appliance
English
Etymology
Recorded since the 1560s. From the English apply + -ance.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /əˈplaɪəns/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -aɪəns
Noun
appliance (countable and uncountable, plural appliances)
- An implement, an instrument or apparatus designed (or at least used) as a means to a specific end, especially:
- c. 1596–1599, William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene i]:
- Canst thou, O partial sleep, give thy repose
To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude;
And in the calmest and most stillest night,
With all appliances and means to boot,
Deny it to a king?
- 1861, George Eliot, Silas Marner, Part 2, Chapter 16,
- “ […] Oh, the pipe! won’t you have it lit again, father?” said Eppie, lifting that medicinal appliance from the ground.
- 1939, John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, New York: Viking, Chapter 3, p. 20,
- […] sleeping life waiting to be spread and dispersed, every seed armed with an appliance of dispersal, twisting darts and parachutes for the wind, little spears and balls of tiny thorns, and all waiting for animals and for the wind, for a man’s trouser cuff or the hem of a woman’s skirt […]
- A non-manual apparatus or device, powered electrically or by another small motor, used in homes to perform domestic functions (household appliance) and/or in offices.
- 1978, Poly Styrene (lyrics and music), “Art-I-Ficial”, in Germ Free Adolescents, performed by X-Ray Spex:
- I know I'm artificial
But don't put the blame on me
I was reared with appliances
In a consumer society
- Many house fires are caused by faulty appliances, such as refrigerators, washing machines and dryers.
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- An attachment, a piece of equipment to adapt another tool or machine to a specific purpose.
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- (obsolete) The act of applying.
- Synonym: application
- 1658, Elias Ashmole, The Way to Bliss, London: Nath. Brook, Book 2, Chapter 2 “Of Health,” p. 75,
- […] there be three things, and every one full of under-branches belonging to this Art and way of Healing: The first is knowledge of the Diseases: the second is the Remedies against them: and the third of the appliance of Remedies; All which should be traversed in this Discourse.
- 1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter 16, in Shirley. A Tale. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], OCLC 84390265:
- The attention to fashion, the tasteful appliance of ornament in each portion of her dress, were quite in place with her.
- (obsolete) A means of eliminating or counteracting something undesirable, especially an illness.
- Synonyms: cure, medicine, remedy
- c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene iii]:
- […] Diseases desperate grown
By desperate appliance are reliev’d,
Or not at all.
- 1617, Thomas Middleton and William Rowley, A Fair Quarrel, London: I.T., Act II, Scene 1,
- Physician. Now I haue found you out, you are in loue.
Jane. I thinke I am, what your appliance now?
Can all your Paracelsian mixtures cure it,
’T must be a Surgeon of the Ciuill Law,
I feare that must cure me.
- Physician. Now I haue found you out, you are in loue.
- c. 1775, Thomas Hull, Moral Tales in Verse, London: George Cawthorn, 1797, Volume 2, “The Advantages of Repentance,” pp. 161-162,
- With charitable care
They rais’d him up, and, by appliance meet,
Quicken’d the pulse, and bade it flow anew.
- With charitable care
- 1867, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (translator), The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, Purgatory, Canto 30,
- So low he fell, that all appliances
For his salvation were already short,
Save showing him the people of perdition.
- So low he fell, that all appliances
- 1861, Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage
- The wife of the labouring man does rear her children, and often rears them in health, without even so many appliances of comfort as found their way into Mrs. Crawley's cottage; but the task to her was almost more than she could accomplish.
- (obsolete, rare) Willing service, willingness to act as someone wishes.
- Synonym: compliance
- c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s VVell, that Ends VVell”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene i]:
- And hearing your high majesty is touch’d
With that malignant cause wherein the honour
Of my dear father’s gift stands chief in power,
I come to tender it and my appliance
With all bound humbleness.
Hyponyms
Hyponyms of appliance
- domestic appliance
- home appliance
- household appliance
- major appliance
- small appliance
- smart appliance
Derived terms
- appliance computer
- Dahl appliance
- fire appliance
Translations
a device in its own right
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an implement, instrument or apparatus
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- 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
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References
- Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967
Spanish
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English appliance.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /aˈplajans/ [aˈpla.jãns]
- Rhymes: -ajans
Noun
appliance m (plural appliances)
- (rare) appliance
- Synonym: electrodoméstico
Usage notes
According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.