elementn.

Brit.

/ˈɛlᵻm(ə)nt/, U.S.

/ˈɛləmənt/

Forms: Middle English, 1600s elemens (plural Middle English elamente, elemente, Middle English elymente, 1500s elyment, elemente, Middle English– element.

Etymology: < Old French element, < Latin elementum, a word of which the etymology and primary meaning are uncertain, but which was employed as translation of Greek στοιχεῖον in the various senses < a component unit of a series; a constituent part of a complex whole (hence the ‘four elements’); a member of the planetary system; a letter of the alphabet; a fundamental principle of a science.

I. A component part of a complex whole.

* of material things.

1. One of the simple substances of which all material bodies are compounded.

Categories »

†a. In ancient and medieval philosophy these were believed to be: Earth, water, air, and fire. See examples in sense 9. Obsolete exc. Historical.

†b. In pre-scientific chemistry the supposed ‘elements’ were variously enumerated, the usual number being about five or six. (See quots.)

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > chemistry > elements and compounds > [noun] > elements

element1725

1725 I. Watts Logick i. ii. 22 The Chymists make Spirit, Salt, Sulphur, Water, and Earth to be their five Elements.

1765 T. H. Croker et al. Compl. Dict. Arts & Sci. II. (at cited word) Element [enumerate Water, Air, Oil, Salt, Earth].

c. In modern chemistry applied to those substances (of which well over one hundred are now known) which have hitherto resisted analysis, and which are provisionally supposed to be simple bodies.

ΚΠ

1813 H. Davy Elements Agric. Chem. i. 8 Bodies..not capable of being decompounded, are considered..as elements.

1830 M. Donovan Domest. Econ. I. v. 111 Sugar is composed of three elements, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen.

1841 R. W. Emerson Hist. in Wks. (1906) I. 17 Fifty or sixty chemical elements.

1854 J. S. Bushnan in J. Wylde Circle of Sci. (c1865) II. 6/1 The proximate elements are formed by the union of several ultimate elements.

1881 A. W. Williamson in Nature No. 618. 414 The foundation of..chemistry was laid by the discovery of chemical elements.

2. In wider sense: One of the relatively simple substances of which a complex substance is composed; in plural the ‘raw material’ of which a thing is made.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > wholeness > incompleteness > part of whole > [noun] > constituent part or component

limbc1000

membera1382

elementc1386

parcelc1395

ingredientc1460

partc1530

ingredience1577

principle1594

simple1603

composer1610

partiment1641

component1644

constitutive1647

composite1657

integral1659

ingredient1674

aggregant1749

constituent1757

congredient1767

factor1816

integrant1825

inclusion1845

c1386 G. Chaucer Friar's Tale 206 Make ye yow newe bodies alway Of elementz.

1593 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie i. iii. 53 If those principall & mother elements of the world, whereof all things in this lower world are made, should loose the qualities which now they haue.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) iii. iii. 61 The Elements Of whom your swords are temper'd, may as well Wound the loud windes.

1851 W. B. Carpenter Man. Physiol. 319 The two elements [Fibrine and the Red Corpuscles] separating from each other laterally.

3. The bread and wine used in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Chiefly plural. [The word elementa is used in late Latin in the sense of ‘articles of food and drink, the solid and liquid portions of a meal’ (see Du Cange); but in the ecclesiastical use there is probably a reference to the philosophical sense of mere ‘matter’ as apart from ‘form’; the ‘form’, by virtue of which the ‘elements’ became Christ's body and blood, being believed to be imparted by the act of consecration.]

ΘΚΠ

society > faith > artefacts > consumables > eucharistic elements > [noun]

houseleOE

bread and winea1225

sacrament?c1225

sacringc1290

spicec1425

kind?1531

Eucharistc1540

element1556

species1579

elemental1656

mystery1662

symbol1671

waybread1993

1556 Forme of Prayers Eng. Congregation Geneva 245 As yf these elementes were tourned and chaunged into the substaunce of his fleshe and blood.

1593 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie iv. i. 170 Vnto the element let the word be added, and they both doe make a sacrament, saith S. Augustine.

1607 S. Hieron Discouerie of Hypocrisie in Wks. (1620) I. 256 Such slender & vnlikely elemens of water, bread & wine.

1633 D. Rogers Treat. Two Sacraments Gospell 132 They..bring an whole unbroken Element, made of a fine white delicate wafer.

1745 J. Wesley Answer to Rev. Church 35 He deliver'd the Elements with his own Hands.

1866 J. Purchas & F. G. Lee Directorium Anglicanum (ed. 3) 354 Elements, the materials used in the Sacraments.

a. Physiology. A definite small portion of an animal or vegetable structure.

ΚΠ

1841 T. R. Jones Gen. Outl. Animal Kingdom xxvi. 482 Two elements [of a vertebra] which embrace the spinal marrow.

1884 F. O. Bower & D. H. Scott tr. H. A. de Bary Compar. Anat. Phanerogams & Ferns 182 Small vascular bundles composed of narrow elements.

1884 F. O. Bower & D. H. Scott tr. H. A. de Bary Compar. Anat. Phanerogams & Ferns 459 On the side of the wood, new elements..are constantly added.

b. One of the essential parts of any scientific apparatus; used esp. of simple instruments united to form a complex instrument of the same kind. voltaic element n. usually = cell n.¹ 13, but sometimes = electrode n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > wholeness > incompleteness > part of whole > [noun] > constituent part or component > of a complex structure or instrument

element1832

1832 D. Brewster Lett. Nat. Magic vi. 148 We can even reproduce them..with the simplest elements of our optical apparatus.

1871 tr. H. Schellen Spectrum Anal. ix. 67 An electric battery of 50 Bunsen's or Grove's large elements.

c. The resistance wire carrying the current in an electric heater; (also used of) the bar or collection of pieces of asbestos, etc., in an electric or gas stove.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > heating or making hot > that which or one who heats > [noun] > a device for heating or warming > heated component of gas or electric heater

element1906

1906 Nature 17 May 60/2 The method exemplified is the use of silicated carbon upon a terra-cotta base, forming an ‘element’.

1925 Jrnl. Iron & Steel Inst. 111 535 The dimensions, temperature..distribution of heating elements..and various furnace types are considered.

1926 Brit. Standard Gloss. Terms Electr. Engin. (Brit. Engin. Standards Assoc.) 153 Heating element, the complete resistor, including the element carrier on which it is wound, as used in ovens, electric fires, radiators, etc.

1952 ‘N. Shute’ Far Country iii. 75 The girl stared at the hot elements of the fire.

** of non-material things.

a. A constituent portion of an immaterial whole, as of a concept, character, state of things, community, etc.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > wholeness > incompleteness > part of whole > [noun] > constituent part or component > of an immaterial whole

pointc1230

punct1427

element1600

puncta1651

momentum1829

moment1838

1600 W. Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing ii. i. 321 Theres little of the melancholy element in her my lord.

1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. i. 7 These simple Elements of Magnitude, Figure, Site and Motion..are all clearly intelligible as different Modes of extended Substance.

1833 R. Browning Pauline 21 I strip my mind bare—whose first elements I shall unveil.

1841 R. W. Emerson Eng. Traits viii. 139 This [English] race has added new elements to humanity, and has a deeper root in the world.

1845 Graves in Encycl. Metrop. 783/1 Mixed with bigotry and superstition, it [the canon law] will be found to contain many pure elements.

1867 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest I. iii. 99 In our old constitution we find the elements of Feudalism.

1870 E. Peacock Ralf Skirlaugh III. 187 Size is certainly one main element of beauty.

1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People vii. §5. 386 The woollen manufacture had become an important element in the national wealth.

1891 N.E.D. at Element Mod. The Celtic and Teutonic elements in the population.

b. Often followed by of = ‘consisting of’.

ΚΠ

1851 A. Helps Friends in Council I. 11 These practices have elements of charity and prudence as well as fear and meanness in them.

1866 C. Kingsley Hereward the Wake I. vii. 188 Its usual ingrained element of what we now call..cant.

1869 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest (1876) III. xii. 162 Mingled with all this there is a certain element of grim merriment.

1871 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues I. 231 The greatest strength is often observed to have an element of limitation.

c. Mathematics. Any of the symbols or quantities which, set out in an array, constitute a determinant or matrix.

ΚΠ

1859 G. Salmon Lessons Mod. Higher Algebra i. 1 The coefficients a₁, b₁, &c., which enter into the expression of a determinant, are called the constituents of that determinant, and the products a₁b₂, &c., are called the elements of the determinant.]

1867 C. L. Dodgson Elem. Treat. Determinants ii. 6 If mn quantities be so placed as to form m rows and n columns: they are said to form a Block; and the mn quantities are called the Elements of such a Block.

1881 W. S. Burnside & A. W. Panton Theory of Equations xi. 232 The individual letters a, b, c..a₂..etc. of which a determinant is composed are called constituents, and by some writers elements.

1939 A. C. Aitken Determinants & Matrices i. 4 A matrix may possibly consist of a single row, or of a single column, of elements.

1968 P. A. P. Moran Introd. Probability Theory iii. 109 p(t) is a column vector whose elements are p₁ (t),…,p_n(t).

d. Mathematics and Logic. [compare German element in same sense (G. Cantor in Math. Ann. (1882) XX. 114, (1883) XXI. 587, (1895) XLVI. 481, etc.).] Any of the (real or conceptual) entities of which a set is composed; an entity that satisfies the criterion or criteria used to define a set.

ΚΠ

1857 A. Cayley Coll. Math. Papers (1890) III. 35 Let L denote a set of any four elements, a, b, c, d.

1901 L. E. Dickson Linear Groups i. 5 A set of s distinct elements satisfying the above four conditions is said to form a field of order s.

1953 A. A. Fraenkel Abstract Set Theory i. 22 In fact ‘x is red’ corresponds to the relation ‘x is an element of the set of all red things’.

1965 Sze-Tsen Hu Elem. Mod. Algebra v. 119 The only nilpotent element in an integral domain is the zero element 0.

6. One of the facts or conditions which ‘enter into’ or determine the result of a process, calculation, deliberation, or inquiry. Also with of (cf. 5b).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > testing > attestation, witness, evidence > [noun] > evidence given, testimony > part of

element1812

1812 R. Woodhouse Elem. Treat. Astron. ix. 66 The length of a sidereal year (an element of little or no importance in Astronomy).

1823 T. Chalmers Serm. I. 129 His will was reduced to an element of utter insignificancy.

1846 W. R. Grove On Correlation Physical Forces 20 If you take notice of the element of quantity, this objection will not apply.

1866 A. Crump Pract. Treat. Banking iii. 72 The periodical publication of accounts by the joint-stock banks furnishes a very important element in coming to a decision.

1876 J. B. Mozley Serm. preached Univ. of Oxf. iv. 88 Everything depends upon one element in the case, which element they cannot get at.

7. spec. (plural)

a. Astronomy. The data necessary to determine the orbit of a heavenly body.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the universe > cosmology > science of observation > astronomical calculation > [noun] > part

argumentc1405

astronomicalsa1690

element1788

parameter1829

perturbative function1856

luminosity function1924

Hubble constant1933

Oort constant1941

1788–9 G. S. Howard New Royal Encycl. Elements, in astronomy, are..those fundamental numbers, which are employed in the construction of tables of the planetary motions.

1814 J. Playfair Outl. Nat. Philos. II. i. xi. 197 The elements of their [sc. comets'] orbits..agreed nearly with those of the Comet of 1682.

1834 M. Somerville On Connexion Physical Sci. (1849) ii. 12 This depends upon seven quantities called the elements of the orbit.

b. Crystallography. Those needed to determine the form of a crystal.

ΚΠ

1878 H. P. Gurney Crystallogr. 41 The three angles between the axes and two of the ratios between the parameters, are called the elements of the crystal.

8. Mathematics. An infinitesimal part of a magnitude of any kind; a differential.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > calculus > [noun] > differential calculus > differentiation > differential

differential1702

moment1706

momentane1706

increment1721

element1728

momentum1735

H1872

interval1918

differentio-differential1939

1728 E. Chambers Cycl. Element of an Area, called also its Differential, is the Rectangle..of the Semi-ordinate..into the Differential of the Asciss.

1882 G. M. Minchin Uniplanar Kinematics 112 P any point in the lamina at which the element of mass is dm.

1885 H. W. Watson & S. H. Burbury Math. Theory Electr. & Magn. I. 250 The molecular distributions within the element of volume dx dy dz.

II. The ‘four elements’.

a. Used as a general name for earth, water, air, and fire; originally in sense 1, to which many of the earlier instances have explicit reference; now merely as a matter of traditional custom.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > alchemy > alchemical elements > [noun]

elementa1300

spirita1393

bodya1398

originalsc1484

red mana1500

principlea1550

principium1684

a1300 Signs bef. Judgm. 177 in Early Eng. Poems & Lives Saints (1862) 12 Þe .xii. dai þe fure elemens sul cri..merci ihsu fiz mari.

c1300 Fragm. Pop. Sc. (Wright) 120 Bynethe the loweste hevene..Beoth the four elementz, of wham we beoth i-wroȝt.

a1340 R. Rolle Psalter ix. 34 Þe erth is þe end of thynges & þe last element.

1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis III. 97 It [air] is eke the thridde element.

1483 W. Caxton tr. Caton 4 The foure elementes menace alle men that thanke not god.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) Wisd. xix. 18 The elementes turned in to them selues, like as whan one tune is chaunged vpon an instrument of musick.

1644 K. Digby Two Treat. i. iv. 30 There are but foure simple bodies: and these are rightly named Elements.

1656 H. More Antidote Atheism (1712) Gen. Pref. 15 Regions of looser particles of the third Element.

1715 A. Pope Temple of Fame 38 Thro undulating Air the Sounds are sent, And spread o'er all the fluid Element.

1723 Briton No. iii Rich wines and high-season'd Ragouts supply the place of Vegetables and meer Element.

1789 G. White Nat. Hist. Selborne 3 Fine limpid water..much commended by those who drink the pure element.

1816 Ld. Byron Childe Harold: Canto III lxxiv. 42 When elements to elements conform, And dust is as it should be.

1886 T. K. Oliphant New Eng. II. 219 If the great authors named were set up as models..we should never hear of fire as ‘the devouring element’.

b. figurative.

ΚΠ

1813 Duke of Wellington Let. 18 Aug. in Dispatches (1838) XI. 12 A British minister cannot have too often under his view the element by which he is surrounded.

1850 C. Kingsley Alton Locke I. i. 3 Italy..where natural beauty would have become the very element which I breathed.

†10.

a. The sky; ? also, the atmosphere. Obsolete.[This sense is apparently due to medieval Latin ‘elementum ignis’ as a name of the starry sphere; but there may be a mixture of the sense ‘air’.]

ΘΚΠ

the world > the universe > sky, heavens > [noun]

roofeOE

welkinc825

heaveneOE

heightOE

heavenOE

liftOE

loftOE

welkin1122

skies?a1289

firmamentc1290

skewa1300

spherea1300

skewsc1320

hemispherec1374

cope of heavenc1380

clouda1400

skya1425

elementc1485

axle-treea1522

scrowc1540

pole1572

horizona1577

vaulta1586

round?1593

the cope1596

pend1599

floor1600

canopy1604

cope1609

expansion1611

concameration1625

convex1627

concave1635

expansum1635

blue1647

the expanse1667

blue blanket1726

empyrean1727

carry1788

span1803

overhead1865

c1485 Digby Myst. (1882) ii. 371 A meruelous lyȝt fro thelement dyd glyde.

1509 S. Hawes Pastime of Pleasure 15 I..sawe a craggy rocke..neare to the element.

1534 T. More Treat. Passion in Wks. 1307/1 The moone & the sterres appere in the element.

a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1593) v. sig. Qq2^v Morning had taken a full possession of the Element.

1637 J. Milton Comus 11 I tooke it for a faërie vision Of some gay creatures of the element.

1676 T. Hobbes tr. Homer Iliads xix. 331 A thick Snow, Which Boreas bloweth through the Element.

1714 J. Gay Shepherd's Week vi. 3 (note) Welkin..is frequently taken for the Element or Sky.

†b. ? One of the ‘heavens’ or celestial spheres of ancient astronomy (see sphere n.); also (rarely) one of the heavenly bodies themselves. Obsolete.[Cf. medieval Latin elementa ‘planets’ and ‘signs of the zodiac’; but neither of these senses is clearly evidenced in our quots.]

ΘΚΠ

the world > the universe > celestial sphere > zone of celestial sphere > sphere of ancient astronomy > [noun]

liftOE

heavenOE

wheelc1175

welkina1325

spherec1374

elementc1384

firmamentc1386

roundnessa1398

movablec1400

orbc1449

concavity1483

concameration1625

subcelestial1644

orbit1727

c1384 G. Chaucer Hous of Fame 975 Wyth fetheris of Philosophye To passen everyche element.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 395 Þe sterns, gret and smale, þat we may se..In þe ouermast element of all.

a1533 Ld. Berners tr. A. de Guevara Golden Bk. M. Aurelius (1546) sig. B.^v These were the fyrste that wold serche the trouthe of the elementes of the heuen.

1593 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie i. ix. 68 The Sunne, the Moone, any one of the heauens or elements.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) iii. iii. 467 Witnesse you euer-burning lights aboue, You Elements that clip vs round about.

11. plural. Atmospheric agencies or powers.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > [noun] > atmospheric agencies or powers

elements1555

skyey influence(s)a1616

blas1662

1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde i. iv. f. 21^v Owre nation hadde trowbled the elementes.

1608 W. Shakespeare King Lear ix. 16 I taske not you you elements with vnkindnes.

1813 R. Bakewell Introd. Geol. viii. 187 Diminution of rocks..by the incessant operation of the elements.

1855 W. H. Prescott Hist. Reign Philip II of Spain I. i. iv. 118 He was..too gallant a cavalier to be daunted by the elements.

1866 J. M. Neale Sequences & Hymns 102 The war of elements above.

12. That one of the ‘four elements’ which is the natural abode of any particular class of living beings; said chiefly of air and water. Hence transferred and figurative (a person's) ordinary range of activity, the surroundings in which one feels at home; the appropriate sphere of operation of any agency. Phrases, in, out of (one's) element.

ΘΚΠ

society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > dwelling place or abode > [noun] > place to which one belongs

homeOE

element1599

manor1945

1599 Master Broughtons Lett. Answered viii. 26 You are in for all day..it is your element.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) iv. ii. 163 She workes by Charmes..beyond our Element .

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost ii. 275 Our torments also may in length of time Become our Elements .

1673 W. Temple Observ. United Provinces vi. 222 It seems to be with Trade, as with the Sea (its Element).

1719 D. Defoe Farther Adventures Robinson Crusoe 78 When they came to make Boards..they were quite out of their Element.

1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1784 II. 542 [Johnson:] The town is my element; there are my friends, there are my books.

1823 C. Lamb Witches in Elia 159 My proper element of prose.

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 534 Ferguson was in his element.

1874 F. D. Maurice Friendship Bks. iii. 69 Englishmen were to be taught that..the sea was to be their element.

1891 N.E.D. at Element Mod. Some fishes can live a long time after removal from their element.

III. An original source or principle.

13. Primordial principle, source of origin. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > existence and causation > causation > basis or foundation > [noun] > basis or fundamental principle

principlea1398

basec1500

principium1550

primordial1610

basisa1616

element1655

radical1656

principe1669

seminiuma1676

ultimate1710

rock beda1853

ultimatum1858

rock-bottom1866

ultimity1898

1655 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. I. ii. 2 Infinity is..the principle and element of things.

1850 Ld. Tennyson In Memoriam Epil. 210 That God, which ever lives and loves, One God, one law, one element .

IV. Senses relating to the alphabet and learning.

14.

a. plural. †The letters of the alphabet (obsolete). Hence, the rudiments of learning, the ‘A, B, C’; also, the first principles of an art or science.

ΘΚΠ

society > education > learning > study > subject or object of study > [noun] > rudiments

elements1382

ABCa1393

ground1528

introduction1532

principles1532

rudiments1534

institution1537

accidence1562

institute1578

alphabet1593

ut, re1598

gamut1600

Christ-cross-row1608

grammates1633

initiament1727

notion1839

propaedeutics1842

rudimentaries1852

1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) Gal. iv. 9 Hou ben ȝe turned..to syke, or freel, and nedy elementis.

1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Elementes or principles of grammer—Elementes letters wherof be made sillables.

1612 J. Brinsley Ludus Lit. i. 7 Beginning at the verie first Elements, euen at the A. B. C.

1644 J. Milton Of Educ. 4 At the same time..might be taught..the elements of Geometry.

1649 Bp. J. Taylor Great Exemplar ii. viii. 60 Man knows first by elements & after long study learns a syllable, & in good time gets a word.

1799 J. Mackintosh Study Law Nature & Nations in Wks. (1846) I. 342 Public lectures..have been used..to teach the elements of almost every part of learning.

1833 C. F. Crusé tr. Eusebius Eccl. Hist. (ed. 2) iv. xxiv. 161 Books containing elements of the faith.

1875 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) III. 425 Calculation and geometry and all the other elements of instruction.

b. Euclid's Elements: the title of a treatise on the rudiments of Geometry.

ΚΠ

1655 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. I. i. 16 Those [propositions], which Euclid hath reduced into his Elements.

1793 T. Beddoes Observ. Nature Demonstrative Evid. 47 As if the elements of Euclid were not already tedious enough.

1828 D. Lardner Euclid Pref. Euclid's Elements were first used in the school of Alexandria.

Draft additions March 2014

In plural. Usually with capital initial. (The name of) the most rudimentary stage of the teaching programme in many Jesuit and certain Roman Catholic schools.T. E. Muir in Stonyhurst Coll., 1593–1993 (1992) records Elements in use as the name for this class in Stonyhurst College from 1804.

ΚΠ

1842 C. Redding Illustr. Itinerary Lancaster 224 Masters: Mr. William Johnson, rhetoric..; Mr. Walter Clifford, figures; Mr. Langmeason, elements.

1895 P. Fitzgerald Stonyhurst Memories vii. 125 I had escaped the rush, the awful rush, for it was ‘All on’, that is, from the biggest boy in rhetoric to the smallest in elements.

1923 A. Conan Doyle in Strand Mag. Oct. 328/1 There were seven classes—elements, figures, rudiments, grammar, syntax, poetry and rhetoric—and you were allotted a year for each, or seven in all.

1963 A. C. Beales Educ. under Penalty 132 The course of study began with a class called variously Rudiments, Elements, Figures and Little Figures.

2013 Loyola Preparatory School Newslet. No. 326. 2 Elements swimming will restart on Thursday 10th January.

Draft additions September 2017

In traditional Chinese thought and medicine: one of the five phases or types of qi life-force (enumerated as wood, fire, earth, metal, and water, which are substances whose properties most closely resemble those of the respective qi), used to explain various processes and interactions between phenomena.The five elements may be involved in three types of cycle, one of generation or enhancement (the mother–son cycle), one of destruction, and one of weakening. In the first of these, each element is the son of that preceding it, and mother to the one following it. In the cycle of destruction or control, or in that of weakening, the elements are likewise acted on and act on each other in the order: wood, earth, water, fire, and metal. In acupuncture and Chinese traditional medicine, pairs of organs are assigned to one of these elemental qualities.

ΚΠ

1828 D. Collie in tr. Chinese Classical Work called Four Bks. 2 Thus, heaven it seems employed these two principles and the elements of water, fire, wood, metal and earth, to form all things.

1870 Chinese Recorder Apr. 297/2 This charm contains the element metal, because metal conquers wood, according to their physics.

1878 J. H. Gray China I. i. 1 The five elements denote five innate essences, and the nature of each essence is indicated by its corresponding form of matter.

1901 J. J. M. de Groot Relig. Syst. China IV. ii. i. i. 47 The imaginary influence exercised by the five Elements over those tsing or forces, is spun out by bringing into play the creating, neutralizing and destroying influences which..the Elements are supposed to exercise upon each other.

1987 M. D. Seem & J. Kaplan Bodymind Energetics 94 The Wood Element is composed of two Officials, the Liver (Yin) and the Gallbladder (Yang).

1996 S. Lavery et al. Hamlyn Encycl. Complementary Health 14/1 The thrust of five element diagnosis is to isolate and treat the imbalanced element.

2017 Express & Echo (Exeter) (Nexis) 2 Mar. What came out in my session was a weakness in the element of metal, which relates to the lungs.

This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1891; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	element
释义	elementn. Brit. /ˈɛlᵻm(ə)nt/, U.S. /ˈɛləmənt/ Forms: Middle English, 1600s elemens (plural Middle English elamente, elemente, Middle English elymente, 1500s elyment, elemente, Middle English– element. Etymology: < Old French element, < Latin elementum, a word of which the etymology and primary meaning are uncertain, but which was employed as translation of Greek στοιχεῖον in the various senses < a component unit of a series; a constituent part of a complex whole (hence the ‘four elements’); a member of the planetary system; a letter of the alphabet; a fundamental principle of a science. I. A component part of a complex whole. * of material things. 1. One of the simple substances of which all material bodies are compounded. Categories » †a. In ancient and medieval philosophy these were believed to be: Earth, water, air, and fire. See examples in sense 9. Obsolete exc. Historical. †b. In pre-scientific chemistry the supposed ‘elements’ were variously enumerated, the usual number being about five or six. (See quots.) ΘΚΠ the world > matter > chemistry > elements and compounds > [noun] > elements element1725 1725 I. Watts Logick i. ii. 22 The Chymists make Spirit, Salt, Sulphur, Water, and Earth to be their five Elements. 1765 T. H. Croker et al. Compl. Dict. Arts & Sci. II. (at cited word) Element [enumerate Water, Air, Oil, Salt, Earth]. c. In modern chemistry applied to those substances (of which well over one hundred are now known) which have hitherto resisted analysis, and which are provisionally supposed to be simple bodies. ΚΠ 1813 H. Davy Elements Agric. Chem. i. 8 Bodies..not capable of being decompounded, are considered..as elements. 1830 M. Donovan Domest. Econ. I. v. 111 Sugar is composed of three elements, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. 1841 R. W. Emerson Hist. in Wks. (1906) I. 17 Fifty or sixty chemical elements. 1854 J. S. Bushnan in J. Wylde Circle of Sci. (c1865) II. 6/1 The proximate elements are formed by the union of several ultimate elements. 1881 A. W. Williamson in Nature No. 618. 414 The foundation of..chemistry was laid by the discovery of chemical elements. 2. In wider sense: One of the relatively simple substances of which a complex substance is composed; in plural the ‘raw material’ of which a thing is made. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > wholeness > incompleteness > part of whole > [noun] > constituent part or component limbc1000 membera1382 elementc1386 parcelc1395 ingredientc1460 partc1530 ingredience1577 principle1594 simple1603 composer1610 partiment1641 component1644 constitutive1647 composite1657 integral1659 ingredient1674 aggregant1749 constituent1757 congredient1767 factor1816 integrant1825 inclusion1845 c1386 G. Chaucer Friar's Tale 206 Make ye yow newe bodies alway Of elementz. 1593 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie i. iii. 53 If those principall & mother elements of the world, whereof all things in this lower world are made, should loose the qualities which now they haue. a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) iii. iii. 61 The Elements Of whom your swords are temper'd, may as well Wound the loud windes. View more context for this quotation 1851 W. B. Carpenter Man. Physiol. 319 The two elements [Fibrine and the Red Corpuscles] separating from each other laterally. 3. The bread and wine used in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Chiefly plural. [The word elementa is used in late Latin in the sense of ‘articles of food and drink, the solid and liquid portions of a meal’ (see Du Cange); but in the ecclesiastical use there is probably a reference to the philosophical sense of mere ‘matter’ as apart from ‘form’; the ‘form’, by virtue of which the ‘elements’ became Christ's body and blood, being believed to be imparted by the act of consecration.] ΘΚΠ society > faith > artefacts > consumables > eucharistic elements > [noun] houseleOE bread and winea1225 sacrament?c1225 sacringc1290 spicec1425 kind?1531 Eucharistc1540 element1556 species1579 elemental1656 mystery1662 symbol1671 waybread1993 1556 Forme of Prayers Eng. Congregation Geneva 245 As yf these elementes were tourned and chaunged into the substaunce of his fleshe and blood. 1593 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie iv. i. 170 Vnto the element let the word be added, and they both doe make a sacrament, saith S. Augustine. 1607 S. Hieron Discouerie of Hypocrisie in Wks. (1620) I. 256 Such slender & vnlikely elemens of water, bread & wine. 1633 D. Rogers Treat. Two Sacraments Gospell 132 They..bring an whole unbroken Element, made of a fine white delicate wafer. 1745 J. Wesley Answer to Rev. Church 35 He deliver'd the Elements with his own Hands. 1866 J. Purchas & F. G. Lee Directorium Anglicanum (ed. 3) 354 Elements, the materials used in the Sacraments. 4. a. Physiology. A definite small portion of an animal or vegetable structure. ΚΠ 1841 T. R. Jones Gen. Outl. Animal Kingdom xxvi. 482 Two elements [of a vertebra] which embrace the spinal marrow. 1884 F. O. Bower & D. H. Scott tr. H. A. de Bary Compar. Anat. Phanerogams & Ferns 182 Small vascular bundles composed of narrow elements. 1884 F. O. Bower & D. H. Scott tr. H. A. de Bary Compar. Anat. Phanerogams & Ferns 459 On the side of the wood, new elements..are constantly added. b. One of the essential parts of any scientific apparatus; used esp. of simple instruments united to form a complex instrument of the same kind. voltaic element n. usually = cell n.¹ 13, but sometimes = electrode n. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > wholeness > incompleteness > part of whole > [noun] > constituent part or component > of a complex structure or instrument element1832 1832 D. Brewster Lett. Nat. Magic vi. 148 We can even reproduce them..with the simplest elements of our optical apparatus. 1871 tr. H. Schellen Spectrum Anal. ix. 67 An electric battery of 50 Bunsen's or Grove's large elements. c. The resistance wire carrying the current in an electric heater; (also used of) the bar or collection of pieces of asbestos, etc., in an electric or gas stove. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > heating or making hot > that which or one who heats > [noun] > a device for heating or warming > heated component of gas or electric heater element1906 1906 Nature 17 May 60/2 The method exemplified is the use of silicated carbon upon a terra-cotta base, forming an ‘element’. 1925 Jrnl. Iron & Steel Inst. 111 535 The dimensions, temperature..distribution of heating elements..and various furnace types are considered. 1926 Brit. Standard Gloss. Terms Electr. Engin. (Brit. Engin. Standards Assoc.) 153 Heating element, the complete resistor, including the element carrier on which it is wound, as used in ovens, electric fires, radiators, etc. 1952 ‘N. Shute’ Far Country iii. 75 The girl stared at the hot elements of the fire. ** of non-material things. 5. a. A constituent portion of an immaterial whole, as of a concept, character, state of things, community, etc. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > wholeness > incompleteness > part of whole > [noun] > constituent part or component > of an immaterial whole pointc1230 punct1427 element1600 puncta1651 momentum1829 moment1838 1600 W. Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing ii. i. 321 Theres little of the melancholy element in her my lord. View more context for this quotation 1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. i. 7 These simple Elements of Magnitude, Figure, Site and Motion..are all clearly intelligible as different Modes of extended Substance. 1833 R. Browning Pauline 21 I strip my mind bare—whose first elements I shall unveil. 1841 R. W. Emerson Eng. Traits viii. 139 This [English] race has added new elements to humanity, and has a deeper root in the world. 1845 Graves in Encycl. Metrop. 783/1 Mixed with bigotry and superstition, it [the canon law] will be found to contain many pure elements. 1867 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest I. iii. 99 In our old constitution we find the elements of Feudalism. 1870 E. Peacock Ralf Skirlaugh III. 187 Size is certainly one main element of beauty. 1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People vii. §5. 386 The woollen manufacture had become an important element in the national wealth. 1891 N.E.D. at Element Mod. The Celtic and Teutonic elements in the population. b. Often followed by of = ‘consisting of’. ΚΠ 1851 A. Helps Friends in Council I. 11 These practices have elements of charity and prudence as well as fear and meanness in them. 1866 C. Kingsley Hereward the Wake I. vii. 188 Its usual ingrained element of what we now call..cant. 1869 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest (1876) III. xii. 162 Mingled with all this there is a certain element of grim merriment. 1871 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues I. 231 The greatest strength is often observed to have an element of limitation. c. Mathematics. Any of the symbols or quantities which, set out in an array, constitute a determinant or matrix. ΚΠ 1859 G. Salmon Lessons Mod. Higher Algebra i. 1 The coefficients a₁, b₁, &c., which enter into the expression of a determinant, are called the constituents of that determinant, and the products a₁b₂, &c., are called the elements of the determinant.] 1867 C. L. Dodgson Elem. Treat. Determinants ii. 6 If mn quantities be so placed as to form m rows and n columns: they are said to form a Block; and the mn quantities are called the Elements of such a Block. 1881 W. S. Burnside & A. W. Panton Theory of Equations xi. 232 The individual letters a, b, c..a₂..etc. of which a determinant is composed are called constituents, and by some writers elements. 1939 A. C. Aitken Determinants & Matrices i. 4 A matrix may possibly consist of a single row, or of a single column, of elements. 1968 P. A. P. Moran Introd. Probability Theory iii. 109 p(t) is a column vector whose elements are p₁ (t),…,p_n(t). d. Mathematics and Logic. [compare German element in same sense (G. Cantor in Math. Ann. (1882) XX. 114, (1883) XXI. 587, (1895) XLVI. 481, etc.).] Any of the (real or conceptual) entities of which a set is composed; an entity that satisfies the criterion or criteria used to define a set. ΚΠ 1857 A. Cayley Coll. Math. Papers (1890) III. 35 Let L denote a set of any four elements, a, b, c, d. 1901 L. E. Dickson Linear Groups i. 5 A set of s distinct elements satisfying the above four conditions is said to form a field of order s. 1953 A. A. Fraenkel Abstract Set Theory i. 22 In fact ‘x is red’ corresponds to the relation ‘x is an element of the set of all red things’. 1965 Sze-Tsen Hu Elem. Mod. Algebra v. 119 The only nilpotent element in an integral domain is the zero element 0. 6. One of the facts or conditions which ‘enter into’ or determine the result of a process, calculation, deliberation, or inquiry. Also with of (cf. 5b). ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > testing > attestation, witness, evidence > [noun] > evidence given, testimony > part of element1812 1812 R. Woodhouse Elem. Treat. Astron. ix. 66 The length of a sidereal year (an element of little or no importance in Astronomy). 1823 T. Chalmers Serm. I. 129 His will was reduced to an element of utter insignificancy. 1846 W. R. Grove On Correlation Physical Forces 20 If you take notice of the element of quantity, this objection will not apply. 1866 A. Crump Pract. Treat. Banking iii. 72 The periodical publication of accounts by the joint-stock banks furnishes a very important element in coming to a decision. 1876 J. B. Mozley Serm. preached Univ. of Oxf. iv. 88 Everything depends upon one element in the case, which element they cannot get at. 7. spec. (plural) a. Astronomy. The data necessary to determine the orbit of a heavenly body. ΘΚΠ the world > the universe > cosmology > science of observation > astronomical calculation > [noun] > part argumentc1405 astronomicalsa1690 element1788 parameter1829 perturbative function1856 luminosity function1924 Hubble constant1933 Oort constant1941 1788–9 G. S. Howard New Royal Encycl. Elements, in astronomy, are..those fundamental numbers, which are employed in the construction of tables of the planetary motions. 1814 J. Playfair Outl. Nat. Philos. II. i. xi. 197 The elements of their [sc. comets'] orbits..agreed nearly with those of the Comet of 1682. 1834 M. Somerville On Connexion Physical Sci. (1849) ii. 12 This depends upon seven quantities called the elements of the orbit. b. Crystallography. Those needed to determine the form of a crystal. ΚΠ 1878 H. P. Gurney Crystallogr. 41 The three angles between the axes and two of the ratios between the parameters, are called the elements of the crystal. 8. Mathematics. An infinitesimal part of a magnitude of any kind; a differential. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > calculus > [noun] > differential calculus > differentiation > differential differential1702 moment1706 momentane1706 increment1721 element1728 momentum1735 H1872 interval1918 differentio-differential1939 1728 E. Chambers Cycl. Element of an Area, called also its Differential, is the Rectangle..of the Semi-ordinate..into the Differential of the Asciss. 1882 G. M. Minchin Uniplanar Kinematics 112 P any point in the lamina at which the element of mass is dm. 1885 H. W. Watson & S. H. Burbury Math. Theory Electr. & Magn. I. 250 The molecular distributions within the element of volume dx dy dz. II. The ‘four elements’. 9. a. Used as a general name for earth, water, air, and fire; originally in sense 1, to which many of the earlier instances have explicit reference; now merely as a matter of traditional custom. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > alchemy > alchemical elements > [noun] elementa1300 spirita1393 bodya1398 originalsc1484 red mana1500 principlea1550 principium1684 a1300 Signs bef. Judgm. 177 in Early Eng. Poems & Lives Saints (1862) 12 Þe .xii. dai þe fure elemens sul cri..merci ihsu fiz mari. c1300 Fragm. Pop. Sc. (Wright) 120 Bynethe the loweste hevene..Beoth the four elementz, of wham we beoth i-wroȝt. a1340 R. Rolle Psalter ix. 34 Þe erth is þe end of thynges & þe last element. 1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis III. 97 It [air] is eke the thridde element. 1483 W. Caxton tr. Caton 4 The foure elementes menace alle men that thanke not god. 1535 Bible (Coverdale) Wisd. xix. 18 The elementes turned in to them selues, like as whan one tune is chaunged vpon an instrument of musick. 1644 K. Digby Two Treat. i. iv. 30 There are but foure simple bodies: and these are rightly named Elements. 1656 H. More Antidote Atheism (1712) Gen. Pref. 15 Regions of looser particles of the third Element. 1715 A. Pope Temple of Fame 38 Thro undulating Air the Sounds are sent, And spread o'er all the fluid Element. 1723 Briton No. iii Rich wines and high-season'd Ragouts supply the place of Vegetables and meer Element. 1789 G. White Nat. Hist. Selborne 3 Fine limpid water..much commended by those who drink the pure element. 1816 Ld. Byron Childe Harold: Canto III lxxiv. 42 When elements to elements conform, And dust is as it should be. 1886 T. K. Oliphant New Eng. II. 219 If the great authors named were set up as models..we should never hear of fire as ‘the devouring element’. b. figurative. ΚΠ 1813 Duke of Wellington Let. 18 Aug. in Dispatches (1838) XI. 12 A British minister cannot have too often under his view the element by which he is surrounded. 1850 C. Kingsley Alton Locke I. i. 3 Italy..where natural beauty would have become the very element which I breathed. †10. a. The sky; ? also, the atmosphere. Obsolete.[This sense is apparently due to medieval Latin ‘elementum ignis’ as a name of the starry sphere; but there may be a mixture of the sense ‘air’.] ΘΚΠ the world > the universe > sky, heavens > [noun] roofeOE welkinc825 heaveneOE heightOE heavenOE liftOE loftOE welkin1122 skies?a1289 firmamentc1290 skewa1300 spherea1300 skewsc1320 hemispherec1374 cope of heavenc1380 clouda1400 skya1425 elementc1485 axle-treea1522 scrowc1540 pole1572 horizona1577 vaulta1586 round?1593 the cope1596 pend1599 floor1600 canopy1604 cope1609 expansion1611 concameration1625 convex1627 concave1635 expansum1635 blue1647 the expanse1667 blue blanket1726 empyrean1727 carry1788 span1803 overhead1865 c1485 Digby Myst. (1882) ii. 371 A meruelous lyȝt fro thelement dyd glyde. 1509 S. Hawes Pastime of Pleasure 15 I..sawe a craggy rocke..neare to the element. 1534 T. More Treat. Passion in Wks. 1307/1 The moone & the sterres appere in the element. a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1593) v. sig. Qq2^v Morning had taken a full possession of the Element. 1637 J. Milton Comus 11 I tooke it for a faërie vision Of some gay creatures of the element. 1676 T. Hobbes tr. Homer Iliads xix. 331 A thick Snow, Which Boreas bloweth through the Element. 1714 J. Gay Shepherd's Week vi. 3 (note) Welkin..is frequently taken for the Element or Sky. †b. ? One of the ‘heavens’ or celestial spheres of ancient astronomy (see sphere n.); also (rarely) one of the heavenly bodies themselves. Obsolete.[Cf. medieval Latin elementa ‘planets’ and ‘signs of the zodiac’; but neither of these senses is clearly evidenced in our quots.] ΘΚΠ the world > the universe > celestial sphere > zone of celestial sphere > sphere of ancient astronomy > [noun] liftOE heavenOE wheelc1175 welkina1325 spherec1374 elementc1384 firmamentc1386 roundnessa1398 movablec1400 orbc1449 concavity1483 concameration1625 subcelestial1644 orbit1727 c1384 G. Chaucer Hous of Fame 975 Wyth fetheris of Philosophye To passen everyche element. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 395 Þe sterns, gret and smale, þat we may se..In þe ouermast element of all. a1533 Ld. Berners tr. A. de Guevara Golden Bk. M. Aurelius (1546) sig. B.^v These were the fyrste that wold serche the trouthe of the elementes of the heuen. 1593 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie i. ix. 68 The Sunne, the Moone, any one of the heauens or elements. a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) iii. iii. 467 Witnesse you euer-burning lights aboue, You Elements that clip vs round about. View more context for this quotation 11. plural. Atmospheric agencies or powers. ΘΚΠ the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > [noun] > atmospheric agencies or powers elements1555 skyey influence(s)a1616 blas1662 1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde i. iv. f. 21^v Owre nation hadde trowbled the elementes. 1608 W. Shakespeare King Lear ix. 16 I taske not you you elements with vnkindnes. View more context for this quotation 1813 R. Bakewell Introd. Geol. viii. 187 Diminution of rocks..by the incessant operation of the elements. 1855 W. H. Prescott Hist. Reign Philip II of Spain I. i. iv. 118 He was..too gallant a cavalier to be daunted by the elements. 1866 J. M. Neale Sequences & Hymns 102 The war of elements above. 12. That one of the ‘four elements’ which is the natural abode of any particular class of living beings; said chiefly of air and water. Hence transferred and figurative (a person's) ordinary range of activity, the surroundings in which one feels at home; the appropriate sphere of operation of any agency. Phrases, in, out of (one's) element. ΘΚΠ society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > dwelling place or abode > [noun] > place to which one belongs homeOE element1599 manor1945 1599 Master Broughtons Lett. Answered viii. 26 You are in for all day..it is your element. a1616 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) iv. ii. 163 She workes by Charmes..beyond our Element . View more context for this quotation 1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost ii. 275 Our torments also may in length of time Become our Elements . View more context for this quotation 1673 W. Temple Observ. United Provinces vi. 222 It seems to be with Trade, as with the Sea (its Element). 1719 D. Defoe Farther Adventures Robinson Crusoe 78 When they came to make Boards..they were quite out of their Element. 1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1784 II. 542 [Johnson:] The town is my element; there are my friends, there are my books. 1823 C. Lamb Witches in Elia 159 My proper element of prose. 1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 534 Ferguson was in his element. 1874 F. D. Maurice Friendship Bks. iii. 69 Englishmen were to be taught that..the sea was to be their element. 1891 N.E.D. at Element Mod. Some fishes can live a long time after removal from their element. III. An original source or principle. 13. Primordial principle, source of origin. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > causation > basis or foundation > [noun] > basis or fundamental principle principlea1398 basec1500 principium1550 primordial1610 basisa1616 element1655 radical1656 principe1669 seminiuma1676 ultimate1710 rock beda1853 ultimatum1858 rock-bottom1866 ultimity1898 1655 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. I. ii. 2 Infinity is..the principle and element of things. 1850 Ld. Tennyson In Memoriam Epil. 210 That God, which ever lives and loves, One God, one law, one element . View more context for this quotation IV. Senses relating to the alphabet and learning. 14. a. plural. †The letters of the alphabet (obsolete). Hence, the rudiments of learning, the ‘A, B, C’; also, the first principles of an art or science. ΘΚΠ society > education > learning > study > subject or object of study > [noun] > rudiments elements1382 ABCa1393 ground1528 introduction1532 principles1532 rudiments1534 institution1537 accidence1562 institute1578 alphabet1593 ut, re1598 gamut1600 Christ-cross-row1608 grammates1633 initiament1727 notion1839 propaedeutics1842 rudimentaries1852 1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) Gal. iv. 9 Hou ben ȝe turned..to syke, or freel, and nedy elementis. 1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Elementes or principles of grammer—Elementes letters wherof be made sillables. 1612 J. Brinsley Ludus Lit. i. 7 Beginning at the verie first Elements, euen at the A. B. C. 1644 J. Milton Of Educ. 4 At the same time..might be taught..the elements of Geometry. 1649 Bp. J. Taylor Great Exemplar ii. viii. 60 Man knows first by elements & after long study learns a syllable, & in good time gets a word. 1799 J. Mackintosh Study Law Nature & Nations in Wks. (1846) I. 342 Public lectures..have been used..to teach the elements of almost every part of learning. 1833 C. F. Crusé tr. Eusebius Eccl. Hist. (ed. 2) iv. xxiv. 161 Books containing elements of the faith. 1875 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) III. 425 Calculation and geometry and all the other elements of instruction. b. Euclid's Elements: the title of a treatise on the rudiments of Geometry. ΚΠ 1655 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. I. i. 16 Those [propositions], which Euclid hath reduced into his Elements. 1793 T. Beddoes Observ. Nature Demonstrative Evid. 47 As if the elements of Euclid were not already tedious enough. 1828 D. Lardner Euclid Pref. Euclid's Elements were first used in the school of Alexandria. Draft additions March 2014 In plural. Usually with capital initial. (The name of) the most rudimentary stage of the teaching programme in many Jesuit and certain Roman Catholic schools.T. E. Muir in Stonyhurst Coll., 1593–1993 (1992) records Elements in use as the name for this class in Stonyhurst College from 1804. ΚΠ 1842 C. Redding Illustr. Itinerary Lancaster 224 Masters: Mr. William Johnson, rhetoric..; Mr. Walter Clifford, figures; Mr. Langmeason, elements. 1895 P. Fitzgerald Stonyhurst Memories vii. 125 I had escaped the rush, the awful rush, for it was ‘All on’, that is, from the biggest boy in rhetoric to the smallest in elements. 1923 A. Conan Doyle in Strand Mag. Oct. 328/1 There were seven classes—elements, figures, rudiments, grammar, syntax, poetry and rhetoric—and you were allotted a year for each, or seven in all. 1963 A. C. Beales Educ. under Penalty 132 The course of study began with a class called variously Rudiments, Elements, Figures and Little Figures. 2013 Loyola Preparatory School Newslet. No. 326. 2 Elements swimming will restart on Thursday 10th January. Draft additions September 2017 In traditional Chinese thought and medicine: one of the five phases or types of qi life-force (enumerated as wood, fire, earth, metal, and water, which are substances whose properties most closely resemble those of the respective qi), used to explain various processes and interactions between phenomena.The five elements may be involved in three types of cycle, one of generation or enhancement (the mother–son cycle), one of destruction, and one of weakening. In the first of these, each element is the son of that preceding it, and mother to the one following it. In the cycle of destruction or control, or in that of weakening, the elements are likewise acted on and act on each other in the order: wood, earth, water, fire, and metal. In acupuncture and Chinese traditional medicine, pairs of organs are assigned to one of these elemental qualities. ΚΠ 1828 D. Collie in tr. Chinese Classical Work called Four Bks. 2 Thus, heaven it seems employed these two principles and the elements of water, fire, wood, metal and earth, to form all things. 1870 Chinese Recorder Apr. 297/2 This charm contains the element metal, because metal conquers wood, according to their physics. 1878 J. H. Gray China I. i. 1 The five elements denote five innate essences, and the nature of each essence is indicated by its corresponding form of matter. 1901 J. J. M. de Groot Relig. Syst. China IV. ii. i. i. 47 The imaginary influence exercised by the five Elements over those tsing or forces, is spun out by bringing into play the creating, neutralizing and destroying influences which..the Elements are supposed to exercise upon each other. 1987 M. D. Seem & J. Kaplan Bodymind Energetics 94 The Wood Element is composed of two Officials, the Liver (Yin) and the Gallbladder (Yang). 1996 S. Lavery et al. Hamlyn Encycl. Complementary Health 14/1 The thrust of five element diagnosis is to isolate and treat the imbalanced element. 2017 Express & Echo (Exeter) (Nexis) 2 Mar. What came out in my session was a weakness in the element of metal, which relates to the lungs. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1891; most recently modified version published online March 2022). elementv. Brit. /ˈɛlᵻmɛnt/, /ˈɛlᵻm(ə)nt/, U.S. /ˈɛləˌmɛnt/, /ˈɛləmənt/ Forms: Also 1500s ellement. Etymology: < element n. †1. transitive. To compound of elements. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > creation > [verb (transitive)] > construct workOE dighta1175 to set upc1275 graitha1300 formc1300 pitchc1330 compoundc1374 to put togethera1387 performc1395 bigc1400 elementc1400 complexion1413 erect1417 framea1450 edifya1464 compose1481 construe1490 to lay together1530 perstruct1547 to piece together1572 condite1578 conflate1583 compile1590 to put together1591 to set together1603 draw1604 build1605 fabric1623 complicate1624 composit1640 constitute1646 compaginate1648 upa1658 complex1659 construct1663 structurate1664 structure1664 confect1677 to put up1699 rig1754 effect1791 structuralize1913 c1400 [implied in: Test. Love (1560) ii. 288 b/2 Of hem all governments in this elemented world proceden. (at elemented adj. 1a)]. 1477 T. Norton Ordinall of Alchimy v. in Ashm. 86 The third thinge elemented of them all. ?1533 G. Du Wes Introductorie for to lerne Frenche sig. Bbiv ^v All thynges..ben..elemented [Fr. ellementé] onely, as..mettalles, or be elemented and vegetables, as herbes. 1582 S. Batman Vppon Bartholome, De Proprietatibus Rerum xi. xvi. 165 Foure elements..of the which all things ellemented..are made. a1631 J. Donne Poems (1650) 194 As of this all, though many parts decay, The pure which elemented them shall stay. 1657 A. Farindon XXX. Serm. (1672) I. 135 Man thus created, thus elemented and composed. 2. figurative. Now rare. ΚΠ a1631 J. Donne Serm. (1956) VIII. 333 Elemented and composed of Heresies. 1640 I. Walton Life of Donne 38 His very soul was elemented of nothing but sadness. 1654 R. Whitlock Ζωοτομία 32 A world elemented with Sinne and Misery. 1670 I. Walton Life J. Donne 33 in Lives Absence..doth remove Those things that Elemented it [sublunary love]. 1905 F. Greenslet J. R. Lowell i. 2 When we endeavor to add to our portrait of his personality some analysis of the things that elemented it. †3. To instruct in the rudiments of learning; cf. element n. 14. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > education > teaching > [verb (transitive)] > ground or initiate foundc1394 groundc1405 introduce1475 induce1490 enter?1529 institutea1538 flesh1591 induct1603 initiate1603 principle1608 elementa1639 foundation1661 a1639 H. Wotton Let. in Reliquiæ Wottonianæ (1651) 489 I thought he had been better elemented at Eton. a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) i. 23 The Fishery did breed, the natural and best elemented seamen. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1891; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.a1300v.c1400
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elementn.

Draft additions March 2014

Draft additions September 2017

elementv.