| 释义 |
▪ I. cause, n.|kɔːz|
Also 4–6 cawse, 4–7 Sc. causs, 5–6 Sc. caus, 5 Sc. caws, 6 causse, 6–7 caus.
[a. F. cause (= Pr., Sp., It. causa), ad. L. causa, caussa. The latter came down in living use as It., Sp., Pr. cosa, ONF. cose, F. chose matter, thing (a sense which causa has in the Salic Law, in Gregory of Tours, and the Capitularies). At a later period the med.L. causa, of philosophy and the law-courts, was taken into the living languages, in the form causa, cause; in Fr. from the 13th c.]
I. General senses.
1. That which produces an effect; that which gives rise to any action, phenomenon, or condition. Cause and effect are correlative terms.
c1315Shoreham 117 Cause of alle thyse dignyte..Was Godes owene grace. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. ix. xxv. (1495) 362 The cause of nyghte is shadowe of the erthe that is bytwene vs and the sonne. c1400Test. Love ii. (1560) 285/2 Every cause of a cause is cause of thing caused. 1549Compl. Scot. (1801) 234 The philosophour sais that the cause of ane thing is of mair efficacite nor is the thyng that procedis fra the cause. 1639Rouse Heav. Univ. x. (1702) 143 To produce effects beyond the cause; which is indeed to make something out of nothing. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 570 Proteus only knows The secret Cause, and Cure of all thy Woes. 1751Johnson Rambl. No. 141 ⁋1 The greatest events may be often traced back to slender causes. 1827Pollok Course of T. v, These were the occasion, not the cause, of joy. 1879Lockyer Elem. Astron. iii. 83 The Sun's heat and the Earth's rotation are, in the main, the causes of all atmospheric disturbances.
b. as philosophically defined.
1656tr. Hobbes' Elem. Philos. ii. ix. (1839) 121 A cause simply, or an entire cause, is the aggregate of all the accidents both of the agents how many soever they be, and of the patient, put together; which when they are all supposed to be present, it cannot be understood but that the effect is produced at the same instant. c1790Reid Wks. I. 76/1 We have no ground to ascribe efficiency to natural causes, or even necessary connection with the effect. But we still call them causes, including nothing under the name but priority and constant conjunction. Ibid. 77/1 In the strict philosophical sense, I take a cause to be that which has the relation to the effect which I have to my voluntary and deliberate actions. 1846Mill Logic (1856) iii. v. §5 We may define..the cause of a phenomenon, to be the antecedent or the concurrence of antecedents, on which it is invariably and unconditionally consequent. 1870Jevons Elem. Logic xxviii. 239 By the Cause of an event we mean the circumstances which must have preceded in order that the event should happen.
2. A person or other agent who brings about or occasions something, with or without intention. (Often in bad sense: one who occasions, or is to blame for mischief, misfortune, etc.)
c1374Chaucer Anel. & Arc. 257 Þaughe þat yee Þus Causelesse þe Cause be Of my dedely aduersitee. 1509Fisher Fun. Serm. C'tess Richmond (1708) 28, I am, sayth he, the veray cause of raysynge of the Body, and I am also the veray Cause of lyfe unto the Soule. 1540R. Hyrde tr. Vives' Instr. Chr. Wom. (1592) G v, Howe much mischiefe such women bee cause of. 1611Bible 1 Chron. xxi. 3 Why will hee bee a cause of trespasse to Israel? 1660Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 73 The Mind is the disposer and cause of all things. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 92 The Laws Imposed by Nature, and by Nature's Cause. 1713Berkeley Hylas & P. ii, God is the supreme and universal Cause of all things. 1830Tennyson Dream Fair Women 104 ‘My youth’, she said, ‘was blasted with a curse: This woman was the cause.’ 1859― Enid 87 Am I the cause, I the poor cause that men Reproach you?
3. A fact, condition of matters, or consideration, moving a person to action; ground of action; reason for action, motive.
a1225Ancr. R. 320 Cause is hwi þu hit dudest, oðer hulpe þerto, oðer þuruh hwon hit bigon. 1340Ayenb. 42 Huanne þe seruises byeþ y-do uor onclenliche cause. c1460Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. (1714) 67 Movyd therto by non other Cause, save only drede of his Rebellion. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 1 The cause why we name this treatyse y⊇ pilgrymage of perfeccion. 1575Laneham Let. (1871) 3 Az I haue good cauz to think. 1592West Symbol. i. §55 (1632) The consideration of instruments is the motiue cause, for which the Instruments are made. 1655Comp. Clark 310 The said F.R. as well for the considerations aforesaid as also..for divers other good causes and considerations..doth for himself and his Heirs covenant. 1678Cudworth Intell. Syst. (1837) I. 77 To give just cause of suspicion. 1785Reid Let. in Wks. I. 65/2 A reason..is often called a cause 1876Green Short Hist. iii. §4 (1882) 129 The causes which drew students and teachers within the walls of Oxford.
b. In a pregnant sense: Good, proper, or adequate ground of action; esp. in to have cause, have no cause, with cause, without cause; so to show cause, esp. in Eng. Law, to argue against the confirmation of a ‘rule nisi’ or other provisionally granted order or judgement.
1375Barbour Bruce ix. 25, I had gret causs hym for to slay. 1413Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle iii. vii, They..kepen hit withouten ony cause. c1440York Myst. xvi. 49 For fadir, vnkyndnes ȝe kythe þem no cause. 1520in W. H. Turner Select Rec. Oxford 26 To..shew a cause why he ought not to be..disfranchised. 1549Bk. Com. Prayer, Matrimony, If any of you know cause, or just impediment, why these two persons should not be joined together. 1561T. Norton Calvin's Inst. i. xvii. §1 Modesty, that wee draw not God to yeeld cause of his doings. 1611Bible Pref. 9 To amend it where he saw cause. 1747in Col. Rec. Penn. V. 88 The Government of Pennsylvania had not seen cause yet to contribute something towards it. 1768Blackstone Comm. III. 265 Upon good cause shewn to the court. 1865Carlyle Fredk. Gt. I. ii. vi. 84 The Order got into its wider troubles..with Christian neighbours..who did not love it, and for cause. 1867Law Rep. 2 Q.B. 360 A rule was obtained..to enter the verdict for the plaintiff..Hayes, Serjt., and Beasley, shewed cause. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 347 If a man has cause of offence against another. 1883Law Rep. 11 Queen's B. 597 The plaintiff has been defamed, and has primâ facie a cause of action.
c. cause why: ‘reason why’, reason. Sometimes used interrogatively, or conjunctively: Why, for the reason that, for this reason. Obs. exc. dial.
1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 3526 God wate wele þe cause why. c1386Chaucer Sqr.'s T. 177 And cause why? for they kan nat the craft. c1440Gesta Rom. viii. 21 (Harl. MS.) He is gilty of my dethe, and I shalle telle you cause why. c1449Pecock Repr. ii. xiii. 222 Cause whi God wole ȝeue his gracis..is this. 1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Matt. v. 42 There is no cause why to cut off these membres. 1581Campion in Confer. i. (1584) C b, You must consider..the cause why. 1856Kingsley Let. in Life xiv. (1879) II. 21 Such a view..as tourist never saw, nor will see, 'case why, he can't find it. [Cf. cause conj.]
†4. The object of action; purpose, end. Obs. exc. in
b. final cause: a term introduced into philosophical language by the schoolmen as a transl. of Aristotle's fourth cause, τὸ οὗ ἕνεκα or τέλος, the end or purpose for which a thing is done, viewed as the cause of the act; esp. applied in Natural Theology to the design, purpose, or end of the arrangements of the universe.
c1386Chaucer Clerk's T. 386 This Markys hath hire spoused with a ryng Broght for the same cause. 1514Barclay Cyt. & Uplondyshm (1847) p. xlix, Then all be fooles..Which with glad mindes use courting for such cause. 1595Hunnis Joseph 59 For to sojourne in the land, is cause we come to thee.
b.1587Golding De Mornay x. 149 Let us consequently see the final cause: that is to wit, how and to what ende he guydeth it. c1660Boyle Disquis. Final Causes §1 Those that would exclude final causes from the consideration of the naturalist..either that, with Epicurus, they think..it is improper and vain to seek for final causes in the effects of chance: or..with Descartes, that..it is rash for men to think, that they know, or can investigate, what ends [God] proposed to Himself in His actings about His creatures. 1691Ray Creation i. (1701) 49 The Continuation of these two Motions of the Earth..upon Axes not parallel, is resolvable into nothing but a final and mental Cause, or the τὸ βέλτιστον, because it was best it should be so. 1768Sterne Sent. Journ. (1778) I. 24 The efficient as well as the final causes of travelling. 1857Buckle Civilis. I. viii. 541 Descartes..was, of course, led to abandon the study of final causes. 1881B. Sanderson in Nature No. 619. 439 The final cause of an animal..is muscular action, because it is by means of its muscles that it maintains its external relations.
5. In the preceding senses, with various defining attributes.
The four causes of Aristotle were the efficient cause, the force, instrument, or agency by which a thing is produced; the formal cause (see quot. 1678); the material cause, the elements or matter from which it is produced; the final cause, the purpose or end for which it is produced (see 4 b). The First Cause, the original cause or Creator of the Universe; secondary causes, those derived from a primary or first cause. occasional causes in Cartesian philosophy: see occasional, -ism.
1393Gower Conf. III. 87 He clepeth god the firste cause. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iii. xvii. (1495) 61 The cause efficient of the syghte is the vertue of the soule that hyghte animalis. 1447O. Bokenham Seyntys Introd. (1835) 1 The fyrste is what, the secunde is why, In wych two wurdys,..The foure causys comprehended be. 1586T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. (1589) 667 The Philosophers propound fower causes of everie thing, The efficient, the materiall, the formall, and the finall cause. 1646H. Lawrence Commun. Angels 31 His [God's] essence (which is the efficient, finall, and exemplary cause of all things). 1656Manasseh ben Israel Vind. Jud. in Phenix (1708) II. 409 The Knowledg of the one first Cause. 1678Hobbes Decameron ii. 15 Another they call the Formal Cause, or simply the form or essence of the thing caused: as when they say, Four equal Angles and four equal Sides are the Cause of a Square Figure. 1726Ayliffe Parerg. 147 There are seven Causes consider'd in Judgment, viz. the Material, Efficient, and Formal Cause; and likewise a Natural, Substantial, and Accidental Cause; and lastly a Final Cause. 1733Pope Ess. Man iii. 1 The Universal Cause Acts to one end, but acts by various laws. 1742― Dunciad iv. 644 Philosophy, that lean'd on heaven before, Shrinks to her second cause, and is no more. 1845Corrie Theol. in Encycl. Metrop. 858/1 The main object of Theology is to ascertain the attributes and perfections of this First Great Cause. 1858Mansel Bampton Lect. ii. (ed. 4) 30 By the First Cause is meant that which produces all things, and is itself produced of none. 1862H. Spencer First Princ. i. ii. §12 (1875) 37 We are not only obliged to suppose some Cause, but also a first Cause.
6. From the general senses arise various phrases:
†a. by the cause that: for the reason that; with the purpose that, to the end that, in order that; by the cause of: by reason of, on account of. Obs. Hence bi-cause, because, q.v.
c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 2488 Be þe cause þat þei scholde rise Erly..Vnto her reste went þei att nihte. a1450Knt. de la Tour 2 Thei had in hem no shame nor drede by the cause thei were so used. c1460Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. (1714) 138 Which by the Cause therof lyvyn in the gretter penurye.
†b. for cause that: for the reason that (= because A. 1, B. 1). for cause of: by reason of, on account of (= because A. 2 a); for the sake of (= because A. 2 b). Obs.
c1425Wyntoun Cron. vii. vii. 205 For caws þat he past til Twlows. 1475Caxton Jason 67 Callid god of bataill for cause of many batailles that he had. 1480― Chron. Eng. ccxxii. 214 And al he did for cause of spences and for to gadre tresour. 1535Stewart Chron. Scot. II. 334 For caus that tha no wald Resist the wrang. 1578Sc. Poems 16th C. II. 154 For cause his faith was constantly In Christes blude.
†c. for my (his, etc.) cause: on my (his, etc.) account, for my (his, etc.) sake. Obs.
c1450Merlin 15 Ye shull neuer be Juged to deth for my cause. c1500Lancelot 3395, I wald not..for my causs, that such o knycht suld dee. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 134 I have described and set him out in this manner..which I did for use and customs cause. 1611Bible 2 Cor. vii. 12 I did it not for his cause that had done the wrong.
¶ See also cause conj.
II. In legal, and related senses.
(In the Digest, ‘causa’ sometimes means ‘the facts of the case.’)
7. Law. The matter about which a person goes to law; the case of one party in a suit. Hence to plead a cause. (Cf. 1883 in 3 b.)
1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 9362 Þe riȝte of is cause. c1300Beket 1043 To bringe this cause of holi churche tofore the Pope. c1400Mandeville xvi. 172 Bothe partyes writen here Causes in 2 Billes. 1474Caxton Chesse 27 Pletyng of a cause for his client. 1553T. Wilson Rhet. 6 The judges before whom..the determinacion of his cause resteth. 1611Bible Ex. xxii. 9 The cause of both parties shall come before the Iudges. 1760Goldsmith Cit. W. xcviii, He that has most opinions is most likely to carry his cause. 1802M. Edgeworth Moral T. (1816) I. 218 Would to heaven my son could have..such a trial! And..that I might plead his cause!
b. fig.
c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xxvi. 545 Ye can speke shrewdly wythoute a cause lawfull. 1568Bible (Bishops') Ps. xxxv. 1 Pleade thou my cause O Lord. 1611Bible Pref. 6 This seemeth to argue a bad cause.
8. Law. A subject of litigation; a matter before a court for decision; an action, process, suit; = case n.1 6.
c1325E.E. Allit. P. A. 701 To corte..Þer alle oure causez schal be tryed. c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 128 In alle manere cause he sought þe right in skille. 1399Langl. Rich Redeles iii. 318 To ben of conceill for causis that in the court hangit. 1495Act 11 Hen. VII, xxiv. §1 In any accion or cause personell. 1529Rastell Pastyme Hist. Fr. (1811) 73 He was in all cawsis so indyfferent. 1652Needham tr. Selden's Mare Cl. 5 This caus could not by any pretens bee brought into judgment. 1752Johnson Rambl. No. 201 ⁋11 He was summoned as an evidence in a cause of great importance. 1790Burke Fr. Rev. 302 The governing power, which, in the midst of a cause, or on the prospect of it, may wholly change the rule of decision. 1879Carpenter Ment. Phys. ii. x. 436 Further proceedings having been taken in a cause which he had heard some years previously.
b. Hence (Sc.) day or hour of cause: i.e. of trial; also fig. and transf.
1818Scott Hrt. Midl. xxiv, Whispering to Plumdamas that he would meet him at Mac Croskie's..in the hour of cause. 1822― Nigel xxxvii, I will be with you in the hour of cause.
c. fig. Matter in dispute, an affair to be decided.
c1500Lancelot 1495 Ther god hyme-self hath ton the causs on hond. 1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iii. i. 289 What counsaile giue you in this weightie cause? 1665Manley Grotius' Low-C. Warrs 283 Ready to decide the cause by Battel.
†9. Contextually, and in translating L. causa or Gr. αἰτία, it sometimes has or approaches the sense ‘charge, accusation, blame’. Obs.
c1340Cursor M. 16681 (Laud) The cawse of his deth they wroght Abovyn his hed. 1382Wyclif Acts xxv. 27 For to sende a boundun man, and not to signifie the cause of him. 1494Fabyan vii. 494 Many..whiche laye there [in the prisons] for great causes and crymes. c1550Cheke Matt. xxiii. 37 Þei set his caus in writing over his hed. 1605Shakes. Lear iv. vi. 111, I pardon that mans life. What was thy cause? Adultery?
†b. to be in cause: to be to blame. Obs.
c1400Apol. Loll. 25 Prelats mai sore drede, þat her vniust & iuilwilly cursing be in cause whi þe puple drediþ not cursing. c1400Rom. Rose 4525 Who was in cause..But hir silfe? 1635R. N. tr. Camden's Hist. Eliz. i. iv. 38 Shee herselfe is in cause that I cannot satisfie her.
†10. gen. A matter of concern, an affair, business; the case as it concerns any one (cf. case n.1 1). Obs. (exc. dial.)
1375Barbour Bruce iii. 302 His causs ȝeid fra ill to wer. 1393Gower Conf. III. 85 Wisdom is..Above all other thing to knowe In loves cause and elles where. 14..Tundale's Vis. 100 His frendys by sybbe Herd of that cause that hym bytydde. 1477Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 65 Committe alle thy causes to god. 1593Shakes. Lucr. 1295 The cause craves haste. 1655–60Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 65 Pericles..could easily reduce the exercise of his mind from secret abstrusive things to publick popular causes. 1880W. Cornw. Gloss. (E.D.S.), Cause, case. ‘If that's the cause I must work later.’
b. Phrases. if cause were, in cause. Obs. exc. dial. (Cf. case n.1 3, 10, 11.)
c1400Rom. Rose 5295 He..shulde it fulfille..Except oonly in cause twoo. 1523Fitzherb. Surv. 10 b, In that cause the lorde of the honer or manere may take a distresse for his rentes homages. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. (1812) I. 314 We are bounde to ayde him, in cause that he requyre..vs so to do. 1634Malory's Arthur ii. lxiv. 402 If cause were that they had to do with Sir Launcelot. 1696Stillingfl. 12 Serm. i. 7, I may say..as our Saviour doth in another cause.
c. seal of cause: charter of incorporation.
1806Forsyth Beauties Scotl. III. 260 The incorporation of Fleshers [of Glasgow] obtained their charter or seal of cause in 1580.
11. That side of a question or controversy which is espoused, advocated, and upheld by a person or party; a movement which calls forth the efforts of its supporters. (Spec. applied in Commonwealth times to the Puritan ‘cause’.)
1581Savile Tacitus' Hist. iii. xxv. (1591) 129 It was the..publicke act of the cause. 1588Marprel. Epist. (Arb.) 36 Terming the cause by the name of Anabaptisterie. 1595Shakes. John iii. iv. 12 Such temperate order in so fierce a cause. 1660Bibl. Fanatica in Harl. Misc. (1746) VIII. 71/1 A pious Brother, and a real Assertor of the good old Cause. 1678Butler Hud. iii. ii. 545 Zeal..made the Church and State and Laws Submit t' old Iron and the Cause. 1705Addison Italy Ded., Their Hopes or Fears for the Common Cause rose or fell with Your Lordship's Interest and Authority. 1749Fielding Tom Jones xiii. iii, I shall ever esteem it the cause of my sex to rescue any woman, etc. 1792Burke Corr. (1844) III. 472 No cause in the world can..be more clear in my eyes..than that of the Poles. 1827Hallam Const. Hist. (1876) II. x. 275 The good old cause, as the commonwealth's men affected to style the interests of their little faction. 1842Tennyson Two Voices 148 In some good cause..To perish. 1884Gladstone in Standard 29 Feb. 2/7 We should be traitors to the cause we profess to have taken in hand.
b. Hence to make common cause (with): to join in behalf of a common object.
1844H. H. Wilson Brit. India (1845) I. 209 Before they made common cause with either French or English. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 101 The two parties..united their strength in a common cause. 1863M. Howitt tr. F. Bremer's Greece II. xiv. 114 Epirus will make common cause with Thessaly.
c. Hence applied colloquially in some religious bodies, to their ‘cause’ as embodied in a particular local organization, enterprise, mission, or church.
Mod. Several new causes have been started in the county during the year. The Baptists have a flourishing cause in the village.
†12. Disease, sickness. Obs. [A sense, simply transferred from late L., as to the origin of which see the Latin Dicts. In Eng. often vaguely associated with other senses, and used accordingly.]
[1490Caxton How to Die 2 What some euer mater or cause be layd to him.. he oughte to suffre and receyue it pacyently. 1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xviii. xvii, I your cause can nothing remedy.] 1578Lyte Dodoens iii. xxvi. 353 Hellebor may not be ministred except in desperate causes. 1585Lloyd Treas. Health F iij, In a hote cause, lettis made in a playster is much worth. 1601Shakes. All's Well ii. i. 114 Toucht With that malignant cause. 1607― Cor. iii. i. 235 Leaue vs to cure this Cause.
III. Comb., as cause-monger, cause-renderer, cause-seeking adj., causewise adv.; cause-book, a book in which legal causes are entered; cause-list, a list of causes to be tried.
1885Law Times' Rep. LII. 574/2 The cause was re-entered in the *cause-book.
1837Edin. Rev. LXIV. 491 These *cause-mongers go also to the storehouse of their fancy.
a1637B. Jonson Eng. Gram., For, a *cause-renderer, hath sometime the force of a severing one.
1877Tyndall in Daily News 2 Oct. 2/4 He has been described by the German Lichtenberg as ‘das rastlose Ursachenthier’—the restless *cause-seeking animal.
1869Act 32 & 33 Vict. c. 91 Sched. i. 1./2 Accounts of various suitors kept *cause⁓wise.
▪ II. cause, v.1|kɔːz|
Also 5 cawse, cawes, 6 causse.
[ad. med.L. causāre, as used, by the Schoolmen, in sense ‘efficere’. (Classical L. had only causāri (later causāre) to plead causes, give reasons or excuses. Hence also It. causare, Sp. cauzar, F. causer, all in same sense as Eng.)]
1. trans. To be the cause of; to effect, bring about, produce, induce, make.
c1340Hampole Prose Tr. viii. 17 A fantasye caused of trubblyng of þe brayne. 1393Gower Conf. III. 107 They [the stars] causen many a wonder To the climats, that stond hem under. c1430Chev. Assigne 39 His moder..þat cawsed moche sorowe. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531). 4 b, That..oftentymes causeth heresyes & errours. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 763 A Drench of Wine..the Patient's Death did cause. 1764Goldsm. Trav. 430 How small of all that human hearts endure, That part which laws or kings can cause or cure. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 55 The ruin of their empire..was caused by the loss of freedom and the growth of despotism.
b. Const. object and inf. with (formerly also without) to.
1393Gower Conf. III. 114 It causeth..A man to be subtil of wit. c1485Digby Myst. (1882) iv. 543 How durst thou..to be so bold To cawse hym dy? 1552Abp. Hamilton Catech. (1884) 34 It sall cause the cum in great dangeir. 1610B. Jonson Alch. ii. iii, Take heed, you doe not cause the blessing leaue you. 1611Bible Amos viii. 9, I will cause the Sunne to go downe at noone. 1625Hart Anat. Ur. ii. iv. 73, I caused him bleed oftner then once. 1667Milton P.L. iv. 216 Out of the fertil ground he caus'd to grow All trees. 1842W. Grove Corr. Phys. Forces 10 It is the gravitation of the water which causes it to flow.
c. with obj. and inf. pass.
1494Fabyan i. iii. 10 They..caused great fyres to be made. 1535Coverdale Ps. civ. [cv.] 20 Then sent the kinge and caused him be delyuered. 1596Spenser F.Q. iii. i. 42 She caused them be led..Into a bowre. 1678Wanley Wond. Lit. World v. ii. §84. 472/2 He..caused his five Brethren to be all strangled in his presence. 1821J. Q. Adams in C. Davies Metr. Syst. iii. 127 To cause a statement in writing..to be hung up in some conspicuous place.
†d. with inf. simply, as to cause make, to have or get (something) made, cause (it) to be made. (Cf. F. faire faire, etc.) Obs. ? exc. Sc.
1535Coverdale 1 Kings ii. 36 The kynge sent, and caused for to call Semei. 1649Drummond of Hawthornden Hist. Jas. I, Wks. (1711) 5 The king..caused abolish the indictment. a1693Urquhart Rabelais iii. xliv. 358 She caused kill them. 1753Scots Mag. Feb. 91/2 The directors had caused prepare the draught. 1820Mair Tyro's Dict. (ed. 10) 5 Numa caused make eleven more [shields] of the same form.
e. with obj. sentence. arch.
1393Gower Conf. III. 108 That causeth why that some passe Her due cours to-fore another. c1510Virgilius in Thoms Prose Rom. 23 She caused workemen shulde make the walles ageyne. 1611Bible John xi. 37 Could not this man..haue caused that euen this man should not haue died? 1722De Foe Plague (1756) 93 This caus'd, that many died frequently..in the Streets suddenly.
†2. To actuate, move, force, drive (an agent) to (some action or emotion). Obs.
c1400Destr. Troy 13402 What causet the kyng to his cleane yre. c1430Syr Tryam. 641 Grete nede cawsyth hur therto.
†3. As vb. of incomplete predication: To make or render (a thing something). (Cf. L. efficere.)
1576Baker Jewell of Health 90 a, If oftener it shall be dystilled, it is then caused the effectuouser. Ibid. 113 a, It causeth them also most white. 1579Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 188 An honest life will cause it a pleasaunt lyuing.
†4. To give reasons or excuses [= L. causāri].
1596Spenser F.Q. iii. ix. 26 He, to shifte their curious request, Gan causen why she could not come in place.
▪ III. cause, v.2 rare—1.
[a. F. cause-r to talk, chat.]
To speak familiarly, converse, talk, chat.
1839Bailey Festus xxvii. (1848) 321, I have caused face to face with elements.
▪ IV. † cause, v.3 Obs. rare.
? To cast or shed.
c1420Pallad. on Husb. iv. 862 Thaire myddel teeth aboue at two yere age Thai cause, at yeres iiii an other gage. Ere yeres six gothe the gomes stronge, The caused first at yeres vi are even.
▪ V. cause, 'cause, conj. Obs. exc. dial.
[An elliptic use of prec. n. for because (dial. a-cause).]
†1. (with of) = because of, on account of.
1513Bradshaw St. Werburge (1848) 184 Churches..were gyuen To god and saynt Werburge cause of deuocion.
2. = because. Since c 1600 often written 'cause; now only dial., or vulgar; also spelt cos, coz, cuz, case, etc.
1556Lauder Tractate 295 Ȝe suld not chuse thame cause ȝe lufe thame. 1592Marlowe Jew Malta iv. ii. 1535 Do you mean to strangle me? Yes, cause you use to confess. 1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 169 It was the more terrible, cause hee had seene Mecha, and never after lied. 1653in Walton Angler xi. 218, I cannot hate thee [Musick], 'cause the Angels love thee. 1682N. O. Boileau's Lutrin ii. Argt., 'Cause he had left her in the Lurch. 1711E. Ward Vulgus Brit. xi. 121 'Cause none will credit what they say. 18..Prout in Burrowes Rem. 267 All for what? 'Kase his courage was good. 1884Harper's Mag. Feb. 411/2 Jason pitied her 'cause she was lonesome. |