conservativen.adj.

Brit.

/kənˈsəːvətɪv/, U.S.

/kənˈsərvədɪv/

Forms: Middle English conseruatif, Middle English conservatyf, Middle English conseruatyff, Middle English–1500s conseruatyue, Middle English–1600s conseruatiue, 1500s conseruatyfe, 1500s– conservative; also Scottish pre-1700 conseruatywe.

Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French conservatif; Latin conservativus.

Etymology: < Middle French conservatif (French conservatif ) characterized by a tendency to preserve or conserve (14th cent.) and its etymon post-classical Latin conservativus preservative (6th cent. in Boethius) < classical Latin cōnservāt- , past participial stem of cōnservāre conserve v. + -īvus -ive suffix. Compare Old Occitan conservatiu (in an isolated attestation), Spanish conservativo (15th cent.), Portuguese conservativo (15th cent.), Italian conservativo (a1306). Compare conservatory adj. and conservatist adj.With the modern political use compare French conservateur (1795 in sense ‘preserving order’, 1815 in sense ‘opposed to innovation’), and see note at Conservative Party n. at Compounds 2.

A. n.

1. Something that conserves; a preserving agent, force, substance, etc.; a preservative. Cf. conserve n. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > safety > protection or defence > preservation from injury or destruction > [noun] > preservation from decay, loss, or destruction > one who or that which preserves from decay, etc. > that which preserves from decay, loss, etc.

conservea1393

conservativea1398

preservative?a1439

conservator?1440

preservationc1475

preserve1554

conservatory1563

conservice1607

conservatorship1645

preservatory1654

balsam1658

amber1785

embalmer1838

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xix. liv. 1319 Hony kepeþ and saueþ..and is þerfore ydo in conseruatyue.

?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1865) I. 7 (MED) A story is the testimony of tymes, the memory of life..a conseruatiue perpetualle to thynges mortalle [L. mortalia..conservat].

1594 T. Lodge Wounds Ciuill War i. ii. B2 Thy honied tongue Washt in a sirrop of sweete conseruatiues.

1656 Disc. Auxiliary Beauty 39 They use these customable adornings..as an attractive or conservative of their affections.

1668 L. Colson Philosophia Maturata 120 This confection is a true Conservative of mans body.

1745 J. Draycott Sin & Folly Rebellion 19 Parliaments, the greatest Conservatives of our Constitution.

1829 R. Southey Sir Thomas More 78 The rapid increase of the labouring classes renders education, as a corrective and conservative..absolutely needful.

1915 G. M. Smith in G. W. Kingsbury Hist. Dakota Territory III. x. 360 The Board of Health called attention to the value of artesian water as a conservative of health.

a. Politics. Usually with capital initial: a supporter or member of the Conservative Party of Great Britain, or a similar party elsewhere; a Tory.In early use: spec. one who espoused the policies of Sir Robert Peel (see note at Conservative Party n. at Compounds 2).

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > rule or government > politics > British politics > British party politics > [noun] > Toryism or conservatism > a Tory or conservative

tory-rory1681

Tory1694

conservative1831

1831 Sir R. Peel Let. 28 May in Croker Papers (1884) II. xvi. 116 I apprehend there are two parties among those who call themselves Conservatives.

1832 T. B. Macaulay in Edinb. Rev. July 557 We see that, if M. Dumont had died in 1799, he would have died, to use the new cant word, a decided ‘conservative’.

1834 Marquis of Londonderry in Duke of Buckingham Mem. Will. IV & Vict. (1861) II. 141 This section of the Reformers coalescing with the Duke's former Government and the ultra Tories, uniting all under the name of Conservatives.

1843 B. Disraeli Speech to Constituents in Sel. Speeches (1882) I. 49 Those ancient institutions which we Conservatives are bound to uphold—which you sent us to Parliament to uphold.

1861 J. S. Mill Considerations Representative Govt. vii. 138 The Conservatives..being by the law of their existence the stupidest party.

1866 ‘G. Eliot’ Felix Holt I. ii. 65 There are two Whigs and one Conservative likely to be in the field.

1901 Washington Post 20 Oct. 19 Mr. Arthur James Balfour, leader of the Conservatives of the House of Commons, in one of his facetious moods once designated political newspaper comment as consisting of lies, damned lies, and statistics.

1940 J. F. Kennedy Why Eng. Slept v. 115 The position of Labour in regard to rearmament has been subject to much criticism by the Conservatives.

1974 Times 9 Mar. 3/1 It was here in the Isle of Wight that the Conservatives last week suffered their biggest electoral disaster.

2008 Independent 7 Jan. 30/2 The Conservatives are rolling out a programme of benefit proposals that owes much to the ‘tough love’ approach of recent welfare reforms in the United States.

b. A person who conserves or preserves something; (now usually) an adherent of traditional values, ideas, and institutions; an opponent of (social and political) change, a conservative person.

ΘΚΠ

the world > time > change > absence of change, changelessness > maintaining state or condition > [noun] > opponent of change

Tory1712

old school1749

conservatist1831

conservative1832

fossil1844

mossback1873

stand-patter1902

old school tie1920

passéist1921

pastist1921

auntie1953

old schooler1964

Luddite1970

1832 Times 30 Mar. 2/4 That body of venerable conservatives soon passed an admonitory resolution against the execution of the Baden law.

1849 W. Irving Hist. N.Y. (rev. ed.) vii. viii. 419 in Wks. I. These were that class of ‘conservatives’ who, having amassed a fortune, button up their pockets..and pass the rest of their lives in..wealth.

1865 Reader 20 May 561 We find girls naturally timid, prone to dependence, born conservatives.

1925 Cent. Mag. Jan. 426/2 When I say that the governments of the world must remain in the hands of the conservatives, I do not mean in the hands of..reactionaries.

1976 Charleston (W. Va.) Daily Mail 5 June 4 a/6 A political constituency made up primarily of conservatives, southerners, and right wingers.

2008 N.Y. Times Mag. 13 Jan. 34/2 Much of our recent social history, including the culture wars between liberals and conservatives, consists of the moralization or amoralization of particular kinds of behavior.

c. Judaism. Frequently with capital initial. = Conservative Jew at sense B. 2d.

ΚΠ

1872 Hebrew Christian Witness July 100/1 The conservatives denounced the dissenting congregation as revolutionary propagandists..and petitioned the government to close the new Temple.

1890 Jewish Q. Rev. 2 371 The Jewish congregation were split into conservatives and reformers.

1930 S. M. Melamed Breaking Tablets Introd. 3 This brand of Judaism is today accepted by the Reformers and by the Orthodox, by the Conservatives and by the free-thinkers.

1956 Evangelist 9 Oct. 1/4 There are three principal division among them [sc. Western jews]—the Conservatives, Reformers and Neologists.

1993 N. Gillman Conservative Judaism iii. 37 Reform does it quickly; the Conservatives, slowly.

2005 Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press (Nexis) 10 Dec. d8 Conservatives..once were the largest grouping of Jews in the United States.

B. adj.

I. That conserves, or tends to conserve.

a. Characterized by a tendency to preserve or keep intact or unchanged; that conserves something; preserving. Now rare except as merged with sense B. 2, or retained in specialized uses at Branch B. II.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > safety > protection or defence > preservation from injury or destruction > [adjective] > preserving from decay, loss, or destruction

conservative?a1425

conservatory1576

conserving1584

salvative1653

?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 59^v (MED) Puluer rubium, incarnatif and conseruatif.

c1450 (c1380) G. Chaucer House of Fame (Fairf. 16) (1878) l. 847 This place..Ther as Fame lyst to duelle Ys set amyddys of these three Heven erthe and eke the see As most conseruatyf the soun.

?1541 R. Copland Guy de Chauliac's Questyonary Cyrurgyens iii. sig. Liij Called the seame conseruatyfe..for it is nat made but for to mayntayne the lyppes tyll the wounde be closed.

1559 P. Morwyng tr. C. Gesner Treasure of Euonymus 385 The hole of the conseruative vessel ought to be couered with a litle couer.

1691 W. Bates Four Last Things iv. 527 And will God withdraw his Conservative Power of the guilty Soul in its Immortality, and..put an end to its deserved Misery?

1695 T. Tryon New Method educating Children b 1^v That mighty Spirit which is the Moving, Vivifying Creative, and Conservative Power of God.

1709 J. Norris Let. to Mr. Dodwell 8 God..is at liberty to withdraw from any or all his Creatures that conservative Influence of his whereby they subsist.

1772 W. Hooper tr. L. S. Mercier Mem. Year Two Thousand Five Hundred I. xiv. 86 Temperance..that true restorative and conservative elixir.

1815 Times 29 Dec. 3 The kingdom of the Netherlands places in the balance of Europe a conservative and pacific weight.

1828 H. Steuart Planter's Guide 121 The Stem or Trunk of woody plants is classed..among the Conservative Organs.

1839 W. Irving Chron. Wolfert's Roost (1855) 349 A still higher opinion of the conservative virtues of lock and key.

1893 B. E. Fernow Forest Influences (U.S. Dept. Agric., Forestry Div. Bull. No. 7) iii. 140 The..conservative action of the forest with reference to available water supplies.

1916 S. Mathews in G. B. Smith Guide to Study of Christian Relig. 66 When the Empire itself began to weaken..the only conservative or preservative force in the Western civilization was the church.

b. With of.

ΚΠ

1502 tr. Ordynarye of Crysten Men (de Worde) i. vii. sig. h.iii The very medycyne..conseruatyf of..strength & of helthe.

1570 Mariage Witte & Sci. i. sig. Aii Nurse of the woorlde conseruatyue of kynd.

1656 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. II. vi. 87 Fortitude being the conservation of a lawfull precept, is likewise conservative of right reason.

1677 T. Gale Court of Gentiles: Pt. IV iv. 14 The Divine Bonitie..is conservative of althings.

1857 J. Ruskin Polit. Econ. Art i. 79 Jealously conservative of old things, but conservative of them as pillars, not as pinnacles—as aids, but not as idols.

1926 Times 29 Oct. 9 Members [of a dining club] find that a liberal use of Mustard saves labour in digestion and is conservative of health.

a. That conserves, or favours the conservation of, an existing structure or system; (now esp.) designating a person, movement, outlook, etc., averse to change or innovation and holding traditional ideas and values, esp. with regard to social and political issues.Originally almost always with favourable connotations; now usually in more neutral or negative sense. In political contexts sometimes equated with reactionary adj. 1, and often opposed to liberal: see liberal adj. 5b. [In Conservative Senate (in quot. 1802) probably after French sénat conservateur body set up during the Consulate by the Constitution of Year VIII (1799).]

ΘΚΠ

the world > time > change > absence of change, changelessness > maintaining state or condition > [adjective] > opposed to change

Tory1651

unprogressive1722

conservative1802

old-line1803

improgressive1809

old school1816

conservatory1822

conservatist1835

unmarching1837

mossbacked1876

mossy1904

passéist1914

pastist1921

Luddite1957

society > authority > rule or government > politics > party politics > groups or attitudes right to left > [adjective] > right

illiberal1649

white?1740

right1794

conservative1802

centre-right1822

agricolous1825

hunkerish1857

right wing1857

rightward1887

rightist1894

rightwards1931

right-of-centre1937

establishmentarian1962

righty1970

neo-con1979

New Rightist1981

society > authority > rule or government > politics > party politics > a party > [adjective] > types of party generally

patrician1813

national1828

progressive1830

progressist1843

conservative1845

republican1873

nationalist1884

mobilist1966

green1973

1802 Times 17 May 4 What then remains for him [sc. Bonaparte], but to flatter, or command..the Conservative Senate, into another question for the popular decision.

1816 Anti-Jacobin Rev. June 553 Those conservative principles which all good men ought not passively to foster and cherish, but actually to promote, and..perpetuate.

1829 C. C. F. Greville Jrnl. 14 Mar. (1874) I. 188 Herries told Hyde Villiers that their policy was conservative, that of the Whigs subversive.

1843 T. Carlyle Past & Present iii. v. 220 The most Conservative English People..is driven alike by its Logic and its Unlogic..to be wholly a Reforming People.

1845 S. Austin tr. L. von Ranke Hist. Reformation in Germany III. 417 The one [party]..inclined to the absolute rejection of the traditional..the other, conservative even in matters of doctrine.

1871 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues IV. 165* Plato becomes more conservative as he grows older.

1882 R. C. Jebb Life Bentley 213 No school of textual criticism, however conservative, has denied that conjecture is sometimes our sole resource.

1900 Dict. National Biogr. at Williams, Daniel Thirteen presbyterian ministers (of whom seven took the conservative side in the non-subscription controversy of 1719).

1966 Jrnl. Politics 28 153 Their conservative contemporaries in the North and East who vote Republican.

2004 Independent on Sunday 21 Nov. 15/3 A journalist with trenchantly conservative views.

b. spec. (usually with capital initial). Of, belonging to, or characteristic of Conservatives or the Conservative Party. Cf. Tory adj..Earliest in Conservative Party n. at Compounds 2; for the origin and development of this sense see note there. In later use sometimes an attributive use of sense A. 2a.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > rule or government > politics > British politics > British party politics > [adjective] > conservative

conservative1831

society > authority > rule or government > politics > British politics > British party politics > [adjective] > conservative > of Tories or conservatives

Tory1651

Torycal1682

blue1781

true blue1827

conservative1831

1831 Sir R. Peel in Croker Papers (1884) II. xvi. 117 There is another party..which..thinks the imposition of a Property Tax on Ireland and the aristocracy a Conservative measure.

1832 D. O'Connell in Hansard Commons 25 May 150 The learned Solicitor General for Ireland..admits that the details of the Bill are conservative—that is the fashionable term, the new fangled phrase now used in polite Society to designate the Tory ascendancy.

1844 B. Disraeli Coningsby I. ii. vi. 220 ‘A sound Conservative Government,’ said Taper, musingly. ‘I understand: Tory men and Whig measures.’

1881 M. E. Herbert Edith 190 A great Conservative reaction had set in.

1884 Pall Mall Gaz. 2 Aug. 1/1 Conservative and Liberal, as we ordinarily use the terms, are distinctions having reference to a particular practical struggle, the gradual substitution of government by the whole body of the people for government by privileged classes.

1902 C. G. Harper Holyhead Road II. 94 The electors returned both himself and the other Conservative candidate by thumping majorities.

1968 Guardian 9 Sept. 6/1 Powellism is gaining ground within the Conservative ranks.

1981 Washington Post (Nexis) 9 June a15 Many Conservative politicians fear their party may be even more vulnerable..because of the failure of Thatcher's policies to revive the ailing British economy.

2006 Independent 7 Apr. 14/2 Any star who turns out for a Conservative function will find that the naffness of the occasion sticks forever to their reputation.

c. Conforming to traditional aesthetic tastes; sober and conventional in style.

ΚΠ

1852 Littell's Living Age 27 Nov. 432/2 With a just conservative taste, Miss Robbins has regathered these perennial flowers of the muse, and interwoven them with other and more recent blossoms—thus forming a beautiful and valuable collection [of poetry].

1899 N.Y. Times 15 Oct. 19/2 Hardly has the first frost touched the trees,..than man returns to a state of sombre and conservative attire.

1939 Times 31 Mar. 12/4 The whole range of contemporary French painting is indicated, from the cubism of Picasso, Braque, and Leger to the conservative style of Jean Amblard.

1993 Cent. Home Mar. 82/1 The Loyalist interior is refined, conservative and quietly classical in flavour.

2008 Times-Picayune (New Orleans) (Nexis) 19 Feb. (Living section) 1 Conservative sports coats and jeans, three-piece suits and sneakers were the predominate attire.

d. Judaism. Usually with capital initial. Of or designating a form of Judaism, particularly prevalent in North America, which arose in reaction to the liberalism of Reform Judaism and seeks to preserve Jewish tradition and ritual, but with a more flexible approach than Orthodox Judaism. Frequently in Conservative Jew, Conservative Judaism. Cf. orthodox adj. 4, reform adj.In early use sometimes difficult to distinguish from sense B. 2a.

ΚΠ

1861 Zion's Herald & Wesleyan Jrnl. 31 July 123/1 Some of the conservative Jews would have no organ in the synagogue because it is a Christian instrument.

1873 Christian Advocate 4 Dec. 388/5 The Jewish Messenger, a..religious weekly, advocating the cause of conservative Judaism.

1933 S. Dinin Judaism in Changing Civilization 13 There is one group within the ranks of Conservative Judaism which veers toward Reconstructionist Judaism.

1966 H. Kemelman Saturday Rabbi went Hungry i. 12 We are a Conservative congregation and the Conservative synagogue permits it.

1990 R. Graham God's Dominion xiii. 298 Conservative rabbis urged their followers not to give money to the Lubavitchers.

2008 Deep South Jewish Voice Early June 16/1 There is tremendous misunderstanding of the Orthodox world among Reform and Conservative Jews.

e. Characterized by caution or moderation; (esp. of an estimate) purposely low for the sake of caution.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > measurement > [adjective] > cautious (of estimate of amount)

conservative1884

the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > misjudgement > [adjective] > underestimating or undervaluing

undervaluing1639

ill-judginga1715

underrating1721

unappreciative1840

misappreciative1866

conservative1884

inappreciative1897

meiotic1907

throwaway1942

low-balling1957

the world > action or operation > manner of action > care, carefulness, or attention > caution > [adjective] > specifically of actions or things > and moderate

conservative1884

1884 Times 25 Sept. 11/2 A reduction for the half-year of £100,000 might certainly be considered a conservative estimate.

1888 Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 17 Oct. 1/7 (advt.) We offer these bonds and recommend them as a safe and conservative investment.

1916 Times 15 Nov. 8/3 A conservative estimate makes the figure today at least half a million.

1928 Daily Tel. 25 Sept. 15/3 The distances quoted are conservative.

1955 Bull. Atomic Scientists June 211/1 On a conservative estimate, a dose of 200 reps, such as many Hiroshima survivors must have received, would probably have caused each of their offspring to inherit..at least one mutation produced by the exposure.

2003 Nation 3 Mar. 27/2 The most conservative estimate for the number of troops required in a post-Saddam Iraq is 50,000 for at least one year.

II. In scientific and technical uses (chiefly developed from sense B. 1).

3. Medicine, Surgery, and Dentistry. Of treatment: gradual, gentle, or limited in scope or intent; based on established or accepted methods; spec. (of a surgical or dental operation) that involves minimal removal of tissue. Opposed to radical adj. 6.

ΚΠ

1666 J. Smith Γηροκομία Βασιλικὴ 259 Although a perfect cure is not to be proposed or hoped for; yet a conservative cure in respect of Age, and, a compleat Cure in respect of some of the diseases before mentioned, and a palliative in respect of most of them, may easily be effected.

1844 J. Prior in Lancet 21 Dec. 366/1 Here I beg to express myself a very sincere admirer of what, for want of a better term, I shall venture to call, conservative surgery. By this term, I mean the desire to save all that it is possible to save from excision.

1859 S. D. Gross Syst. Surg. I. i. iv. 238 Such a procedure [sc. amputation] will rarely be demanded in these days of conservative surgery.

1867 Amer. Homœopathic Observer 4 404 Then they usually expect to have the tooth extracted, but readily accept of more conservative treatment.

1912 Lancet 22 June 1690/1 The uses of the anæsthetic in conservative dentistry.

1935 Amer. Jrnl. Surg. 30 280/2 The form of therapy..will consist of the more conservative medical measures as the application of heat, diet, the forcing of fluids..or the more radical procedures as cystoscopy, urethral and ureteral catheterization, [etc.].

1992 Harrowsmith Dec. 37/1 The treatments range from conservative medical therapy, using aspirin or stronger pain medications (not acetaminophen or ibuprofen—they are toxic to dogs), to surgery.

2002 R. Porter Blood & Guts ii. 39 The old-style doctor had a choice between the conservative Hippocratic options (waiting and watching, bedrest, tonics, care, soothing words, calm and hope), or ‘heroic’ possibilities, including violent purges.

4. Mathematics and Physics. Of a vector field: equal to the gradient (gradient n. 5) of a scalar potential, so that the integral over a path in the field depends only on the end points of the path, not on the route between them; (of a physical property) describable by or associated with such a field.In most cases a conservative field has a curl (curl n. 3e) of zero (is irrotational), so that the integral around a closed path is zero.

ΚΠ

1879 W. Thomson & P. G. Tait Treat. Nat. Philos. (new ed.) I: Pt. i. §271 A limited system of bodies is said to be dynamically conservative (or simply conservative), if the mutual forces between its parts always perform, or always consume, the same amount of work during any motion whatever, by which it can pass from one particular configuration to another.

1904 E. T. Whittaker Treat. Analyt. Dynamics ii. 38 The function L is called the Kinetic Potential, or Lagrangian function; this single function completely specifies, so far as dynamical investigations are concerned, a holonomic system for which the forces are conservative.

1953 Progress Theoret. Physics 9 420 In general, selection rules are intimately connected with the conservative quantities which we shall inquire for a system involving Fermions.

1962 D. R. Corson & P. Lorrain Introd. Electromagn. Fields iv. 131 The electrostatic field is conservative, that is, the line integral of E·dl around a closed path is zero.

1987 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 26 Feb. 20/2 It shows that renormalization is what mathematicians call ‘conservative’.

2004 K. Nakamura & T. Harayama Quantum Chaos & Quantum Dots ix. 150 The conservative nature of Hamiltonian dynamics.

5. Molecular Biology.

a. Designating a model or type of replication of double-stranded nucleic acid in which the original (parental) molecule remains intact after the synthesis of new strands; relating to such replication. Cf. semi-conservative adj., dispersive adj. Additions.The replication of double-stranded DNA is now known to be semi-conservative, but that of the double-stranded RNA in certain viruses is conservative.

ΚΠ

1957 M. Delbruck & G. S. Stent in W. D. McElroy & B. Glass Chem. Basis of Heredity 707 The considerable number of proposed schemes may be divided into three general classes as conservative, semi-conservative, and dispersive.

1978 Bull. Brit. Mycol. Soc. 12 108 In the Reoviridae the 10 and 12 dsRNA segments are all enclosed in a single virion and transcription and replication are conservative.

2006 D. L. Hartl & E. W. Jones Essent. Genetics (ed. 4) vi. 213/2 One alternative to semiconservative replication is conservative replication, in which the parental strands come apart only temporarily, to serve as templates for synthesis of the daughter strands.

b. Designating mutational changes of amino acids and nucleotides that have a minimal effect on the structure or function of the affected protein or nucleic acid.

ΚΠ

1963 E. L. Smith et al. in Science 26 Apr. 385/1 Some of these substitutions are conservative in that an amino acid is replaced by one with a similar side chain, while others are radical in that residues with different side chains are substituted.

1990 EMBO Jrnl. 9 2380/2 The ability to make conservative or non-conservative substitutions of specific amino acid residues which potentiate the inhibitory capacity of the peptide..argues against a non-specific charge effect.

2006 K. W. Plaxco & M. Gross Astrobiology vi. 129 Many other mutations are conservative; mutation of the first base of many codons, for example, tends to swap chemically similar amino acids such as leucine..for isoleucine.

Compounds

C1.

† conservative faculty n. Psychology Obsolete = faculty of conservation n. at conservation n. 5.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > psychology > developmental psychology > acquisition of knowledge > capacity for retaining experience > [noun]

memory1694

conservative facultya1856

faculty of conservationa1856

retentivity1865

retention1902

a1856 W. Hamilton Lect. Metaphysics (1859) II. xxx. 206 Thus in the term Memory, the Conservative Faculty,—the phænomenon of Retention, is the central notion, with which, however, those of Reproduction and Representation are associated.

1875 R. V. Pierce People's Common Sense Med. Adviser i. xiv. 126 (caption) Fig. 72 is a representation of the cranial conformation of Alexander VI., exhibiting a full development of the conservative faculties.

1892 J. Sully Human Mind II. 340 A like dispensation to conceive of reproduction as emergence of what was pre-existent in a sub-conscious form is seen in Hamilton's theory of the conservative faculty.

C2.

Conservative Party n. one of the major British political parties, which developed from the former Tory Party in the 1830s, and is generally disposed to maintain traditional institutions and promote individual enterprise (sometimes more fully Conservative and Unionist Party: see unionist n. 2a). Also: the name given to a similar political party elsewhere, esp. in Canada.The term Conservative party was first used in an article published in the Quarterly Review: see quot. 1830 (in N.E.D. (1891) attributed to J. Wilson Croker, but its authorship is now disputed: see Victorian Periodicals Rev. 24 (1991) 170). The adjective almost immediately took the place of Tory (see Tory n. 3a), which had been in use for nearly 150 years. Preference for Conservative sometimes implied rejection of the reactionary tendencies associated with earlier Toryism and espousal of the new phase introduced by Sir Robert Peel (1788–1850) in the 1830s and 1840s. The name Conservative Party was not at first accepted by all Tories, or believed to be descriptive of their principles by their political opponents; hence the disparaging context in which many early references occur. [Compare French parti conservateur political party generally disposed to maintaining the existing order (1845 in dictionaries of French, although compare quot. 1827 and compare also Le Conservateur, title of a political journal initiated in 1818 by François-René de Chateaubriand, French writer, diplomat, and politician).]

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > rule or government > politics > party politics > a party > [noun] > types of party generally (in various countries)

country party1648

war-party1798

Conservative Party1830

Progressive Party1830

national party1847

Labour Party1850

Nationalist Party1884

Social Credit1935

Third Force1936

third force1956

demandeur1966

People's Power1974

Green Party1977

1827 Duke of Wellington in G. Watson Eng. Ideology (1973) 101 The object of the great aristocracy, and of the parti conservateur of this country, is to secure the crown.]

1830 Q. Rev. Jan. 276 Attached to what is called the Tory, and which might with more propriety be called the Conservative, party.

1832 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Jan. 115/2 The fortresses of the Conservative Party in the nomination boroughs are to be entirely destroyed!

1872 B. Disraeli Speech at Manch. 3 Apr. 4 Gentlemen, the programme of the Conservative party is to maintain the Constitution of the country.

1925 Westm. Gaz. 27 Apr. When the wind changed it might be the Conservative Party which would be feeling the draught.

1981 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 16 Sept. Mr. Clark said... ‘If people are opposed to me in the Conservative Party, fine, let them say so.’

2005 Esquire Oct. 182 A..wake-up call to the Conservative Party to provide a different sort of opposition.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	conservative
释义	conservativen.adj. Brit. /kənˈsəːvətɪv/, U.S. /kənˈsərvədɪv/ Forms: Middle English conseruatif, Middle English conservatyf, Middle English conseruatyff, Middle English–1500s conseruatyue, Middle English–1600s conseruatiue, 1500s conseruatyfe, 1500s– conservative; also Scottish pre-1700 conseruatywe. Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French conservatif; Latin conservativus. Etymology: < Middle French conservatif (French conservatif ) characterized by a tendency to preserve or conserve (14th cent.) and its etymon post-classical Latin conservativus preservative (6th cent. in Boethius) < classical Latin cōnservāt- , past participial stem of cōnservāre conserve v. + -īvus -ive suffix. Compare Old Occitan conservatiu (in an isolated attestation), Spanish conservativo (15th cent.), Portuguese conservativo (15th cent.), Italian conservativo (a1306). Compare conservatory adj. and conservatist adj.With the modern political use compare French conservateur (1795 in sense ‘preserving order’, 1815 in sense ‘opposed to innovation’), and see note at Conservative Party n. at Compounds 2. A. n. 1. Something that conserves; a preserving agent, force, substance, etc.; a preservative. Cf. conserve n. Now rare. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > safety > protection or defence > preservation from injury or destruction > [noun] > preservation from decay, loss, or destruction > one who or that which preserves from decay, etc. > that which preserves from decay, loss, etc. conservea1393 conservativea1398 preservative?a1439 conservator?1440 preservationc1475 preserve1554 conservatory1563 conservice1607 conservatorship1645 preservatory1654 balsam1658 amber1785 embalmer1838 a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xix. liv. 1319 Hony kepeþ and saueþ..and is þerfore ydo in conseruatyue. ?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1865) I. 7 (MED) A story is the testimony of tymes, the memory of life..a conseruatiue perpetualle to thynges mortalle [L. mortalia..conservat]. 1594 T. Lodge Wounds Ciuill War i. ii. B2 Thy honied tongue Washt in a sirrop of sweete conseruatiues. 1656 Disc. Auxiliary Beauty 39 They use these customable adornings..as an attractive or conservative of their affections. 1668 L. Colson Philosophia Maturata 120 This confection is a true Conservative of mans body. 1745 J. Draycott Sin & Folly Rebellion 19 Parliaments, the greatest Conservatives of our Constitution. 1829 R. Southey Sir Thomas More 78 The rapid increase of the labouring classes renders education, as a corrective and conservative..absolutely needful. 1915 G. M. Smith in G. W. Kingsbury Hist. Dakota Territory III. x. 360 The Board of Health called attention to the value of artesian water as a conservative of health. 2. a. Politics. Usually with capital initial: a supporter or member of the Conservative Party of Great Britain, or a similar party elsewhere; a Tory.In early use: spec. one who espoused the policies of Sir Robert Peel (see note at Conservative Party n. at Compounds 2). ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > politics > British politics > British party politics > [noun] > Toryism or conservatism > a Tory or conservative tory-rory1681 Tory1694 conservative1831 1831 Sir R. Peel Let. 28 May in Croker Papers (1884) II. xvi. 116 I apprehend there are two parties among those who call themselves Conservatives. 1832 T. B. Macaulay in Edinb. Rev. July 557 We see that, if M. Dumont had died in 1799, he would have died, to use the new cant word, a decided ‘conservative’. 1834 Marquis of Londonderry in Duke of Buckingham Mem. Will. IV & Vict. (1861) II. 141 This section of the Reformers coalescing with the Duke's former Government and the ultra Tories, uniting all under the name of Conservatives. 1843 B. Disraeli Speech to Constituents in Sel. Speeches (1882) I. 49 Those ancient institutions which we Conservatives are bound to uphold—which you sent us to Parliament to uphold. 1861 J. S. Mill Considerations Representative Govt. vii. 138 The Conservatives..being by the law of their existence the stupidest party. 1866 ‘G. Eliot’ Felix Holt I. ii. 65 There are two Whigs and one Conservative likely to be in the field. 1901 Washington Post 20 Oct. 19 Mr. Arthur James Balfour, leader of the Conservatives of the House of Commons, in one of his facetious moods once designated political newspaper comment as consisting of lies, damned lies, and statistics. 1940 J. F. Kennedy Why Eng. Slept v. 115 The position of Labour in regard to rearmament has been subject to much criticism by the Conservatives. 1974 Times 9 Mar. 3/1 It was here in the Isle of Wight that the Conservatives last week suffered their biggest electoral disaster. 2008 Independent 7 Jan. 30/2 The Conservatives are rolling out a programme of benefit proposals that owes much to the ‘tough love’ approach of recent welfare reforms in the United States. b. A person who conserves or preserves something; (now usually) an adherent of traditional values, ideas, and institutions; an opponent of (social and political) change, a conservative person. ΘΚΠ the world > time > change > absence of change, changelessness > maintaining state or condition > [noun] > opponent of change Tory1712 old school1749 conservatist1831 conservative1832 fossil1844 mossback1873 stand-patter1902 old school tie1920 passéist1921 pastist1921 auntie1953 old schooler1964 Luddite1970 1832 Times 30 Mar. 2/4 That body of venerable conservatives soon passed an admonitory resolution against the execution of the Baden law. 1849 W. Irving Hist. N.Y. (rev. ed.) vii. viii. 419 in Wks. I. These were that class of ‘conservatives’ who, having amassed a fortune, button up their pockets..and pass the rest of their lives in..wealth. 1865 Reader 20 May 561 We find girls naturally timid, prone to dependence, born conservatives. 1925 Cent. Mag. Jan. 426/2 When I say that the governments of the world must remain in the hands of the conservatives, I do not mean in the hands of..reactionaries. 1976 Charleston (W. Va.) Daily Mail 5 June 4 a/6 A political constituency made up primarily of conservatives, southerners, and right wingers. 2008 N.Y. Times Mag. 13 Jan. 34/2 Much of our recent social history, including the culture wars between liberals and conservatives, consists of the moralization or amoralization of particular kinds of behavior. c. Judaism. Frequently with capital initial. = Conservative Jew at sense B. 2d. ΚΠ 1872 Hebrew Christian Witness July 100/1 The conservatives denounced the dissenting congregation as revolutionary propagandists..and petitioned the government to close the new Temple. 1890 Jewish Q. Rev. 2 371 The Jewish congregation were split into conservatives and reformers. 1930 S. M. Melamed Breaking Tablets Introd. 3 This brand of Judaism is today accepted by the Reformers and by the Orthodox, by the Conservatives and by the free-thinkers. 1956 Evangelist 9 Oct. 1/4 There are three principal division among them [sc. Western jews]—the Conservatives, Reformers and Neologists. 1993 N. Gillman Conservative Judaism iii. 37 Reform does it quickly; the Conservatives, slowly. 2005 Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press (Nexis) 10 Dec. d8 Conservatives..once were the largest grouping of Jews in the United States. B. adj. I. That conserves, or tends to conserve. 1. a. Characterized by a tendency to preserve or keep intact or unchanged; that conserves something; preserving. Now rare except as merged with sense B. 2, or retained in specialized uses at Branch B. II. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > safety > protection or defence > preservation from injury or destruction > [adjective] > preserving from decay, loss, or destruction conservative?a1425 conservatory1576 conserving1584 salvative1653 ?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 59^v (MED) Puluer rubium, incarnatif and conseruatif. c1450 (c1380) G. Chaucer House of Fame (Fairf. 16) (1878) l. 847 This place..Ther as Fame lyst to duelle Ys set amyddys of these three Heven erthe and eke the see As most conseruatyf the soun. ?1541 R. Copland Guy de Chauliac's Questyonary Cyrurgyens iii. sig. Liij Called the seame conseruatyfe..for it is nat made but for to mayntayne the lyppes tyll the wounde be closed. 1559 P. Morwyng tr. C. Gesner Treasure of Euonymus 385 The hole of the conseruative vessel ought to be couered with a litle couer. 1691 W. Bates Four Last Things iv. 527 And will God withdraw his Conservative Power of the guilty Soul in its Immortality, and..put an end to its deserved Misery? 1695 T. Tryon New Method educating Children b 1^v That mighty Spirit which is the Moving, Vivifying Creative, and Conservative Power of God. 1709 J. Norris Let. to Mr. Dodwell 8 God..is at liberty to withdraw from any or all his Creatures that conservative Influence of his whereby they subsist. 1772 W. Hooper tr. L. S. Mercier Mem. Year Two Thousand Five Hundred I. xiv. 86 Temperance..that true restorative and conservative elixir. 1815 Times 29 Dec. 3 The kingdom of the Netherlands places in the balance of Europe a conservative and pacific weight. 1828 H. Steuart Planter's Guide 121 The Stem or Trunk of woody plants is classed..among the Conservative Organs. 1839 W. Irving Chron. Wolfert's Roost (1855) 349 A still higher opinion of the conservative virtues of lock and key. 1893 B. E. Fernow Forest Influences (U.S. Dept. Agric., Forestry Div. Bull. No. 7) iii. 140 The..conservative action of the forest with reference to available water supplies. 1916 S. Mathews in G. B. Smith Guide to Study of Christian Relig. 66 When the Empire itself began to weaken..the only conservative or preservative force in the Western civilization was the church. b. With of. ΚΠ 1502 tr. Ordynarye of Crysten Men (de Worde) i. vii. sig. h.iii The very medycyne..conseruatyf of..strength & of helthe. 1570 Mariage Witte & Sci. i. sig. Aii Nurse of the woorlde conseruatyue of kynd. 1656 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. II. vi. 87 Fortitude being the conservation of a lawfull precept, is likewise conservative of right reason. 1677 T. Gale Court of Gentiles: Pt. IV iv. 14 The Divine Bonitie..is conservative of althings. 1857 J. Ruskin Polit. Econ. Art i. 79 Jealously conservative of old things, but conservative of them as pillars, not as pinnacles—as aids, but not as idols. 1926 Times 29 Oct. 9 Members [of a dining club] find that a liberal use of Mustard saves labour in digestion and is conservative of health. 2. a. That conserves, or favours the conservation of, an existing structure or system; (now esp.) designating a person, movement, outlook, etc., averse to change or innovation and holding traditional ideas and values, esp. with regard to social and political issues.Originally almost always with favourable connotations; now usually in more neutral or negative sense. In political contexts sometimes equated with reactionary adj. 1, and often opposed to liberal: see liberal adj. 5b. [In Conservative Senate (in quot. 1802) probably after French sénat conservateur body set up during the Consulate by the Constitution of Year VIII (1799).] ΘΚΠ the world > time > change > absence of change, changelessness > maintaining state or condition > [adjective] > opposed to change Tory1651 unprogressive1722 conservative1802 old-line1803 improgressive1809 old school1816 conservatory1822 conservatist1835 unmarching1837 mossbacked1876 mossy1904 passéist1914 pastist1921 Luddite1957 society > authority > rule or government > politics > party politics > groups or attitudes right to left > [adjective] > right illiberal1649 white?1740 right1794 conservative1802 centre-right1822 agricolous1825 hunkerish1857 right wing1857 rightward1887 rightist1894 rightwards1931 right-of-centre1937 establishmentarian1962 righty1970 neo-con1979 New Rightist1981 society > authority > rule or government > politics > party politics > a party > [adjective] > types of party generally patrician1813 national1828 progressive1830 progressist1843 conservative1845 republican1873 nationalist1884 mobilist1966 green1973 1802 Times 17 May 4 What then remains for him [sc. Bonaparte], but to flatter, or command..the Conservative Senate, into another question for the popular decision. 1816 Anti-Jacobin Rev. June 553 Those conservative principles which all good men ought not passively to foster and cherish, but actually to promote, and..perpetuate. 1829 C. C. F. Greville Jrnl. 14 Mar. (1874) I. 188 Herries told Hyde Villiers that their policy was conservative, that of the Whigs subversive. 1843 T. Carlyle Past & Present iii. v. 220 The most Conservative English People..is driven alike by its Logic and its Unlogic..to be wholly a Reforming People. 1845 S. Austin tr. L. von Ranke Hist. Reformation in Germany III. 417 The one [party]..inclined to the absolute rejection of the traditional..the other, conservative even in matters of doctrine. 1871 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues IV. 165* Plato becomes more conservative as he grows older. 1882 R. C. Jebb Life Bentley 213 No school of textual criticism, however conservative, has denied that conjecture is sometimes our sole resource. 1900 Dict. National Biogr. at Williams, Daniel Thirteen presbyterian ministers (of whom seven took the conservative side in the non-subscription controversy of 1719). 1966 Jrnl. Politics 28 153 Their conservative contemporaries in the North and East who vote Republican. 2004 Independent on Sunday 21 Nov. 15/3 A journalist with trenchantly conservative views. b. spec. (usually with capital initial). Of, belonging to, or characteristic of Conservatives or the Conservative Party. Cf. Tory adj..Earliest in Conservative Party n. at Compounds 2; for the origin and development of this sense see note there. In later use sometimes an attributive use of sense A. 2a. ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > politics > British politics > British party politics > [adjective] > conservative conservative1831 society > authority > rule or government > politics > British politics > British party politics > [adjective] > conservative > of Tories or conservatives Tory1651 Torycal1682 blue1781 true blue1827 conservative1831 1831 Sir R. Peel in Croker Papers (1884) II. xvi. 117 There is another party..which..thinks the imposition of a Property Tax on Ireland and the aristocracy a Conservative measure. 1832 D. O'Connell in Hansard Commons 25 May 150 The learned Solicitor General for Ireland..admits that the details of the Bill are conservative—that is the fashionable term, the new fangled phrase now used in polite Society to designate the Tory ascendancy. 1844 B. Disraeli Coningsby I. ii. vi. 220 ‘A sound Conservative Government,’ said Taper, musingly. ‘I understand: Tory men and Whig measures.’ 1881 M. E. Herbert Edith 190 A great Conservative reaction had set in. 1884 Pall Mall Gaz. 2 Aug. 1/1 Conservative and Liberal, as we ordinarily use the terms, are distinctions having reference to a particular practical struggle, the gradual substitution of government by the whole body of the people for government by privileged classes. 1902 C. G. Harper Holyhead Road II. 94 The electors returned both himself and the other Conservative candidate by thumping majorities. 1968 Guardian 9 Sept. 6/1 Powellism is gaining ground within the Conservative ranks. 1981 Washington Post (Nexis) 9 June a15 Many Conservative politicians fear their party may be even more vulnerable..because of the failure of Thatcher's policies to revive the ailing British economy. 2006 Independent 7 Apr. 14/2 Any star who turns out for a Conservative function will find that the naffness of the occasion sticks forever to their reputation. c. Conforming to traditional aesthetic tastes; sober and conventional in style. ΚΠ 1852 Littell's Living Age 27 Nov. 432/2 With a just conservative taste, Miss Robbins has regathered these perennial flowers of the muse, and interwoven them with other and more recent blossoms—thus forming a beautiful and valuable collection [of poetry]. 1899 N.Y. Times 15 Oct. 19/2 Hardly has the first frost touched the trees,..than man returns to a state of sombre and conservative attire. 1939 Times 31 Mar. 12/4 The whole range of contemporary French painting is indicated, from the cubism of Picasso, Braque, and Leger to the conservative style of Jean Amblard. 1993 Cent. Home Mar. 82/1 The Loyalist interior is refined, conservative and quietly classical in flavour. 2008 Times-Picayune (New Orleans) (Nexis) 19 Feb. (Living section) 1 Conservative sports coats and jeans, three-piece suits and sneakers were the predominate attire. d. Judaism. Usually with capital initial. Of or designating a form of Judaism, particularly prevalent in North America, which arose in reaction to the liberalism of Reform Judaism and seeks to preserve Jewish tradition and ritual, but with a more flexible approach than Orthodox Judaism. Frequently in Conservative Jew, Conservative Judaism. Cf. orthodox adj. 4, reform adj.In early use sometimes difficult to distinguish from sense B. 2a. ΚΠ 1861 Zion's Herald & Wesleyan Jrnl. 31 July 123/1 Some of the conservative Jews would have no organ in the synagogue because it is a Christian instrument. 1873 Christian Advocate 4 Dec. 388/5 The Jewish Messenger, a..religious weekly, advocating the cause of conservative Judaism. 1933 S. Dinin Judaism in Changing Civilization 13 There is one group within the ranks of Conservative Judaism which veers toward Reconstructionist Judaism. 1966 H. Kemelman Saturday Rabbi went Hungry i. 12 We are a Conservative congregation and the Conservative synagogue permits it. 1990 R. Graham God's Dominion xiii. 298 Conservative rabbis urged their followers not to give money to the Lubavitchers. 2008 Deep South Jewish Voice Early June 16/1 There is tremendous misunderstanding of the Orthodox world among Reform and Conservative Jews. e. Characterized by caution or moderation; (esp. of an estimate) purposely low for the sake of caution. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > measurement > [adjective] > cautious (of estimate of amount) conservative1884 the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > misjudgement > [adjective] > underestimating or undervaluing undervaluing1639 ill-judginga1715 underrating1721 unappreciative1840 misappreciative1866 conservative1884 inappreciative1897 meiotic1907 throwaway1942 low-balling1957 the world > action or operation > manner of action > care, carefulness, or attention > caution > [adjective] > specifically of actions or things > and moderate conservative1884 1884 Times 25 Sept. 11/2 A reduction for the half-year of £100,000 might certainly be considered a conservative estimate. 1888 Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 17 Oct. 1/7 (advt.) We offer these bonds and recommend them as a safe and conservative investment. 1916 Times 15 Nov. 8/3 A conservative estimate makes the figure today at least half a million. 1928 Daily Tel. 25 Sept. 15/3 The distances quoted are conservative. 1955 Bull. Atomic Scientists June 211/1 On a conservative estimate, a dose of 200 reps, such as many Hiroshima survivors must have received, would probably have caused each of their offspring to inherit..at least one mutation produced by the exposure. 2003 Nation 3 Mar. 27/2 The most conservative estimate for the number of troops required in a post-Saddam Iraq is 50,000 for at least one year. II. In scientific and technical uses (chiefly developed from sense B. 1). 3. Medicine, Surgery, and Dentistry. Of treatment: gradual, gentle, or limited in scope or intent; based on established or accepted methods; spec. (of a surgical or dental operation) that involves minimal removal of tissue. Opposed to radical adj. 6. ΚΠ 1666 J. Smith Γηροκομία Βασιλικὴ 259 Although a perfect cure is not to be proposed or hoped for; yet a conservative cure in respect of Age, and, a compleat Cure in respect of some of the diseases before mentioned, and a palliative in respect of most of them, may easily be effected. 1844 J. Prior in Lancet 21 Dec. 366/1 Here I beg to express myself a very sincere admirer of what, for want of a better term, I shall venture to call, conservative surgery. By this term, I mean the desire to save all that it is possible to save from excision. 1859 S. D. Gross Syst. Surg. I. i. iv. 238 Such a procedure [sc. amputation] will rarely be demanded in these days of conservative surgery. 1867 Amer. Homœopathic Observer 4 404 Then they usually expect to have the tooth extracted, but readily accept of more conservative treatment. 1912 Lancet 22 June 1690/1 The uses of the anæsthetic in conservative dentistry. 1935 Amer. Jrnl. Surg. 30 280/2 The form of therapy..will consist of the more conservative medical measures as the application of heat, diet, the forcing of fluids..or the more radical procedures as cystoscopy, urethral and ureteral catheterization, [etc.]. 1992 Harrowsmith Dec. 37/1 The treatments range from conservative medical therapy, using aspirin or stronger pain medications (not acetaminophen or ibuprofen—they are toxic to dogs), to surgery. 2002 R. Porter Blood & Guts ii. 39 The old-style doctor had a choice between the conservative Hippocratic options (waiting and watching, bedrest, tonics, care, soothing words, calm and hope), or ‘heroic’ possibilities, including violent purges. 4. Mathematics and Physics. Of a vector field: equal to the gradient (gradient n. 5) of a scalar potential, so that the integral over a path in the field depends only on the end points of the path, not on the route between them; (of a physical property) describable by or associated with such a field.In most cases a conservative field has a curl (curl n. 3e) of zero (is irrotational), so that the integral around a closed path is zero. ΚΠ 1879 W. Thomson & P. G. Tait Treat. Nat. Philos. (new ed.) I: Pt. i. §271 A limited system of bodies is said to be dynamically conservative (or simply conservative), if the mutual forces between its parts always perform, or always consume, the same amount of work during any motion whatever, by which it can pass from one particular configuration to another. 1904 E. T. Whittaker Treat. Analyt. Dynamics ii. 38 The function L is called the Kinetic Potential, or Lagrangian function; this single function completely specifies, so far as dynamical investigations are concerned, a holonomic system for which the forces are conservative. 1953 Progress Theoret. Physics 9 420 In general, selection rules are intimately connected with the conservative quantities which we shall inquire for a system involving Fermions. 1962 D. R. Corson & P. Lorrain Introd. Electromagn. Fields iv. 131 The electrostatic field is conservative, that is, the line integral of E·dl around a closed path is zero. 1987 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 26 Feb. 20/2 It shows that renormalization is what mathematicians call ‘conservative’. 2004 K. Nakamura & T. Harayama Quantum Chaos & Quantum Dots ix. 150 The conservative nature of Hamiltonian dynamics. 5. Molecular Biology. a. Designating a model or type of replication of double-stranded nucleic acid in which the original (parental) molecule remains intact after the synthesis of new strands; relating to such replication. Cf. semi-conservative adj., dispersive adj. Additions.The replication of double-stranded DNA is now known to be semi-conservative, but that of the double-stranded RNA in certain viruses is conservative. ΚΠ 1957 M. Delbruck & G. S. Stent in W. D. McElroy & B. Glass Chem. Basis of Heredity 707 The considerable number of proposed schemes may be divided into three general classes as conservative, semi-conservative, and dispersive. 1978 Bull. Brit. Mycol. Soc. 12 108 In the Reoviridae the 10 and 12 dsRNA segments are all enclosed in a single virion and transcription and replication are conservative. 2006 D. L. Hartl & E. W. Jones Essent. Genetics (ed. 4) vi. 213/2 One alternative to semiconservative replication is conservative replication, in which the parental strands come apart only temporarily, to serve as templates for synthesis of the daughter strands. b. Designating mutational changes of amino acids and nucleotides that have a minimal effect on the structure or function of the affected protein or nucleic acid. ΚΠ 1963 E. L. Smith et al. in Science 26 Apr. 385/1 Some of these substitutions are conservative in that an amino acid is replaced by one with a similar side chain, while others are radical in that residues with different side chains are substituted. 1990 EMBO Jrnl. 9 2380/2 The ability to make conservative or non-conservative substitutions of specific amino acid residues which potentiate the inhibitory capacity of the peptide..argues against a non-specific charge effect. 2006 K. W. Plaxco & M. Gross Astrobiology vi. 129 Many other mutations are conservative; mutation of the first base of many codons, for example, tends to swap chemically similar amino acids such as leucine..for isoleucine. Compounds C1. † conservative faculty n. Psychology Obsolete = faculty of conservation n. at conservation n. 5. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > psychology > developmental psychology > acquisition of knowledge > capacity for retaining experience > [noun] memory1694 conservative facultya1856 faculty of conservationa1856 retentivity1865 retention1902 a1856 W. Hamilton Lect. Metaphysics (1859) II. xxx. 206 Thus in the term Memory, the Conservative Faculty,—the phænomenon of Retention, is the central notion, with which, however, those of Reproduction and Representation are associated. 1875 R. V. Pierce People's Common Sense Med. Adviser i. xiv. 126 (caption) Fig. 72 is a representation of the cranial conformation of Alexander VI., exhibiting a full development of the conservative faculties. 1892 J. Sully Human Mind II. 340 A like dispensation to conceive of reproduction as emergence of what was pre-existent in a sub-conscious form is seen in Hamilton's theory of the conservative faculty. C2. Conservative Party n. one of the major British political parties, which developed from the former Tory Party in the 1830s, and is generally disposed to maintain traditional institutions and promote individual enterprise (sometimes more fully Conservative and Unionist Party: see unionist n. 2a). Also: the name given to a similar political party elsewhere, esp. in Canada.The term Conservative party was first used in an article published in the Quarterly Review: see quot. 1830 (in N.E.D. (1891) attributed to J. Wilson Croker, but its authorship is now disputed: see Victorian Periodicals Rev. 24 (1991) 170). The adjective almost immediately took the place of Tory (see Tory n. 3a), which had been in use for nearly 150 years. Preference for Conservative sometimes implied rejection of the reactionary tendencies associated with earlier Toryism and espousal of the new phase introduced by Sir Robert Peel (1788–1850) in the 1830s and 1840s. The name Conservative Party was not at first accepted by all Tories, or believed to be descriptive of their principles by their political opponents; hence the disparaging context in which many early references occur. [Compare French parti conservateur political party generally disposed to maintaining the existing order (1845 in dictionaries of French, although compare quot. 1827 and compare also Le Conservateur, title of a political journal initiated in 1818 by François-René de Chateaubriand, French writer, diplomat, and politician).] ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > politics > party politics > a party > [noun] > types of party generally (in various countries) country party1648 war-party1798 Conservative Party1830 Progressive Party1830 national party1847 Labour Party1850 Nationalist Party1884 Social Credit1935 Third Force1936 third force1956 demandeur1966 People's Power1974 Green Party1977 1827 Duke of Wellington in G. Watson Eng. Ideology (1973) 101 The object of the great aristocracy, and of the parti conservateur of this country, is to secure the crown.] 1830 Q. Rev. Jan. 276 Attached to what is called the Tory, and which might with more propriety be called the Conservative, party. 1832 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Jan. 115/2 The fortresses of the Conservative Party in the nomination boroughs are to be entirely destroyed! 1872 B. Disraeli Speech at Manch. 3 Apr. 4 Gentlemen, the programme of the Conservative party is to maintain the Constitution of the country. 1925 Westm. Gaz. 27 Apr. When the wind changed it might be the Conservative Party which would be feeling the draught. 1981 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 16 Sept. Mr. Clark said... ‘If people are opposed to me in the Conservative Party, fine, let them say so.’ 2005 Esquire Oct. 182 A..wake-up call to the Conservative Party to provide a different sort of opposition. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.adj.a1398
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