maturityn.

Brit.

/məˈtʃʊərᵻti/,

/məˈtjʊərᵻti/,

/məˈtʃɔːrᵻti/,

/məˈtjɔːrᵻti/, U.S.

/məˈtʃərədi/,

/məˈtʃʊrədi/,

/məˈt(j)ʊrədi/

Forms: late Middle English maturyte, late Middle English–1500s maturitee, 1500s–1600s maturitie, 1500s– maturity; also Scottish pre-1700 maturite.

Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French maturité; Latin mātūritās.

Etymology: < Middle French, French maturité ripeness, maturity (probably mid 14th cent. in the source translated in quot. a1475 at sense 1b; 1477 of food (see sense 1a); 1546 in sense 4a; 1765 in medical sense (see sense 1e); 1861 in sense 6) and its etymon classical Latin mātūritās ripeness, maturity, full development, also (compare sense 3) proper or due time, speedy carrying out of a task, and in post-classical Latin (compare sense 2) deliberateness, gravity (from 14th cent. in British sources) < mātūrus mature adj. + -tās (see -ty suffix¹; compare -ity suffix). Several of the senses are attested earlier (or no later) than the equivalent senses of mature adj., which suggests that the Latin etymon has been the main semantic influence on the English word; senses 2 and 3 are not paralleled in French. Sense 5a appears to be a purely English development.T. Elyot's claim to ‘vsurpe a latine worde’ (see quot. 1531 at sense 3) can justifiably be taken to cover only use in this specific sense, as use in other senses is clearly much earlier in English.

I. The state of being mature.

1. In relation to physical development, and its associated characteristics.

a. Of fruit, wine, cheese, etc.: ripeness; possession of a full flavour.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > by age or cycles > [noun] > state of being or becoming ripe or mature

ripingeOE

ripenessOE

ripeOE

maturity?1440

ripening1561

maturation1621

superbience1672

coction1693

overripeness1806

blood-ripeness1826

tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) x. 124 (MED) Vppon the grayn in grapis ek take kepe; Yf they be broune..That is token of maturitee.

1639 T. Fuller Hist. Holy Warre iii. xi. 126 This short prosperity, like an Autumne-spring came too late..to bring any fruit to maturitie.

1676 J. Worlidge Vinetum Britannicum 14 The Bloud of the Grape obtains not that degree of Maturity in the Fruit, as [etc.].

1707 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husbandry 551 Large Shoots that impede the Fruit from its due maturity.

1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. i. xi. 26 The Calyx..Persisting, till the Fruit is come to Maturity.

1843 Penny Cycl. XXVII. 464/1 When wines have been kept in the wood for the period..proper for attaining maturity.

1882 H. Watts Dict. Chem. II. 2 Conine exists in combination with acids in all parts of the hemlock-plant, but most abundantly in the fruit a little before maturity.

1934 C. C. Steele Introd. Plant Biochem. xxv. 295 After maturity in fruit comes the stage termed ‘senescence’.

1986 J. A. Samson Trop. Fruits (ed. 2) ix. 243 The fruit is warty, medium-sized, roundish and dark-purple at full maturity.

b. Of a person or human faculty: the state of being physically and mentally mature; fullness or perfection of growth or development. Also: the state of being of age (cf. majority n.¹ 2).

ΘΚΠ

the world > people > person > adult > [noun] > adulthood or maturity

full eldOE

agec1275

douthc1275

full agec1390

maturitya1475

years?1532

just age1541

just years1541

consistencea1613

grown years1645

legal age1658

adultness1663

adultagea1670

muttonhood1841

adulthood1850

the world > people > person > adult > [noun] > state of being

majority1565

maturity1569

grown-up-ness1862

a1475 (?a1430) J. Lydgate tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Life Man (Vitell.) 23918 She was of gret sobrenesse..and of gret maturyte.

1483 W. Caxton tr. J. de Voragine Golden Legende f. 339/2 A longe vysage or chyere and enclyned, whiche is a signe of maturyte or rype sadnes.

1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 664 To abide and tarie the maturitie and decent full age of this noble princes.

?a1600 (a1500) Sc. Troy Bk. (Cambr.) l. 394 in C. Horstmann Barbour's Legendensammlung (1882) II. 224 [Medea was] of age maryit to be. Bot, þoth scho to maturyte Of bede was cummyne [etc.].

1603 S. Daniel Panegyrike lxiv Thy full maturitie Of yeares and wisdome.

1651 W. G. tr. J. Cowell Inst. Lawes Eng. 29 This age [sc. one and twenty] with us is perfect and full maturity.

1748 S. Richardson Clarissa III. xxiv. 142 I encouraged and collected every thing of this sort that I had ever had from novicehood to maturity.

1796 E. Burke Two Lett. Peace Regicide Directory France i. 78 When I was very young, a general fashion told me I was to admire some of the writings against that Minister; a little more maturity taught me as much to despise them.

1845 S. Austin tr. L. von Ranke Hist. Reformation in Germany i. 115 Till she reached years of maturity, she was confided to French guardianship.

1858 O. W. Holmes Autocrat of Breakfast-table xi. 312 Lines which embody the subdued and limited desires of my maturity.

1876 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest I. vi. 531 In the full maturity of life.

1926 New Republic 12 May 358 If husbandom and fatherhood are still being practiced when he comes to maturity.

1988 H. C. R. Landon Mozart's Last Year ii. 22 In the years of Schubert's and Beethoven's maturity, around 1820, the situation for composers became much worse.

c. Of an animal, plant, etc.: the state of being full grown or having reached the adult stage.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > biology > biological processes > development, growth, or degeneration > [noun] > growth > maturity or maturation

maturity1584

maturation1621

matureness1661

maturescence1803

MPF1975

1584 W. Averell Dyall for Dainty Darlings sig. Cii The Uipers broode, most full of ingratitude, who not tarying theyr timelie maturitie, eate out theyr Mothers sides most cruellie.

1609 W. Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida i. iii. 311 The seeded pride, That hath to this maturity blowne vp In ranke Achilles, must..now be cropt.

1669 W. Simpson Hydrologia Chymica 190 The several Stadiums of this Salt gives the various apparencies of the growth, maturity, and old age of Plants.

1753 W. Hogarth Anal. Beauty vi. 29 A single spreading oak, grown to maturity.

1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth V. 328 She lays four or five eggs; of which but a part..come to maturity.

1833 G. R. Porter Trop. Agric. 158 All the [tobacco] plants throughout the same field do not arrive together at their full maturity.

1879 G. C. Harlan Eyesight ii. 25 Each one [sc. eyelash] reaches maturity in about five months, and then drops out.

1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 408/1 In the fattening of animals for the butcher the principle of early maturity has received full recognition.

1947 G. H. Collingwood & W. D. Brush Knowing your Trees (ed. 12) 152/1 Attaining maturity at 250 to 300 years, mockernut hickory sometimes reaches a height of ninety or a hundred feet.

1978 P. Matthiessen Snow Leopard iii. 201 Perhaps one juvenile in three attains maturity, and this may suffice to sustain the herds.

d. Of an embryo, fetus, or newborn baby: the state of having reached or been born at full term. Also figurative.

ΚΠ

a1658 J. Cleveland Char. Diurnall-maker (1677) 104 He is the Embryo of a History slink'd before Maturity.

1692 R. Bentley Confut. Atheism from Struct. & Origin Humane Bodies: Pt. II 8 The inclosed Fœtus; which at the time of maturity broke through those Membranes.

1696 in H. Paton Rothesay Parish Rec. (1931) 121 To see if the child was come to full maturitie when it was born.

1981 S. Kitzinger Experience of Childbirth (ed. 4) ii. 43 A baby's maturity—that is, whether or not it is born at full term—can be more important than its weight.

1991 Lancet 2 Mar. 553/1 Management in the special-care baby unit..consists of keeping the baby warm, in incubator or cot depending on size and state of maturity.

†e. Medicine. Of a boil or abscess: the state of having come to a head or being filled with pus. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > suppuration > [noun] > a suppuration > abscess > stage of

rottennessa1400

maturity1676

pointing1766

1676 R. Wiseman Severall Chirurg. Treat. i. xvii. 79 Three or four days after they [sc. pustules] came to maturity, and brake.

1723 R. Blackmore Treat. Small-pox i. ii. 18 On the eighth Day..the small Swellings or Boils begin to acquire a State of Maturity, which appears by their whitening Heads.

1892 New Sydenham Soc. Lexicon Maturity, the state of an abcess in which the pus is fully formed.

†2. Deliberateness of action; mature consideration, due deliberation. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > manner of action > care, carefulness, or attention > caution > [noun] > prudence > due deliberation in action

deliberationc1405

maturity1448

deliberateness1602

deliberativeness1654

1448 in C. Innes Registrum Episcopatus Brechinensis (1856) I. 114 Our will is that..ȝe inquyr tharupoun with maturite and diligence.

1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) xi. 583 Bot nane of thame so hardely Ruschit emang thame as did he, Bot with fer mair maturite.

a1533 Ld. Berners tr. A. de Guevara Golden Bk. M. Aurelius (1546) sig. B.v^v A thyng that a sage personne with greatte maturitie and deliberation hath written.

1575 J. Rolland Treat. Court Venus iii. f. 49 Perfitlie pance with all maturitie, Sa that ȝour voce concord in vnitie.

1604 T. Wright Passions of Minde (new ed.) ii. x. 41 Yoong men and women..resolve rashly, and performe rarely, because that they concluded without maturity.

1611 M. Smith in Bible (King James) Transl. Pref. sig. ⁋14 Matters of such weight and consequence are to bee speeded with maturitie.

1706 tr. L. E. Du Pin New Eccl. Hist. 16th Cent. II. iii. xxi. 387 It shall be done, after Examination of the Case, with the utmost Maturity.

1738 tr. C. Rollin Anc. Hist. (ed. 2) I. Pref. p. xvi When profane history is studied with judgment and maturity, it must lead us to these reflexions.

†3. Due promptness. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > time > relative time > immediacy > [noun]

hastinessc1425

maturity1531

swiftness1535

suddennessa1599

abruptness1604

instancy1851

immediacy1856

immediateness1863

1531 T. Elyot Bk. named Gouernour i. xxii. sig. Liv^v Yet of these two [sc. celeritie and slownesse] springeth an excellent vertue, whervnto we lacke a name in englishe. Wherfore I am constrained to vsurpe a latine worde, callyng it Maturitie.

?c1550 tr. P. Vergil Eng. Hist. (1846) I. ii. 77 Agricola..hasted with maturitee [L. maturat] to resiste this eminent perrill.

?c1550 tr. P. Vergil Eng. Hist. (1846) I. iv. 172 Which thing this yonge impe executed with great maturitee [L. mature fecit].

1670 A. Marvell Let. 8 Nov. in Poems & Lett. (1971) II. 113 All things will be perfected doubtlesse with all possible maturity.

a. gen. The state of being complete, perfect, or ready; fullness of development.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > undertaking > preparation > [noun] > state of being prepared or ready > state of being ripe or mature

ripenessOE

ripeOE

melchheadc1350

perfectiona1398

perfecturea1552

maturity1568

matureness1661

age1795

development1803

coming of age1881

1568 H. Charteris Pref. Lyndesay's Wks. in J. A. H. Murray Minor Poems D. Lyndesay (1871) 6^* Bot quhen thair iniquiteis was cummin to maturitie, God raisit vp..Iohne Uicleif.

1625 K. Long tr. J. Barclay Argenis iii. xi. 187 He may be sent backe..vpon hope of being recalled, when things are come to better maturity.

1641 Naunton's Fragmenta Regalia sig. D The Secretary might have had an end of a further discovery & maturity of the Treason.

1719 F. Hare Church-authority Vindicated 26 Till things were come to that maturity that the dispensation of the Gospel did no longer want them.

1732 J. Swift Advantages repealing Sacramental Test 16 They must wait Maturity of Time.

1785 T. Reid Ess. Intellect. Powers i. vi. 241 One science may be brought to a great degree of maturity.

1848 H. H. Wilson Hist. Brit. India 1805–35 III. vi. 265 Measures which..were nearly brought to maturity.

1852 W. J. Conybeare & J. S. Howson Life & Epist. St. Paul I. 59 The revolution, of which Herod had sown the seeds, now came to maturity.

1905 L. Whibley Compan. Greek Stud. ii. §2. 70 Tragedy had not yet passed its prime when the old comedy shot up to maturity.

1938 H. Read Coll. Ess. Lit. Crit. i. i. 19 The classical and romantic periods are related to each other in a ‘life-cycle’ which is the recurring cycle of the growth, maturity, and decay of culture.

1998 N.Y. Times 23 Aug. 7/2 Our genetic technology and neuro-and psychotechnology are still in their infancy—yet in ways that make all too clear what they might look like in their full maturity.

†b. concrete. A mature character or condition. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > undertaking > preparation > [noun] > state of being prepared or ready > state of being ripe or mature > matured conditions

maturity1633

1633 T. Adams Comm. 2 Peter (i. 1) 23 Canaan..was already furnished to their hands: Nature had enriched it with commodities, and Industry beautified it with buildings and maturities.

II. Specific uses.

a. The state of being due for payment or repayment; the time at which a bill, insurance policy, etc., becomes due or matures.

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > financial dealings > types of money-dealing > [noun] > use of bills of exchange > state of being due for payment

maturity1818

1818 W. P. Taunton Rep. Court Common Pleas 6 311 The period that intervened between the refusal to accept and the bill arriving at maturity for payment.

1860 Commerc. Handbk. 15 The period of the date of maturity of bills at or after sight.

1861 G. J. Goschen Theory Foreign Exchanges 135 When their drafts come to maturity.

1891 M. D. Chalmers Digest of Law of Bills of Exchange (ed. 4) 149 By a French moratory law, passed in consequence of war, the maturity of bills payable in Paris is postponed three months.

1911 W. Thomson Dict. Banking 397/1 Brown has no intention of meeting the bill at maturity.

1967 Boston Sunday Globe 23 Apr. b41/6 A consideration for many families is the likelihood of resale of a house long before loan maturity or for prepayment of the loan.

1999 What Investm. Mar. 16/1 If there is a danger that you won't hold your investment until maturity, a unit-linked fund would make more sense.

b. A bill, insurance policy, etc., having a fixed maturity date.

ΚΠ

1901 Scotsman 30 Oct. 5/1 For six months' maturities the rate is still maintained at 3½ to 3⁵/ ₈.

1938 A. H. Hansen Full Recovery or Stagnation? viii. 173 The investment of the unemployment reserve funds in short-term maturities.

a1993 Computergram Internat. (BNC) The company said it paid as scheduled the remaining $12.5m senior note maturities due to Prudential and to another of its lenders.

c. The length of time after which a bill, bond, policy, etc., matures.

ΚΠ

1958 N.Y. Times 2 Mar. iv. 5/6 The fund is authorized to make some ‘soft loans’, that is with long maturity and partly repayable in local currency.

1961 Wall St. Jrnl. 24 Mar. 26 The System extended these operations to securities in the medium-term range, with maturities up to ten years.

1989 Managem. & Leveraged Buy-Out Mag. Summer 28/1 Increasing rate notes..have relatively short maturities and bear rates which increase quarterly at a rate of 50 basis.

6. Gambling. the maturity of (the) chances [after French la maturité des chances (1861 in the passage translated in quot. 1870)] : the modification of probabilities relating to future events which is erroneously supposed to come about as a result of past independent events of chance (the premise being more commonly known as the Monte Carlo fallacy: see Monte Carlo n. 2b).

ΚΠ

1870 A. Steinmetz tr. J. E. Robert-Houdin in Gaming Table II. viii. 255 This is the most elementary of the theories on probabilities; it is termed the maturity of the chances.

1952 H. C. Levinson Sci. Chance vi. 59 If a player [at roulette] believes in ‘the maturity of the chances’, he is logically justified in expecting to win on a system that calls for increased bets after successive losses.

1986 Stud. Hist. Philos. Sci. 17 327 This phenomenon is aptly named the maturity of chances: when a particular possible outcome of some chance device has not been realized for a while, it will become more and more mature, until it falls like a ripe apple from its tree, into reality.

7. Physical Geography. The stage of greatest topographical diversity in the development of a landscape (cf. mature adj. 8).

ΚΠ

1885 W. M. Davis in Proc. 33rd Meeting Amer. Assoc. Advancem. Sci. 430 Maturity may be said to last through the period of greatest diversity of form, or maximum topographic differentiation.

1904 Jrnl. Geol. (Chicago) 12 569 (title) The profile of maturity in alpine glacial erosion.

1960 B. W. Sparks Geomorphol. ii. 16 Maturity..is a phase of decreasing relief, as..the initial surface of the land has been destroyed and the interfluves become progressively reduced in elevation.

1987 A. E. Scheidegger in F. Ahnert Geomorphol. Models 200/2 Typical characteristics were postulated for these stages..; in maturity, rounded peaks and broad valleys.

8. Economics. Of an economy or industry: the stage at which substantial growth and investment no longer occur (see mature adj. 10).

ΚΠ

1939 A. H. Hansen Evid. 16 May in Investig. Concentration Econ. Power: Hearings before Temporary National Econ. Comm. Congr. U.S. (76th Congr., 1st Sess.) (1940) ix. 3513 After such an industry reaches maturity and ceases to grow..the whole economy must experience a stagnation.

1965 McGraw-Hill Dict. Mod. Econ. 319 Specifically, three things happen when a nation moves towards maturity.

1991 Forestry 64 403 On suitable sites and with good management it can form productive and valuable crops, reaching financial maturity in about 70 years.

9. Ecology. The degree to which an ecosystem has developed, as measured by its biomass and degree of complexity. Cf. climax n. 5.

ΚΠ

1963 R. Margalef in Amer. Naturalist 97 358 For a quantitative measure of structure it seems convenient to select a name that suggests this historical character, for instance, maturity.

1963 R. Margalef in Amer. Naturalist 97 360 It seems safe to assume that maturity has a double measure: In its structural aspect, it can be measured in terms of diversity or of complexity over a certain number of levels. In the aspects relating to matter and energy, it can be measured as primary production per unit of total biomass.

1973 P. A. Colinvaux Introd. Ecol. xl. 562 This maturity represented by biomass is always accompanied by another apparent component of maturity, a complex vertical structure.

1989 Independent 6 Nov. 17/5 Butterflies, sensitive as they are to the maturity of the system, may..colonise the interior forests in greater numbers.

Compounds

C1. General attributive (in sense 5a).

maturity date n.

ΚΠ

1973 Daily Tel. 13 Jan. 25/8 A linked policy can be encashed..before maturity date and the saver gets a high proportion of his savings returned to him.

1989 What Investm. Jan. 85/2 (advt.) Unlike shares most Gilts have a maturity date when they will be repaid at their full face value.

C2.

maturity-onset adj. Medicine designating a disease, esp. a non-insulin-dependent form of diabetes mellitus, which typically develops in adult life as opposed to childhood; (of a person) affected with a disease of this kind.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > metabolic disorders > [adjective] > diabetes > types of

maturity-onset1959

insulin-dependent1961

non-insulin-dependent1970

juvenile-onset1975

type 11977

type 21977

1959 Amer. Jrnl. Med. Sci. 237 1 (title) Significance of effectiveness of insulin-Orinase treatment in maturity-onset diabetes.

1975 S. Afr. Med. Jrnl. 49 1955 Obesity is defined with reference to the probable cellular differences in adolescent and maturity-onset obesity.

1983 Experientia 39 909 A new rat strain has been developed, in which a spontaneous cataract occurs without exception at 3-4 months after birth and matures completely at 4-6 months of age, indicating that this rare strain possesses a maturity-onset cataract.

1997 Eye 11 547 The population described consists of entirely type 2, maturity onset diabetics.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	maturity
释义	maturityn. Brit. /məˈtʃʊərᵻti/, /məˈtjʊərᵻti/, /məˈtʃɔːrᵻti/, /məˈtjɔːrᵻti/, U.S. /məˈtʃərədi/, /məˈtʃʊrədi/, /məˈt(j)ʊrədi/ Forms: late Middle English maturyte, late Middle English–1500s maturitee, 1500s–1600s maturitie, 1500s– maturity; also Scottish pre-1700 maturite. Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French maturité; Latin mātūritās. Etymology: < Middle French, French maturité ripeness, maturity (probably mid 14th cent. in the source translated in quot. a1475 at sense 1b; 1477 of food (see sense 1a); 1546 in sense 4a; 1765 in medical sense (see sense 1e); 1861 in sense 6) and its etymon classical Latin mātūritās ripeness, maturity, full development, also (compare sense 3) proper or due time, speedy carrying out of a task, and in post-classical Latin (compare sense 2) deliberateness, gravity (from 14th cent. in British sources) < mātūrus mature adj. + -tās (see -ty suffix¹; compare -ity suffix). Several of the senses are attested earlier (or no later) than the equivalent senses of mature adj., which suggests that the Latin etymon has been the main semantic influence on the English word; senses 2 and 3 are not paralleled in French. Sense 5a appears to be a purely English development.T. Elyot's claim to ‘vsurpe a latine worde’ (see quot. 1531 at sense 3) can justifiably be taken to cover only use in this specific sense, as use in other senses is clearly much earlier in English. I. The state of being mature. 1. In relation to physical development, and its associated characteristics. a. Of fruit, wine, cheese, etc.: ripeness; possession of a full flavour. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > by age or cycles > [noun] > state of being or becoming ripe or mature ripingeOE ripenessOE ripeOE maturity?1440 ripening1561 maturation1621 superbience1672 coction1693 overripeness1806 blood-ripeness1826 tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) x. 124 (MED) Vppon the grayn in grapis ek take kepe; Yf they be broune..That is token of maturitee. 1639 T. Fuller Hist. Holy Warre iii. xi. 126 This short prosperity, like an Autumne-spring came too late..to bring any fruit to maturitie. 1676 J. Worlidge Vinetum Britannicum 14 The Bloud of the Grape obtains not that degree of Maturity in the Fruit, as [etc.]. 1707 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husbandry 551 Large Shoots that impede the Fruit from its due maturity. 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. i. xi. 26 The Calyx..Persisting, till the Fruit is come to Maturity. 1843 Penny Cycl. XXVII. 464/1 When wines have been kept in the wood for the period..proper for attaining maturity. 1882 H. Watts Dict. Chem. II. 2 Conine exists in combination with acids in all parts of the hemlock-plant, but most abundantly in the fruit a little before maturity. 1934 C. C. Steele Introd. Plant Biochem. xxv. 295 After maturity in fruit comes the stage termed ‘senescence’. 1986 J. A. Samson Trop. Fruits (ed. 2) ix. 243 The fruit is warty, medium-sized, roundish and dark-purple at full maturity. b. Of a person or human faculty: the state of being physically and mentally mature; fullness or perfection of growth or development. Also: the state of being of age (cf. majority n.¹ 2). ΘΚΠ the world > people > person > adult > [noun] > adulthood or maturity full eldOE agec1275 douthc1275 full agec1390 maturitya1475 years?1532 just age1541 just years1541 consistencea1613 grown years1645 legal age1658 adultness1663 adultagea1670 muttonhood1841 adulthood1850 the world > people > person > adult > [noun] > state of being majority1565 maturity1569 grown-up-ness1862 a1475 (?a1430) J. Lydgate tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Life Man (Vitell.) 23918 She was of gret sobrenesse..and of gret maturyte. 1483 W. Caxton tr. J. de Voragine Golden Legende f. 339/2 A longe vysage or chyere and enclyned, whiche is a signe of maturyte or rype sadnes. 1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 664 To abide and tarie the maturitie and decent full age of this noble princes. ?a1600 (a1500) Sc. Troy Bk. (Cambr.) l. 394 in C. Horstmann Barbour's Legendensammlung (1882) II. 224 [Medea was] of age maryit to be. Bot, þoth scho to maturyte Of bede was cummyne [etc.]. 1603 S. Daniel Panegyrike lxiv Thy full maturitie Of yeares and wisdome. 1651 W. G. tr. J. Cowell Inst. Lawes Eng. 29 This age [sc. one and twenty] with us is perfect and full maturity. 1748 S. Richardson Clarissa III. xxiv. 142 I encouraged and collected every thing of this sort that I had ever had from novicehood to maturity. 1796 E. Burke Two Lett. Peace Regicide Directory France i. 78 When I was very young, a general fashion told me I was to admire some of the writings against that Minister; a little more maturity taught me as much to despise them. 1845 S. Austin tr. L. von Ranke Hist. Reformation in Germany i. 115 Till she reached years of maturity, she was confided to French guardianship. 1858 O. W. Holmes Autocrat of Breakfast-table xi. 312 Lines which embody the subdued and limited desires of my maturity. 1876 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest I. vi. 531 In the full maturity of life. 1926 New Republic 12 May 358 If husbandom and fatherhood are still being practiced when he comes to maturity. 1988 H. C. R. Landon Mozart's Last Year ii. 22 In the years of Schubert's and Beethoven's maturity, around 1820, the situation for composers became much worse. c. Of an animal, plant, etc.: the state of being full grown or having reached the adult stage. ΘΚΠ the world > life > biology > biological processes > development, growth, or degeneration > [noun] > growth > maturity or maturation maturity1584 maturation1621 matureness1661 maturescence1803 MPF1975 1584 W. Averell Dyall for Dainty Darlings sig. Cii The Uipers broode, most full of ingratitude, who not tarying theyr timelie maturitie, eate out theyr Mothers sides most cruellie. 1609 W. Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida i. iii. 311 The seeded pride, That hath to this maturity blowne vp In ranke Achilles, must..now be cropt. View more context for this quotation 1669 W. Simpson Hydrologia Chymica 190 The several Stadiums of this Salt gives the various apparencies of the growth, maturity, and old age of Plants. 1753 W. Hogarth Anal. Beauty vi. 29 A single spreading oak, grown to maturity. 1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth V. 328 She lays four or five eggs; of which but a part..come to maturity. 1833 G. R. Porter Trop. Agric. 158 All the [tobacco] plants throughout the same field do not arrive together at their full maturity. 1879 G. C. Harlan Eyesight ii. 25 Each one [sc. eyelash] reaches maturity in about five months, and then drops out. 1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 408/1 In the fattening of animals for the butcher the principle of early maturity has received full recognition. 1947 G. H. Collingwood & W. D. Brush Knowing your Trees (ed. 12) 152/1 Attaining maturity at 250 to 300 years, mockernut hickory sometimes reaches a height of ninety or a hundred feet. 1978 P. Matthiessen Snow Leopard iii. 201 Perhaps one juvenile in three attains maturity, and this may suffice to sustain the herds. d. Of an embryo, fetus, or newborn baby: the state of having reached or been born at full term. Also figurative. ΚΠ a1658 J. Cleveland Char. Diurnall-maker (1677) 104 He is the Embryo of a History slink'd before Maturity. 1692 R. Bentley Confut. Atheism from Struct. & Origin Humane Bodies: Pt. II 8 The inclosed Fœtus; which at the time of maturity broke through those Membranes. 1696 in H. Paton Rothesay Parish Rec. (1931) 121 To see if the child was come to full maturitie when it was born. 1981 S. Kitzinger Experience of Childbirth (ed. 4) ii. 43 A baby's maturity—that is, whether or not it is born at full term—can be more important than its weight. 1991 Lancet 2 Mar. 553/1 Management in the special-care baby unit..consists of keeping the baby warm, in incubator or cot depending on size and state of maturity. †e. Medicine. Of a boil or abscess: the state of having come to a head or being filled with pus. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > suppuration > [noun] > a suppuration > abscess > stage of rottennessa1400 maturity1676 pointing1766 1676 R. Wiseman Severall Chirurg. Treat. i. xvii. 79 Three or four days after they [sc. pustules] came to maturity, and brake. 1723 R. Blackmore Treat. Small-pox i. ii. 18 On the eighth Day..the small Swellings or Boils begin to acquire a State of Maturity, which appears by their whitening Heads. 1892 New Sydenham Soc. Lexicon Maturity, the state of an abcess in which the pus is fully formed. †2. Deliberateness of action; mature consideration, due deliberation. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > manner of action > care, carefulness, or attention > caution > [noun] > prudence > due deliberation in action deliberationc1405 maturity1448 deliberateness1602 deliberativeness1654 1448 in C. Innes Registrum Episcopatus Brechinensis (1856) I. 114 Our will is that..ȝe inquyr tharupoun with maturite and diligence. 1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) xi. 583 Bot nane of thame so hardely Ruschit emang thame as did he, Bot with fer mair maturite. a1533 Ld. Berners tr. A. de Guevara Golden Bk. M. Aurelius (1546) sig. B.v^v A thyng that a sage personne with greatte maturitie and deliberation hath written. 1575 J. Rolland Treat. Court Venus iii. f. 49 Perfitlie pance with all maturitie, Sa that ȝour voce concord in vnitie. 1604 T. Wright Passions of Minde (new ed.) ii. x. 41 Yoong men and women..resolve rashly, and performe rarely, because that they concluded without maturity. 1611 M. Smith in Bible (King James) Transl. Pref. sig. ⁋14 Matters of such weight and consequence are to bee speeded with maturitie. 1706 tr. L. E. Du Pin New Eccl. Hist. 16th Cent. II. iii. xxi. 387 It shall be done, after Examination of the Case, with the utmost Maturity. 1738 tr. C. Rollin Anc. Hist. (ed. 2) I. Pref. p. xvi When profane history is studied with judgment and maturity, it must lead us to these reflexions. †3. Due promptness. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > time > relative time > immediacy > [noun] hastinessc1425 maturity1531 swiftness1535 suddennessa1599 abruptness1604 instancy1851 immediacy1856 immediateness1863 1531 T. Elyot Bk. named Gouernour i. xxii. sig. Liv^v Yet of these two [sc. celeritie and slownesse] springeth an excellent vertue, whervnto we lacke a name in englishe. Wherfore I am constrained to vsurpe a latine worde, callyng it Maturitie. ?c1550 tr. P. Vergil Eng. Hist. (1846) I. ii. 77 Agricola..hasted with maturitee [L. maturat] to resiste this eminent perrill. ?c1550 tr. P. Vergil Eng. Hist. (1846) I. iv. 172 Which thing this yonge impe executed with great maturitee [L. mature fecit]. 1670 A. Marvell Let. 8 Nov. in Poems & Lett. (1971) II. 113 All things will be perfected doubtlesse with all possible maturity. 4. a. gen. The state of being complete, perfect, or ready; fullness of development. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > undertaking > preparation > [noun] > state of being prepared or ready > state of being ripe or mature ripenessOE ripeOE melchheadc1350 perfectiona1398 perfecturea1552 maturity1568 matureness1661 age1795 development1803 coming of age1881 1568 H. Charteris Pref. Lyndesay's Wks. in J. A. H. Murray Minor Poems D. Lyndesay (1871) 6^* Bot quhen thair iniquiteis was cummin to maturitie, God raisit vp..Iohne Uicleif. 1625 K. Long tr. J. Barclay Argenis iii. xi. 187 He may be sent backe..vpon hope of being recalled, when things are come to better maturity. 1641 Naunton's Fragmenta Regalia sig. D The Secretary might have had an end of a further discovery & maturity of the Treason. 1719 F. Hare Church-authority Vindicated 26 Till things were come to that maturity that the dispensation of the Gospel did no longer want them. 1732 J. Swift Advantages repealing Sacramental Test 16 They must wait Maturity of Time. 1785 T. Reid Ess. Intellect. Powers i. vi. 241 One science may be brought to a great degree of maturity. 1848 H. H. Wilson Hist. Brit. India 1805–35 III. vi. 265 Measures which..were nearly brought to maturity. 1852 W. J. Conybeare & J. S. Howson Life & Epist. St. Paul I. 59 The revolution, of which Herod had sown the seeds, now came to maturity. 1905 L. Whibley Compan. Greek Stud. ii. §2. 70 Tragedy had not yet passed its prime when the old comedy shot up to maturity. 1938 H. Read Coll. Ess. Lit. Crit. i. i. 19 The classical and romantic periods are related to each other in a ‘life-cycle’ which is the recurring cycle of the growth, maturity, and decay of culture. 1998 N.Y. Times 23 Aug. 7/2 Our genetic technology and neuro-and psychotechnology are still in their infancy—yet in ways that make all too clear what they might look like in their full maturity. †b. concrete. A mature character or condition. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > undertaking > preparation > [noun] > state of being prepared or ready > state of being ripe or mature > matured conditions maturity1633 1633 T. Adams Comm. 2 Peter (i. 1) 23 Canaan..was already furnished to their hands: Nature had enriched it with commodities, and Industry beautified it with buildings and maturities. II. Specific uses. 5. a. The state of being due for payment or repayment; the time at which a bill, insurance policy, etc., becomes due or matures. ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > financial dealings > types of money-dealing > [noun] > use of bills of exchange > state of being due for payment maturity1818 1818 W. P. Taunton Rep. Court Common Pleas 6 311 The period that intervened between the refusal to accept and the bill arriving at maturity for payment. 1860 Commerc. Handbk. 15 The period of the date of maturity of bills at or after sight. 1861 G. J. Goschen Theory Foreign Exchanges 135 When their drafts come to maturity. 1891 M. D. Chalmers Digest of Law of Bills of Exchange (ed. 4) 149 By a French moratory law, passed in consequence of war, the maturity of bills payable in Paris is postponed three months. 1911 W. Thomson Dict. Banking 397/1 Brown has no intention of meeting the bill at maturity. 1967 Boston Sunday Globe 23 Apr. b41/6 A consideration for many families is the likelihood of resale of a house long before loan maturity or for prepayment of the loan. 1999 What Investm. Mar. 16/1 If there is a danger that you won't hold your investment until maturity, a unit-linked fund would make more sense. b. A bill, insurance policy, etc., having a fixed maturity date. ΚΠ 1901 Scotsman 30 Oct. 5/1 For six months' maturities the rate is still maintained at 3½ to 3⁵/ ₈. 1938 A. H. Hansen Full Recovery or Stagnation? viii. 173 The investment of the unemployment reserve funds in short-term maturities. a1993 Computergram Internat. (BNC) The company said it paid as scheduled the remaining $12.5m senior note maturities due to Prudential and to another of its lenders. c. The length of time after which a bill, bond, policy, etc., matures. ΚΠ 1958 N.Y. Times 2 Mar. iv. 5/6 The fund is authorized to make some ‘soft loans’, that is with long maturity and partly repayable in local currency. 1961 Wall St. Jrnl. 24 Mar. 26 The System extended these operations to securities in the medium-term range, with maturities up to ten years. 1989 Managem. & Leveraged Buy-Out Mag. Summer 28/1 Increasing rate notes..have relatively short maturities and bear rates which increase quarterly at a rate of 50 basis. 6. Gambling. the maturity of (the) chances [after French la maturité des chances (1861 in the passage translated in quot. 1870)] : the modification of probabilities relating to future events which is erroneously supposed to come about as a result of past independent events of chance (the premise being more commonly known as the Monte Carlo fallacy: see Monte Carlo n. 2b). ΚΠ 1870 A. Steinmetz tr. J. E. Robert-Houdin in Gaming Table II. viii. 255 This is the most elementary of the theories on probabilities; it is termed the maturity of the chances. 1952 H. C. Levinson Sci. Chance vi. 59 If a player [at roulette] believes in ‘the maturity of the chances’, he is logically justified in expecting to win on a system that calls for increased bets after successive losses. 1986 Stud. Hist. Philos. Sci. 17 327 This phenomenon is aptly named the maturity of chances: when a particular possible outcome of some chance device has not been realized for a while, it will become more and more mature, until it falls like a ripe apple from its tree, into reality. 7. Physical Geography. The stage of greatest topographical diversity in the development of a landscape (cf. mature adj. 8). ΚΠ 1885 W. M. Davis in Proc. 33rd Meeting Amer. Assoc. Advancem. Sci. 430 Maturity may be said to last through the period of greatest diversity of form, or maximum topographic differentiation. 1904 Jrnl. Geol. (Chicago) 12 569 (title) The profile of maturity in alpine glacial erosion. 1960 B. W. Sparks Geomorphol. ii. 16 Maturity..is a phase of decreasing relief, as..the initial surface of the land has been destroyed and the interfluves become progressively reduced in elevation. 1987 A. E. Scheidegger in F. Ahnert Geomorphol. Models 200/2 Typical characteristics were postulated for these stages..; in maturity, rounded peaks and broad valleys. 8. Economics. Of an economy or industry: the stage at which substantial growth and investment no longer occur (see mature adj. 10). ΚΠ 1939 A. H. Hansen Evid. 16 May in Investig. Concentration Econ. Power: Hearings before Temporary National Econ. Comm. Congr. U.S. (76th Congr., 1st Sess.) (1940) ix. 3513 After such an industry reaches maturity and ceases to grow..the whole economy must experience a stagnation. 1965 McGraw-Hill Dict. Mod. Econ. 319 Specifically, three things happen when a nation moves towards maturity. 1991 Forestry 64 403 On suitable sites and with good management it can form productive and valuable crops, reaching financial maturity in about 70 years. 9. Ecology. The degree to which an ecosystem has developed, as measured by its biomass and degree of complexity. Cf. climax n. 5. ΚΠ 1963 R. Margalef in Amer. Naturalist 97 358 For a quantitative measure of structure it seems convenient to select a name that suggests this historical character, for instance, maturity. 1963 R. Margalef in Amer. Naturalist 97 360 It seems safe to assume that maturity has a double measure: In its structural aspect, it can be measured in terms of diversity or of complexity over a certain number of levels. In the aspects relating to matter and energy, it can be measured as primary production per unit of total biomass. 1973 P. A. Colinvaux Introd. Ecol. xl. 562 This maturity represented by biomass is always accompanied by another apparent component of maturity, a complex vertical structure. 1989 Independent 6 Nov. 17/5 Butterflies, sensitive as they are to the maturity of the system, may..colonise the interior forests in greater numbers. Compounds C1. General attributive (in sense 5a). maturity date n. ΚΠ 1973 Daily Tel. 13 Jan. 25/8 A linked policy can be encashed..before maturity date and the saver gets a high proportion of his savings returned to him. 1989 What Investm. Jan. 85/2 (advt.) Unlike shares most Gilts have a maturity date when they will be repaid at their full face value. C2. maturity-onset adj. Medicine designating a disease, esp. a non-insulin-dependent form of diabetes mellitus, which typically develops in adult life as opposed to childhood; (of a person) affected with a disease of this kind. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > metabolic disorders > [adjective] > diabetes > types of maturity-onset1959 insulin-dependent1961 non-insulin-dependent1970 juvenile-onset1975 type 11977 type 21977 1959 Amer. Jrnl. Med. Sci. 237 1 (title) Significance of effectiveness of insulin-Orinase treatment in maturity-onset diabetes. 1975 S. Afr. Med. Jrnl. 49 1955 Obesity is defined with reference to the probable cellular differences in adolescent and maturity-onset obesity. 1983 Experientia 39 909 A new rat strain has been developed, in which a spontaneous cataract occurs without exception at 3-4 months after birth and matures completely at 4-6 months of age, indicating that this rare strain possesses a maturity-onset cataract. 1997 Eye 11 547 The population described consists of entirely type 2, maturity onset diabetics. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.?1440
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