| 释义 |
substance|ˈsʌbstəns|
Also 4–6 substaunce, (5 sobstans, 6 supstance).
[a. OF. (mod.F.) substance (12th c.), ad. L. substantia, f. substans, -ant-, pr. pple. of substāre to stand or be under, be present, f. sub- sub- 2 + stāre to stand. Cf. OF. sustance, Pr. sustancia, It. sostanza, sustanza, -ia, Sp., Pg. su(b)stancia.
L. substantia was adopted as the representative of Gr. οὐσία in its various senses.]
1. Essential nature, essence; esp. Theol., with regard to the being of God, the divine nature or essence in respect of which the three Persons of the Trinity are one.
a1300Cursor M. 9762 An-fald godd vndelt es he, And a substance wit-in þir thre. a1325Athan. Creed 4 in Prose Psalter (1891) 194 Noiþer confoundand persons, ne departand þe substaunce. Ibid. 29. 195 He his God, of þe substaunce of þe fader biȝeten to-fore þe worldes; & man, of þe substaunce of þe moder born in þe world. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints i. (Petrus) 403 In þis symon dwellis ay twa substance, þat is to wyt, of devel and man, to-gyddir knete. 1450–1530Myrr. Our Ladye 4 The glory of the blessyd endeles Trinite in onehed of substaunce and of Godhede. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 197 The pure substaunce of god in his owne nature & deite. 1585Dyer Prayse of Nothing Writ. (Grosart) 77 That substance, which we communicate with Angels, being created of nothing. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lii. §3 In Christ therefore God and man there is a two-folde substance, not a two-folde person, because one person extinguisheth an other, whereas one nature cannot in another become extinct. c1610Women Saints 173/11 [Arius] affirming the Sonne of god to be of inferiour substance to his Father. 1678Cudworth Intell. Syst. 601 That Essence or Substance of the Godhead, which all the Three Persons or Hypostases agree in. 1833Newman Arians ii. iv. (1876) 195 To protest..against the notion that the substance of God is something distinct from God Himself. 1860Pusey Min. Proph. 12 God giveth us of His Substance, His Nature,..making us partakers of the Divine Nature. 1876Norris Rudim. Theol. i. iv. 73 It is God's nature to be one in substance, manifold (that is, threefold) in person.
2. Philos. A being that subsists by itself; a separate or distinct thing; hence gen., a thing, being.
1340Ayenb. 112 [Supersubstantial bread] þet is to zigge: þet paseþ and ouergeþ alle substances and alle ssepþes be ver. 1382Wyclif Gen. vii. 4, I shal reyn vpon the erthe..and I shal do awey al substaunce the which Y made, fro the ouermost of the erthe. 1551T. Wilson Logic (1580) 33 b, A liuely bodie is a substaunce. Ergo, a man is a substaunce. 1599Sir J. Davies Nosce Teipsum ii. iii. 10 She [sc. the soul] is a substance, and a perfect being. 1616R. C. Times' Whistle i. (1871) 8 God is an Essence intellectuall, A perfect Substance incorporeall. 1667Milton P.L. v. 408 Food alike those pure Intelligential substances require As doth your Rational. Ibid. viii. 109 His Omnipotence, That to corporeal substances could adde Speed almost Spiritual. 1707Oldfield Ess. Impr. Reason ii. iii. 139 Minds, which are indiscerpible, are thinking Substances. 1725Watts Logic i. ii. §2 A Substance is a being which can subsist by itself, without dependence upon any other created being. 1818Stoddart Gram. in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) I. 8/1 We refer all our states of being to a substance called self. 1843Mill Logic i. iii. §6 Substances are usually distinguished as Bodies or Minds. 1868Bain Ment. & Mor. Sci. App. 50 Mind being..expressed by the one attribute Thought (construed, however, as Thinking Substance), and..Body..summed up in the one attribute Extension (Extended Substance). 1876Encycl. Brit. V. 143/1 The question whether the material and the thinking substance are one does not meet us at the outset. 1910T. Case in Encycl. Brit. (ed. 11) II. 510/2 The doctrine that all things are substances which are separate individuals, stated in the Categories, is expanded in the Metaphysics.
b. first (primary) substance, second (secondary, general) substance: see quots.
In scholastic L. substantia prima and substantia secunda, translating πρώτη οὐσία and δευτέρα οὐσία (Aristotle Categ.).
1551T. Wilson Logic C vj, The first substance is called euery singuler persone or propre name... The second substance comprehendeth both the general worde, and the kinde also of euery singuler persone. 1628T. Spencer Logick 129 The second substance: consisting in the Genus and Species. 1697tr. Burgersdicius' Logic i. iv. 8 Substance is either First or Second. The First is a Singular Substance, or that which is not said of a Subject, as Alexander, Bucephalus. The Second..that which is said of a Subject, as Man, Horse. 1843Mill Logic i. vi. §2 The well known dogmas of substantiæ secundæ, or general substances. 1876Encycl. Brit. V. 223/1 The first category is subdivided into..primary substance, which is defined to be..the singular thing in which properties inhere, and to which predicates are attached, and..genera or species which can be predicated of primary substances. 1903W. Turner Hist. Philos. 133 The first substance (οὐσία πρώτη) is the individual, which can neither exist in another nor be predicated of another. Second substance is the universal, which, as such, does not exist in another, but may be predicated of another.
3. a. Philos. That which underlies phenomena; the permanent substratum of things; that which receives modifications and is not itself a mode; that in which accidents or attributes inhere.
1398Trevisa Barth. de P.R. xix. cxvi. (1495) 920 Whan tweyne accidentes ben in one substaunce and subiecte: as colour and savour. 1402in Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 108 Thus leeveth not of the breed but oonli the licnesse which that abidith therinne noon substeyned substans. 1551T. Wilson Logic C ij, The feare of God is an Accident, the soule is a Substaunce. 1606L. Bryskett Civ. Life 116 The substance of euery thing is so called, by reason that it is subiect vnto accidents; neither can there be any accident (to which it is proper to be in some subiect) but it must fall into some substance. 1668Wilkins Real Char. ii. i. 26 Such things as..require a subject of inhesion..are indeed nothing but the modes of Substance. 1690Locke Hum. Und. ii. xxiii. §2 The Idea..to which we give the general name Substance, being nothing, but the supposed..support of those Qualities..which we imagine cannot subsist, sine re substante, without something to support them. 1762Kames Elem. Crit. (1774) II. App. 507 A being with respect to its properties or attributes is termed a subject, or substratum. Every substratum of visible qualities, is termed substance. 1781Cowper Anti-Thelyphth. 42 Substances and modes of ev'ry kind. 1838[F. Haywood] tr. Kant's Crit. Pure Reason 174 The determinations of a substance, which are nothing else but its particular modes of existing, are termed accidents. 1872Mahaffy Kant's Crit. Phil. I. 268 Thus the pure Category of substance is that which can only be subject—and not predicate. 1876Encycl. Brit. V. 155/1 The independent substantiality of mind and matter is withdrawn, and they are reduced into attributes of the one infinite substance.
b. in transf. and allusive uses.
c1374Chaucer Troylus iv. 1505 Þenk þat folye is whan man may chese For accident [h]is substaunce ay to lese. c1386― Pard. T. 77 Thise Cookes, how they stampe, and streyne and grynde And turnen substaunce in-to Accident. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 570 The Capteynes there, myndyng not to lease the more for the lesse, nor the substance for the accident. 1579G. Harvey Let. to Spenser in S.'s Wks. (1912) 639/2 Vertue, the onely immortall and suruiuing Accident amongst so manye mortall and euer-perishing Substaunces. 1598R. Barckley Felic. Man vi. 568 Euill is no substance nor nature, but an accident that commeth to the substance. 1654Z. Coke Logick 189 The causes are found out & put in substances, in respect of the Essence, Matter, and Form. 1790Burke Rev. France 28 Not changing the substance, but regulating the mode.
c. with reference to the doctrine of the Real Presence in the Eucharist.
1546Gardiner Detect. Deuils Sophistrie 14 b, The substaunce of bred, beyng conuerted into the naturall bodely substaunce of our sauioure [printed souioure] Christe. 1565Harding Answ. Jewel 162 b, In this Sacrament after consecration there remayneth..onely the accidentes and shewes, without the substance of bread and wyne. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxvii. §10 How the wordes of Christ commaunding vs to eate must needes importe that as hee hath coupled the substance of his fleshe and the substance of bread together, so we together should receiue both. 1651C. Cartwright Cert. Relig. i. 131 It doth argue an extra⁓ordinary power in Christ to give his Flesh to eat, though there be no turning of the substance of the Bread in the Sacrament into the substance of his Flesh.
†4. That which underlies or supports; a basis, foundation; a ground, cause. Obs.
1382Wyclif Heb. xi. 1 Feith is the substaunce of thingis to be hopid. c1386Chaucer Nun's Pr. T. 37 And wel I woot the substance is in me If any thyng shal wel reported be. 1390Gower Conf. III. 68 Nectanabus, which causeth al Of this metrede the substance. Ibid. 222 Ther is nothing Which mai be betre aboute a king, Than conseil, which is the substance Of all a kinges governance. 1577tr. Bullinger's Decades i. iv. 30 The substance or hypostasis is the foundation, or the vnmoueable proppe, which vpholdeth vs. 1595Locrine i. i. 70 A greater care torments my verie bones, And makes me tremble at the thought of it, And in you, Lordings, doth the substance lie.
5. a. The matter, subject-matter, subject (of a study, discourse, written work, etc.).
1390Gower Conf. I. 10 Unto the god ferst thei besoughten As to the substaunce of her Scole, That thei ne scholden noght befole Her wit upon none erthly werkes, Which were ayein thestat of clerkes. Ibid. II. 84 Of bodies sevene in special With foure spiritz joynt withal Stant the substance of this matiere. c1412Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 1030 Lo, fadir, tolde haue I yow þe substance Of al my greef. c1420? Lydg. Assembly of Gods 1601 But forthe to shewe yow the substaunce Of thys matyr. a1536Songs, Carols etc. (E.E.T.S.) 106, I dare not, for þer dissplesans, Tell of þes maters half the substance. 1587T. Norton tr. Calvin's Inst. title-p., Notes conteyning in briefe the substance of the matter handled in each section. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. i. 32 Vnto your Grace doe I in chiefe addresse The substance of my Speech. 1600J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa App. 400 Out of the relations..of these two woorthy authors..we will deriue the whole substance of our speech. 1665Boyle Occas. Refl. iii. v. 44 This, if I forget not, was the substance of the Occasional Meditation, suggested to me by the Storm. 1875Encycl. Brit. I. 498/2 There are two Alexandrian schools, distinct both chronologically and in substance. The one is the Alexandrian school of poetry and science, the other the Alexandrian school of philosophy.
b. Contrasted with form or expression.
1780Mirror No. 80 Having thus done justice to the merit of those authors in point of substance, I proceed to shew their excellence in the composition and style of their productions. 1841Myers Cath. Th. iii. §8. 29 This influence we may believe to have extended sometimes to the very words of the Revelation, but far more often only to the substance of it. 1877R. W. Dale Lect. Preach. v. 118 The substance of our preaching has been given to us in a Divine revelation. 1888Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 249 The doctrine of the Trinity is..one which..gives expression to the self-evidencing substance of revelation, and explains and supports religious experience.
†c. A subject-matter to be operated upon. Obs.
1390Gower Conf. III. 91 The hihe pourveance Tho hadde under his ordinance A gret substance, a gret matiere, Of which he wolde..These othre thinges make and forme.
6. a. That of which a physical thing consists; the material of which a body is formed and in virtue of which it possesses certain properties.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vi. xx. (Bodl. MS.), Mete is a substaunce þat is able to be turned into þe substaunce of þe bodie þat is ifed. 1559W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 43 The matter and substaunce of mans body. 1577Tusser Husb. (1878) 35 The soile and the seede..the lighter in substance, for profite the wurse. 1590Sir J. Smythe Disc. Weapons 3 b, Swords of conuenient length, forme and substance, haue been in all ages esteemed by all warlike Nations. c1600Shakes. Sonn. xliv. 1 If the dull substance of my flesh were thought, Iniurious distance should not stop my way. 1613Salkeld Treat. Angels 56 Angels haue somtimes beene knowne to eate..although they did not conuert the meate..into their owne substance. 1615Crooke Body of Man 628 The substance of it is soft, loose, rare and like a Sponge. 1667Milton P.L. ii. 356 What creatures there inhabit, of what mould, Or substance? 1668Wilkins Real Char. ii. iv. 73 Stalk..of a woody substance... Head or spike.. having a soft downy substance. 1766Blackstone Comm. II. 4 It became necessary..to appropriate to individuals not the immediate use only, but the very substance of the thing to be used. 1829Loudon Encycl. Plants (1836) 1023 Epiphyllous scattered globular or subdepressed smooth pale at length black, Substance very corneous. 1846Landor Exam. Shaks. Wks. 1846 II. 265 Give a countryman a plough of silver and he will plough with it all the season, and never know its substance. 1859FitzGerald Omar lxi, Surely not in vain My Substance from the common Earth was ta'en.
b. of incorporeal things.
c1340Hampole Prose Treat. viii. 15 By abowndance of charite þat es in þe substance of the saule. c1384Chaucer H. Fame ii. 260 Euery spech that ys yspoken..In his substaunce ys but aire. a1475G. Ashby Dicta Philos. 234 A kynge sholde take of his olde acquaintance, His familier seruauntes vertuous,..of Substance, Wele disposed, trewe, not malicious. 1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. i. iv. 99 Dreames..Begot of nothing, but vaine phantasie, Which is as thin of substance as the ayre. 1667Milton P.L. iv. 585 Hard thou knowst it to exclude Spiritual substance with corporeal barr. 1668Wilkins Real Char. i. i. 5 A great part of this Syriac tongue is for the substance of the words Chaldee, and Hebrew for the fashion. 1682in Verney Mem. (1907) II. 311, I..am sorry that my Sonne should Be composed of such substance that nothing can shape Him for a Schollar. 1740Cheyne Regimen 35 That spiritual Substance was analogous to Matter infinitely rarefied, refin'd or sublim'd. 1862Spencer First Princ. i. iii. §20 (1875) 63 When, instead of the extent of consciousness, we consider its substance.
c. fifth substance = quintessence.
1561[see quintessence 1].
7. a. The matter or tissue composing an animal body, part, or organ.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. v. (1495) g iv/1 The humour cristallinus [of the eye]..is rounde in shape & sastaunce [sic]. a1425tr. Arderne's Treat. Fistula etc. 34 Þe quitour, þerfore, bigynne to lessen somwhat, and the bolnyng somwhat to cese, and þe colour and þe substaunce of þe skynne for to turne to his ovne naturel habitude. 1548in Vicary's Anat. v. (1888) 41 [Cheeks] not fat in substaunce, but meanely fleshly. 1667Milton P.L. vi. 657 Thir armor help'd their harm, crush't in and brus'd Into thir substance pent. 1724Blackmore Treat. Consumptions 9 An extra⁓ordinary Discharge of Flegmatick Matter,..while..the Substance of the Lungs remains sound. 1726A. Monro Anat. Bones 31 Sinuses, large Cavities within the Substance of the Bones, with small Apertures. 1804Abernethy Surg. Obs. 178 Blood was discharged mixed with detached pieces of the substance of the brain. 1845Budd Dis. Liver 347 Irregular dilatation of the sac, so as to form additional pouches in the substance of the liver.
b. The muscular tissue or fleshy part of an animal body.
1695New Light Chirurg. put out 23 Any Flesh-Wound where there is considerable loss of Substance. 1750Lady Luxborough Let. to Shenstone 13 May, My plaisters are already reduced from eight or nine to two only: one over my eye,..and one just above my knee, where the loss of substance (as they call it) makes it longer in curing. 1831Youatt Horse 36 A three-fourth, or thoroughbred horse of sufficient substance and height. 1894Nature's Method in Evol. Life iii. 45 The nervous system becomes highly strung,..and the muscles deficient in size, with a general want of what is known as ‘substance’.
†c. Bot. (See quots.) Obs.
1777S. Robson Brit. Flora 15 Bullate, the substance of the leaf rising high above the veins, so as to appear like little blisters. 1793Martyn Lang. Bot. s.v. Substantia, The substance of a vegetable consists of the Epidermis or Cuticle, covering the Cortex or Outer Bark.
8. a. Any particular kind of corporeal matter.
1390Gower Conf. III. 89 Of man, of beste,..Of fissch, of foughl, of everychon That ben of bodely substance. 1541Copland Guydon's Quest. Cyrurg. E iv, [The nose] is of thre substaunces, that is to wyt of substaunce flesshely, bony, and cartilagynous. 1644Digby Nat. Bodies xiv. §11. 123 Our designe requireth more maniable substances. 1668Wilkins Real Char. ii. x. 259 Grain or some Vegetable, baked in a drier substance without any considerable mixture. 1774Pennant Tour Scot. in 1772, 169 The gills furnished with strainers of the substance of whalebone. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. I. 75 This variety of substances, which compose the internal parts of our globe. 1802Paley Nat. Theol. v. §3. 65 That sort of substance which we call animal substance, as flesh, bone,..cartilage, etc. 1816J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 91 When a varnish of any kind is laid over a substance, to prevent it from absorbing water, some allowance should be made for such addition. 1827Faraday Chem. Manip. xix. (1842) 527 To perform the operation over a cloth or some other soft substance. 1839Lindley Introd. Bot. (ed. 3) 472 Corky..; having the texture of the substance called cork. 1860Tyndall Glac. ii. v. 250 Thus, from the mixture of two perfectly transparent substances, we obtain an opaque one.
b. A species of matter of a definite chemical composition.
1732Arbuthnot Rules of Diet iv. in Aliments etc. 409 Substances abounding with volatile oily Salts. 1807Simple substance [see primary a. 3 d]. 1843[see simple a. 13 a]. 1856Orr's Circ. Sci., Mech. Philos. 2 By simple substances, we mean those which cannot be resolved by the chemist into any simpler elements: thus gold, silver, and iron are simple substances... Copper, zinc, iron, and carbon are all considered elementary substances. 1864Intell. Obs. No. 32. 93 A new substance..to which I gave the name Santoneine. 1876Jrnl. Chem. Soc. I. 365 The saccharification of amylaceous substances.
(b) substance P (Biochem.): an undecapeptide thought to be involved in the synaptic transmission of nerve impulses, esp. pain impulses.
[1931Euler & Gaddum in Jrnl. Physiol. LXXII. 80 This standard preparation, which we call P, dissolved easily in water to form a practically clear solution.] 1934Gaddum & Schild in Ibid. LXXXIII. 1 This unidentified substance has been known in the laboratory for some time as substance P, and will be referred to under this name. 1964W. G. Smith Allergy & Tissue Metabolism vi. 71 Substance P, which is a pharmacologically active polypeptide.., stimulates guinea pig ileum. 1979Sci. Amer. July 69/3 Enkephalin and another peptide, substance P, have been implicated in pain perception, substance P with the transmission of pain-related impulses and enkephalin with their suppression.
c. Anat. and Zool. With qualifying word or phr. forming specific designations.
1815J. Gordon Syst. Hum. Anat. I. 40 Adipose substance. 1855Dunglison Med. Lex., White Substance of Schwann. 1870W. S. Kent in Ann. Nat. Hist. Mar. 217 The sarcodic substance lining all the interstitial cavities of the sponge.
9. A piece or mass of a particular kind of matter; a body of a specified composition or texture. Now rare.
c1595Capt. Wyatt R. Dudley's Voy. W. Ind. (Hakl. Soc.) 56 In the night a substance of fyre resemblinge the shape of a fierie Dragon should fall into our sailes and theare remaine some quarter of an ower. 1668Wilkins Real Char. ii. v. 133 That [fish] which hath..stringy substances on his head and back. Ibid., A very rough skin, with finny substances, standing out from each side like wings. Ibid. vi. 172 Thin broad substances, standing off from the body of the Fish. 1681tr. Belon's New Myst. Phys. Introd. 32 Set the Water in a cold place, in a Glass Body, within eight Days, you will find a congealed Substance in the Bottom of the Vessel. 1725Bradley's Fam. Dict. s.v. White-Honey-Charge, Continue boiling till the Roots and Herbs be reduced to a Mash..throwing away the gross Substance. 1726Swift Gulliver iii. i. 10, I..perceived a vast Opake Body between me and the Sun{ddd}it appeared to be a firm Substance. 1799Ht. Lee Canterb. T., Wom. T. (ed. 2) I. 351 Throwing from him, without examination, some hard substance that incommoded him.
10. a. A solid or real thing, as opposed to an appearance or shadow. Also, reality.
1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 281 The ignoraunce of the world is grosse & palpable: for, touching Nature their skill is but superficiall, and like a shadowe destitute of substaunce. 1588Shakes. Tit. A. iii. ii. 80 He takes false shadowes, for true substances. 1590Spenser F.Q. ii. ix. 2 Full liuely is the semblaunt, though the substance dead. 1651Hobbes Leviathan ii. xxxi. 186 A Common-wealth, without Soveraign Power, is but a word, without substance. 1667Milton P.L. i. 529 With high words, that bore Semblance of worth not substance. a1700Evelyn Diary 27 Aug. 1667, One who kept up the forme and substance of things in the Nation. 1716S. W. in Nelson's Pract. True Devot. (1784) p. xvi, Taught how to take the mystic Bread and Wine, T'adore the Substance, nor neglect the Sign. 1784Cowper Task iv. 527 The poet's hand, Imparting substance to an empty shade, Impos'd a gay delirium for a truth. 1821Byron Sardan. i. ii. 533 There needs too oft the show of war to keep The substance of sweet peace. 1836Marryat Japhet lxiii, I would not lose the substance by running after shadows. 1856Merivale Rom. Emp. l. V. 580 A mere honorary title, and only a presage of the substance that was to follow. 1914Daily Chron. 28 July 6/3 The Austro-Hungarian communiqué..argues..that Servia conceded the shadows and withheld the substance.
b. Westminster School. An older pupil who is responsible for the proper conduct of a new boy, called his ‘shadow’.
1845College & T.B. Life at Westm. 25 Oct., After my first week at School, I started altogether on my own account, my Substance then having nothing more to do with me. 1899W. K. R. Bedford Outcomes of Old Oxford 85 Every neophyte was consigned to the tutelage of some boy already in the school..the shortcomings of the shadow, or tyro, were credited to the preceptor, or substance, and visited with penalties upon the latter.
11. a. What is embodied in a statement; the meaning or purport of what is expressed in writing or speech; what a writing or speech amounts to.
1415Ld. Scrope in 43rd Rep. Dep. Kpr. Publ. Rec. 590 Ilche worde y kan nought remembr bot for the most sobstans as nye os y kan thinke. 1415in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. I. 47 Yf heny of thes persones..woldyn contrary ye substaunce of yat i have wretyn at zys tyme. 1481Caxton Myrr. ii. xxv. 117 Yf ye wyl here and wel reteyne the mater and substaunce of this present booke. 1502Ord. Crysten Men (W. de W. 1506) i. ii. A vj b, I shall put the substaunce of the latyn afore sayd in englysshe. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 17 So farre as I gather by the substance of your letters, a certaine kinde of suspicion is signified. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. i. 9, I haue receiu'd New-dated Letters from Northumberland: Their cold intent, tenure, and substance thus. 1612Brinsley Lud. Lit. xxii. (1627) 256 Learning is not so much seen, in setting downe the words, as the substance. 1653H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. lxxix. 321 All of them together, seeming to be Merchants sons,..sung in verse with a very sweet and melodious voyce, words of this substance, ‘High and mighty Lord’ [&c.]. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. ii. 3 But to come to the Substance of what is here intended. 1699Bentley Phal. 233 The substance of the Epigram imports, that Thespis was the first contriver of Tragedy. a1700Evelyn Diary 5 Aug. 1670, This is the substance of what she told me. 1794Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xxxi, Who repeated the substance of what had passed between Montoni and herself. 1805A. Knox Rem. (1834) I. 1, I hope..that, if any thing..appeared exceptionable, it was in manner and expression only, and not in the substance of my sentiments. 1837Baroness Bunsen in Hare Life (1879) I. x. 461 The whole substance of his communications proved a state of vicious disorganization. 1861G. C. Lewis Let. to Reeve 9 Apr., You may rely on the substance of this story being quite authentic. 1867Ruskin Time & Tide iii. §9 The substance of what I said to them was this.
†b. The main intent or purpose. Obs. rare.
1606Chapman Gentl. Usher iv. ii, To execute the substance of our mindes In honor'd nuptialls.
†12. The vital part. Obs.
c1430Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1903) 233 ‘The kingis sone’, sche seide, ‘is deed, Þe ioie, þe substaunce of my lijfe.’ 1588Shakes. Tit. A. i. i. 374 Deare Father, soule and substance of vs all. 16051st Pt. Jeronimo i. iii, Come, my soules spaniell, my lifes ietty substance.
13. a. That which gives a thing its character; that which constitutes the essence of a thing; the essential part, essence.
c1585[R. Browne] Answ. Cartwright 55 To be able to teache is not of the substance of a minister, but onely of a lawful minister. Ibid. 56 If a man bee not a lawfull minister, hee hath no essence nor substance of a mynister. 1597Morley Introd. Mus. 96 Phi. What doe you call keeping the substance of a note? Ma. When in breaking it, you sing either your first or last note in the same key wherin it standeth, or in his eight. 1620T. Granger Div. Logike 94 The essences, or substances of things are not here meant. 1790Burke Rev. France 220 Miserable bigots..who hate sects and parties different from their own, more than they love the substance of religion. 1856N. Brit. Rev. XXVI. 41 Modern thought, in its substance, is a congeries of all those refined theistic speculations, of all those baffled aspirations, of all those deep and distracting surmises. 1869Mozley Univ. Serm. ii. (1876) 39 It is sufficiently clear that these are not the substance of the character.
b. in legal use. (Cf. substantial A. 5 b.)
1592West 1st Pt. Symbol. i. §22 The substance of this contract consisteth in the thing solde, and in the price thereof. 1596Bacon Max. & Use Com. Law i. (1630) 4 The intention is matter of substance. Ibid. xvi. 68 If a man bid one robbe I. S. as he goeth to Sturbridge-faire, and he robbe him in his house the variance seemes to be of substance. a1623Swinburne Spousals (1686) 141 Resisting the Substance of Matrimony, it overthroweth the Contract. 1843–56Bouvier Law Dict. (ed. 6) II. 555/2 Substance, evidence. That which is essential; it is used in opposition to form.
†14. The amount, quantity, or mass (of a thing).
c1420? Lydg. Assembly of Gods 764 When Vertew sy the substaunce of hys oost, He prayed all the comons to the felde hem hy. a1500in Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. Var. Coll. IV. 87 A vessaill called the Mighell of Brykelsey..in the whiche diuerse merchauntes of our Citie of London had goodes and merchandises to a grete value and substaunce. c1500Lancelot (S.T.S.) 1740 If..to the rich iftis of plesans, That thei be fair, set nocht of gret substans. 1520Cov. Leet Bk. 675 What supstance of malt was then brewede within the Cyte wokly by the comyn brewers. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. V, 57 b, He found there innumerable substance of plate and money belongyng to the citizens. 1565Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees 1835) 244 Raffe Vasye..oweth me for all my..muke..the substance by estimac[i]on come to or will come to..two hundrethe futhers. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. iv. i. 328 Be it so much As makes it light or heauy in the substance, Or the deuision of the twentieth part Of one poore scruple.
†15.
a. The greater number or part, the majority, mass, or bulk of. Obs.
c1374Chaucer Troylus iv. 217 It moste ben and sholde. For substaunce of þe parlement it wolde. 1435Cov. Leet Bk. 185 That the maiour call the substance of the Crafte of Carpynters and sett hem to-geþer as one felawshipe. 1462J. Russe Let. to J. Paston Sept., The substaunce of jentilmen and yemen of Lodyngland be assygned to be afore the seyd commesyoners. 1507in Leadam Sel. Cases Star Chamber (Selden Soc.) 259 Robert..hath ered great substans of the ground of your seid besechers. 1512Act 4 Hen. VIII, c. 1 §1 The said Countie [sc. Cornwall] is thre score and ten myle in lenght and the substaunce therof right litle more than six myle in brede. 1550–3Decaye Eng. in S. Fish Supplic. (1871) 96 Many of them doeth kepe the most substaunce of theyr landes in theyr owne handes. 1552–3Act 7 Edw. VI, c. 12 The Kynges Majesties Treasure..waasted, the greate Substaunce of the Moneyes molted and altered in bayse coyne.
b. sum († summary) and substance: see sum n., summary n.
16. a. Possessions, goods, estate; means, wealth. arch. (chiefly as a reminiscence of biblical language).
13..Cursor M. 9538 (Gött.) Of his substance he gaf ilkan, And ilkan gaf he substance an. 1382Wyclif Prov. iii. 9 Honoure the Lord of thi substaunce. 1382― Luke xv. 13 He wastide his substaunce in lyuynge leccherously. c1400Rom. Rose 6595 Yit shulde he selle alle his substaunce And with his swynk haue sustenaunce. c1430Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 135 Abel..Gaff God his part, tethe of his substaunce. 1466Paston Lett. Suppl. 108, I truste I am of that substans that, what soever caswelte fortunyd, yourre maistresship shuld not lese on pene of yourre dute. 1500–20Dunbar Poems lxxxviii. 7 London, thou art of townes A per se... Of merchauntis full of substaunce and myght. c1520Skelton Magnyf. 1445 Take of his Substaunce a sure inuentory. 1535Coverdale Job i. 3 His substaunce was vij. M. shepe, iij. M. camels, v. C. yock of oxen, v. C. she asses, and a very greate housholde. 1535― Ps. xvii. 14 They haue children at their desyre, and leaue the rest of their substaunce for their babes. 1590Shakes. Com. Err. i. i. 24 Thy substance, valued at the highest rate, Cannot amount vnto a hundred Markes. 1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 206 They will hazard all their worth..and other substance. a1700Evelyn Diary 3 Nov. 1685, Innumerable persons of the greatest birth and riches leaving all their earthly substance. 1794Wordsw. Guilt & Sorrow xxvi, My father's substance fell into decay. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. ii. I. 156 A fortune raised out of the substance of the ruined defenders of the throne.
†b. With a: An amount of wealth, a fortune; pl. riches, possessions. Obs.
13..[see sense 16]. 1382Wyclif Ecclus. xli. 1 Hauende pes in his substaunces [1388 richessis]. 1382― Acts ii. 45 Thei selden possesciouns and substaunces. 1382― Heb. x. 34 Knowynge ȝou for to haue a betere and dwelling substaunce. 1487Act 3 Hen. VII, c. 2 Wymmen..havyng substaunces somme in goodes moveable, and somme in landes and tenements. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. Pref. 5 b, Whose brother for the education of youth in true Religion & learning, imploied a wonderful substaunce. 1731–9Tull Horse-hoeing Husb. (1822) 154 A small substance.
†17.
a. A supply or provision of. Obs.
c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 1560 Iason weddit was Vn-to this queen & tok of it substaunce What so hym leste onto his puruyaunce. c1412Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 4909 If a man, in tyme of swich a nede, Of his goode ȝeue yow a goode substaunce. 1515in Leadam Sel. Cases Star Chamber (Selden Soc.) II. 79 The said Towne [was] then in better substaunce of goodis good ordre and rule then it is nowe. 1535Coverdale Eccl. ii. 7 As for catell and shepe, I had more substaunce of them, then all they yt were before me.
†b. Maintenance, subsistence. Obs.
c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 67 Sees gendren manye fischis to substaunce of mankynde. 1502Ord. Crysten Men (W. de W. 1506) i. iii. C ij, It is not gyuen to hym for substaunce or refeccyon corporell. a1513Fabyan Chron. vi. clxx. (1811) 164 All thynges..were than more wasted in glotony, and outrage of owners, than in substaunce and ayde of nedy men.
†18. Substantial existence, substantiality. Obs.
c1366Chaucer A.B.C. 87 As j seide erst þou ground of oure substaunce Continue on us þi pitous eyen cleere. 1555Eden Decades (Arb.) 135 To gyue substance to priuation, (that is) beinge to noo beinge. 1628[see subsistency 3].
19. a. Substantial or solid qualities, character, etc.
c1430Wyclif's Bible Prol. I. 58 Symple men, that wolden for no good in erthe..putte awei..the leste..title, of holi writ, that berith substaunce, either charge. 1559Queen Elizabeth in Strype Ann. Ref. (1709) I. ii. 414 Dyvers reasons which appeare unto me to have in them small substance. 1581Rich Farew. (1846) 159 Knowyng her housebande to be a man of no verie greate substaunce, and but slenderly stuffed in the hedpeece. 1858Hawthorne Fr. & It. Note-bks. (1871) I. 221 Neither rulers nor people had any faith or moral substance. 1863Kinglake Crimea (1876) I. 117 This fact gave great strength and substance to the pretensions of Russia.
b. That which makes a material firm, solid, and hard-wearing.
1833H. Martineau Loom & Lugger i. ii. 21 You must learn from the French to give your fabrics more substance. Mod. There's hardly any substance in this material.
†20. The consistency of a fluid. Obs.
c1450Mirk's Festial 166/9 Take hede on watyr, and on yse, and on snow; how þay ben ych on dyverse in substance, and ȝet þay ben but watyr. 1541Copland Guydon's Quest. Cyrurg. R j, Whan it [sc. blood] is drawen, consydre the substance and the colour yf it be so as is abouesayde. 1799G. Smith Laboratory I. 207 Give it the substance of thin paste.
21. in substance.
a. In reality.
1390Gower Conf. II. 87 To receive Bothe in substance and in figure Of gold and selver the nature. 1667Milton P.L. xi. 771 Hee the future evil shall no less In apprehension then in substance feel Grievous to bear. 1785Burke Sp. Nabob of Arcot's Debts Wks. 1842 I. 339 The nabob of Arcot, and rajah of Tanjore, have, in truth and substance, no more than a merely civil authority. 1793― On policy of Allies Wks. 1842 I. 601 We know that the monarchy did not survive the hierarchy, no not even in appearance, for many months; in substance, not for a single hour.
†b. In general; generally speaking. (In ME. poetry used, esp. by Lydgate, as a metrical tag.)
c1407Lydg. Reason & Sens. 645 In especial ther be tweyne, And thou mayst chesen, in substaunce, Whiche ys most to thy plesaunce. Ibid. 894 And fynaly, as in substaunce, Do as the lyst, lo, this the ende. 1426― De Guil. Pilgr. 5881 Yt behoueth in sentence, That the fulfyllyng in substaunce To the fulle haue suffysaunce. c1440Generydes 1968 Now haue I here rehersid in substaunce xv kynges, As shortly as I myght, With ther powre and All ther hoole puysaunce. 1447Rolls of Parlt. V. 129/2 In whos kepyng the Bokes, suretees and godes in substaunce holy remaigne.
†c. In the main, for the most part. Obs.
1475Rolls of Parlt. VI. 151/1 The which forseid xth part, and xv⊇ and x⊇..been in substaunce levied and paied. a1500Bale's Chron. in Six Town Chron. (1911) 119 And the hertes of the comones in substaunce wer wt þe Erle: And a geinst the seid priour.
d. In essentials, substantially.
1491Act 7 Hen. VII, c. 22 Preamble, All whiche matiers afore rehercid is by the seid John Hayes in substaunce confessed and knowleged. 1581in D. Digges Complete Ambass. (1655) 440 She used in substance the like speeches the King had done. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. ii. 106 The Religion of the Persians is in substance the same with that of the Turks. 1737Gentl. Mag. VII. 662 To this it was replied in Substance as follows. 1821Jefferson Writ. (1830) IV. 344, I may misremember indifferent circumstances, but can be right in substance. 1857Keble Euch. Ador. ii. 26 Whitgift..adds, in substance, the same account of it. 1908Progr. Modernism 118 These are, in substance, our ideas upon the origin of religion.
e. In effect, virtually.
1834H. Taylor Artevelde i. i. ii, Think well What you should say; for if it must be ‘no’ In substance, you shall hardly find that form Which shall convey it pleasantly.
† f. In a pure or unmixed state, in the natural state. (Cf. F. en substance.) Obs.
1621Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. ii. iii. 102 Theophrastus speakes of a Shepheard that could eat Hellebor in substance. Ibid. ii. i. iv. ii. 303.
†g. ? Real, substantial. Obs.
1649Milton Tenure Kings 4 When the Common wealth nigh perishes for want of deeds in substance, don with just and faithfull expedition.
22. of (..) substance:
a. (often of good substance or great substance) Substantial, well-to-do, wealthy. (Cf. OF. de substance.)
1480Cov. Leet Bk. 435 The Comien Counceill of þe Cite & other persones of substaunce. 1496in Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. Var. Coll. IV. 211 Suche inhabitantes of grete substans. a1508Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 337 That syre of substance. 1528More Dyaloge iii. xv. Wks. 235/1 A very honest person, & of a good substaunce. 1660South Serm. Matt. xiii. 52 (1727) IV. 11 A Man of Substance and Sufficiency. 1681Pennsylvania Arch. I. 38 Men of substance and reputation. 1840Thackeray Catherine xxii, Hayes's father was reported to be a man of some substance. 1869Blackmore Lorna D. i, My father being of good substance, at least as we reckon in Exmoor. 1889Jessopp Coming of Friars ii. 70 [He] was a man of substance and influence.
†b. Of immaterial things: Substantial, weighty.
c1440Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton 1483) iv. xxxiii. 82 The hygher that he is sette in estate the more shold his wordes be of substaunce and moost of reputacion. a1456Ld. Cromwell in Paston Lett. III. 425 There is a greet straungenesse betwix my right trusty frend John Radcliff and you, withoute any matier or cause of substaunce, as I am lerned. 1509Fisher Funeral Serm. C'tess Richmond Wks. (1876) 291 Tryfelous thynges that were lytell to be regarded she wolde let passe by, but the other that were of weyght & substaunce [etc.].
†c. Of a meal: Sumptuous. Obs.
c1485Digby Myst. (1882) iii. 574, I haue ordeynnyd a dyner of substawns, My chyff freyndes þerwith to chyr.
23. Comb., as substance-yielding ppl. adj.
1611Cotgr., Substantifique, substantiell, or substance-yeelding.
Add:[23.] substance abuse orig. U.S., the misuse of any substance for its narcotic or stimulant effects; drug or alcohol abuse; cf. abuse n. 2 a.
1975U.S. News & World Rep. 24 Nov. 29/3 J. Irvin Nichols, administrator of the office of *substance abuse services in the Michigan Department of Public Health, narrows the comparisons to alcohol and marijuana. 1984J. Didion Democracy (1985) i. ix. 44 A clinic on East 61st Street that specialized in the treatment of what the therapist called adolescent substance abuse.
hence substance abuser.
1978Tucson Mag. Dec. 58/3 Kino Hospital's new psychiatric ward can handle 32 patients. Sixteen are what are known as *substance abusers. Their emotional problems are linked with excessive drinking or the taking of drugs. 1987Truck June 45/2 The American Trucking Association..has pledged to do ‘whatever it takes’ to get substance abusers out of the industry. |