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description|dɪˈskrɪpʃən|
Also 4–6 de-, discryp-, discrip-, -cion, -cioun, -cyon, -cyoun, -tyon, -tyowne, -sion, etc.
[a. F. description, in OF. also -cripcion, -crition, -crision, ad. L. dēscriptiōn-em, n. of action from dēscrībĕre (ppl. stem dēscript-) to describe. (See there as to the spelling dis-.)]
The action of describing; the result or product of this action.
†1.
a. The action of writing down; inscription. Obs. rare.
1480Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxxv. 231 Vnder the descripcion and writing of the name of Englond and of Fraunce.
†b. Writing down in a register, enrolment.
c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. I. 316 Syryne..bigan to make þis discripcion. 1609Bible (Douay) 2 Sam. xxiv. 9 Joab gave the number of the description of the people to the king.
2. a. The action of setting forth in words by mentioning recognizable features or characteristic marks; verbal representation or portraiture.
c1380Wyclif Last Age of Chirche 26 Þis also [he] schewiþ openly bi discripcioun of tyme. 1387Trevisa Higden I. 29 (Mätz.) With descripcioun of þe lasse world. 1447O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 13 If the crafth of descrypcyoun I cowde as weel forge..As cowde Boyce. 1559W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 6 Geographie is the..discriptioun of the face, and picture of th' earth. 1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. ii. ii. 203 For her owne person, It beggerd all discription. 1806Wolcott (P. Pindar) Tristia Wks. 1812 V. 335 Description on your pencil waits. 1845M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 2 Writers..gifted with strong imaginations, are masters of description.
b. (with pl.) A statement which describes, sets forth, or portrays; a graphic or detailed account of a person, thing, scene, etc.
1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 8875 Yhit wille I imagyn..Ffor to gyf it a descripcion. c1470Henry Wallace ix. 1911 Thai send..The discriptioune Off him tane thar. 1553T. Wilson Rhet. 95 A description or an evident declaration of a thyng as though we sawe it even now doen. 1676Ray Corr. (1848) 122 Clusius..had..better descriptions of them [species of birds]. 1794Sullivan View Nat. II. 186 Polybius..takes notice of Vesuvius, in his description of Italy. 1834Medwin Angler in Wales II. 108 An old man answering the description of Humphrey. 1878Morley Carlyle Crit. Misc. Ser. i. 198 The more correct description of what has happened.
c. Logic. (See quots.)
1628T. Spencer Logick 193 A description is a sentence which setteth out a thing, even by other arguments. 1751Johnson Rambler No. 143 ⁋3 Descriptions..are definitions of a more lax and fanciful kind. 1843Mill Logic i. viii. §5 The second kind of imperfect definition, in which the name of a class is defined by..attributes which are not included in its connotation..has been termed Description.
d. Philos. Phr. knowledge by description: see acquaintance 1 b.
3. a. The combination of qualities or features that marks out or serves to describe a particular class. Hence, b. A sort, species, kind, or variety, capable of being so described.
[c1391Chaucer Astrol. i. §21 Shapen in maner..of a lop webbe aftur the olde descripcioun. 1535Coverdale Ezek. xliii. 11 The commynge in, the goinge out, all the maner and descripcion therof.] 1596Shakes. Merch. V. iii. ii. 303 Pay him sixe thousand..Before a friend of this description Shall lose a haire. 1864D. G. Mitchell Sev. Stor. 306 The man must be a roué of the worst description.
b.1781T. Gilbert Relief Poor 6 That all Descriptions of poor Persons should be sent thither. 1785Paley Pol. Philos. (ed. 8) I. 303 The invitation, or voluntary admission, of impure thoughts..falls within the same description. 1844Mrs. Houston Yacht Voy. Texas II. 278 The Volante..is a description of vehicle, peculiar..to Cuba.
†4. Pictorial representation; a picture, painting. Obs. rare.
1620E. Blount Horæ Subsec. 366 The high Altar is set out by Michael Angeloes curious description of the day of Iudgement. a1646J. Gregory Posthuma 257 (T.) The description is..of the earth and water both together, and it is done by circles.
5. Geom.
a. The ‘describing’ of a geometrical figure: see describe v. 4 ? Obs.
1655–60Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 9/1 Whence may be deduced the description of a Rectangle Triangle in a Circle. 1751Chambers Cycl., Description, in geometry.
b. Tracing out or passing over a certain course or distance.
1706W. Jones Syn. Palmar. Matheseos 294 The Times..of Description shall be as the Square Roots of the Altitudes..of the Cones. 1728Pemberton Newton's Philos. 91 The time taken up in the description of the arch EF. 1858Herschel Astron. §490 Equable description of areas is itself the essential criterion of a continual direction of the acting force towards the centre.
Hence deˈscriptionate a., characterized by description, descriptive. deˈscriptionless a., without or beyond description.
1593Nashe Christ's T. (1613) 164 Sutable descriptionate politures. 1852Fraser's Mag. XLVI. 454 That broiling and dusty, but beautiful and quite descriptionless road. |