honoraryn.1
/ˈɒn(ə)rəri/, U.S. /ˈɑnəˌrɛri/ Now rare.
= honorarium n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > giving > gift or present > [noun] > gift of appreciation or esteem
offeringc1330
tribute1585
oblation1595
honorarium1609
honorary1610
noshi1822
testimonial1838
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > reputation > honour > [noun] > conferring of honour > an) honour(s) or distinction
worshipOE
mensk?c1225
pre-eminence1433
honoura1500
pre-eminency1555
a feather in the cap, hat1581
garland1591
honorarium1609
honorary1610
blushing honours1623
signal1655
gayness1670
honourability1694
honourable mention1797
special mention1886
society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > payment for labour or service > fee for services rendered > [noun] > fee of professional person
fee1583
honorarium1609
honorary1776
1610 E. Bolton Elements of Armories sig. Dd4 Honorary, that which is made for honour, more than for use.
?1615 G. Chapman tr. Homer Odysses (new ed.) xiii. 15 An honorary given to age.
1650 J. Trapp Clavis to Bible (Num. iii. 9) 4 The Ministers of the Gospell, are called gifts, Eph. 4. 8, 11, honouraries, such as Christ bestowed upon his Church.
?1730 Looking-glass for Fanaticks 25 They brought many Donatives and Honoraries to the temples of their Gods.
1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations II. v. i. 342 In some universities the salary makes but..a small part of the emoluments of the teacher, of which the greater part arises from the honoraries or fees of his pupils. View more context for this quotation
1845 Ld. Campbell Lives Chancellors II. liv. 343 The usual amount of honoraries to counsel.
1910 T. J. Campbell Pioneer Priests N. Amer. II. 378 The laborious researches which were undertaken imply an honorary of one hundred francs.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
honoraryadj.n.2
/ˈɒn(ə)rəri/, U.S. /ˈɑnəˌrɛri/ A. adj.
1.
a. Denoting or bringing honour; conferred or made in honour of someone or something.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > reputation > good repute > [adjective] > bringing credit or honour (to)
honest1340
worshipful1340
honourable?a1400
graceful1595
honorary1606
dignifying1630
creditablea1639
creditable1655
1606 P. Holland tr. Suetonius Hist. Twelve Caesars 54 Which daies the Honorarie Games & playes tooke up.
1614 J. Selden Titles of Honor 22 Hee caused that Honorary title to bee scratcht out of the letters.
1698 J. Fryer New Acct. E.-India & Persia 287 The wonderful Works of the Creation should be brought as Honorary Presents.
1705 J. Addison Remarks Italy 142 Honorary Arches erected to Emperors.
1774 J. Bryant New Syst. (new ed.) I. 319 It was an honorary term...It signified a lord or prince.
1803 J. Pickersgill Three Brothers II. 191 This termination, as ignominious to one as it was honorary to the other, produced a buz of controversy.
1841 M. Elphinstone Hist. India II. xi. ii. 477 Without..receiving the honorary dress usual on such occasions.
1943 Billboard 10 July 69/4 An honorary plaque for the men and women..who are in uniform.
1998 F. E. Brenk Relighting Souls 386 The excavations revealed round altars with honorary inscriptions to either Theoi or Sebastoi.
b. Of a tomb, monument, etc.: erected in honour of a deceased person whose body is interred elsewhere.
ΚΠ
1658 Sir T. Browne Hydriotaphia: Urne-buriall iii. 41 Beside their reall Tombs, many have found honorary and empty Sepulchres.
1743 W. Guthrie tr. ‘Monsieur de Blainville’ Trav. II. xv. 115 The honorary Tomb of Hermolaus Barbarus,..says that he was born at Adria..and interr'd at Rome.
a1782 W. Cole in R. Willis & J. W. Clark Archit. Hist. Univ. Cambr. (1886) I. 86 There is but one Monument..wch is only an Honorary one or Cenotaph.
1833 Gentleman's Mag. 37/1 The larger [barrows] were raised to accompany them merely as honorary tombs or cenotaphs.
1850 P. Cunningham Handbk. London 538/1 Honorary monument to Shakspeare... The word honorary, as here used, is meant to imply that the person to whom the monument is erected is buried elsewhere.
1902 Trans. Asiatic Soc. Japan June 84 It is only an honorary monument, a cenotaph, and the place of interment is not definitely known.
2003 Let's Go Europe 2004 118 An honorary monument to Mozart, whose true resting place is an unmarked pauper's grave.
2. Of a title, office, position, etc.
a. Conferred or given as an honour, without the usual requirements, functions, privileges, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > reputation > honour > [adjective] > rendered for sake of honour
honorary1612
hon.1783
1612 M. Drayton Poly-olbion xvi. 160 Such as liued in them [sc. municipal cities] were free of Rome, but vsing their owne lawes, capable only of honorarie titles in the Roman state.
1654 J. Bramhall Just Vindic. Church of Eng. ix. 258 Some few honorary priviledges..which signifie not much.
1732 T. Lediard tr. J. Terrasson Life Sethos II. x. 409 The vivacity of this young prince..had already chang'd this honorary title into a real one.
1780 J. Johnson tr. J. A. H. de Guibert Observ. Mil. Establishment King of Prussia 29 As the King has never any of the great officers of the crown about his person, their posts are merely honorary.
1813 J. Thomson Lect. Inflammation 27 The precise period at which the different universities in Europe first began to confer honorary titles or degrees is not well ascertained.
1897 Westm. Gaz. 14 Dec. 6/2 The honorary colonelcy.
1939 Life 3 July 17 (caption) Crown Prince Olav of Norway chats with President Clarence Dykstra of Wisconsin, after receiving honorary doctorate.
1951 Mariner's Mirror 37 9 Being an officer of some distinction, he held the honorary rank at court of ‘protospathary’.
2005 N. Harris Monarchy (2009) 28 The British monarch is the head of the Commonwealth, but the position is purely honorary.
b. Unpaid, or offering only minimal remuneration; voluntary. Also: (of professional activities or services, etc.) rendered or provided free of charge; of or relating to such services. Cf. honorary contract n. at Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > payment for labour or service > [adjective] > paid for (of services) > not paid (of services or positions)
irremunerateda1648
unremunerated1751
honorary1758
unemolumented1817
unsalaried1898
1758 J. Massie Plan Establishm. Charity-houses 25 They should also chuse a Superindant of Manufacturies out of their own Number, in like Manner, and the Employment be declared honorary.
1758 J. Massie Plan Establishm. Charity-houses 44 The Office of Physician to the Charity-Houses should be declared honorary, but have an annual Allowance annexed to it for Coach-hire and travelling Charges.
1821 Champion 15 Dec. 1/2 The honourary Assistant Secretary..receives no wages or emolument from the Bridge Street Association for his honourary services.
1877 Academy 7 July 18/2 At the York Museum an excellent local collection is in course of formation and arrangement, thanks to the honorary labours of Mr. W. H. Hudleston and Mr. J. F. Walker.
1902 Times 13 Oct. 4/4 The audit is conducted by two elected auditors, who get only £5 or £6 a year each for their services, and a mayor's auditor, whose position is honorary.
1908 Observer 12 Jan. 3/4 The industry and the club alike are beholden, chiefly, to the untiring honorary activities of Mr. James C. Percy, J. P.
1939 Times of India 24 Apr. 4/1 Although much of the work will be honorary, funds will be required to meet the incidental and unavoidable expenses in connection with the campaign.
1989 G. Clark Prehist. at Cambr. & Beyond iv. 72 No one who reported on excavations expected to be paid for doing so. The Prehistoric Society..was, and for that matter still is, administered on an honorary basis.
2011 Austral. Financial Rev. (Nexis) 12 Aug. 57 Mum was always fund-raising and dad did a lot of honorary work as a lawyer.
3. Of a person.
a. Holding a title, office, or position conferred as an honour, without payment, or without the usual duties, obligations, privileges, etc.; titular.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > position or job > [adjective]
honorary1631
acting1694
superannuable1937
society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to conditions > [adjective] > in receipt of pay > not paid
unpaid1434
unwaged1538
unpaid1547
unfeed1608
honorary1631
irremunerateda1648
unsalaried1836
society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > payment for labour or service > [adjective] > paid by wages > not
unpaid1434
unwaged1538
unpaid1547
lean1581
unhired1617
wagelessa1618
honorary1631
irremunerateda1648
hireless1651
unsatisfied1654
unsalaried1836
non-paid1866
1631 P. Heylyn Hist. St. George ii. ii. 147 Besides the Consuls Ordinarie..: there was another sort of Consuls, call'd Consuls honourarie, appointed onely for a Moneth, and sometimes longer, as it pleas'd the Emperours.
1705 T. Hearne Remarks & Coll. 17 Nov. (1885) I. 81 Agt Honorary Freemen having Right to vote.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word) In the College of Physicians, London, are four Honourary Fellows.
1825 London Lit. Gaz. 11 June 381/1 Dr. Rees..recently was made an honourary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
1873 Daily News 22 Sept. 3/1 The Emperor intends to appoint the King honorary colonel of the 13th Infantry Regiment.
1937 Life 20 Dec. 46 Ed Wynn..is now an honorary citizen of nine cities.
2006 B. T. Hoffman Art & Cultural Heritage p. xx An honorary Fellow of his national professional association, he is also an honorary member of ICOM [= International Council of Museums].
b. Providing professional services (as a secretary, treasurer, etc.) without payment.
ΚΠ
1758 J. Massie Plan Establishm. Charity-houses 135 For the more regular and orderly conducting of their Business, those Inspectors-General should chuse out of their own Number, a President and an Honorary Secretary.
1839 Rules Kidlington Friendly Soc. 3 One Honorary Physician, or more, shall be nominated, if such can be found willing to give advice gratuitously.
1873 Presbyterian Monthly Rec. Dec. 397 No better man could have been found to act as honorary treasurer. He received no salary for his services.
1969 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 1 Feb. 320/1 Honorary consultants ought not to be worse off than comparable doctors in the N.H.S.
1975 R. G. Walton Women in Social Work iii. 27 In the Charity Organisation Society..there was an honorary secretary and honorary treasurer.
2002 K. S. Rana Bilateral Diplomacy (2007) 142 In other cases, the honorary consul may carry out limited consular work, including issue of visas, for which he may be reimbursed.
c. Accepted or regarded (sometimes spec. in a formal or legal sense) as a member of a specified ethnic group, gender, family, etc., despite not belonging to that group by birth or descent. Cf. adopted adj. 1b. See also honorary white n. and adj. at Compounds.
ΚΠ
1893 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Dec. 791/1 Six of them returned mere Englishmen no longer, but converted into what may be called honorary Scots.
1927 Lebanon (Pa.) Daily News 18 Aug. 6/6 President Coolidge is now a full-fledged honorary Sioux Indian.
1945 H. R. Cayton in Pittsburgh Courier 24 Mar. 7/2 It looks as though we're going to make the Filipinos ‘honorary whites’ in this country after making so much fun of Herr Hitler and his honorary Aryans!
1962 Observer 20 May 25/5 When the Palestine row was on, I was virtually barred from Gentile society and became a kind of honorary Jew.
1979 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 15 Feb. The enrolment of the Queen and three ladies-in-waiting as honorary men for the purposes of a banquet given by King Khaled of Saudi Arabia.
1991 M. Zavarzadeh Seeing Films Politically 207 As a result Maerose is now a nonperson in her family which has exiled her from Brooklyn..while Charley is an honorary son of the family.
2004 K. Atkinson Case Hist. (2005) x. 190 The other children's mothers treated him as an honorary woman and said he would make someone a wonderful wife.
4. Designating an obligation, agreement, etc., which one is obliged or expected to honour but which cannot be formally or legally enforced.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > duty or obligation > [adjective] > depending on honour
honorary1694
1694 Proposals for raising Million out of Forfeited Estates Ireland 15 What may have but the colour of Justice, or seem but an honorary Obligation upon his Majesty.
1742 T. Carte Full Answer to Let. from By-stander 106 The honorary Engagement they were under by a former Vote on this Subject.
1794 G. Morris in J. Sparks Life G. Morris (1832) II. 405 The United States will be under a kind of honorary obligation to discharge the debt.
1826 London Med. Repository & Rev. New Ser. 3 403 In a moral point of view, surely, there is no difference..between violating an honorary agreement, or one in which the parties are bound by stamp, seal, and signature.
1857 J. Arnould Law Marine Insurance (ed. 2) I. i. iv. 173 Merely an honorary engagement, of which the Courts will take no notice.
1904 A. Gleaves J. Lawrence 253 It was not through personal fear or a disregard to the honorary requirements of truth, that he had decided to hazard his character as an officer by a falsehood.
1922 Yale Law Jrnl. 31 458 Uses were not enforced by the courts; they were mere honorary obligations, resting upon gentlemen's agreements.
2003 J. Davis 55 Years in Alaskan Bush 65 We had this honorary agreement, and one day he called me up and asked if I wanted to buy his interest.
B. n.2
An honorary member of an institution, organization, etc. (see sense A. 3a).
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > an association, society, or organization > [noun] > member > other types of member
fellowc1405
entrant1560
redemptionary1583
honorary1675
confrere1753
constituent1755
corresponding member1772
new (also fresh) blood1782
life member1813
young blood1830
old guard1841
cardholder1869
hardcore1922
fully paid-up member1960
teleocrat1971
1675 A. Huyberts Corner-stone 18 When I look over the new List of Honoraries, what a shame is it, think I, that men of better learning and repute, should be content to be made mere properties, and no part of the Party!
1699 tr. Present State Europe June 222 It shall consist of Four sorts of Academicks: Honoraries, Pensioners, Associates, and Pupils.
1766 tr. J. L. d'Alembert Acct. Destr. Jesuits in France 32 Their names have served least as a decoration to the order, if they were good for nothing else: we may call them the honoraries of the society.
1823 London Lit. Gaz. 26 July 477/1 I have now introduced you to all our regular associates; and as to the comers and goers—the honoraries, as you may please to term them, I shall at present only mention..the son of our worthy host.
1880 Harvard Reg. May 100/2 The Club of those earlier days was little more than the protoplasm..of the present development, in which it is by no means certain the ‘honoraries’ do not find quite as much pleasure as the ‘actives’.
1902 N. Gould Life's Web xix. 180 Ludovisi..owned race-horses in Italy, and consequently he was introduced to many owners in London. He was made an Honorary of the Course Club.
1976 Princeton Alumni Weekly 4 July 35/2 Present were..Mimi and Burt Strauss, Warner Taylor and honoraries Sue and Mitch Posey.
2008 J. J. Boddewyn Internat. Business Scholarship 31 These honoraries were not to be subject to..dues and they were not to be eligible to vote or serve as Dean.
Compounds
honorary contract n. British a legal agreement entitling a person whose primary employer is not the National Health Service to work directly with NHS patients on an unpaid basis, esp. for the purposes of research or training.
ΚΠ
1949 Proposed Terms & Conditions of Service Hosp. Med. & Dental Staff (National Health Service) in Brit. Med. Jrnl. 19 Mar. (Suppl.) 151/2 The board may allow him an honorary contract as indicated in paragraph 5(c) above.
1965 H. J. B. Atkins Surgeon's Craft iv. 97 Even more academically oriented..are those persons such as professors, readers, and lecturers who are employed whole-time by the university and have honorary contracts with the teaching hospital.
2013 Y. Walsh in R. Bayne & G. Jinks Appl. Psychol. xii. 173 The large NHS trust that I work for employs over thirty counselling psychologists in paid positions; in addition we have..trainees working on honorary contracts with us.
honorary degree n. an academic degree awarded as a recognition of achievement or distinction, without the recipient having to complete the usual course of studies or examinations.
ΘΚΠ
society > education > educational administration > university administration > taking degree or graduation > [noun] > a degree > types of
first degree1530
honorary degreea1661
poll degree1834
poll1843
honours degree1851
summa cum laude1856
pass degree1865
terminal degree1904
Hons. degree1913
cum laude1927
summa1968
a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) 204 The University of Oxford bestowed on him the Honourary degree of Doctor in Physick.
1750 M. Jones Misc. in Prose & Verse 162 She may have confer'd upon her an Honorary Degree, and the Title of Mistress of Arts.
1833 Boston Courier 14 Oct. At the late commencement at Columbia College, New-York, the honorary degrees of D.D. were conferred upon [etc.].
1910 O. W. Holmes Let. 19 Dec. (1964) 58 I got an encouragement out of the blue..in the form of an honorary degree from Berlin.
2002 A. Varvogli A. Proulx's ‘Shipping News’: Reader's Guide i. 7 By 2000 she had gained not one but three honorary degrees, from the Universities of Maine, Toronto and Montreal.
honorary feud Feudal Law (historical and now rare) a heritable estate or right carrying a title of nobility.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social class > nobility > title > [noun] > passed on to eldest son
honorary feud1767
1767 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. (new ed.) II. xiv. 214 The emperors began to create honorary feuds or titles of nobility.
1841 W. Paley Lect. on Paley 44 Another reason for excluding younger sons was on account of honorary feuds.
1916 T. N. Carver Sel. Readings Rural Econ. 335 ‘Honorary feuds’ to which titles of nobility were attached.
honorary service n. British Feudal Law (chiefly in plural) personal service owed to the monarch under the tenure of grand serjeanty.In later use restricted to the performance of some ceremonial duty during the monarch's coronation.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > legal obligation > [noun] > service due to superior lord
honorary service1660
1660 Act. 12 Chas. II. in Coll. Statutes (1667) xxiv. 55 This Act..shall not take away..the honorary services of Grand Serjeanty.
1736 M. Bacon New Abridgm. Law V. 45 By the same Statute..it was provided, That no honorary Service, before due by this Tenure, should be taken away.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. ii. 62/2 Those honorary services which are still, at a coronation, rendered to the person of the sovereign by some lords of manors.
1970 Amer. Jrnl. Legal Hist. 14 326 A special court of claims..was needed to decide which claimants would perform the honorary services.
2006 J. Black George III 111 Discussing the distribution of honorary services at his coronation..George was told the lameness afflicting the bishop of Bath and Wells ensured he could not support the king on his left hand.
honorary white n. and adj. (also with capital initials) South African (now historical) (a) n. a person not registered as white under apartheid laws, but who is accorded the rights and privileges normally reserved for white people under such laws; (b) adj. designating or relating to such a person.
ΚΠ
1962 Pacific Stars & Stripes 6 Mar. 9/1 Why are a handful of resident or visiting Japanese considered ‘honorary whites’ in racially segregated South Africa?
1965 D. Marais Ag, Sis Man! (caption) Greetings. I am Honorary White man. Old South African tradition.
1973 Sunday Times (Johannesburg) 9 Dec. 5 They are impertinently classified as honorary White.
1992 Eastern Province Herald (Port Elizabeth) 11 Mar. 4 Chinese South Africans were not allowed to vote, even though they had been given honorary white status under a number of recently-scrapped apartheid laws.
2004 J. Gemmell Politics S. Afr. Cricket xi. 166 The West Indians, classified as ‘honorary whites’, witnessed the harsh reality of racial authority.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.11610
adj.n.21606