos]. A Course of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Royston […], published 1654, OCLC 1051524189, page 358:
- VVe are as vvater, vveak, and of no conſiſtence, alvvayes deſcending, abiding in no certain place, unleſeſ vvhere vvee are detained vvith violence: […]
- 1830, The Veterinarian
- When it was brought to the school it discharged from its right nostril, a whitish, viscid, clotty matter, which, although of little consistence, strongly adhered to the sides of the nostril.
-
- Logical consistency; lack of self-contradiction.
- (obsolete) That which stands together as a united whole; a combination.
- 1641 May, John Milton, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England: And the Cavvses that hitherto have Hindred it; republished as Will Taliaferro Hale, editor, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England (Yale Studies in English; LIV), New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1916, OCLC 260112239:
- The church of God, as meaning whole consistence of orders and members.
-
Related terms
- consist
- consistency
- consistent
Translations
physical quality
|
for non-physical things
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
|