facultyn.
/ˈfaklti/, U.S. /ˈfæk(ə)lti/ I. ‘The power of doing anything’ (Johnson).† 2. † b. One of the ‘mechanical powers’.
1. † b. A personal quality; disposition. Obsolete.
a. Of persons: An ability or aptitude, whether natural or acquired, for any special kind of action; formerly also, ability, ‘parts’, capacity in general. Sometimes (influenced by sense 4) used to denote a native as opposed to an acquired aptitude.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > ability > [noun] > ability or talent > a talent or special ability
gifta1300
dowerc1375
dowryc1440
faculty1490
indument1527
dote1546
furniture1561
vein1568
talent1602
acquirement1607
enduement1609
endowmentc1610
genius1611
congruity1659
feeling1808
feel1891
1490 W. Caxton tr. Eneydos xv. 59 To her youen the facultee and power for to reherce and saye alle thinges that sholde come in her mouthe.
1573 G. Harvey Let.-bk. (1884) 7 M. Lewins extemporal faculti is better than M. Becons is.
1592 A. Day 2nd Pt. Eng. Secretorie sig. T3, in Eng. Secretorie (rev. ed.) The faculty and vse of well writing.
1593 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie i. viii. 68 There is no kind of faculty or power in man or any other creature, which can [etc.].
1605 W. Camden Remaines ii. 11 Many excelling in Poeticall facultie.
1614 Bp. J. Hall Recoll. Treat. iii. 87 Behauiour..which if a man of but common faculty doe imitate, he makes himselfe ridiculous.
a1640 P. Massinger Bashful Lover iv. i. 73 in 3 New Playes (1655) The heavenly object..would..force him [sc. Ovid] to forget his faculty In verse.
1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 95. ⁋3 This Faculty of Weeping, is peculiar only to some Constitutions.
1751 S. Johnson Rambler No. 141. ⁋6 I devoted all my faculties to the ambition of pleasing them.
a1792 J. Reynolds Wks. (1797) p. xx The faculty of teaching inferior minds the art of thinking.
1795 W. Mason Ess. Eng. Church Music iii. 204 Music, though in one sense an Art, yet is in another a natural faculty.
1829 T. Carlyle in Foreign Rev. Jan. 419 Were will in human undertakings synonymous with faculty.
1853 T. T. Lynch Lect. Self-improvem. iii. 68 Every self-improving man has faculty enough to become a good reader.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > disposition or character > [noun]
heartOE
erda1000
moodOE
i-mindOE
i-cundeOE
costc1175
lundc1175
evena1200
kinda1225
custc1275
couragec1300
the manner ofc1300
qualityc1300
talentc1330
attemperancec1374
complexionc1386
dispositiona1387
propertyc1390
naturea1393
assay1393
inclinationa1398
gentlenessa1400
proprietya1400
habitudec1400
makingc1400
conditionc1405
habitc1405
conceitc1425
affecta1460
ingeny1477
engine1488
stomach?1510
mind?a1513
ingine1533
affection1534
vein1536
humour?1563
natural1564
facultyc1565
concept1566
frame1567
temperature1583
geniusa1586
bent1587
constitution1589
composition1597
character1600
tune1600
qualification1602
infusion1604
spirits1604
dispose1609
selfness1611
disposure1613
composurea1616
racea1616
tempera1616
crasisc1616
directiona1639
grain1641
turn1647
complexure1648
genie1653
make1674
personality1710
tonea1751
bearing1795
liver1800
make-up1821
temperament1821
naturalness1850
selfhood1854
Wesen1854
naturel1856
sit1857
fibre1864
character structure1873
mentality1895
mindset1909
psyche1910
where it's (he's, she's) at1967
c1565 R. Lindsay Hist. & Cron. Scotl. (1728) 89 They knew the king's faculties.
c1610 J. Melville Mem. Own Life (1683) 30 The Queen Mother knowing his [the King of Navarr's] faculty.
1623 W. Shakespeare & J. Fletcher Henry VIII i. ii. 74 I am Traduc'd by ignorant Tongues, which neither know My faculties nor person. View more context for this quotation
c. General executive ability, esp. in domestic matters. (Chiefly U.S., but colloquial in some circles in England.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > ability > [noun]
speed971
mightOE
ferec1175
evenc1225
powerc1300
possibilityc1385
actualitya1398
actualnessa1398
mowing?a1425
virtuality1483
cana1500
canning1549
reach1556
capability1587
strain1593
capableness1594
ablesse1598
fathoma1616
dacity1636
factivitya1643
capacity1647
range1695
span1805
quality1856
faculty1859
octane1989
1859 H. B. Stowe Minister's Wooing I. i. 2 Faculty is Yankee for savoir faire, and the opposite virtue to shiftlessness.
1884 J. D. Whiting in Harper's Mag. Oct. 741/1 Lizzie had ‘faculty’, and proved a notable housekeeper.
a. Of things: A power or capacity; an active quality, efficient property or virtue. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > intrinsicality or inherence > [noun] > a property, quality, or attribute
i-cundeOE
kindOE
thingOE
quality1340
virtue1340
assizea1375
propertyc1390
principlea1398
conditionc1460
faculty1490
predicatea1513
epitheton1547
passion1570
propriety1584
affection1588
attribute1603
qualification1616
appropriate1618
intimacy1641
bedighting1674
belonger1674
cleaver1674
interiority1701
internal property1751
predicable1785
coloration1799
internality1839
the world > action or operation > advantage > efficacy > [noun] > power or virtue of something
gracec1300
virtuea1398
faculty1490
force1600
quality1647
magnes1649
efforta1680
1490 W. Caxton tr. Eneydos i. 14 The sterres had no faculte ne power..to enlumyne the sayd place.
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. DDDi It passeth ye faculty of our barbarouse tonge, to expresse any..of them.
1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball ii. cvi. 296 Lovage, in facultie and vertues doth not differ much from Ligusticum.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Julius Caesar (1623) i. iii. 67.
1620 T. Venner Via Recta v. 87 It is..of a penetrating, cooling and detersiue faculty.
1665 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 1 49 The Electrical faculty of Amber.
1707 tr. P. Le Lorrain de Vallemont Curiosities in Husbandry & Gardening 167 Nitre is of great Use..in Regard to its Faculty of contributing..to the Propagation of Plants.
ΚΠ
1648 Bp. J. Wilkins Math. Magick i. iii. 13 Of the first Mechanical faculty, the Ballance.
1648 Bp. J. Wilkins Math. Magick i. vii. 43 That which is reckoned for the fourth faculty, is the Pulley.
1663 W. Charleton Chorea Gigantum 60 Leaver, Roller, Wheel, Pulley, Wedge, and Screw..fundamental Faculties of Mechaniques.
c. Mathematics. A function of the form x|m|a, i.e. x(x + a) (x + 2a) (x + 3a).. to m factors. See factorial n. 1. [Introduced c1798 by Kramp, who afterwards withdrew it in favour of Arbogast's term factorial. The word has since been revived, but is less frequent in English than in Continental use.]
ΚΠ
1889 G. Chrystal Algebra II. 374 Any faculty can always be reduced to another whose difference is unity.
3. An inherent power or property of the body or of one of its organs; a physical capability or function.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > [noun] > physical capability or function
faculty1543
the world > action or operation > ability > [noun] > an ability or power > specific physical
faculty1543
the world > life > the body > system > [noun] > organ > faculty or function of
powerc1454
faculty1543
function1565
1543 B. Traheron Interpr. Straunge Wordes in tr. J. de Vigo Most Excellent Wks. Chirurg. sig. §§.iii/2 There ben thre faculties..whych gouerne man, and are distributed to the hole bodye..namely animal, vital, and natural.
1568 (a1500) Colkelbie Sow ii. 142 in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS (1930) IV. 300 And laking teith famvlit hir faculte That few folk mycht consaue her momling mowth.
1576 A. Fleming tr. P. Manutius in Panoplie Epist. 324 The bodie, and the abilities of the same, whiche are called corporall faculties.
1607 T. Walkington Optick Glasse viii. f. 51 The spirits..impart a faculty to the nerues of sence, and real motion.
1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια 406 If the arteries bee dilated by a faculty, then are they contracted by their grauity.
1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια 612 The Visiue Facultie..the Faculty of Hearing.
1656 J. Bramhall Replic. to Bishop of Chalcedon 5 Sensibility and a locomotive faculty are essentiall to every living creature.
1684 tr. T. Bonet Guide Pract. Physician i. 9 If the Faculty of the Guts be slow..and dull, they must be involuntarily excited to motion.
1726 Bp. J. Butler 15 Serm. iv. 62 A Man may use the Faculty of Speech as an Instrument of False-witness.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word) To account for the Act of Digestion, they [sc. the antient philosophers] suppos'd a Digestive Faculty in the Stomach.
1875 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) III. 362 Sight and hearing, for example, I should call faculties.
4. One of the several ‘powers’ of the mind, variously enumerated by psychologists: e.g. the will, the reason, memory, etc.By phrenologists applied to the congenital aptitudes supposed to be indicated by the cranial ‘organs’ or ‘bumps’: e.g. ‘language’, ‘imitation’, ‘constructiveness’. This use has greatly influenced popular language.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > [noun] > power or faculty
wita1000
ability1587
faculty1588
organ1656
1588 A. Fraunce Lawiers Logike i. i. f. 2 That ingraven gift and facultie of wit and reason.
1614 Bp. J. Hall Recoll. Treat. iii. 66 When we are born, who knowes whether..we shall haue the faculties of reason and vnderstanding?
1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding ii. xix. 117 The Understanding and Will, are two Faculties of the Mind.
1726 Bp. J. Butler 15 Serm. ii. 41 You cannot form a Notion of this Faculty, Conscience, without [etc.].
1785 T. Reid Ess. Intellect. Powers 369 The faculties of consciousness, of memory, of external sense, and of reason, are all equally the gifts of nature.
1830 J. Mackintosh Diss. Progress Ethical Philos. 117 The moral faculty..is intelligibly and properly spoken of as One.
1839 Ld. Brougham Hist. Sketches Statesmen George III, Loughborough (ed. 2) 44 Changes..effected while the monarch's faculties were asleep.
1859 J. S. Mill On Liberty iii. 106 No need of any other faculty than the ape-like one of imitation.
1885 F. Temple Relations Relig. & Sci. ii. 46 Our personality..is centred in one faculty which we call the will.
5. Pecuniary ability, means, resources; possessions, property. singular and plural. Also attributive, as in faculty tax.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > possessions > [noun]
goodeOE
auchtOE
havingc1350
facultya1382
substancea1382
propertya1393
haviourc1400
suffisantee1436
aversc1440
propriety1442
livinga1450
goodess1523
gear1535
prog1727
the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > use (made of things) > instrumentality > [noun] > (a) means > resources
facultya1382
myance?a1513
moyen1547
facility1555
means1560
resource1611
foisona1616
wherewith1674
asset1677
stock-in-tradea1806
wherewithal1809
possibles1823
bag of tricks1841
potential1941
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Tobit i. 25 Tobie is turned aȝeen to his hous, and al his faculte restorid to hym.
1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) Gen. xxxi. 14 Han we eny thing of residewe in faculteis and erytage of the hows of oure fader?
1490 Arte & Crafte to knowe well to Dye (Caxton) 11 Wylt thou the thynges that thou hast taken be by the restored after the value of thy faculte.
?1615 G. Chapman tr. Homer Odysses (new ed.) i. 620 The faculties This house is seised of.
1649 tr. Alcoran 47 Restore to them [Orphans] their faculties, and devour them not unjustly before they be of age.
1781 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall II. 28 If so heavy an expence surpassed the faculties or the inclination of the magistrates..the sum was supplied from the Imperial treasury.
1789 A. Young Jrnl. 10 June in Trav. France (1792) i. 104 The prices..are beyond their faculties, and occasion great misery.
1797 E. Burke Lett. Peace Regic. France iii, in Wks. (1815) VIII. 356 We raise no faculty tax. We preserve [? read presume] the faculty from the expence.
1889 Cent. Dict. Faculty... 6. In the law of divorce (commonly in the plural), the pecuniary ability of the husband, in view of both his property and his capacity to earn money, with reference to which the amount of the wife's alimony is fixed.
1894 [see faculty theory n. at Compounds 2]. 1965 [see faculty theory n. at Compounds 2]. II. Kind of ability; branch of art or science.† 6. A branch or department of knowledge. Obsolete.In this sense the word is used to render the Medieval Latin facultas = Greek δύναμις used by Aristotle for an art or branch of learning.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > branch of knowledge > [noun]
craftOE
lorec1290
cunning1340
facultyc1384
sciencea1387
intelligencea1393
disciplinea1398
masterya1425
learning1570
skill1570
doctrine1594
ism1680
ology1811
ography1828
sophya1843
osophy1851
c1384 G. Chaucer Hous of Fame i. 248 To speke of love? hyt wol not be; I kannot of that faculte.
c1400 Test. Love (1560) ii. 282 b/2 All the remnaunt beene no genders but of grace, in facultie of Grammar.
a1513 R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) I. ccxiv. f. cxxxiiiiv Ye whiche I remytte to theym that haue experience in suche facultie.
1553 T. Wilson Arte Rhetorique (1580) 30 The greate learned clerkes in al faculties.
1598 F. Meres in C. M. Ingleby & L. T. Smith Shakespeare's Cent. Prayse (1879) 22 In this faculty the best among our Poets are Spencer..Daniel, etc.
a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Wilts. 156 Books written in all Faculties: Grammar. Poetry. History [etc.].
a1797 E. Burke Ess. Abridgm. Eng. Hist. (rev. ed.) in Wks. (1812) V. 519 He brought with him a number of valuable books in many faculties.
7. spec. One of the departments of learning at a University. Hence Dean of a Faculty.When four faculties are mentioned, those intended are Theology, Canon and Civil Law, Medicine, Arts, of which the first three were called the Superior Faculties. Logic, Rhetoric, Astrology, Surgery, Grammar, and (in the English Universities) Music are occasionally spoken of as Faculties, and degrees could be taken in them; but the Masters teaching these branches did not form distinct bodies as those mentioned in sense 9.
ΘΚΠ
society > education > place of education > college or university > [noun] > university > department
facultya1387
c1184 Giraldus Cambrensis De Gestis ii. i. (Rolls) I. 48 Ubinam in jure studuerit..Præceptor autem ejusdem in ea facultate.
c1184 Giraldus Cambrensis De Gestis ii. xvi. (Rolls) I. 73 In crastino vero doctores [hospitio suscepit] diversarum facultatum omnes.]
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1876) VI. 259 Whan eny man is i-congyed þere to commence in eny faculte.
1482 Monk of Evesham 97 In connyng of dyuynyte as in other lyberals facultees.
1581 R. Mulcaster Positions xxxvii. 163 This man, whom I now prefer to this degree, in this facultie.
1641 J. Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 29 The..Professor..in Latin demanded..to what Faculty I addicted myself.
1649 Bp. J. Hall Humble Motion to Parl. 27 We have hardly Professours for the three principall faculties.
1835 H. Malden On Origin Univ. 5 This faculty [of arts] originally constituted the whole university [of Paris]; and the faculties of theology, law, and medicine, were not added till a later period.
1868 M. Pattison Suggestions Acad. Organisation iv. 114 In colleges, properly so called, the head will be the dean of his faculty.
1875 Edinb. Univ. Cal. 1875–6 37 The Chairs of the University are comprehended in the four Faculties. The affairs of each Faculty are presided over by a Dean.
1879 M. Arnold Irish Catholicism in Mixed Ess. 101 At Bonn there is a Protestant faculty of theology.
1892 Durham Univ. Cal. cxii Degrees in the Faculty of Music.
8. In a more extended sense: That in which any one is skilled; an art, trade, occupation, profession. Obsolete exc. archaic or Historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > [noun] > regular occupation, trade, or profession
workeOE
mysteryc1390
facultyc1405
business1477
industrya1500
roomc1500
trade1525
pursuit1529
function1533
calling1539
profession?1552
vocation1553
entertainment1568
station1574
qualitya1586
employment1598
way of lifea1616
state1625
cloth1656
avocation1660
setworka1661
employ1669
estate1685
walk of life?1746
walk1836
c1405 (c1387–95) G. Chaucer Canterbury Tales Prol. (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 244 For vn to swich a worthy man as he Acorded nat, as by his facultee, To haue with syke lazers acqueyntaunce.
1503 Act 19 Hen. VII c. 11 The facultie of Bowyers [is] almoste distroyed.
a1513 R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) I. xlvi. f. xvi A cunnynge musician. The which for his excellence in that facultie was called of the Brytons God of Gle men.
1529 in Vicary's Anat. Bodie of Man (1888) App. xiv. 253 No persone..shall take..any..Straunger, to occupye the facultie of Barbery or Surgery.
1576 A. Fleming tr. Isocrates in Panoplie Epist. 163 They lende listening eare, to..slaunderers..have them in high..favour, who professe that facultie.
1605 S. Rowlands Hell's broke Loose 14 By facultie at first, I was a Taylour.
1675 R. Allestree Art Contentm. vii. 127 We..rely upon men in their own faculty. We put our estates in the Lawyers hand, our bodies into the Physicians.
1693 W. Congreve Old Batchelour i. i. 2 Wit, be my Faculty; and Pleasure, my Occupation.
1703 R. Neve City & Countrey Purchaser 208 A..Soap~boyler, dwelling without Aldgate..and..another Gentleman of the same Faculty..in Southwark.
1841 H. J. Stephen New Comm. Laws Eng. I. 7 To gentlemen of the faculty of physic the study of the law is attended with some importance.
1844 A. Alison Hist. Europe from French Revol. (ed. 6) I. ii. 220 They..proposed to abolish all..crafts, faculties, apprenticeships, and restrictions of every kind.
1853 J. B. Marsden Hist. Early Puritans (ed. 2) 388 Doctors in the University and the three learned faculties.
9.
a. The whole body of Masters and Doctors, sometimes including also the students, in any one of the studies, Theology, Law, Medicine, Arts.The use of the Latin word in this sense originated at some period in the 13th cent.; quot. 1255 indicates a use intermediate between this and sense 7.
ΘΚΠ
society > education > teaching > teacher > university or college teacher > [noun] > staff > of branch of study
facultyc1425
1255 in Chartularium Univ. Paris (1889) I. 278 Nos..magistri artium..propter novum et inestimabile periculum, quod in facultate nostra imminebat.
1325 Title of Decree in H. Anstey Munimenta Academica Oxf. (1868) I. 117 Quod facultas artium plene deliberet de tractandis in congregatione generali.]
c1425 Wyntoun Cron. viii. iv. 241 Þai studyusly Ðe matere in þare faculteis Sowcht.
1673 J. Ray Observ. Journey Low-countries 17 The several Faculties are distinguished by their Habits.
1687 London Gaz. No. 2275/3. 24 Doctors of the several Faculties, the two Proctors, and 19 Masters of Arts.
1774 T. Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry I. Diss. ii. sig. b2v Louis the eleventh..borrowed the works of the Arabian physician Rhasis, from the faculty of medicine at Paris.
1832 J.-C.-L. S. de Sismondi Hist. Ital. Republics vii. 152 The faculty of the Sorbonne..was acknowledged to be the first theological school in Europe.
b. The whole teaching staff of a college, university, or school. Originally and chiefly U.S.
ΘΚΠ
society > education > teaching > teacher > schoolteacher or schoolmaster > [noun] > teaching staff
faculty1767
society > education > teaching > teacher > university or college teacher > [noun] > staff
faculty1767
1767 in J. Maclean Hist. College N. Jersey (1877) I. 292 Concurring with the Trustees of this College in the establishment and support of a Faculty.
1780 in Docs. Revolutionary Hist. New Jersey (1901–17) IV. 223 The trustees and Faculty are now exerting themselves with great diligence for the improvement of the seminary.
1829 Western Monthly Rev. 3 111 Exposition of the System of Instruction and Discipline pursued in the University of Vermont. By the Faculty.
1843 Yale Lit. Mag. 9 66 That was all I could ever get from him on the subject—‘that the Faculty were funny fellows, very—had sent him off for laughing’.
1893 W. K. Post Harvard Stories 79 There are many classes and individuals..as firmly established..as the Faculty.
1902 Mrs. G. M. Martin Emmy Lou 264 Once one would have said with ‘the teachers’, but in the High School one knew them as the Faculty.
1967 Boston Sunday Globe 23 Apr. 3/1 Catholic University officials worked behind the scenes Saturday to find quick settlement of a student-faculty strike that virtually closed the school Thursday.
1969 Listener 12 June 833/1 Students and some faculty are compelling the American universities to painful self-scrutiny.
10. transferred. The members of a particular profession regarded as one body:
a. of the medical profession (in popular language ‘The Faculty’).
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > worker > [noun] > one following specific occupation > those engaged in specific occupation collectively
faculty1511
vocation1567
function1574
state1625
trade1793
the world > health and disease > healing > healer > physician > [noun] > collectively
physicc1390
faculty1511
doctorhood1857
1511–12 Act 3 Hen. VIII c. 11 Calling to them such expert persons in the said Faculties [of Physicians and Surgeons].
a1535 T. More Dialoge of Comfort (1553) ii. xiiii. sig. H.viiv One of the most cunning men in that facultie.
1638 T. Whitaker Blood of Grape Pref. 2 The faculty deserveth the patronage of a Prince.
1699 S. Garth Dispensary iv. 44 A worthless Member of the Faculty.
1747 J. Wesley Primitive Physick p. xiv We must do something to oblige the Faculty.
1840 T. Hood Up Rhine 13 Fat bacon..was once in vogue amongst the faculty for weak digestions.
1883 J. Gilmour Among Mongols xv. 176 Their own faculty have no remedy for this disease.
b. Scottish. the Faculty (also the Dean and Faculty) of Advocatesthe collective body of members of the bar in Scotland.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > legal profession > [noun] > a society for lawyers > specific
the Faculty of Advocates1711
law society1821
1711 Act Faculty Edinb. 18 July in London Gaz. No. 4887/3 The Dean and Faculty of Advocates understanding, that several malicious Reports have been rais'd.
1796 J. Morse Amer. Universal Geogr. (new ed.) II. 168 The college or faculty of advocates..may be called the seminary of Scotch lawyers.
1848 J. J. S. Wharton Law Lexicon 245/1 Faculty of Advocates, the college or society of advocates in Scotland.
a1862 H. T. Buckle Hist. Civilisation Eng. (1869) III. iii. 145 A great part of the Faculty of Advocates was expelled from Edinburgh.
III. Conferred power, authority, privilege.
11.
a. Power, liberty, or right of doing something, conferred by law or permission of a superior. faculty to burden (Scots Law): see quot. 1809.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > delegated authority > [noun] > to act
powerc1300
faculty1534
1534 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxf. (1880) 128 They would clere take away from the Chaunceller all faculty to banish..eny townesmen.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Macbeth (1623) i. vii. 17 Duncane Hath borne his Faculties so meeke. View more context for this quotation
1681 in J. A. Picton City of Liverpool: Select. Munic. Rec. (1883) I. 271 Usinge the facultie of a freeman.
1752 T. Carte Gen. Hist. Eng. III. 345 Pole..laid aside the marks of his legatine authority and abstained from the exercise of his faculties.
1800 P. Colquhoun Treat. Commerce & Police R. Thames viii. 259 Care has been manifested in..divesting Power of the Faculty of Abuse.
1809 T. E. Tomlins Jacob's Law-dict. (at cited word) In the Scotch law..a faculty to burden is the power or right of charging an estate with a sum of money.
1824 J. Marshall Writings upon Federal Constit. (1839) 320 The charter of incorporation..gives it [a bank] every faculty which it possesses.
1865 M. Arnold Ess. Crit. ix. 287 Something anti-civil and anti-social, which the State had the faculty to judge and the duty to suppress.
b. A dispensation, license: esp. Ecclesiastical an authorization or license granted by an ecclesiastical superior to some one to perform some action or occupy some position which otherwise he could not legally do or hold. Court of Faculties: a court having power to grant faculties in certain cases. Master of Faculties: the chief officer of that court.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > duty or obligation > moral or legal constraint > immunity or exemption from liability > [noun]
freedomeOE
freeshiplOE
exemptionc1380
immunityc1384
unpunishmentc1450
impunity1532
faculty1533
licence1551
vacuitya1620
society > faith > church government > ecclesiastical discipline > court > [noun] > of faculties
Court of Faculties1533
society > faith > church government > ecclesiastical discipline > court > [noun] > of faculties > chief officer of
Master of Faculties1533
1533–4 Act 25 Hen. VIII c. 21 §3 The Archbishop of Canterburie..shall haue power and authoritie..to giue..dispensations, compositions, faculties, grants, rescripts [etc.].
a1601 W. Lambarde Archion (1635) 12 The Court of Faculties, for Dispensations.
1607 J. Cowell Interpreter sig. Dd4/2 An especiall officer..called..the Master of the faculties.
1662 Bk. Com. Prayer, Ord. Deacons Pref. None shall be admitted a Deacon, except he be Twenty three years of age, unless he have a Faculty.
1712 H. Prideaux Direct. Church-wardens (ed. 4) 75 The Bishop can grant Faculties for the building..of them.
1843 Act 6 & 7 Vict. c. 90 §8 The Master of the Faculties..is hereby..empowered to issue Commissions [etc.].
1857 J. A. Froude Monasteries in Short Stud. (1867) 282 An abbot able to purchase..a faculty to confer holy orders.
1869 Times 16 Mar. 12/4 This was an application..for a faculty or license to make some alterations in the interior of the church.
1872 R. Phillimore Blunt's Church Law iv. i. 263 Private rights to particular seats, conferred by a faculty, i.e. a license from the ordinary.
1885 T. Mozley Reminisc. Towns (ed. 2) II. lxxv. 70 The faculties..did not assign pews to persons..but to persons and families residing in certain houses.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
a. (In sense 11.)
faculty-court n.
ΚΠ
1863 H. Cox Inst. Eng. Govt. ii. xi. 568 The Faculty Court, belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury.
faculty-office n.
ΚΠ
1708 J. Kersey Dict. Anglo-Britannicum Faculty-Office, the Place where such Dispensations are taken out.
b. (In sense 7.)
faculty-place n.
ΚΠ
1682 H. Prideaux Lett. (1875) 123 I hope by this you are secured of a faculty place..and advise you to thinke of takeing your Drs degree in laws as soon as you can.
c. (In sense 10.)
faculty-composition n.
ΚΠ
1790 E. Burke Refl. Revol. in France 66 An wholly professional and faculty composition . View more context for this quotation
faculty-habits n.
ΚΠ
1790 E. Burke Refl. Revol. in France 65 Professional and faculty habits . View more context for this quotation
faculty-influence n.
ΚΠ
1791 J. Mackintosh Vindiciæ Gallicæ in Wks. (1846) III. 64 This ‘faculty influence’, as Mr. Burke chooses to phrase it, was not injuriously predominant.
d. (In sense 9b.)
faculty business n.
ΚΠ
1877 E. S. Phelps Story of Avis v. 51 Some pressing Faculty business took him..to Professor Dobell's house.
1905 W. James in McClure's Mag. May 6/1 In faculty-business he might not run well in harness, but..his influence on the students would be priceless.
faculty-full n.
ΚΠ
1905 W. James in McClure's Mag. May 6/2 In a university..a few undisciplinables..may be infinitely more precious than a faculty-full of orderly routinists.
faculty list n.
ΚΠ
1911 H. S. Harrison Queed xviii. 218 The president sat up late going over his faculty list.
faculty meeting n.
ΚΠ
1839 H. Caswall America xii. 200 [The professors] form a body denominated the Faculty, and conduct the government of the institution by regulations and laws established by themselves in ‘Faculty meetings’ from time to time.
1911 H. S. Harrison Queed xviii. 218 There was one man on the staff that West objected to from the first faculty meeting.
faculty member n.
ΚΠ
1903 W. James Mem. & Stud. (1911) xiv. 331 The College had always gloried in a list of faculty members who bore the doctor's title.
C2. † faculty-tax n. Obsolete a property or income tax.
faculty doctrine n. = faculty psychology n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > faculty psychology > [noun]
phrenology1815
faculty psychology1890
faculty doctrine1912
1912 W. McDougall Introd. Social Psychol. (ed. 5) 378 All these doctrines..are forms of the ‘faculty doctrine’ whose fallacies have so often been exposed.
faculty-pew n. a pew or seat in a parish church appropriated to particular persons by a faculty: cf. sense 11.
ΚΠ
1881 Dict. Eng. Churchm. 354 All..pews other than faculty pews in an ancient church are the common property of the parish.
faculty psychologist n.
ΚΠ
1886 Encycl. Brit. XX. 41/1 To free us from the mythology and verbiage of the ‘faculty-psychologists’.
1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl. at Psychology C. von Wolff (1679–1754) is regarded as the typical faculty-psychologist.
faculty psychology n. a term for those systems of psychology in which certain mental faculties were held to be the forces and powers accountable for the phenomena of mind.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > faculty psychology > [noun]
phrenology1815
faculty psychology1890
faculty doctrine1912
1890 W. James Princ. Psychol. I. ii. 27 Gall..took the faculty-psychology as his ultimatum on the mental side, and he made no farther psychological analysis.
1897 C. H. Judd tr. W. M. Wundt Outl. Psychol. 11 The faculty-psychology considered these class-concepts as psychical forces or faculties, and referred psychical processes to their alternating or united activity.
1951 J. C. Flügel Hundred Years Psychol. (ed. 2) ii. 34 Beneke equally avoids the dangers of the faculty psychology, inasmuch as the powers or ‘faculties’ with which he deals are not broad characteristics or abilities,..but quite specific forms of apprehension, feeling or behaviour.
faculty-seat n. = faculty-pew n.
ΚΠ
1872 R. Phillimore Blunt's Church Law iv. 1. 263 (margin) No jurisdiction in faculty seats.
ΚΠ
1767 Ann. Reg. 1766 45/2 Besides a faculty-tax upon all personal estates.
1797 E. Burke Lett. Peace Regic. France iii, in Wks. (1815) VIII. 356 Land and offices only excepted we raise no faculty tax.
1911 E. R. A. Seligman Income Tax 398 The only other state in which the faculty tax lasted during the nineteenth century is South Carolina.
faculty theory n. the theory of taxation according to which every person should help to bear public burdens according to his or her ability.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > impost, due, or tax > tax > taxation > [noun] > theory of taxation
faculty theory1894
1894 E. R. A. Seligman Progress. Taxation iii. 127 The faculty theory of taxation is very old. That a man should contribute to the public burdens in proportion to his ability or faculty is a principle which dates back to the middle ages.
1896 C. C. Plehn Introd. Public Finance ii. ii. 84 Each citizen should contribute as he is able. They claim that it is easier to measure ability than it is to measure benefit. This theory is called the faculty theory, the term ‘faculty’ having been found in this sense in early tax laws.
1965 J. L. Hanson Dict. Econ. 169/1 Faculty theory of taxation, an alternative term for the ‘Ability-to-pay’ theory of taxation.
faculty wife n. chiefly U.S. the wife of a faculty member (see sense 9b above), esp. one whose life revolves around faculty social functions, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > married person > married woman > [noun] > wife > wife of one in specific occupation > specific
doctoress1622
generaless1646
tradeswomana1652
bishopess1699
doctress1748
vicaress1770
parsoness1784
farm wife1831
farmeress1833
old Dutcha1889
rebbetzin1892
owneress1923
faculty wife1962
1962 A. Lurie Love & Friendship iv. 63 She had a great advantage over every other faculty wife at Convers.
1977 New Yorker 8 Aug. 68/3 (advt.) For students, retirees, faculty wives, husbands, and others, it could work out to be a pretty good deal.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1894; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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