identificationn.
/ʌɪˌdɛntᵻfᵻˈkeɪʃn/, U.S. /aɪˌdɛn(t)əfəˈkeɪʃ(ə)n/ 1. The action or process of regarding or treating one thing as identical with another, or two or more things as identical with one another; the fact of being identical. Also formerly: †the action or process of making things identical. Also: an instance of any of these.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > identity > [noun] > identification
identification1644
1644 K. Digby Two Treat. ii. ii. 369 In them [sc. identical propositions]..euidence ariseth out of the plaine Identification of the extremes that are affirmed of one an other.
1656 T. Blount Glossographia Identification, the making two things to be the same.
1714 tr. Case of Impotency Debated I. 296 That [sc. sacrament] of marriage being destin'd to signify, by the capacity of the Unity of the Flesh and the Identification of two Persons,..the cœlestial Unity of Jesus Christ as Head and the Church as a Body.
1749 P. Skelton Deism Revealed II. vi. 107 Shep. He may then be able..to join the soul or spirit of man to himself. Dech. Not so as to make but one person of both; such an identification I take to be impossible.
1805 R. Watson Charge in Misc. Tracts (1815) I. 7 I am not ready to admit the Identification of the Romish Faith with Gospel Faith.
1835 London & Edinb. Philos. Mag. 7 47 When this table is reprinted, there will naturally be found many additions to the organic remains, some identifications of British with foreign species, and numerous corrections.
1856 A. P. Stanley Sinai & Palestine (1858) i. 39 If there are insuperable objections to the identification of Serbâl with Sinai.
1884 W. E. Gladstone Speech in Comm. 28 Feb. The identification of the franchise in boroughs and counties.
1928 C. Dawson Age of Gods xii. 262 There are grave objections to the identification tout court of the Nordic race with the Indo-European stock.
1964 K. P. Oakley Frameworks for dating Fossil Man iv. 176 ‘Rostro-carinate’, a term which is better avoided since it suggests identification with the flaked flints well known under that name from the Crags of East Anglia.
1967 J. P. Nettl Polit. Mobilization 36 This identification of political theory with political philosophy is usual, though attempts have been made to distinguish between them.
2004 J. McCourt Queer Street vii. 116 So the identification between San Francisco—a city reached by bridges—and the terrain of the female body is established.
2. The determination of identity; the action or process of determining what a thing is or who a person is; discovery and recognition. Also: an instance or result of this.
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the mind > attention and judgement > discovery > [noun] > determination of identity
recognition1748
identification1781
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > recognition > [noun] > for what it is
identification1781
1781 Trial George Gordon 40 His identification of the flagman at the burning of the fleet prison.
1805 Ann. Rev. & Hist. Lit. 1804 1 434/1 This identification of place is to us information, though we require more satisfactory evidence than here adduced to prove the proposition.
1805 Times 19 Sept. 3/2 Still there was no identification of their persons, either as actually committing the robbery, or as having the goods in their possession.
1859 J. Lang Wanderings in India 168 The identification of a child, who may be an heir to property, is not so light a matter as the purchase of a kitten.
1860 C. Dickens Uncommerc. Traveller in All Year Round 10 Mar. 462/2 I had taken, for purposes of identification, a photograph-likeness of a thief, in the portrait-room at our head police-office.
1881 A. Herschel in Nature No. 622. 507 The identification of their spectroscopic presence in certain meteor-streaks.
1887 Times 28 Sept. 3/6 The identification of habitual offenders in spite of their numerous disguises.
1891 N.Y. Times 24 Aug. 2/2 Except as pieces of apparel, bits of jewelry, or something apart from facial or bodily recognition may aid in future work at the wreck, the chances are strongly against further identifications.
1928 Forestry 2 63 Considerable experience is necessary in recognizing structural differences between woods and in the preparation of keys as an aid to identification.
1961 J. L. Cloudsley-Thompson & J. Sankey Land Invertebr. i. 17 It is to simplify problems of this kind and to help in the identification of the more common, yet little known invertebrate animals of Britain's woods and fields that this book has been written.
1985 E. H. Colbert Wandering Lands & Animals (new ed.) i. 25 In the field, without comparative collections and books at hand, identifications were in many ways of the ‘by guess and by gosh’ sort.
2005 G. Critser Generation Rx v. 248 It would allow for early identification of those subjects who would overrespond or underrespond to any given regimen.
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society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > representation in art > [noun] > an artistic representation > realistic
identification1802
the mind > language > speech > narration > description or act of describing > [noun] > complete, exact, or detailed
perambulation1509
explication1527
pantography1828
identification1842
daguerreotype1850
detailing1866
1802 Times 12 Mar. 2/4 Instead of paying forty of eighty guineas for a friend's portrait..for eighteen-pence you have it..done to the life and with a personality approaching to identification.
1812 Examiner 25 May 327/2 The several Portrait Pieces are strong identifications of nature.
1842 M. R. Mitford in A. G. L'Estrange Life M. R. Mitford (1870) III. ix. 158 The power of identification, which is the salt of all literature from Horace to Scott.
4.
a. The state of being or feeling oneself to be closely associated with a person, group, etc., in emotions, interests, or actions; the process of becoming associated in this way.
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the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > capacity for emotion > fellow feeling > [noun]
pityc1300
consentc1384
fellow-feeling1578
sympathy1662
homopathy1678
identification1840
sympneumatism1891
panpathy1900
feeling1909
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > social psychology > group psychology > [noun] > conforming to group
identification1840
1840 U.S. Mag. & Democratic Rev. Feb. 110 His anxious identification of himself with every new movement of the public sentiment, as soon as its direction became apparently decided.
1857 R. A. Willmott Pleasures of Lit. xi. 41 In Livy it will be the manner of telling a story, in Sallust, personal identification with the character.
1858 J. G. Holland Titcomb's Lett. vii. 229 The thorough identification of husband and wife in feeling, pride of character and family.
1880 L. Stephen Alexander Pope iii. 62 He..kept himself free from identification with either party.
1927 F. M. Thrasher Gang iii. xv. 288 Perhaps the simplest way of describing this wholeness is by saying that it is a ‘we’; it involves the sort of sympathy and mutual identification for which ‘we’ is the natural expression.
1980 M. Thelwell Harder they Come v. 147 They constituted an audience so rapt and attentive, so impressionable and apparently uncritical that their identification was almost total.
1981 J. Monaco How to read Film (rev. ed.) v. 387 Webb established the concept of strong identification with the hero.
2003 Bitch Summer 77/1 Her crush on Todd stems primarily from insecurity..not from any identification with groupiehood per se.
b. Psychology. The (frequently unconscious) adaptation of one's ideas and behaviour to accord or conform with those of a person or group seen as a model. Also: an instance of this.
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society > society and the community > social relations > association for a common purpose > [noun] > adaptation of one's ideas, etc., to fit group
identification1902
1902 H. B. Woolston in Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. 13 71 This sort of self-hypnosis may lead even to an identification of the individual with the ideal form that absorbs his mind.
1913 A. A. Brill tr. S. Freud Interpretation of Dreams iv. 126 Identification is a highly important factor in the mechanism of hysterical symptoms; by this means patients are enabled in their symptoms to represent not merely their own experiences, but the experiences of a great number of other persons.
1930 W. Healy et al. Struct. & Meaning Psychoanal. v. 240 Identification is the unconscious molding of a person's own Ego after the fashion of one that has been taken as a model.
1950 Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. 41 176 It was..clear from her stories and her behaviour at school that J. W. succeeded in making a ‘good identification’.
1968 Canad. Med. Assoc. Jrnl. 7 Dec. 1108/2 The mechanism of projective identification,..a keystone of the Kleinian System, has been defined and delineated in its various vicissitudes and revealed as a rich and variegated process.
1991 Paragraph July 185 The Mother..continues to tempt the daughter with the narcissistic identifications.
5. Documentary or symbolic means of proving one's identity or credentials; something such as a passport, driving licence, health card, disc, badge, or mark that can be used to establish identity.
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society > communication > indication > that which identifies or distinguishes > personal identification > [noun] > paper or disc
card1749
papers1796
legitimation1870
dog tag1882
identity papers1889
identity certificate1891
identification tag1893
identity card1900
identification1906
identity disc1907
identification disc1914
disca1918
meat ticket1919
warrant card1920
carte d'identité1923
ID1937
ID card1937
reference book1952
1906 G. Ade In Pastures New v. 65 We have our passports in case you require any identification.
1939 K. Merrild Poet & Two Painters 22 The war-chief said, ‘Now, if you stay longer, it will be all right, but you must have identification, so when you get in to Taos, you go to Gerson store and buy one foot each of light blue silk ribbon and you have that in buttonhole when you paint in pueblo. All Indians then know you are all right.’
1958 P. Kemp No Colours or Crest vi. 100 We got good identifications—all from the 1st Alpine Division.
1964 Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 10 June (1970) 164 What we should have done was to ask them all to wear some identification.
1990 J. Cantalupo & T. C. Renner Body Mike 300 I met a lawyer who said he had everything for sale—grenade launchers..bearer bonds, and phony identifications.
2005 N.Y. Times Mag. 20 Feb. 21/2 Driving to work, I found a wallet in the road containing identification and more than $300.
Compounds
C1. General attributive. [compare identity n. Compounds 2] .
identification badge n.
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1895 Trenton (New Jersey) Times 26 Mar. 3/1 Not to wear the ‘identification’ badge was to confess yourself opposed to the whole scheme.
1945 H. D. Smyth Gen. Acct. Devel. Atomic Energy Mil. Purposes viii. 90 The Health Division later introduced ‘film badges’, small pieces of film worn in the identification badge.
2003 Independent 22 Mar. i. 19/7 They were forced to wear colour-coded identification badges.
identification bracelet n.
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1917 Lincoln (Nebraska) Daily Star 14 Jan. (News & editorial section) 1/1 With it came the letter, the identification bracelet, the mask worn by her husband and her own picture which he carried with her address.
1934 Times 12 Nov. 13/2 The little identification bracelets which the infants have worn on their wrists have become too tight.
1999 ‘Sister Souljah’ Coldest Winter Ever vii. 98 He had a gold identification bracelet on his little wrist.
identification card n.
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1889 San Antonio (Texas) Daily Express 14 Aug. 5/2 (advt.) If anything should happen to you how would your identity be established? Step into Simon Veith's..and ask for an ‘Identification Card’.
1969 New Yorker 10 May 29/1 Residents will show identification cards to gain admittance.
2004 A. Etzioni How Patriotic is Patriot Act? v. 103 Driver's licenses and other state-issued identification cards are, by far, the most common means of identification used in the United States.
identification code n.
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1911 Nevada Biennial Rep. Superintendent State Printing 1909–10 25 (table) Cards, identification code.
1984 Daily Tel. 3 Dec. 3/3 Timefame International..claimed that its secret identification codes had been ‘hacked’ early last month.
2006 Sci. Amer. (U.K. ed.) Sept. 22/1 If a local name server receives a request for an expired DNS name, it in turn queries a hierarchy of other servers, keying its request to two 16-bit identification codes.
identification document n.
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1904 Washington Post 12 July 5/5 (heading) Venezuela exacts identification documents from Americans.
1975 Jrnl. Legal Stud. 4 193 A requirement that dealers verify local residence beyond inspecting identification documents would be a harder issue under the Act.
2009 Hamilton (Ont.) Spectator (Nexis) 16 Sept. a6 Casino patrons have their identification documents scanned upon entry.
identification lamp n.
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society > travel > air or space travel > a means of conveyance through the air > aeroplane > parts of aircraft > [noun] > lights
navigation light1909
landing light1917
identification lamp1932
1932 Gloss. Aeronaut. Terms (B.S.I.) (proofs) ix. 7 Identification lamp, a lamp mounted on an aircraft for purposes of recognition.
1976 K. Roberts Grain Kings 136 On her stubby mast, red and turquoise identification lamps sequenced steadily.
2007 New Straits Times (Malaysia) (Nexis) 2 Apr. (Local section) 10 Bosch also offers bulbs, direction indicator lamps, rear lamps, identification lamps, auxiliary lamps and floodlights.
identification light n.
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society > travel > rail travel > railway system or organization > [noun] > types of signal system > specific signal
red light1790
danger1841
danger-signal1848
line clear1869
highball signal1894
starter1895
red board1903
stop signal1923
identification light1931
1931 San Antonio (Texas) Express 9 Mar. 10/3 Identification lights will be placed at 47 stations along the railroad this year.
1946 R. A. McFarland Human Factors Air Transport Design xii. 608 Accidents may arise from misinterpretation of identification lights on other aircraft.
1999 R. B. Edgerton Death or Glory iii. 82 The ladies from Sevastopol admired the allied fleet at anchor, its ships sporting multicolored identification lights.
identification mark n.
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1878 Times 6 Feb. 12/1 He knew nothing of the identification marks.
1901 Westm. Gaz. 24 Apr. 3/2 He found fifteen other bodies, searched them for their identification marks.
1942 B. A. Shields Princ. Flight vii. 231 When an aircraft is licensed, it is assigned an identification mark.
2004 A. F. Robertson Life Like Dolls ii. 54 Identification marks are stamped on the back of the neck, the small of the back, the sole of the foot, and sometimes on each separate body part.
identification number n.
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1899 Decatur (Illinois) Daily Republican 23 Aug. 2/3 Every piece of jewelry they own is marked with an identification number.
1975 Jrnl. Asian Stud. 35 176 Each serial is listed in the appendix by the identification number under which it has been microfiched.
2000 D. Loffler Still Holden Together (2002) ii. xxiv. 210 Any vehicle which is claimed to be ‘completely original’ must have a full set of identification numbers.
identification papers n.
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1882 Fort Wayne (Indiana) Daily Gaz. 4 Feb. 4/3 All Chinese subjects who are entitled to come under treaty stipulations, such as merchants, teachers, students and travellers, must exhibit identification papers from their government.
1918 E. M. Roberts Flying Fighter 35 Some of the road pickets would want to see our identification papers as dispatch riders, and being unable to produce the goods we were often turned back.
1942 W. F. Kernan Def. will not win War vi. 91 After some wrangling with the court chamberlain over his identification papers.
2004 B. Manz Paradise in Ashes v. 163 The patrollers would stop strangers, asking them for identification papers and the all-important permission slip from the military.
identification patch n. now rare
ΚΠ
1918 E. S. Farrow Dict. Mil. Terms 305 Identification patch, tags placed upon the backs of the men's coats when advancing behind a barrage.
identification signal n.
ΚΠ
1918 E. S. Farrow Dict. Mil. Terms 305 Identification signals..which will identify the authority sending the communication..are assigned from division headquarters and each consists of one letter and one numeral.
1946 Happy Landings July 9/1 The identification signal could still be heard.
1995 D. J. Clausing Aviator's Guide to Navigation (ed. 3) ii. 28 The identification signal itself is a transmission of those three letters in Morse code.
C2.
identification beacon n. a beacon with a light or radio transmission that serves to identify the place or object where it is sited.
ΚΠ
1937 U.S. Patent 2,097,072 2/1 Turned towards the goal or destination there may be interposed advantageously an identification beacon consisting of a strongly beamed circular individual radiation disposed at right angles.
1951 Gloss. Aeronaut. Terms (B.S.I.) iii. 24 Identification beacon, a beacon displaying a coded light and identifying a geographical point.
2007 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 14 Feb. 22 He is advocating the mandatory use of devices like..automated identification beacons..on smaller commercial fishing vessels.
identification disc n. a disc carried or worn by a person (usually one in the armed forces), giving his or her name and other details as a means of identification.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > indication > that which identifies or distinguishes > personal identification > [noun] > paper or disc
card1749
papers1796
legitimation1870
dog tag1882
identity papers1889
identity certificate1891
identification tag1893
identity card1900
identification1906
identity disc1907
identification disc1914
disca1918
meat ticket1919
warrant card1920
carte d'identité1923
ID1937
ID card1937
reference book1952
1914 Times 18 Mar. 6/3 They keep all documents and lists of enrolments, issue metal identification discs and armlets, forward to Headquarters the names of those suggested for higher commands.
1930 T. B. Bruce Missing 13 I burnt all letters and papers..keeping only my identification disc.
1999 M. H. Dunkelman Gettysburg's Unknown Soldier ix. 129 Some of the Gettysburg dead were identified in a fortuitous manner by a letter, a photograph,..or an identification disc found on their bodies.
identification panel n. Military an expanse of some material used as a sign to indicate the position of ground troops to friendly aircraft.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military organization > signals > [noun] > signal to identify units or troops
recognition signal1863
recognition marking1889
recognition colour1891
identification panel1918
1918 E. S. Farrow Dict. Mil. Terms 305 Identification panels, in aëroplane balloon signalling, panels which are displayed at the sound signal of the aircraft or upon the initiative of the command post.
1957 P. Kemp Mine were of Trouble viii. 139 We had white identification panels spread on the crest in front of us, to indicate our forward positions.
2003 D. M. Fox Patton's Vanguard xviii. 386 Despite Leach's men displaying their identification panels on the rear decks of their tanks, as well as setting off red signal smoke, the planes from the XIX TAC made two bombing and strafing runs against the Shermans.
identification parade n. a parade of persons from among whom a suspect is to be identified.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > administration of justice > court proceedings or procedure > evidence > [noun] > identification parade
identification parade1908
show-up1913
identity parade1927
stand-up1935
1908 Times 1 June 3/6 When she touched the man at the identification parade she had said, ‘I believe this is the man’.
1965 W. Soyinka Road 54 Perhaps..if you promised not to look in his face..so that you could not recognise him at an identification parade.
2004 G. J. Kinraid in J. Horswell Pract. Crime Scene Investig. xx. 393 The voice lineup is a similar process to the traditional visual identification parade, except the identification is only by sound and not visually.
identification plate n. the registered number plate of a motor vehicle.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > powered vehicle > parts and equipment of motor vehicles > [noun] > number plate
number-plate1869
registration plate1883
identification plate1901
plate1919
licence plate1926
tag1935
index plate1973
1901 Motor-Car World 2 74/1 Identification-plate.
1906 Westm. Gaz. 26 Aug. 8/2 The Commission recommends that identification plates should ‘be rigidly fixed in an upright position’.
1950 Times 22 Apr. 5/3 It is announced in Prague that diplomatic cars in Czechoslovakia must now carry yellow identification plates.
2007 Sunday Age (Melbourne) (Nexis) 28 Oct. (News section) 8 Police seized 157 cars which had been stolen in NSW and fitted with identification plates from wrecked cars.
identification tag n. North American = identification disc n.; also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > indication > that which identifies or distinguishes > personal identification > [noun] > paper or disc
card1749
papers1796
legitimation1870
dog tag1882
identity papers1889
identity certificate1891
identification tag1893
identity card1900
identification1906
identity disc1907
identification disc1914
disca1918
meat ticket1919
warrant card1920
carte d'identité1923
ID1937
ID card1937
reference book1952
1893 Decatur (Illinois) Daily Republican 25 Mar. 1/3 Lieut.-Gov. Sherman of New York never travels without his identification tag, which might prove useful in case of accident.
1918 E. S. Farrow Dict. Mil. Terms 305 An identification tag by which he can be identified if killed or wounded.
1960 J. J. Rowlands Spindrift 146 A small boy with an identification tag tied to his lapel walked silently beside the stewardess.
1964 J. Gould & W. L. Kolb Dict. Social Sci. 244/2 Some students suggest that there is a great concern among those desirous of upward mobility to discard their ethnic identification tags.
2003 C. Hearn Sorties into Hell iii. 43 There were no identification tags, no rings, no watches, or weapons, not a solitary personal belonging or even an American penny.
identification technology n. technology (now esp. computer technology) used to determine or verify the identity of a person or thing.
ΚΠ
1940 Jrnl. Criminal Law & Criminol. 30 775 There are eight chapters devoted wholly or in part to identification technology.
1990 Res. Jrnl. Water Pollution Control Federation 62 625/2 Advances in water microbiology are the product of progress in detection and identification technology.
2009 Health & Beauty Close-up (Nexis) 31 Aug. Identification technologies and tools will become more prevalent to protect consumers and businesses.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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