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单词 nature
释义

naturen.

Brit. /ˈneɪtʃə/, U.S. /ˈneɪtʃər/
Forms: Middle English natewre, Middle English natour, Middle English natwre, Middle English (1800s– English regional) nater, Middle English–1600s (1800s– English regional) natur, Middle English– nature, 1800s– natur' (English regional), 1800s– nayter (English regional); U.S. regional 1800s natur', 1800s– nater, 1800s– natur, 1900s– nachure, 1900s– natchur; Scottish pre-1700 nateur, pre-1700 nathur, pre-1700 nathwre, pre-1700 natour, pre-1700 natoure, pre-1700 nattur, pre-1700 natuir, pre-1700 1700s– nature, pre-1700 1800s– nater, pre-1700 1800s– natur, 1800s naitir, 1800s naitur', 1800s natyr, 1900s– naeter (Shetland), 1900s– natir; Irish English 1900s naatur; Irish English (northern) 1900s– nakure, 1900s– natyr.
Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French nature; Latin nātūra.
Etymology: < Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French, French nature active force that establishes and maintains the order of the universe, group of properties or characteristics that define objects (early 12th cent.), sort, species, race (early 12th cent.), attributes, innate disposition of a person (late 12th cent.), constitution, principle of life that animates and sustains the human body (early 13th cent.), genitals (early 13th cent.; also in Anglo-Norman in specific senses ‘menstrual discharge’, ‘semen’), and its etymon classical Latin nātūra birth, constitution, character, the genitals, the creative power governing the world, the physical world, the natural course of things, naturalness in art, in post-classical Latin also the divine and human nature of Christ (5th cent.), the need to defecate and urinate (1300 in a British source) < nāt- , past participial stem of nāscī to be born (see nascent adj.) + -ūra -ure suffix1. Compare Spanish natura (1207), Italian natura (a1250), Portuguese natura (13th cent.).In two natures n. at sense 9b after post-classical Latin duae naturae (5th cent.).
I. Senses relating to physical or bodily power, strength, or substance.
1.
†a. The vital or physical powers of a person; a person's physical strength or constitution. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > bodily constitution > [noun]
naturec1275
kindc1300
complexion1398
habitudec1400
disposition1477
constitution1553
corporature1555
habit1576
composition1578
temper1601
composure1628
schesis1684
stamina1701
habitus1886
c1275 Kentish Serm. in J. Hall Select. Early Middle Eng. (1920) I. 222 (MED) Þe nature of Man is of greater strengþe and of greater hete ine þo age.
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 176v (MED) Colde is more enmy to nature þan hote.
c1485 ( G. Hay Bk. Law of Armys (2005) 265 Medicinaris and philosophouris gevis the gold..jn medicyne to folk yat are debiliteȝ jn thair nature.
a1500 in A. Zettersten Middle Eng. Lapidary (1968) 26 (MED) Crysolite..is goode to be don on a man for febilnesse of nature.
1592 W. West Symbolæogr.: 1st Pt. §102 b Any such corrasiue, sharpe or eager medicine..as the said H. shal think his nature is vnable to suffer.
b. Chiefly British regional and Irish English (northern). The physical strength or constitution of a thing, esp. a natural substance.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > substantiality or concreteness > [noun] > substantiality or subsistence > substantial or solid qualities
substancec1425
consistence1626
consistency1709
nature1820
1820 T. Tredgold Elem. Princ. Carpentry x. 165 The timber..is found to be brittle and effete; or, to use the workman's expression, ‘its nature is gone’.
1855 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 8 June 523/2 The oily and toughening matters of the [flax] fibre, called ‘nature’ by the spinners.
1865 J. T. F. Turner Familiar Descr. Old Delabole Slate Quarries 17 Near the surface it [sc. slate] is softer, looser, and of a red tinge.., but deeper the ‘nature’ improves.
1898 R. Blakeborough Wit N. Riding Yorks. 420 Ther 'ez been that mich wet, whahl t' gess'll a'e lost all t'nater oot on it.
1925 J. Bone London Perambulator 33 The new Bush Building has the lemon tinge—still with the nature in it, as masons say.
1971 Arable Farmer Feb. 29/2 Mr. Carter doesn't mind one rain on the peas after they have been cut—‘This..takes some of the “nature” out of the straw,’ he commented.
c. British regional (rare). With no.
ΚΠ
1879 G. F. Jackson Shropshire Word-bk. (at cited word) [The meat] was ‘so overdone, there seemed to be no nature left in it’.
1886 R. Holland Gloss. Words County of Chester (at cited word) Land which has become impoverished has no nature in it.
1889 Reports Provinces (E.D.D.) ‘Her'd got no natur in her,’ speaking of a girl who was very weak.
2.
†a. Excrement. Chiefly in to do one's nature and the burden of nature. Cf. sense 4d. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > organs of excretion > excretions > faeces > [noun]
gorec725
mixeOE
quedeeOE
turdeOE
dungOE
worthinga1225
dirta1300
drega1300
naturea1325
fen1340
ordurec1390
fimea1475
merd1486
stercory1496
avoidc1503
siegec1530
fex1540
excrement1541
hinder-fallings1561
gong1562
foil1565
voiding1577
pilgrim-salvec1580
egestion1583
shita1585
sir-reverence1592
purgament1597
filinga1622
faecesa1625
exclusion1646
faecality1653
tantadlin1654
surreverence1655
draught1659
excrementitiousness1660
jakes1701
old golda1704
dejection1728
dejecture1731
shitea1733
feculence1733
doll1825
crap1846
excreta1857
excretes1883
hockey1886
dejecta1887
job1899
number two1902
mess1903
ming1923
do1930
tomtit1930
pony1931
No. 21937
dog shit1944
Shinola1944
big job1945
biggie1953
doo-doo1954
doings1957
gick1959
pooh1960
pooh-pooh1962
dooky1965
poopy1970
whoopsie1973
pucky1980
jobbie1981
a1325 St. Edward Elder (Corpus Cambr.) 101 in C. D'Evelyn & A. J. Mill S. Eng. Legendary (1956) 113 (MED) He defoulede inis hond..And dude is nature in þe vant.
?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1874) V. 295 (MED) He causede a grete multitude of Cristen peple to be putte in to a streyte prison, where eiche of þeyme scholde sende furthe uryne and the burdon of nature uppon the hedes of other.
b. Semen. Occasionally also: the sexual fluid of a woman. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > reproductive substances or cells > [noun] > sperm > semen
seedOE
naturec1390
semena1398
kindc1400
semence1480
mettle1612
egg-fry1674
ammunition1695
spunkc1890
jism1899
scum1967
c1390 G. Chaucer Parson's Tale 577 Vnkyndely synne by which man or womman shedeth hire nature in manere or in place ther as a child may nat be conceyued.
c1485 ( G. Hay Bk. Gouernaunce of Princis (1993) xxiv. 99 Quhat euer a man les of his blude, or of his nature or of his laxatiues.
1527 L. Andrewe tr. H. Brunschwig Vertuose Boke Distyllacyon sig. Ivj Yf a person weneth that his nature wyl fall betwene the flesshe and the skynne.
1575 G. Gascoigne Noble Arte Venerie lxvi. 186 Cut out hir gutte whiche holdeth hir spreame or nature.
?c1680 Sodom Prol., in Earl of Rochester Wks. (1999) 302 The trickling nature from each veine does sucke.
1768 Joys of Hymen I. 23 When, the ripe youth is conscious of delight, (Pleas'd with involuntary acts each night) The real joys of love, he then may taste, Lest the pure stores of nature run to waste.
a1970 in H. M. Hyatt Hoodoo (1970) II. 1394 Now this [counter-spell] is if she's got your nature. They..may take it and ketch it on a piece of cotton and bottle it up.
1970 B. Naughton Alfie Darling xlii. 270 The nature went on spurting and spurting.
c. Menstrual discharge. rare (in later use Irish English and in African-American usage).
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > organs of excretion > excretions > menses > [noun]
monthlyeOE
menstruuma1398
flowerc1400
menstrue?a1425
women's evilc1450
menstruosity1503
courses1563
monthly time1564
reds1568
month courses1574
purgation1577
women's courses1577
month1578
menses1597
menstruals1598
flourish1606
nature1607
fluors1621
mois1662
period1690
catamenia1764
turn1819
visitor1980
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 300 The true signe of conception is, when their nature (that is) the fluent humour, out of their secrets ceaseth for a month, or two, or three.
1920 J. Joyce Ulysses Nausicca in Little Rev. July 55 Frightened she was when her nature came on her first.
c1938 in H. M. Hyatt Hoodoo (1970) I. 534 If a man want to break his wife from some man, he steals this dishcloth..an' he ketches her nachure in this dishcloth.
†3. The female genitals, esp. those of a mare. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > sex organs > female sex organs > [noun]
cuntc1230
quivera1382
chosec1386
privy chosea1387
quoniamc1405
naturec1470
shell1497
box1541
water gate1541
mouth1568
quiver case1568
water gap1586
cunnya1593
medlar1597
mark1598
buggle-boo1600
malkin1602
lap1607
skin coat1611
quim1613
nest1614
watermilla1626
bum1655
merkin1656
twat1656
notch1659
commodity1660
modicum1660
crinkum-crankum1670
honeypot1673
honour1688
muff1699
pussy1699
puss1707
fud1771
jock1790
cock?1833
fanny?1835
vaginac1890
rug1893
money-maker1896
Berkeley1899
Berkeley Hunt1899
twitchet1899
mingea1903
snatch1904
beaver1927
coozie1934
Sir Berkeley1937
pocketbook1942
pranny1949
zatch1950
cooch1955
bearded clam1962
noonie1966
chuff1967
coozea1968
carpet1981
pum-pum1983
front bum1985
coochie1986
punani1987
front bottom1991
va-jay-jay2000
c1470 tr. R. D'Argenteuil's French Bible (Cleveland) (1977) 45 (MED) And so þe woman..ranne to þe tre and bote an apple, And anon..she toke shame and sorou seeng hirselue so nakid and saugh hir freelte and nature.
1481 W. Caxton tr. Myrrour of Worlde iii. xiii. 162 No persone myght haue none, but yf he wente and fette it at the nature of a woman.
1569 R. Androse tr. ‘Alessio’ 4th Bk. Secretes iii. 46 Take the nature of a female Hare made into pouder.
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 299 Therewithal touch the nature of the Mare in hir purgation.
1622 T. Scott Newes from Pernassus 33 If that great Lady had not made a vow of perpetuall chastity and her nature..had not been stytched up.
1743 W. Ellis Mod. Husbandman (Dublin ed.) May xiv. 137 Offer her [sc. the mare] the Horse, and..wash her Nature with cold Water.
II. Senses relating to mental or physical impulses and requirements.
4.
†a. The power or force which is fundamental to the physical and mental functioning of a human being. Obsolete.Sometimes referred to as if having an independent existence or character. In early use occasionally difficult to distinguish from sense 12.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > source or principle of life > vital principle > [noun]
souleOE
lifeOE
spiritusOE
bloodOE
ghostOE
life and soulOE
quickship?c1225
quicknessc1230
breatha1300
spirita1325
spark1382
naturec1385
sparkle1388
livelinessa1398
rational soula1398
spiracle1398
animal spirit?a1425
vital spiritc1450
soul of the world1525
candle1535
fire1576
three souls1587
vitality?1592
candlelight1596
substance1605
vivacity1611
animality1615
vividity1616
animals1628
life spring1649
archeus1651
vital1670
spirituosity1677
springs of life1681
microcosmetor1684
vital force1702
vital spark (also flame)1704
stamen1718
vis vitae1752
prana1785
Purusha1785
jiva1807
vital force1822
heartbeat1828
world-soul1828
world-spirit1828
life energy1838
life force1848
ghost soul1869
will to live1871
biogen1882
ki1893
mauri1897
élan vital1907
orgone1942
c1385 G. Chaucer Knight's Tale 2759 Ther nature wol nat werche, Farewel phisik! go ber the man to cherche.
?a1425 (c1400) Mandeville's Trav. (Titus C.xvi) (1919) 195 (MED) The most part of hem dyen withouten sykness, whan nature fayleth hem for elde.
c1485 ( G. Hay Bk. Knychthede (1993) i. 3 Nature jn him was sa faillid throu febilness—yat [etc.].
?1541 R. Copland Guy de Chauliac's Questyonary Cyrurgyens iv. sig. Mijv For [by blood-letting] nature dyspensed ouer all the body is lyghtned.
1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet i. iii. 11 For nature cressant does not grow alone In thewes and bulkes.
1686 R. Boyle Free Enq. Notion Nature 28 As when Physicians say, that Nature is strong, or weak, or spent.
1742 E. Young Complaint: Night the First 3 Tir'd nature's sweet Restorer, balmy Sleep!
1836 A. Combe Physiol. Digestion ii. ii. 227 Nature is more willing to do her part than we are to do ours.
b. The sexual urge; sexual desire. Now chiefly U.S. (in African-American usage).
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual desire > [noun]
willOE
loveOE
likinga1200
jollityc1330
desirec1340
fire1340
naturec1387
ragea1425
pride1486
lovered1487
Venus1513
courage1541
passion1648
lusting1760
philogenitiveness1815
body-urge1930
hots1940
hard-on1949
c1387–95 G. Chaucer Canterbury Tales Prol. 11 And smale foweles maken melodye..So priketh hem nature in hir corages.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) vi. 4211 A king shall modifie The fleisschly lustes of nature.
c1450 (c1386) G. Chaucer Legend Good Women Prol. 151 The smale foules..diden hire other observaunces That longeth onto love and to nature.
a1793 in R. Burns Merry Muses (c1880) 74 The pleasure... When nature's tufted treasure Pours sweets in spermy show'rs.
1824 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto XV lii. 31 But Nature's Nature, and has more caprices Than I have time, or will, to take to pieces.
1840 Spirit of Times 26 Dec. 512/2 My mother..had quite as much of nature in her composition as war good for her constitution.
1941 W. A. Percy Lanterns on Levee 305 He had placed a spell on her by means of a cunjer bag... Its effect was to rob her of connubial allure—in her words, ‘it stole her nature’.
1974 Daily Tel. 25 July 3 Every time I felt nature for her, she would rub something on her hands and face to take away my nature.
1990 A. Cavender Folk Med. Lex. S. Central Appalachia 27 Nature, sexual drive, libido.
c. The vital functions of the human body as requiring sustenance, esp. nourishment. Frequently in to support (also †suffice, †sustain) nature. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > digestive or excretive organs > [noun] > organs supplying nourishment > functions supported by
nature?a1425
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 159 (MED) Nature forsoþ alleged more liȝtly shal dygest and diffye þe residue.
a1475 J. Fortescue Governance of Eng. (Laud) (1885) 115 (MED) Thai..haue all thinges nescessarie to the sustenance of nature.
a1500 tr. A. Chartier Traité de l'Esperance (Rawl.) (1974) 98 (MED) O hough lityll thing susteynith nature..for scarsete [of food] is tresoure of helthe.
1590 R. Hakluyt tr. T. de Bry True Pictures People Virginia in T. Hariot Briefe Rep. Virginia (new ed.) xvi. sig. C They are verye sober in their eatinge, and trinkinge, and consequentlye verye longe liued because they doe not oppress nature.
a1658 E. Waller Panegyric to Ld. Protector xiii Our little world..Of her own growth hath all that nature craves.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost v. 452 When with meats & drinks they had suffic'd; Not burd'nd Nature . View more context for this quotation
1707 E. Ward Wooden World Dissected 56 The poor Souls, to support Nature, are oblig'd..to spend their Pay upon the very Wine that was assign'd them.
1743 J. Bulkeley & J. Cummins Voy. to South-seas 169 We have now nothing but a little water to support Nature.
1775 J. Adair Hist. Amer. Indians 396 He was obliged to support nature with such herbs, roots, and nuts, as his sharp eyes, with a running glance, directed him to snatch up in his course.
1807 Z. M. Pike Acct. Exped. Sources Mississippi (1810) II. 182 I returned hungry..and had only snow to supply the calls of nature.
1843 G. Borrow Bible in Spain III. iii. 47 The prison allowance will not support nature.
1881 A. Trollope Ayala's Angel I. xx. 244 You shall find him coming out of a lawyer's office, where he has sat for the last nine hours, having supported nature with two penny biscuits.
1984 W. N. Herbert in R. Crawford & W. N. Herbert Sterts & Stobies 30 Hungry-groond, ground credited to be so much enchanted that a person passing over it would faint if they did not use something to support nature.
d. euphemistic. The need of the human body to defecate and urinate. Frequently in call (also †need, †work) of nature and to ease nature. Cf. sense 2a.
ΚΠ
a1538 A. Abell Roit or Quheill of Tyme f. 13v, in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at Natur(e Thai fenȝit to pas furth to thare nedis of natur.
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 155 His Seruant..diuerted a little out of the way, to performe the worke of nature.
1685 G. Sinclair Satans Invisible World Discovered (1871) 247 Steping to the door to ease nature.
1701 W. Wotton Hist. Rome 328 He withdrew from the Company to ease Nature.
1747 Ld. Chesterfield Let. 11 Dec. (1932) (modernized text) III. 1067 That small portion of it [sc. time] which the calls of nature obliged him to pass in the necessary-house.
1761 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy IV. Slawkenbergius's Tale 55 A city..who neither eat, or drank,..or hearkned to the calls either of religion or nature for seven and twenty days.
1852 in Tailor & Cutter (1966) 14 Oct. 111/1 The calls of Nature are permitted and Clerical Staff may use the garden below the second gate.
1926 T. E. Lawrence Seven Pillars (subscribers' ed.) xlv. 237 Gasim explained that he had dismounted to ease nature.
1965 W. Soyinka Road 26 The women tell you to stop because they's feeling the call of nature. If you don't stop they pee in your lorry.
1986 Good Housek. (U.K. ed.) May 169/3 We were bumping so much we had to beg for a ‘nature stop’... Never so quickly and nervously did we relieve ourselves and rush..back to the safety of the van.
5.
a. The inherent dominating power or impulse in a person by which character or action is determined, directed, or controlled.Sometimes referred to as if having an independent existence or character, and in early use frequently with implication of moral principle.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > necessity > [noun] > natural necessity
naturec1390
necessityc1390
c1390 G. Chaucer Melibeus 2774 Nature defendeth and forbedeth by right that no man make hym self riche vn to the harm of another persone.
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) i. 1713 (MED) God forbede we schulde ȝif credence To swyche feynyng..Syth of nature muste be denyed Al swyche affermyng..Of euery cristen man stedefast in bileue.
a1475 Sidrak & Bokkus (Lansd.) (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Washington) (1965) 1733 (MED) Whi haue soules in hem no nature, As haþ bestes, for engendrure?
1483 W. Caxton tr. Caton B vj b Thou oughtest to slepe..whan..that nature requyreth hit and thy complexyon.
a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 102 To luve eik Natur gaif thame inclynnyng.
1614 S. Latham Falconry ii. i. 80 Faile not to vse those phisicall appliments, by which, that skilfull Faulconer (Dame Nature) hath taught her to worke her owne welfare.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost viii. 506 Nature her self..Wrought in her so, that seeing me, she turn'd. View more context for this quotation
1726 Bp. J. Butler 15 Serm. ii. 33 By Nature is often meant no more than some Principle in Man.
1864 J. R. Lowell Fireside Trav. 261 The driving-wheels of all powerful nature are in the back of the head.
1975 R. Howard tr. E. M. Cioran Short Hist. Decay i. 85 Man will be rid of his ancestors—and of nature—only when he has liquidated in himself every vestige of the Unconditioned.
1992 J. M. Kelly Short Hist. Western Legal Theory iv. 148 The canonists said that sin, not nature, was at its root.
b. Chiefly Christian Church. This impulse as contrasted with the perceived influence of God on man. Cf. Phrases 6a.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > evil nature or character > [noun] > immoral state natural to man
naturea1500
the (also a) state of nature1534
naturality1619
a1500 tr. Thomas à Kempis De Imitatione Christi (Trin. Dublin) (1893) 138 Nature sekiþ to haue curiose þinges & feire þinges,..but grace delitiþ in simple þinges.
1527 in State Papers Henry VIII (1830) I. 243 For the parilite of your mutual indumentes, both of grace and nature.
1597 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. lxxxi. 266 Simplie to will proceedeth from nature, but our welwilling is from grace.
1618 R. Harris Samuels Funerall 8 Now is the seeds-time, sowe apace, as yet you haue all aduantages from grace and nature.
1685 R. Baxter Paraphr. New Test. Matt. v. 46–8 So far as any thing of God is in them, whether it be Nature or Grace.
1741 I. Watts Improvem. Mind i. xvi. 225 There is little or nothing in the Government of the Kingdoms of Nature, and Grace, but what is..employed as a Medium or conscious Instrument of this extensive Gubernation.
1779 J. Duché Disc. II. i. 14 We must first feel the poverty of nature, before we can desire the riches of Grace.
1855 F. W. Faber Growth in Holiness (ed. 2) xii. 194 We find our actions to be..a drossy compound of nature and grace.
1926 R. H. Tawney Relig. & Rise Capitalism i. 20 The contrast between nature and grace, between human appetites and interests and religion, is not absolute, but relative.
1993 30 Days in Church & in World No. 1. 60/2 In opposition to the ‘dualist’, ‘extrinsicist’ position which conceived the relationship between grace and nature.
†c. A natural action or proceeding. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > customary or habitual mode of behaviour > [noun] > natural or characteristic
nature1817
1817 T. Chalmers Series Disc. Christian Revel. (1852) v. 126 It was nature in the shepherd to leave the ninety and nine of his flock..alone in the wilderness.
6. Natural feeling or affection, originally esp. that between parent and child. Now English regional (northern) and U.S. (in African-American usage) and rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > love > affection > [noun] > natural affection or feeling
kindheadc1300
naturessec1439
naturec1475
naturalness1556
storge1637
c1475 Brome Abraham & Isaac in N. Davis Non-Cycle Plays & Fragm. (1970) 56 Women..wepe so sorowfully Whan that hyr chyldryn dey them froo, As nater woll..and kynd.
a1500 tr. A. Chartier Traité de l'Esperance (Rawl.) (1974) 26 (MED) He submittid the piete of natur to the obeisaunce of the feithe whanne he wolde haue sacrificed his son for to obey..God.
a1594 Edmond Ironside (1991) iv. ii. 107 Ffye, fye, hid Natures fond indulgencye..Sweet Boyes... I will goe with you to the foaminge haven And take my farwell of my Darlinges there.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Macbeth (1623) i. v. 44 Stop vp th' accesse, and passage to Remorse, That no compunctious visitings of Nature Shake my fell purpose. View more context for this quotation
1712 A. Pope tr. Statius First Bk. Thebais in Misc. Poems 25 Have we not seen..The murd'ring Son..Thro' violated Nature force his way..?
1749 J. Cleland Mem. Woman of Pleasure I. 136 She had no nature, nor indeed any passion but that of money.
a1825 R. Forby Vocab. E. Anglia (1830) (at cited word) A simple old woman, as a reason for loving one of her daughters more than the others, said ‘she had more nature in her’.
1841 C. H. Hartshorne Salopia Antiqua 514 There's often more nature in people of that sort, than in..their betters.
1878 W. Dickinson Gloss. Dial. Cumberland (ed. 2) 65/2 He hesn't a bit o' nater for nowder dog nor man.
1930–1 R. Jeffers Coll. Poetry (1989) II. 227 There's no nature in you.
III. Senses relating to innate character.
7.
a. More fully human nature (see human adj. and n. Compounds 1b). The basic character or disposition of humankind; humanity, humanness. Also: this character or disposition thought of as fallible or flawed; (in later use) an action or pattern of behaviour that typifies or results from such a fallible character or disposition. First recorded in of (a certain) nature at Phrases 1.In the Middle Ages, and subsequently in some theological use, this aspect of nature and those defined at senses 7b and 7c were seen as given by God and arising out of his creation. Later interpretation treats them as either innate or shaped by experience, but with no reference to divine origin or purpose.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > [noun] > nature of man
mannisheOE
fleshc1000
mannessc1225
mankina1325
mankinda1325
naturec1390
flesh and bloodc1450
human nature1474
humankind?1504
humanities1613
homineity1660
c1390 [see Phrases 1].
?a1425 tr. Catherine of Siena Orcherd of Syon (Harl.) (1966) 45 (MED) I took ȝoure liknes whanne I took mannys nature.
1568 in J. Small Poems W. Dunbar (1893) II. 324 The hevynnis King is cled in our nature, Ws fro the deth with ransoun for to redress.
1640 Whole Bk. Psalmes: ‘Bay Psalm Bk.’ Pref. sig. *2 Such is..the enmity of our nature against the Lord, & his wayes, that our hearts can finde metter of discord in this harmony [of the Psalms].
1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 53. ⁋7 It was not in Nature to command ones Eyes from this Object.
1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey II. 147 Nature is shy, and hates to act before spectators.
1835 R. Browning Paracelsus iv. 128 One can ne'er keep down Our foolish nature's weakness.
1897 J. Conrad Nigger of ‘Narcissus’ in New Rev. Dec. Author's Note 629 His appeal is made to..that part of our nature which, because of the warlike conditions of existence, is..kept out of sight..like the vulnerable body within the steel armour.
1961 B. Crump Hang on a Minute Mate xiii. 147 Couples bitching at each other is human nature.
1995 Focus Aug. 51/4 The term ondinnonk denotes..the angelic part of our nature that gives us the sudden, unconscious desire to do a good deed.
b. The innate or characteristic disposition of a particular person, animal, etc. In recent use frequently in one's better nature: the better side of a person's character; the capacity to behave or act in a tolerant, generous, etc., fashion, as opposed to selfishly. Cf. second nature s.v. second adj. 4b.
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
society > morality > virtue > [noun] > virtuous side of character
one's better nature1848
Jekyll?1885
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) iv. 3039 (MED) The ferste of hem..Was Morpheus, the whos nature Is forto take the figure Of what persone that him liketh.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) vii. 3368 A wolf he was.., The whos nature prively he hadde in his condicion.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 21888 Ilk creatur Efter þe state of his natur, Better his maker knaus þan man.
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 112 (MED) Be he [sc. lepers] war of lechery & of alle thyng þat may make hote or chaufe the nature of hem.
c1500 (?a1475) Assembly of Gods (1896) 1693 They..callyd hem goddes..for the streyngthe & myght of her nature.
1568 (?a1513) W. Dunbar in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS (1928) II. 149 Sic brallaris and bosteris degerat frat [a1586 Maitl. F. degenerit fra] thair naturis.
1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 615 The Englishe men (whose natures are not to be faynt hearted, euen at the very ieopardie of death).
1615 G. Sandys Relation of Journey 227 Choosing rather to vndergo all hazards,..then so long a voyage by sea, to my nature so irksome.
1680 T. Otway Orphan ii. 20 I must..Wound his soft Nature, though my own Heart akes for it.
1709 R. Steele Tatler No. 93. ⁋4 Men may change their Climate, but they cannot their Nature.
1781 W. Cowper Charity 153 He..Puts off his generous nature; and..puts on the brute.
1819 W. Scott Ivanhoe I. x. 211 It seemed as if his avarice was struggling with his better nature, and compelling him to pouch zecchin after zecchin.
1833 H. Martineau Loom & Lugger ii. ii. 34 My brother has it not in his nature to feel jealousy.
1848 E. Bulwer-Lytton Harold III. xii. ix. 375 His own better nature which..was magnanimous and heroic, moved and won him.
1874 T. Hardy Far from Madding Crowd I. xxvi. 292 I knew..that the kindness of your nature might prevent you judging an uncontrolled tongue harshly.
1919 M. K. Bradby Psycho-anal. iii. x. 129 Any repressed desire which belongs to my undeveloped ‘better nature’.
1949 D. Smith I capture Castle (U.K. ed.) xiii. 246 By the time Stephen got home, my better nature had asserted itself and I was terribly worried about his feelings.
1987 A. Miller Timebends ii. 70 I was in a rush to meet life and my nature.
c. With modifying word: a particular aspect of a person's character, personality, etc., or a type or aspect of the basic constitution of humankind. Cf. good nature n., ill-nature n.Frequently contrasting an animal with a rational or a physical with a spiritual element or aspect.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > disposition or character > [noun] > inherent element
naturec1440
c1440 in C. Horstmann Yorkshire Writers (1895) I. 263 Mane, þat es of twa naturs..of bodyly and of gastely hase myster..of bodyly brede and of gastely brede.
a1500 (a1475) G. Ashby Dicta Philosophorum 646 in Poems (1899) 72 (MED) Associe you nat with men..of Il nature.
a1525 J. Irland Of Penance & Confession in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1923) I. 7 Our fragill nature and inclinacoun to syn dayly.
c1570 J. Leslie Hist. Scotl. (1830) 183 The wyld..natour of the Irichemen duelling in the hielandis and ilis of Scotteland.
a1676 M. Hale Primitive Originat. Mankind (1677) iv. v. 332 So much of that in Man that concerns his Animal Nature.
1726 Bp. J. Butler 15 Serm. iii. 46 Every Man in his physical Nature is one individual single Agent.
1852 H. Rogers Eclipse of Faith 125 His [sc. man's] animal nature is more defined than his intellectual.
1870 J. H. Newman Ess. Gram. Assent ii. ix. 339 This consciousness, reflection, and action we call our own rational nature.
a1895 C. F. Alexander Poems (1896) 288 As she wither'd, form and feature, It seem'd her spiritual nature Glow'd with a stronger life within.
1969 H. A. R. Gibb Mohammedanism (rev. ed.) vi. 68 Limits to human freedom of action.., ordained by the Wisdom and Lovingkindness of God, are of two kinds, corresponding to the dual nature of man as soul and body.
1973 L. Hellman Pentimento (1979) 548 That kind of talk was a part of her Catholic convert nature: it had happened before.
1991 C. Paglia Beautiful Decadence of R. Mapplethorpe in Sex, Art, & Amer. Culture (1992) 44 He saw and accepted the cruelty and aggression in our animal nature, our unevolved link with the pagan and primeval past.
†d. Character, capacity; function. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > position or job > [noun] > capacity or position
nature1601
figurea1616
character1629
capacitya1649
1601 B. Jonson Every Man in his Humor v. i. sig. L2v Which..I do thus first of all vncase, & appeare in mine owne proper nature, seruant to this gentleman. View more context for this quotation
1626 King Charles I Instructions 12 July in Kings Cabinet Opened (1645) 35 For the French, it was impossible for them to serve her in that nature.
e. Psychology and Biology. Contrasted with nurture, esp. in nature and nurture: heredity and environment respectively as influences on, or determinants of, a person's personality or behaviour.
ΚΠ
a1598 D. Fergusson Sc. Prov. (1641) sig. D4v Nature passes norture.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) iv. i. 188 A borne-Deuill, on whose nature Nurture can neuer sticke. View more context for this quotation]
1874 F. Galton Eng. Men of Sci. i. 12 The phrase ‘nature and nurture’ is a convenient jingle of words, for it separates under two distinct heads the innumerable elements of which personality is composed.
1914 F. W. Mott Nature & Nurture in Mental Devel. 1 The problem of nature and nurture in mental development is one that has recently acquired importance.
1946 Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. 36 159 The particular nature–nurture ratio value, or the physiological or anatomical associations which it possesses.
1974 Science 5 July 20/2 The disagreement about the causation of autism... First, there is the usual nature–nurture controversy.
1997 Sunday Times 26 Oct. i. 27/1 The terrible parallel histories of Hill and Landrigan have provided the age-old nature versus nurture debate with an inflammatory modern twist.
8.
a. The inherent or essential quality or constitution of a thing; the inherent and inseparable combination of properties giving any object, event, quality, emotion, etc., its fundamental character. In later use also more generally: kind, type.Usually with possessive adjective, or with the and modifying of-clause. †of some nature: of substantial quality or strength.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > intrinsicality or inherence > character or nature > [noun]
birtha1250
the manner ofc1300
formc1310
propertyc1390
naturea1393
condition1393
qualitya1398
temperc1400
taragec1407
naturality?a1425
profession?a1439
affecta1460
temperament1471
essence?1533
affection1534
spirit?1534
temperature1539
natural spirit1541
character1577
complexion1589
tincture1590
idiom1596
qualification1602
texture1611
connativea1618
thread1632
genius1639
complexure1648
quale1654
indoles1672
suchness1674
staminaa1676
trim1707
tenor1725
colouring1735
tint1760
type1843
aura1859
thusness1883
physis1923
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) vi. 531 (MED) I schal more seie Upon the nature of the vice.
a1475 Bk. Quinte Essence (1889) 13 (MED) Euery medicynable þing, alle þe vertues, propirtees, and naturis þe whiche god made in hem.
c1485 ( G. Hay Bk. Law of Armys (2005) 19 The bitter herbe is sa felloun bitter of his nature.
a1500 (c1477) T. Norton Ordinal of Alchemy (BL Add.) (1975) 2293 (MED) Liquours nature wille restore Humours that were lost bifore.
a1525 J. Irland Of Penance & Confession in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1923) I. 2 The xj chapiter tretis of the natur, condicioun and necessite of mercye.
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. cclxxxijv Aristotel,..Plinie, and suche other like, haue wrytten of the nature of Plantes, Herbes, Beastes, Metalles & Precious stones.
1597 F. Bacon Ess. Ep. Ded. sig. Aiiiv There mought be as great a vanitie in..withdrawing mens conceites (except they bee of some nature) from the world.
1604 E. Grimeston tr. J. de Acosta Nat. & Morall Hist. Indies ii. i. 82 The knowledge..depends of the well understanding the nature of the Equinoctiall.
a1674 Earl of Clarendon Brief View Leviathan (1676) 27 Describing the nature of foul weather.
1698 R. South 12 Serm. III. 33 [Merit] such, that God would not act sutably, and congruously, to the Equity and Goodness of his Nature, if He should not reward it.
1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 62. ¶5 The Passion of Love in its Nature has been thought to resemble Fire.
1722 R. Blackmore Redemption vi. 300 To himself alone God's nature and perfections must be known.
1789 J. Bentham Introd. Princ. Morals & Legisl. xv. p. cxcii This influence will depend upon the nature of the motive.
1832 H. Martineau Hill & Valley ix. 136 You have twice had warning of the fleeting nature of riches.
1878 T. H. Huxley Physiography (ed. 2) 76 The nature of this absorbed matter may be determined by a simple experiment.
1882 R. Grimshaw Suppl. Grimshaw on Saws 235 The temper of a concave saw..ought to be as good and as high as in any ordinary circular doing the same nature of work.
1903 H. James Ambassadors i. iii. 34 Though they were convinced he had made some extraordinary purchase they were never to learn its nature.
1949 ‘G. Orwell’ Nineteen Eighty-four i. v. 56 And yet, though you could not actually hear what the man was saying, you could not be in any doubt about its general nature.
1988 Music & Lett. 69 463 The extent and nature of Bach's influence on Haydn is now due for further reassessment.
†b. Scottish. The character or purport of a statute, written agreement, etc. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1409 in J. Slater Early Scots Texts (Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of Edinb.) (1952) No. 72 Eftir the nature of thair band.
1445 in J. Stuart Extracts Council Reg. Aberdeen (1844) I. 13 Agayne the natur of our trewis.
c1580 ( in J. D. Marwick Extracts Rec. Burgh Edinb. (1869) I. 6 After the nature of the statutes.
1690 in J. M. Beale Hist. Burgh & Parochial Schools Fife (Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of Edinb.) (1953) 195 The using of a great trade..contrary to the nature and desyre of his admission.
c. colloquial. the nature of the beast: the (usually undesirable) inherent or essential quality or character of a person, event, circumstance, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > evil nature or character > [noun] > baser part of character
the nature of the beast1678
1678 J. Ray Coll. Eng. Prov. (ed. 2) 77 It's the nature o' th' beast.
c1683 J. Verney Let. in M. M. Verney Mem. (1899) IV. vii. 254 I'me very Sorry John my Coachman Should be soe great a Clowne to you..but t'is the nature of the Beast.
1748 S. Richardson Clarissa III. xlii. 218 I might as well have preserv'd the first; for I see it is the nature of the beast.
1794 H. Walpole Let. 7 Oct. (1905) XV. 320 I was never of a court myself; but..know much of the nature of the beast.
1893 R. Kipling Many Inventions 254 'Twas the nature av the baste to put the comether on the best av thim.
1969 V. Gielgud Necessary End v. 48 Barry Compayne never made bones about..the number of girls that he had ‘laid’... Anthea had chosen deliberately to put down such exploits to ‘the nature of the beast’.
1990 Pract. Woodworking Mar. 71/4 You may find similar quality of construction, and yet..one could be three or four times the price of the other. This is the nature of the beast when you have people who have established themselves.
9. As a count noun.
a. (In senses 7 and 8.) An individual character, disposition, etc., considered as an entity in itself; a thing or person of a particular quality or character. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > disposition or character > [noun] > thing or person of specific character
naturea1393
the world > existence and causation > creation > [noun] > creative ability or power > of nature
naturea1393
naturity1646
the world > the supernatural > deity > [noun] > specific thing as > (a phenomenon of) nature as
naturea1393
nature god1851
nature deity1858
nature being1877
the world > existence and causation > existence > materiality > [noun] > nature > personified as a female being
naturea1393
motherc1525
workmistress1568
Dame Nature1669
the world > existence and causation > existence > intrinsicality or inherence > [noun] > a property, quality, or attribute > a thing having certain qualities
naturea1393
bearer?1518
quale1654
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) vii. 108 (MED) The god commandeth the natures That thei to him obeien alle.
?a1425 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. v. pr. ii. 9 Ther ne was nevere no nature of resoun that it ne hadde liberte of fre wil.
tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) i. 353 (MED) Grauellis dolue in iij naturis vary: In red & hoor & blak vnvariable.
1539 T. Elyot Castel of Helthe (new ed.) 39 b The natures hotte & moyst, be leste indamaged.
1587 Sir P. Sidney & A. Golding tr. P. de Mornay Trewnesse Christian Relig. ii. 25 Making and creating are referred to natures or substances, and..all natures and substaunces are good.
1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια 284 In euery Nature there must be a Patient correspondent and answerable to the agent.
1668 W. Temple Let. in Wks. (1720) II. 119 There are some Natures in the World who never can proceed sincerely in Business.
1785 W. Cowper Task v. 481 Roughness in the grain Of British natures.
1817 P. B. Shelley Laon & Cythna x. vi. 215 So there Strange natures made a brotherhood of ill.
1886 H. James Bostonians I. i. 12 He is a noble little nature.
1924 W. Lewis in New Statesman 2 Feb. 475/2 Christ would be surrounded by violent, rough, fanatical natures, their hands anxious to fly at the throats of their antagonists.
1985 J. Merrill Late Settings iii. 64 Feral natures roam our ever dimmer human avenue.
b. two natures n. the divine and human natures of Christ.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > Christian God > the Trinity > the Son or Christ > [noun] > dual personality of
person1357
hypostasisa1529
two naturesa1538
hypostasy1551
two natures1600
enhypostasia1917
a1538 A. Abell Roit or Quheill of Tyme f. 47v, in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at Natur(e Quhethir thare wes twa naturis in Christ or nocht.
1607 T. Rogers Faith, Doctr., & Relig. 13 Detestable therefore is the error, Of the Acephalians; who denied the properties of the two natures in Christ.
1636 C. Fitzgeffry Blessed Birth-day (ed. 2) 19 In the Sonne who flesh for vs did take Two Natures, Gods and ours, one Person make.
1684 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress 2nd Pt. 55 He has two Natures in one Person, plain to be distinguished, impossible to be divided. View more context for this quotation
1797 Encycl. Brit. VII. 43/1 He [sc. Eutyches] appeared to allow of two natures, even before the union.
1874 J. H. Blunt Dict. Sects 332/2 The Monophysites held that the two Natures were so united, that although the ‘One Christ’ was partly Human and partly Divine, His two Natures became by their union only one Nature.
1946 E. L. Mascall Christ, Christian & Church iii. 49 In no case is the divine nature seen acting in separation from the human. The two natures are distinct and their union is unimaginably intimate.
1992 Renaissance Q. 45 177 The Christological paradigm of the two natures of Christ in one person shaped the doctrines of Luther and Calvin.
†c. Firearms. A class or size of guns or shot. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > firearm > piece of artillery > [noun] > size or class of gun or shot
nature1813
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > missile > ammunition for firearms > [noun] > bullet or shot collectively > shot > type of
nature1813
1813 Ld. Cathcart in Examiner 31 May 342/2 He had an immense quantity of ordnance, of twelve-pounders, and larger natures.
1828 J. M. Spearman Brit. Gunner 130 One Hundred of each Nature of Case-Shot.
1884 Instr. Mil. Engin. (ed. 3) I. ii. 61 Lubricators, secured outside for 40-prs., and choked inside the cartridges for lower natures.
IV. Senses relating to the material world.
10.
a. The creative and regulative power which is conceived of as operating in the material world and as the immediate cause of its phenomena. Cf. balance of nature n. at balance n.1 13d.Sometimes referred to as if having a non-specific but independent existence or character (usually with capital initial); cf. sense 10b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > materiality > [noun] > nature
kindc1225
naturec1390
physis1606
nature-power1847
nature force1853
c1390 G. Chaucer Pardoner's Tale 295 Yiftes of fortune and of nature Been cause of deeth to many a creature.
c1400 (?c1380) Pearl 749 (MED) Þy beaute com neuer of nature.
?a1425 MS Hunterian 95 f. 147 (MED) Wunderfulle nature beynge myȝty, it fulfilleþ þat is to litil and expelleþ þat is superflue.
1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) ix. l. 134 Zepherus..comfort has, be wyrking off natour, All fructuous thing in-till the erd.
1526 Pylgrimage of Perfection (de Worde) f. 234v Of all the membres of the body, nature hath made the eye moost mouable.
c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy 1502 Polexena..was..Alse noble for þe nonest as nature cold deuyse.
1551 T. Wilson Rule of Reason sig. Bvij This Table sheweth the Order of euery substaunce and kinde as they are apointed by nature.
1594 T. Bowes tr. P. de la Primaudaye French Acad. II. 557 That common saying, that God and Nature the minister of God doe nothing without cause.
1603 R. Johnson tr. G. Botero Hist. Descr. Worlde 30 All the Ilands which nature hath scatred in these seas.
1653 R. Austen Spirituall Vse of Orchard 16 in Treat. Fruit-trees Distinct, and severall works of Nature, in moderate, and remisse degrees, are all promoted, at the same time.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 103 Where Nature shall provide Green Grass and fat'ning Clover for their fare. View more context for this quotation
1738 J. Swift Compl. Coll. Genteel Conversat. 51 Oh! the wonderful Works of Nature: That a black Hen should have a white Egg!
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth VI. 259 The weapon with which Nature has armed this animal.
1787 W. Jones Enchanted Fruit in Asiatic Misc. 43 Taught..To class by pistil and by stamen, Produce from nature's rich dominion Flow'rs Polyandrian Monogynian.
1832 J. Austin Province of Jurispr. v. 186 He attributes the uniformity of succession and coexistence to laws set by nature.
1856 F. L. Olmsted Journey Slave States 69 To take advantage of nature's engineering.
1895 T. Hardy Jude i. ii. 15 Nature's logic was too horrid for him to care for.
1921 L. Strachey Queen Victoria iii. 60 Nature had given him beauty and brains; the unexpected death of an elder brother brought him wealth, a peerage, and the possibility of high advancement.
1944 ‘Palinurus’ Unquiet Grave iii. 91 Humanity must also be adjusted to the non-human, to the Nature which it perpetually thwarts and outrages, to the indifferent Universe.
1973 J. Bronowski Ascent of Man (1976) i. 19 But nature—that is, biological evolution—has not fitted man to any specific environment.
2000 A. Stevenson Granny Scarecrow 57 Nature persuades all elements to please When to the artist Nature sings alone.
b. Usually with capital initial. This power personified as a female being. Frequently as Dame Nature or Mother Nature.
ΚΠ
c1390 G. Chaucer Physician's Tale 9 Nature hath with souereyn diligence Yformed hire in so greet excellence As thogh she wolde seyn, ‘lo! I, nature, Thus kan I forme and peynte a creature.’
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) i. 1588 (MED) Þe whyte with þe rede..So Ioyned wer..By thempres þat callyd is Nature.
c1450 (c1375) G. Chaucer Anelida & Arcite 80 Nature had a joye her to behelde.
1481 W. Caxton tr. Myrrour of Worlde i. xiv. 43 Without nature may nothinge growe, and by her haue alle thinges created lyf.
c1500 (?a1475) Assembly of Gods (1896) 1381 (MED) That fylde thus rewlyd Reson with Sadnes, Mawgre Dame Nature for all her carnall myght.
a1525 (c1448) R. Holland Bk. Howlat l. 32 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1925) II. 96 Yir sauoruss seidis War nurist be dame natur.
1545 T. Raynald in tr. E. Roesslin Byrth of Mankynde i. sig. H.v Wherfore prudent lady nature ful wysely hath prouided..a continual course and resort of blud.
c1580 ( tr. Bk. Alexander (1927) III. ii. 5020 Graues..waxis grene As Nature, throw hir craftis kene, Schroudis thameself with thare floures.
1602 J. Brereton Briefe Relation Discouerie Virginia 8 Euen the most wooddy places..doe grow so distinct and apart, one tree from another, vpon greene grassie ground..as if Nature would shew herselfe aboue her power, artificiall.
1634 T. Herbert Relation Some Yeares Trauaile 14 Flowres which only Dame Nature trauels with.
1686 R. Plot Nat. Hist. Staffs. viii. 272 How dame Nature came thus to miscarry in her plastics.
1718 I. Watts Hymn i Nature with open volume stands, To spread her Maker's praise abroad.
1785 W. Cowper Task iii. 600 Some note of Nature's music from his lips.
1838 Penny Cycl. X. 252/2 Nature with her burning sun, her stilled and pent-up wind.
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps i. xxvii. 205 In the application of her own principles, Nature often transcends the human imagination.
1881 Spectator 22 Jan. 119 Dame Nature arose... She ‘Boycotted’ London from Kew to Mile End.
1928 Garden & Home Builder Aug. 572/3 Dame Nature is so careful to preserve this whole heritage intact that this process of cell division..is a fine example of scrupulously exact partition of materials.
1962 R. E. Fitch Odyssey of Self-centred Self iv. 129 We reject the Father God, and turn to Mother Nature.
1990 Health Guardian May 3/2 Would Mother Nature..ever have anticipated the multitude of environmental stresses that modern urban society causes to be imposed on us?
11.
a. The phenomena of the physical world collectively; esp. plants, animals, and other features and products of the earth itself, as opposed to humans and human creations.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > materiality > [noun] > the material world or nature
worldOE
naturec1400
nature kingdom1865
c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) 1087 (MED) Þe ox & þe asse..knewe hym by his clannes for Kyng of nature.
a1425 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (1987) iii. 1016 O auctour of nature, Is this an honour to thi deyte?
1662 E. Stillingfleet Origines Sacræ iii. ii. §17 According to the Atomicall principles, no rationall account can be given of those effects which are seen in nature.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost viii. 153 Such vast room in Nature unpossest By living Soule. View more context for this quotation
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 109 Surveying Nature, with too nice a view. View more context for this quotation
1713 Spectator 14 Feb. 288 The trees shot out in blossoms, the birds threw themselves into pairs, and serenaded them as they passed. The whole face of nature glowed with new beauties.
a1763 W. Shenstone Wks. (1768) II. 106 Art, indeed, is often requisite to collect and epitomize the beauties of nature.
1782 W. Cowper Hope in Poems 178 Unconscious nature,..Rocks, groves and streams.
1819 W. Irving Sketch Bk. v. 344 We derive a great portion of our pleasures from the mere beauties of nature.
1841 C. Dickens Barnaby Rudge iv. 253 Nature was not so far removed or hard to get at, as in these days.
1888 J. Bryce Amer. Commonw. III. civ. 497 They lead a solitary life in the midst of a vast nature.
1928 C. Dawson Age of Gods iii. 49 Man was entirely at the mercy of nature—a mere scavenger who eked out a miserable existence as a food-gatherer and an eater of shell-fish.
1963 N. Frye Fables of Identity ii. 122 Third is the order of physical nature, the world of animals and plants which is morally neutral but theologically ‘fallen’.
1989 Japan Times 21 May 10/3 The Nagara River is a symbol of disappearing nature.
†b. In wider sense: the whole natural world, including human beings; the cosmos. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > [noun] > all that exists
existence1610
the ocean of beinga1651
nature1850
1850 N. Hawthorne Scarlet Let. xii. 187 [Dimmesdale] had extended his egotism over the whole expanse of nature.
1862 Edinb. Rev. Oct. 381 ‘Nature’ is being used in the narrow sense of physical nature... But these selves of ours do belong to ‘Nature’.
1873 J. W. Dawson Story Earth & Man xiv. 343 Holding nature to represent the whole cosmos, and to include both the physical and the spiritual.
12. The body's own natural power of healing itself, as distinguished from medical skill or treatment. Cf. sense 4a.In early use frequently personified or referred to as if having an independent character.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > non-scientific treatments > [noun] > nature-cure > nature as curing force
naturec1475
c1475 tr. Henri de Mondeville Surgery (Wellcome) f. 168 (MED) It suffisiþ þat þe guttis be putt ynne and her woundis be left to nature.
c1480 (a1400) St. George 169 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) II. 181 Þo deme nature had set hir cure.
1598 A. M. tr. J. Guillemeau Frenche Chirurg. 8/2 We recommende such thinges vnto Nature, and followe her instructions.
1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica iv. xii. 213 A decertation betweene the disease and nature . View more context for this quotation
1658 W. Johnson tr. F. Würtz Surgeons Guid i. viii. 33 If Wounds in the dressing be abused..what can be expected, but Natures unwillingness and refractoriness.
1662 J. Chandler tr. J. B. van Helmont Oriatrike 171 If nature the Physitianesse of her self, can overcome diseases by her own goodnesse.
1725 N. Robinson New Theory of Physick 193 The Physician is Nature's profess'd Servant.
1767 B. Gooch Pract. Treat. Wounds I. 404 Nature, assisted by art, perfected a cure beyond expectation.
1795 E. Burke Corr. (1844) IV. 290 Nature, in desperate diseases, frequently does most when she is left entirely to herself.
1826 Lancet 1 Apr. 32/1 Nature is unable to repair the extensive injury.
1861 F. Nightingale Notes on Nursing (new ed.) 94 Surgery removes the bullet out of the limb, which is an obstruction to cure, but nature heals the wound.
1922 W. H. Ukers All about Coffee xxviii. 437 While too much [caffeine] could be ingested from abuse of any beverage containing it, nature always effected a cure when the abuse was stopped.
1932 G. Humphrey & M. Humphrey tr. J. M. G. Itard Wild Boy of Aveyron 30 This child..will have owed the prompt recovery of his wound to the help of nature alone.
1999 BBC Top Gear Mag. June 80/3 I set myself unachievable targets when nature needs time to heal.
†13. (Contrasted with art.) In a person's speech, writing, drawing, etc.: fidelity or close adherence to nature; naturalness; (apparent) lack of artifice. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > plainness > [noun] > naturalness
negligence1665
unaffectedness1685
nature1715
naturalnessa1719
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > representation in art > [noun] > an artistic representation > realistic > quality
naturalness1624
naturality1651
nature1715
1715 H. Felton Diss. reading Classics (ed. 2) 202 His Words flowed rather from Nature than Art; and where they appear most to be studied, they appear at the same time to be most affected.
1762 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Painting I. vii. 133 The colouring of the heads clear, and with great nature.
1781 S. Johnson Pope in Pref. Wks. Eng. Poets VII. 343 Nature being, in this sense, only the best effect of art.
1826 W. Scott Woodstock III. viii. 233 They will do it with more nature and effect, if they believe they are swearing truth.
†14.
a. in nature: (of goods or products) in a natural condition; unmanufactured. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > merchandise > [adjective] > types of goods
homemade1565
consumable1692
in nature1719
inconsumable1785
soft1833
tenderable1868
orderable1872
self-serve1918
offshore1947
house-made1972
1719 W. Wood Surv. Trade (ed. 2) 237 Draw-backs upon Goods Exported, in nature as Imported.
b. A malleable state of iron in which it is ready to be worked. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > iron > [noun] > malleable state
nature1761
1761 Brit. Patent 759 (1856) 2 I take pig or sow iron or other cast metal; this I flourish or heat and work..until it is refined..and brought near to a malleable state, which the artists call bringing into nature.
1791 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 81 174 As it [sc. pig iron] approaches more and more towards nature (malleable iron) it adheres less.
1869 H. S. Osborn Metall. Iron & Steel 685 The iron must now be raked up..while a kind of fermentation, called ‘coming to nature’ is in process.
1895 T. Pinnock Black Country Ann. (E.D.D.) My iron's just comin' to natur'.

Phrases

P1. of (also †in) (a certain) nature: of a (also the) type, character, etc., specified. Cf. sense 8a.In quots. c1426 and a1500: spec. of the specified family or birth.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > kind or sort > in respect of kind [phrase] > as opposed to individually
of a (certain) sortc1380
of (also in) (a certain) naturec1390
in specie1562
in a‥style1772
society > law > rule of law > lawlessness > [noun] > crime > quality of being (a) criminal > degree of criminality
in (a certain) nature1625
degreea1676
c1390 G. Chaucer Parson's Tale 461 We ben alle of o fader and of o moder, and alle we ben of o nature [v.r. mater], roten and corrupt.
c1426 J. Audelay Poems (1931) 191 (MED) A Babe is borne of hye natewre, A Prynce of pese.
1494 Loutfut MS f. 34v, in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at Natur(e That he wes of gud wil and of a gud natur.
a1500 (a1450) Generides (Trin. Cambr.) 2656 ‘We are broderen,’ quod he, ‘of on nature’.
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. cciiijv [He was] a man of..verey milde nature.
1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost v. ii. 377 Your capacitie Is of that nature, that to your hudge stoore, Wise thinges seeme foolish. View more context for this quotation
1625 C. Burges New Discouery Personal Tithes 29 Sacriledge, and many other sinnes of a high nature.
1642 J. March Argument Militia 22 Delinquents in a high nature, against Parliament.
1662 E. Stillingfleet Origines Sacræ iii. iv. §10 Who may in a matter of this nature..be the more credited.
1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 1. ¶1 With other Particulars of the like nature.
1765 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. I. i. 21 A plan of this nature.
1784 E. Allen Reason xi. §1. 360 Nothing could more fully evince, that Moses's innocent progenitors of mankind..were of a similar nature to our's, than their susceptibility of propagating the species.
1818 R. Whately Misc. Remains (1864) 25 The sentiment we feel towards him is of a different nature.
1845 M. Pattison in Christian Remembrancer Jan. 82 To bring a charge..of such a nature as should fall within this penalty.
1875 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) V. 189 The most barren logical abstraction is of a higher nature than number and figure.
1906 T. P. Ollason Spindrift 53 Anidder fower ooks o' a laek naeter wid fairleens hae her feenished.
1961 G. F. Kennan Russia & West xv. 212 They themselves, in fact, had independently suggested something of this nature.
1992 Numismatist Mar. 304/3 Comments of this nature are..uttered only by those who know little or nothing about this coinage.
P2. against (also contrary to) nature and variants.
a. Esp. with reference to sexual behaviour: contrary to what nature prompts in human beings; unnatural, immoral. Now rare.Nature is here taken in the sense of a guiding moral principle, rather than in the sense of fallible human nature (cf. sense 5a).
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > [adverb] > immorally or unethically > in a manner departing from moral order > and unnaturally
against (also contrary to) naturec1390
unnaturally1470
c1390 G. Chaucer Melibeus 2776 No thyng that may falle vn to a man is so muchel ageyns nature as a man to encresse his owene profit to the harm of another man.
c1485 ( G. Hay Bk. Gouernaunce of Princis (1993) iii. 67 A dispaire, that is contrair to nature.
a1513 W. Dunbar Tabill of Confessioun in Poems (1998) I. 270 Off syn also into the haly spreit,..of syn aganis natour.
1554 D. Lindsay Dialog Experience & Courteour 3308 in Wks. (1931) I. 297 Thus leuit he contynualye Agane nature inordinatlye.
1611 Bible (King James) Rom. i. 26 Euen their women did change the naturall vse into that which is against nature . View more context for this quotation
a1631 J. Donne Βιαθανατος (1647) i. i. §7 All sinne is very truely said to be against nature.
1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 81 They are wholly given up to all licentiousness, even to sins against Nature.
1722 D. Defoe Moll Flanders 74 These Men were too wicked,..they did not only act against Conscience, but against Nature; they put a Rape upon their Temper to drown the Reflections, which their Circumstances..gave them.
1747 B. Franklin Writings (1987) 307 What Numbers of procur'd Abortions! and how many distress'd Mothers have been driven,..to imbrue, contrary to Nature, their own trembling Hands in the Blood of their helpless Offspring!
1860 J. Abbott Amer. Hist. I. x. 287 Thus the amalgamation of the Indian race with the Caucasian race..would have been against nature, and the instinctive principle,..which both races were accordingly bound to obey.
1912 J. Conrad Secret Sharer ii, in 'Twixt Land & Sea 150 And to find him sitting so quietly was surprising, like something against nature, inhuman.
1948 A. C. Kinsey et al. Sexual Behavior Human Male viii. 264 Perversions are defined as unnatural acts, acts contrary to nature, bestial, abominable, and detestable.
b. Not according to nature; contravening the accepted or observed laws of nature; outside the natural course of events. In early use occasionally also: unnaturally.
ΚΠ
c1395 G. Chaucer Franklin's Tale 1345 That swich a monstre or merueille myghte be, It is agayns the proces of nature.]
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 3 (MED) Yt by-houeþ þat he knowe þynges agayns nature.
c1450 Alphabet of Tales (1904) I. 157 Nero said vnto þaim, ‘Make ye me to be with child..’And þai ansswerd..þat it was not possible, þat was contrarie vnto natur.
c1500 (?a1475) Assembly of Gods (1896) 100 (MED) Thys Eolus hath oft Made me to retourne my course agayn nature.
1526 Bible (Tyndale) Rom. xi. 24 Yf thou waste..graffed contrary to nature in a true olyve tree.
1568 (a1508) W. Kennedy Flyting (Bannatyne) in Poems W. Dunbar (1998) I. 210 It war aganis bayth natur and gud ressoun That Dewlbeiris bairnis wer trew.
1581 J. Hamilton Catholik Traictise in T. G. Law Catholic Tractates (1901) 87 Sa the flude Jordan ran contrare nature bakuart.
1604 E. Grimeston tr. J. de Acosta Nat. & Morall Hist. Indies ii. iv. 88 It finally in the time of Summer overfloweth Egypt, which seemeth against nature.
1686 R. Boyle Free Enq. Notion Nature iv. 82 That which thwarts this Order [of Nature] may be said to be Preternatural, or contrary to Nature.
1709 G. Berkeley Ess. New Theory of Vision §29. 26 Experience shews that it doth not appear behind at the Point Z, and it were contrary to Nature that it shou'd; since all the Impression which affects the Sense comes from towards A.
1780 Mirror No. 92 (1781) 3 155 All those sins against nature and simplicity, which artists of inferior merit are glad to practise.
1841 R. W. Emerson Ess. 1st Ser. (Boston ed.) xii. 302 Thus is art vilified; the name conveys to the mind its secondary and bad senses; it stands in the imagination, as somewhat contrary to nature, and struck with death from the first.
1877 H. James American xxii. 402 But for all he [sc. the medical gentleman] could do Mr. Valentin and Mademoiselle heard something; they knew their father's death was somehow against nature.
1892 R. L. Stevenson & L. Osbourne Wrecker xix. 292 There was something against nature in the man's craven impudence;..such a dastard, implied unchangeable resolve, a great pressure of necessity, and powerful means.
1915 C. P. Gilman Herland in Forerunner Dec. 321/2 ‘But—but—it seems so against nature!’ she said.
1988 New Yorker 7 Nov. 145/1 Many baseball fans here who consider that a subway Series should be a matter of national jubilation acted as if this year's all-California series..were against nature.
P3. by (also †of, †on) nature: by virtue of the character or essence of a thing or person; inherently, innately.In some cases with admixture of sense 5 or (esp. in the context of natural phenomena) sense 11.
ΚΠ
a1425 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (1987) i. 113 Now was this Ector pitous of nature.
?1435 ( J. Lydgate Minor Poems (1934) ii. 641 (MED) Wyn off nature makith hertes liht.
a1450 Dis. Women (Douce) in Proc. Royal Soc. Med. (1916) 9 37 (MED) Whomen ben more febull and colde be nature þan men.
a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 112 Eftir respyt To wirk dispyt Moir appetyt He hes of natour.
1526 Bible (Tyndale) Gal. ii. 15 We which are Jewes by nature and not synners off the gentyls.
1585 T. Washington tr. N. de Nicolay Nauigations Turkie iv. xxix. 152 The gulfe Saxonique of nature beset and enuironed with high mountaines.
a1600 ( W. Stewart tr. H. Boece Bk. Cron. Scotl. (1858) 30692 Force is to thame on nature to be fals.
1615 W. Lawson Country Housewifes Garden (1626) 34 The Oke by nature broad.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost v. 527 He..ordaind thy will By nature free, not over-rul'd by Fate. View more context for this quotation
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iv, in tr. Virgil Wks. 134 In a place, by Nature closs, they build A narrow Flooring. View more context for this quotation
1706 S. Clarke Let. to Mr. Dodwell 10 That the Soul is by Nature Immortal, and must be mortalized by the Omnipotence of God, if ever it perish.
1766 O. Goldsmith Vicar of Wakefield I. i. 3 I was by nature an admirer of happy human faces.
1795 A. Hughes Jemima I. 83 You are a Paisley by nature as well as by birth, and incapable of becoming a worthy metropolitan.
1824 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto XV lii. 31 Adeline was liberal by Nature.
1854 J. H. Newman Lect. Hist. Turks iii. i. 141 Asia Minor..was by nature one of the most beautiful..of countries.
1881 H. W. Chandler Greek Accent. (ed. 2) §11 No word with a final syllable long by nature can be proparoxytone or properispomenon.
1924 J. Galsworthy White Monkey I. i. 1 Political by birth rather than by nature.
1935 W. de la Mare Early One Morning 268 If he is not by nature a fainter he may pore over the blood.
1986 P. B. Clarke Black Paradise i. 20 This recalls the Aristotelian view that some people are slaves by nature.
P4.
a. of (also in) the nature of: of the type, form, or character of; similar to, like; equivalent to, classifiable as.
ΚΠ
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 95v Þai [sc. haemorrhoids] be take away litel by litel wiþ swete or soft corrosyuez, as beþ þo þat ar of þe nature of salt as sal gemme.
c1485 ( G. Hay Bk. Law of Armys (2005) 266 All metallis..is of the nature of colouris.
1499 Contempl. Synners (de Worde) sig. Piii Solace shall be sure Not of the nature of worldly varyaunce.
1590 W. Clever Flower of Phisicke 100 (margin) A good cooke is in the nature of a good phisitian.
1600 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 iv. i. 315 A peace is of the nature of a conquest. View more context for this quotation
1669 R. Montagu in Buccleuch MSS (Hist. MSS Comm.) (1899) I. 457 A rich gold campane, which is in the nature of a fringe.
1736 Bp. J. Butler Analogy of Relig. Introd. p. i That the slightest possible Presumption, is of the nature of a Probability, appears from hence.
1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones I. Ded. p. iv Your Desires are to me in the Nature of Commands.
1817 W. Selwyn Abridgem. Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4) II. 1085 A Quo warranto being in the nature of a writ of right.
1880 A. Geikie Elem. Lessons Physical Geogr. (new ed.) iv. 217 The earthquake is really of the nature of a wave.
1937 J. Marquand Thank you, Mr. Moto iv. 28 I'd put him above the old Marshall of Manchuria for brains, which is in the nature of a compliment.
1961 L. MacNeice Solstices 63 With single tickets only, Our journey still in the nature of a surprise.
1998 E. Field Frieze for Temple of Love 180 Any poet turning out human Is in the nature of a miracle.
†b. in nature of: = in the nature of at Phrases 4a. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
c1475 Wisdom (Folger) (1969) 110 (MED) Euery creature..Was in natur of þe fyrst man, Adame, Off hym takynge þe fylthe of synne orygynall.
a1525 Bk. Chess l. 2168 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1923) I. 151 He gois blak in natur of ye quene.
1581 R. Mulcaster Positions xxxix. 205 Religion being vsed mostwhat contemplatiue, and in nature of opinion.
1614 J. Selden Titles of Honor ii. iv. 225 The Heriot was, what the Eorle or Thane paid his Lord..in nature of a Relief.
a1616 W. Shakespeare King John (1623) ii. i. 170 Drawes those heauen-mouing pearles fro his poor eies, Which heauen shall take in nature of a fee.
1665 T. Manley tr. H. Grotius De Rebus Belgicis 497 A Maid, living..with her Sisters, to whom she was in nature of a Servant.
1698 J. Fryer New Acct. E.-India & Persia 306 The Water..forces it self in nature of a Syphon up to the highest Clifts.
1809 T. E. Tomlins Jacob's Law-dict. at Nature This writ is in nature of a procedendo.
P5.
a. debt to (also of) nature (also †nature's debt) [compare classical Latin dēbitum nātūrae] : the necessity of dying, death; to pay one's debt to (also the debt of) nature [compare classical Latin dēbitum nātūrae reddere, persolvere] : to die. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > [noun]
hensithOE
qualmOE
bale-sithea1000
endingc1000
fallOE
forthsitheOE
soulingOE
life's endOE
deathOE
hethensithc1200
last end?c1225
forthfarec1275
dying1297
finec1300
partingc1300
endc1305
deceasec1330
departc1330
starving1340
passingc1350
latter enda1382
obita1382
perishingc1384
carrion1387
departing1388
finishmentc1400
trespassement14..
passing forthc1410
sesse1417
cess1419
fininga1425
resolutiona1425
departisona1450
passagea1450
departmentc1450
consummation?a1475
dormition1483
debt to (also of) naturea1513
dissolutionc1522
expirationa1530
funeral?a1534
change1543
departure1558
last change1574
transmigration1576
dissolving1577
shaking of the sheets?1577
departance1579
deceasure1580
mortality1582
deceasing1591
waftage1592
launching1599
quietus1603
doom1609
expire1612
expiring1612
period1613
defunctiona1616
Lethea1616
fail1623
dismissiona1631
set1635
passa1645
disanimation1646
suffering1651
abition1656
Passovera1662
latter (last) end1670
finis1682
exitus1706
perch1722
demission1735
demise1753
translation1760
transit1764
dropping1768
expiry1790
departal1823
finish1826
homegoing1866
the last (also final, great) round-up1879
snuffing1922
fade-out1924
thirty1929
appointment in Samarra1934
dirt nap1981
big chill1987
the world > life > death > [verb (intransitive)]
forsweltc888
sweltc888
adeadeOE
deadc950
wendeOE
i-wite971
starveOE
witea1000
forfereOE
forthfareOE
forworthc1000
to go (also depart , pass, i-wite, chare) out of this worldOE
queleOE
fallOE
to take (also nim, underfo) (the) deathOE
to shed (one's own) blood?a1100
diec1135
endc1175
farec1175
to give up the ghostc1175
letc1200
aswelta1250
leavea1250
to-sweltc1275
to-worthc1275
to yield (up) the ghost (soul, breath, life, spirit)c1290
finea1300
spilla1300
part?1316
to leese one's life-daysa1325
to nim the way of deathc1325
to tine, leave, lose the sweatc1330
flit1340
trance1340
determinec1374
disperisha1382
to go the way of all the eartha1382
to be gathered to one's fathers1382
miscarryc1387
shut1390
goa1393
to die upa1400
expirea1400
fleea1400
to pass awaya1400
to seek out of lifea1400–50
to sye hethena1400
tinea1400
trespass14..
espirec1430
to end one's days?a1439
decease1439
to go away?a1450
ungoc1450
unlivec1450
to change one's lifea1470
vade1495
depart1501
to pay one's debt to (also the debt of) naturea1513
to decease this world1515
to go over?1520
jet1530
vade1530
to go westa1532
to pick over the perch1532
galpa1535
to die the death1535
to depart to God1548
to go home1561
mort1568
inlaikc1575
shuffle1576
finish1578
to hop (also tip, pitch over, drop off, etc.) the perch1587
relent1587
unbreathe1589
transpass1592
to lose one's breath1596
to make a die (of it)1611
to go offa1616
fail1623
to go out1635
to peak over the percha1641
exita1652
drop1654
to knock offa1657
to kick upa1658
to pay nature her due1657
ghost1666
to march off1693
to die off1697
pike1697
to drop off1699
tip (over) the perch1699
to pass (also go, be called, etc.) to one's reward1703
sink1718
vent1718
to launch into eternity1719
to join the majority1721
demise1727
to pack off1735
to slip one's cable1751
turf1763
to move off1764
to pop off the hooks1764
to hop off1797
to pass on1805
to go to glory1814
sough1816
to hand in one's accounts1817
to slip one's breatha1819
croak1819
to slip one's wind1819
stiffen1820
weed1824
buy1825
to drop short1826
to fall (a) prey (also victim, sacrifice) to1839
to get one's (also the) call1839
to drop (etc.) off the hooks1840
to unreeve one's lifeline1840
to step out1844
to cash, pass or send in one's checks1845
to hand in one's checks1845
to go off the handle1848
to go under1848
succumb1849
to turn one's toes up1851
to peg out1852
walk1858
snuff1864
to go or be up the flume1865
to pass outc1867
to cash in one's chips1870
to go (also pass over) to the majority1883
to cash in1884
to cop it1884
snuff1885
to belly up1886
perch1886
to kick the bucket1889
off1890
to knock over1892
to pass over1897
to stop one1901
to pass in1904
to hand in one's marble1911
the silver cord is loosed1911
pip1913
to cross over1915
conk1917
to check out1921
to kick off1921
to pack up1925
to step off1926
to take the ferry1928
peg1931
to meet one's Maker1933
to kiss off1935
to crease it1959
zonk1968
cark1977
to cark it1979
to take a dirt nap1981
c1350 (a1333) William of Shoreham Poems (1902) 2 And his deþes dette ȝelde.
1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) xix. 209 Hym worthit neyd to pay the det That na man for till pay may let.]
a1513 R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) I. xli. f. xv Fynally he payde the dette of nature.
a1593 C. Marlowe Edward II (1594) sig. I2 Pay natures debt with cheerefull countenance.
1635 F. Quarles Emblemes ii. xiii. 113 The slender debt to Nature's quickly payd.
1727 A. Hamilton New Acct. E. Indies II. lii. 265 He had paid his great Debt to Nature, without taking Notice of the small one due to me.
1812 Examiner 23 Nov. 747/1 One of them has..paid the debt of nature.
1840 E. Stirling Fortunes of Smike ii. iv. 34 Both your debts are paid in the one great debt of nature, in the sudden death of this helpless girl's father.
a1909 A. Bierce Coll. Wks. (1909) IV. 134 Sometimes fifty souls would pay The debt of nature in a day.
1927 Sci. Monthly Jan. 36 The old prof stubbornly held on and refused to pay his debt to nature.
1967 Eng. Lit. Hist. 34 470 Both she and ‘her glad husband’ must someday pay their debt to nature's law.
†b. to pay nature her due: to fulfil a physical need; spec. to die. Obsolete. rare.With quot. 1657 cf. sense 4c.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > [verb (intransitive)]
forsweltc888
sweltc888
adeadeOE
deadc950
wendeOE
i-wite971
starveOE
witea1000
forfereOE
forthfareOE
forworthc1000
to go (also depart , pass, i-wite, chare) out of this worldOE
queleOE
fallOE
to take (also nim, underfo) (the) deathOE
to shed (one's own) blood?a1100
diec1135
endc1175
farec1175
to give up the ghostc1175
letc1200
aswelta1250
leavea1250
to-sweltc1275
to-worthc1275
to yield (up) the ghost (soul, breath, life, spirit)c1290
finea1300
spilla1300
part?1316
to leese one's life-daysa1325
to nim the way of deathc1325
to tine, leave, lose the sweatc1330
flit1340
trance1340
determinec1374
disperisha1382
to go the way of all the eartha1382
to be gathered to one's fathers1382
miscarryc1387
shut1390
goa1393
to die upa1400
expirea1400
fleea1400
to pass awaya1400
to seek out of lifea1400–50
to sye hethena1400
tinea1400
trespass14..
espirec1430
to end one's days?a1439
decease1439
to go away?a1450
ungoc1450
unlivec1450
to change one's lifea1470
vade1495
depart1501
to pay one's debt to (also the debt of) naturea1513
to decease this world1515
to go over?1520
jet1530
vade1530
to go westa1532
to pick over the perch1532
galpa1535
to die the death1535
to depart to God1548
to go home1561
mort1568
inlaikc1575
shuffle1576
finish1578
to hop (also tip, pitch over, drop off, etc.) the perch1587
relent1587
unbreathe1589
transpass1592
to lose one's breath1596
to make a die (of it)1611
to go offa1616
fail1623
to go out1635
to peak over the percha1641
exita1652
drop1654
to knock offa1657
to kick upa1658
to pay nature her due1657
ghost1666
to march off1693
to die off1697
pike1697
to drop off1699
tip (over) the perch1699
to pass (also go, be called, etc.) to one's reward1703
sink1718
vent1718
to launch into eternity1719
to join the majority1721
demise1727
to pack off1735
to slip one's cable1751
turf1763
to move off1764
to pop off the hooks1764
to hop off1797
to pass on1805
to go to glory1814
sough1816
to hand in one's accounts1817
to slip one's breatha1819
croak1819
to slip one's wind1819
stiffen1820
weed1824
buy1825
to drop short1826
to fall (a) prey (also victim, sacrifice) to1839
to get one's (also the) call1839
to drop (etc.) off the hooks1840
to unreeve one's lifeline1840
to step out1844
to cash, pass or send in one's checks1845
to hand in one's checks1845
to go off the handle1848
to go under1848
succumb1849
to turn one's toes up1851
to peg out1852
walk1858
snuff1864
to go or be up the flume1865
to pass outc1867
to cash in one's chips1870
to go (also pass over) to the majority1883
to cash in1884
to cop it1884
snuff1885
to belly up1886
perch1886
to kick the bucket1889
off1890
to knock over1892
to pass over1897
to stop one1901
to pass in1904
to hand in one's marble1911
the silver cord is loosed1911
pip1913
to cross over1915
conk1917
to check out1921
to kick off1921
to pack up1925
to step off1926
to take the ferry1928
peg1931
to meet one's Maker1933
to kiss off1935
to crease it1959
zonk1968
cark1977
to cark it1979
to take a dirt nap1981
1657 R. Ligon True Hist. Barbados 10 Our stomacks told us, it was full high time to pay Nature her due.
1661 Princess Cloria 13 He willingly paid nature her due, and changed his inconstant habitation here, for a perpetual one hereafter.
P6. the (also a) state of nature.
†a. The unregenerate moral condition of humankind, as opposed to a state of grace (cf. sense 5b); (also) a refusal or inability to acknowledge divine or supernatural authority for an ethical or moral code. Obsolete. [Compare classical Latin status nātūrae (Cicero: see quot. 1534); compare also French état de nature (1690).]
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > [noun] > not > state of nature as opposed to morality
the (also a) state of nature1534
naturality1619
society > morality > moral evil > evil nature or character > [noun] > immoral state natural to man
naturea1500
the (also a) state of nature1534
naturality1619
1534 R. Whittington tr. Cicero Thre Bks. Tullyes Offyces i. sig. D.8 That thou recede not from the state of nature, it is no thynge varyaunt fro the dignyte of a wyse man.
1665 R. South Serm. preached before Court 8 The Difference between a state of Nature, and a state of Grace.
1793 T. Jefferson Public Papers 432 This obligation then is as necessary as it is natural & indubitable, among nations who live together in a state of nature, & who acknolege no superior on earth, to maintain order & peace in their society.
1864 E. B. Pusey Daniel ix. 561 It is man's own fault, if..he remain in, or apostatise into, a state of nature.
b. The condition in which human beings exist, or are imagined to exist, in the absence of laws or regulatory social structures.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > customs, values, and civilization > civilization > lack of civilization > [noun]
barbarousness1549
Barbary1564
barbarity1570
barbarism1584
incivility1584
uncivility1598
wildness1639
ferity1646
the (also a) state of nature1650
savagism1665
savagery1782
semi-barbarism1817
barbarization1822
incivilization1823
semibarbarianism1828
savagedom1844
barbarianism1854
uncivilizedness1879
uncivilization1880
bruteness1883
semi-savagedom1887
society > society and the community > customs, values, and civilization > civilization > lack of civilization > [noun] > condition of man before organized society
the (also a) state of nature1650
uncivilization1880
1650 T. Hobbes De Corpore Politico 7 Inresistable Might in the state of Nature, is Right.
1672 J. Eachard (title) Mr Hobb's state of nature considered; in a dialogue between Philautus and Timothy.
1689 J. Locke Two Treat. Govt. ii. ii. ⁋6 The state of Nature has a Law of Nature to govern it.
1722 W. Wollaston Relig. of Nature vii. 152 He who is a member of a society in other respects retains his natural liberty, is still as it were in a state of nature.
1740 D. Hume Treat. Human Nature III. ii. 65 [They] extend their reasoning to the suppos'd state of nature; provided they allow it to be a mere philosophical fiction, which never had, and never cou'd have any reality.
1779–81 S. Johnson Lives Eng. Poets in Wks. IV. 73 Society, politically regulated, is a state contra-distinguished from a state of nature.
1817 J. Bradbury Trav. Amer. 326 It will perhaps be found that all countries in a state of nature are liable to this disease.
1891 Dict. National Biogr. XXVII. 43/2 Virtually he argues that states have been formed as the only alternative to the state of nature, or, on his showing, to anarchy and barbarism.
1950 Amer. Polit. Sci. Rev. 44 769 One cannot understand the doctrine of the state of nature, if one does not consider its relation to Biblical history.
1993 R. Rucker et al. Mondo 2000 (U.K. ed.) 248/1 Fleeing from hideous ‘benefits’ of Imperialism such as slavery, serfdom, racism, and intolerance..the Buccaneers..reverted to the state of Nature.
c. A state unaffected by human intervention; spec. (with reference to plants or animals) a wild condition that is not the result of cultivation, breeding, or rearing; (with reference to minerals or land) an uncultivated, unworked, or undeveloped state.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > [noun] > undomesticated condition
the (also a) state of nature1798
the world > plants > wild and cultivated plants > uncultivated condition [phrase]
the (also a) state of nature1798
the world > animals > domestic animal > [noun] > undomesticated > state or condition
wildshipc1275
wildnessc1440
untamedness1592
the (also a) state of nature1798
untameness1871
ferality1885
1798 T. Jefferson Let. 24 June in Writings (1984) 1051 The circumstances of the old world have, beyond the records of history, been such as admitted not that animal to exist in a state of nature.
1799 J. Robertson Gen. View Agric. Perth 245 Wasteness admits of various degrees. Some land in a state of nature may be worth ten or even fifteen shillings an acre of yearly rent; while other land is not worth so many farthings.
1833 Penny Cycl. I. 184/1 The true civet..is found in a state of nature in most parts of Africa.
1861 C. Darwin Origin of Species (ed. 3) ii. 46 It may..be doubted whether..great deviations of structure..are ever permanently propagated in a state of nature.
1882 A. Geikie Geol. Sketches 377 The feral ground, or territory left in a state of nature and given up to game, lies mostly upon rocks.
1911 Summary Rep. Geol. Surv. Br. Dept. Mines 1910 (Canada) 257 This is the first instance in which this salt has been recorded as occurring in a state of nature.
1941 R. Headstrom Adventures with Microscope xxviii. 100 The yeasts which are regularly employed in brewing and baking are usually termed ‘domesticated’ or cultivated, to distinguish them from those in a state of nature.
1977 T. Murphy Famine v. 55 You talk about new continents, land to be reclaimed, and not a farthing to clear a stick or a stone off all the land that lies about ye here in a state of nature.
1996 Total Sport July 121/1 Moorlands Farm, here for fisherfolk only, not a natural state of nature at all, is liberally stocked with..fish.
d. A state of bodily nakedness.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > wearing clothing > nakedness or state of being unclothed > [noun]
nakedOE
nakedOE
nakednessOE
nakedheadc1330
nudity1611
the (also a) state of nature1802
nudeness1848
in the nude1856
clotheslessness1883
1802 C. Wilmot Irish Peer on Continent (1920) 23 My first impression was amazement, at beholding the women from 15 to 70 almost in a state of nature.
1892 R. L. Stevenson & L. Osbourne Wrecker v. 71 The fat model..sat at the far end of the studio in a state of nature, with one arm gallantly arched above her head.
1944 I. Singh Gondwana & Gonds ii. 22 The Marias formerly roamed about in a state of nature and then..adopted leaves and barks as their garments.
1978 Lancashire Life Oct. 99/1 The tree in pagan times had been the scene of fertility rites when the early natives had frolicked in a state of nature.
1999 Birmingham Post 28 Aug. Foreign News 57 Brighton agreed to cater for a growing number of people who prefer to enjoy nature in a state of nature, by setting aside part of its famous beach for nudists.
P7.
a. in the nature of things: in accordance with nature; (in later use also more widely) given the circumstances or state of affairs; spec. inevitably given these circumstances.
ΚΠ
1584 R. Scot Discouerie Witchcraft iii. xix. 71 It were follie to staie ouerlong in the confutation of that, which is not in the nature of things.
1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια 523 There are in the nature of things certaine Sympathies and Antipathies.
1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding ii. xxii. 132 What..occasions Men to make several Combinations of simple Ideas into distinct..setled Modes, and neglect others; which in the Nature of Things themselves, have as much an aptness to be combined, and make distinct Ideas.
1747 B. Franklin Speech Polly Baker 15 Apr. in Papers (1961) III. 124 Can it be a Crime (in the Nature of Things I mean) to add to the Number of the King's Subjects, in a new Country that really wants People?
1854 T. B. Macaulay Biogr. (1860) 138 It was not in the nature of things that popularity such as he..enjoyed should be permanent.
1881 Philadelphia Rec. No. 3428. 2 It is not..in the nature of things that a rooster in the Legislature should quietly submit to be lectured by a rooster outside of the legislature.
1955 L. P. Hartley Perfect Woman (1959) 38 His relations with his clients were also cut and dried: very little personal feeling could, in the nature of things, come into them.
1987 M. H. Short & G. N. Leech Style in Fiction §3.1 75/80 The section on figures of speech, in the nature of things, deals with stylistic features which cannot be precisely quantified.
b. in the nature of the case: = in the nature of things at Phrases 7a.
ΚΠ
1790 W. Paley Horæ Paulinæ Rom. ii. 13 It is, in the nature of the case, probable that [etc.].
a1832 J. Bentham Fragm. on Govt. Pref. to ed. 2, in Wks. (1843) I. 249/2 Of the drift of my book, and the sort of sensation it had made, it is not in the nature of the case he should have been ignorant.
1935 H. H. Farmer World & God i. ix. 158 Our interest is in the Christian experience of God as personal, which in the nature of the case must be self-authenticating.
1991 Financial Times (Nexis) 19 Jan. i. 9 It [sc. Vatican doctrine on war] is always, in the nature of the case, the product of a Christian community.
P8. in nature.
a. In actual fact, in reality, in truth. Now rare except with a more direct allusion to sense 11.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > reality or real existence or actuality > [adverb]
in truthc1330
in faitha1375
in good faitha1393
in casea1398
in effectc1405
indeed1412
effectually1420
actually?a1425
really?a1425
of a truth1494
bottom1531
for a truth?1532
in fact1592
authentically1593
in esse1597
de facto1602
essentially1604
in nature1605
in point of fact1628
positively1649
in point of event1650
effectively1652
honestly1675
entally1691
reely1792
objectively1796
fairlyc1804
in actual fact1824
factually1852
naturally1858
transactionally1866
'smatter of fact1922
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > [adverb] > in reality
in substancea1393
indeed1412
in realitya1513
in nature1605
solidly1625
under the skin (also skins)1896
1605 F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning ii. sig. Eee2 There are in Nature certaine fountaines of Iustice, whence all Ciuil Lawes are deriued, but as streames. View more context for this quotation
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost vi. 442 [To] equal what between us made the odds, In Nature none. View more context for this quotation
1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding ii. xxix. 169 By real Ideas, I mean such as have a Foundation in Nature; such as have a Conformity..with their Archetypes.
1709 G. Berkeley Ess. New Theory of Vision §14. 8 Secondly, The Truth..to any one that considers those Lines and Angles have no real Existence in Nature, being only an Hypothesis fram'd by Mathematicians.
1739 D. Hume Treat. Human Nature I. iii. 300 Secondly,..that the common distinction betwixt moral and physical necessity is without any foundation in nature.
1873 P. G. Hamerton Intellect. Life viii. ii. 288 There is really, in nature, such a thing as high life.
1971 R. Fisher Cut Pages 35 Yes. Those are the steps. Down around the outside of the curved wall. No, it's not in nature; you're right.
1984 A. Waldman Makeup on Empty Space 72 You are new person when surrounded by something You never saw before in nature: diction—how stretches Are punctuated by a fold, a dot of green held in brackets By the altitude.
†b. Used as an intensifier, usually with superlatives and negatives: anywhere; at all. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > place > here, there, etc. > [adverb] > anywhere
owhereeOE
ouerwherea1400
anywhere1447
in nature1661
anywheres1775
anyplace1819
1661 A. Wood Life 3 May All seniors..did look upon him, as the most impudent fellow in nature.
1673 J. Dryden Marriage a-la-Mode i. i. 7 With all this, she's the greatest Gossip in Nature.
1708 C. Cibber Lady's Last Stake iv. 49 And what Effect had that? O! none in Nature!
1770 S. Foote Lame Lover i. 18 An engagement that can't in nature be missed.
1848 J. R. Lowell Biglow Papers 1st Ser. ii. 21 It..is 1 of the curusest things in nater.
P9. from nature [compare from prep. 13b] : (esp. of a drawing or painting) copied from an actual model, esp. a landscape.
ΚΠ
1786 J. Woodforde Diary 4 Mar. (1926) II. 229 The Picture was drawn from Nature from some Forest near London.
1853 J. Ruskin Stones of Venice II. vi. 185 A large body of English landscapists come into this class, including most clever sketchers from nature.
1866 A. Trollope Claverings xxviii If he [sc. the novelist] attempt to paint from Nature, how little that is heroic should he describe!
1941 Horizon May 349 The painters of the Euston Road school resemble each other in that they all paint almost entirely from nature.
1991 Artist Nov. 48/3 The contents include chapters on sketching from nature, perspective, the outdoor kit, [etc.]
P10. Chiefly U.S. colloquial. all nature: everything, everyone, all creation (cf. for all the world at world n. Phrases 8a). Occasionally also like all nature: = like anything at anything pron., n., and adv. Phrases 6.
ΚΠ
1819 Massachusetts Spy 3 Nov. 3/1 Father and I have just returned from the balloon—all nature was there, and more too.
1825 J. Neal Brother Jonathan II. 93 Hurra for you—that beats all nater!
1840 C. F. Hoffman Greyslaer II. iii. xiv. 254 The poor critter would have been sucked under, smashed on the rocky bottom, and dragged off like all natur.
1878 Mrs. Stowe in Atlantic Monthly Oct. 472/2 Cuff would prance round..and seem to think he..had the charge of all natur'.
1892 J. C. Duval Early Times in Texas vi. 82 ‘Well, I declar, boys,’ said he, ‘ef this don't beat all natur.’
1970 Harper's Mag. Apr. 80/1 A gallon, bygod, and you'll get yourself in accord with all nature.
1992 B. Unsworth Sacred Hunger xx. 154 A demon of a current settin' to eastward, an' out of all nature strong.
P11. one of nature's ——: a person possessing by nature (or, in extended use, by temperament) the attributes viewed as characteristic of the type of person specified.Generally in sense 10, but passing into sense 7b.
ΚΠ
1839 H. Miller Mem. W. Forsyth xii. 122 He was one of nature's noblemen; and the sincere homage of the better feelings is an honour reserved exclusively to the order to which he belonged.
a1882 A. Trollope Autobiogr. (1883) I. iii. 53 If I say that a judge should be a gentleman..I am met with a scornful allusion to ‘Nature's Gentlemen’.
1898 A. J. Munby Diary 26 Mar. in D. Hudson Munby (1972) 423 A splendid woman, full of rustic health & vigour, & one of Nature's ladies.
1929 A. Huxley Let. 9 May (1969) 311 Now..I can write a letter. It will be a poor return for all yours, because I am not one of nature's letter-writers.
1969 L. Durrell Spirit of Place 19 He was one of nature's lobbyers—a tireless and relentless fellow.
1986 Auckland Metro Feb. 45/1 The chivalrous Sir Kenneth..is regarded both in business and Eastern suburbs..as one of nature's gentlemen.
P12. back-to-nature: see back-to-nature adj.; course of nature: see course n. 15a; the law of nature, nature's law: see law n.1 9c, 17a; light of nature: see light n.1 7a; return to nature: see return to nature n. at return n. Phrases 4 and to return to nature at return v.1 Phrases 2.

Compounds

C1. Originally and chiefly Scottish. In sense ‘according to, following or in the course of, or provided (abundantly) by nature’. Cf. nature food n. at Compounds 4b.
nature grass n.
ΚΠ
1762 R. Forbes Jrnls. Episcopal Visitations (1886) 145 The rapid Spey forms a pleasant Bottom, rich with Corns and nature-Grass.
1811 W. Aiton Gen. View Agric. Ayr 291 When they see a field carpeted with rich grasses, or those that grow luxuriant, they say that field produces nature grasses.
1866 W. Gregor Dial. Banffshire (Philol. Soc.) 177 Tack oot yir coo, an' gee 'ir a pluck o' naitir-girs.
1956 Mearns Leader 7 Sept. He wid hike awa doon tae the haughie at the brig an' cut a gweed cole o' saft natir girse.
† nature hay n. Obsolete rare
ΚΠ
1885 Brechin Advertiser 8 Dec. 3 Gude yellow or swad neeps an' nature hay.
† nature health n. Obsolete rare
ΚΠ
1568 G. Skeyne Breue Descriptioun Pest v. sig. A7v Quhilk..testifeis strenthe of nature helth.
† nature-relation n. Obsolete rare
ΚΠ
1645 S. Rutherford Tryal & Trivmph of Faith (1845) 178 Blood-bonds, nature-relations are mighty.
C2. Forming adjectives.
a. Instrumental.
nature-blessed adj.
ΚΠ
1897 Living Age Jan. 311/2 It is difficult to offer any explanation of the abominable monster-massacres that turn those Nature-blessed isles into reeking shambles.
1983 Shakespeare Q. 43 419 The same Nature-blessed art.
nature-bound adj.
ΚΠ
1963 R. Wellek in N. Frye Romanticism Reconsidered 129 The more nature-bound Wordsworth and Keats.
1985 19th-cent. Fiction 39 379 To enrich the nature-bound conventions of the novel.
nature-devised adj.
ΚΠ
1960 R. W. Marks Dymaxion World Buckminster Fuller 39/2 The limits of the visible spectrum did not represent the threshold of change between man-devised structures and nature-devised structures.
nature-favoured adj.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > surpassing excellence > [adjective] > and superior in quality
higheOE
finec1330
supreme1567
uppera1586
nature-graceda1618
de luxe1819
nature-favoured1877
1877 Littell's Living Age Apr. 92/1 Martinique, with its rich soil, its gentle slopes, its superabundant irrigation, its noble harbors, is of all the Lesser Antilles the most nature-favored.
1885 Fortn. Waggonette 78 Two such nature-favoured sons of Adam.
† nature-graced adj. Obsolete rare
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > surpassing excellence > [adjective] > and superior in quality
higheOE
finec1330
supreme1567
uppera1586
nature-graceda1618
de luxe1819
nature-favoured1877
a1618 J. Sylvester tr. G. Fracastoro Maidens Blush (1620) sig. A6v Joseph.., Whome, Nature-grac't, the Graces nurtur'd fine In liberall Arts.
nature-hidden adj. rare
ΚΠ
1891 J. C. Atkinson Last of Giant-killers 224 Such a self-concealing as well as nature-hidden place.
† nature-imprinted adj. Obsolete rare
ΚΠ
1696 J. Sergeant Method to Sci. 38 Solid Knowledge of the Nature of Things, or (which is the same) of those Nature-imprinted Notions.
† nature-instructed adj. Obsolete rare
ΚΠ
1696 J. Sergeant Method to Sci. 149 The Nature-instructed Vulgar do abet this Doctrine.
nature-scented adj. rare
ΚΠ
1888 W. Whitman Let. 22 Sept. in Corr. IV. 214 The good hearty affectionate nature-scented fellow.
† nature-taught adj. Obsolete rare
ΚΠ
1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. i. iii. 88 O learned, Nature taught Arithmetician!
b. Objective.
† nature-drowning adj. Obsolete rare
ΚΠ
1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. ii. i. 277 The wreakfull nature-drowning flood Spar'd not this beauteous place.
nature-hiding adj. rare
ΚΠ
1842 A. H. Clough Diary 29 May (1890) VI. 206 There's not a face in any crowded room..Peeping above the Nature-hiding clothes.
nature-loving adj.
ΚΠ
1849 Littell's Living Age Apr. 78/1 What a paradise for a miniature nature-loving Chinese.
1913 Eng. Illustr. Mag. June 254 It is scarcely possible to find a mountain track or woody dell..which has not fascinated and inspired this nature-loving poet.
1990 N.Y. Mag. 18 June 131/1 Rubenesque, nature-loving gentleman.
nature-painting adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > representation in art > [adjective] > qualities of
natural1581
well-observed1620
exact1645
well-treated1663
nature-painting1748
idealized1810
life-size1813
life-sized1834
lifelike1836
likely1840
realistic1943
1748 J. Thomson Castle of Indolence i. lvii Of the fine stores he nothing would impart, Which or boon nature gave, or nature-painting art.
1882 A. B. Grosart Spenser's Compl. Wks. III. p. liii This..widens..the Nature-painting poetry of our language.
† nature-shaking adj. Obsolete rare
ΚΠ
1606 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. (new ed.) ii. iv. 20 Whose Hell-raking, Nature-shaking Spell.
c. Parasynthetic.
† nature-hearted adj. Obsolete rare
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > love > affection > [adjective] > characterized by natural affection
nature-hearted1845
1845 P. J. Bailey Festus (ed. 2) 234 Kind nature-hearted bards.
d. Similative.
nature-true adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > similarity > [adjective] > closely resembling > lifelike
livelyc1330
lifelikea1522
natural1581
speaking1582
vive1584
breathing1669
semblant1714
thinking1732
nature-true1850
vivid1852
1850 E. B. Browning Poems (new ed.) I. 321 Even like my blossoms, if as nature-true, Though not as precious.
1900 Dict. National Biogr. LXI. 11/1 His drawings were exquisite and nature-true, made on lithographic transfer paper with the artifice of a quadrillé eye-piece.
C3. Objective.
nature lover n.
ΚΠ
1864 Continental Monthly Aug. 236/1 Was not this man [sc. Thoreau] a nature lover, a nature limner?
1937 Discovery Jan. 32/1 The book is a most suitable gift for nature lovers of all ages.
1990 Newsweek 16 Apr. 69/2 Nature lovers fear for the river's dignity as boats..go rollicking from shore to shore in a tinkle of ice cubes.
nature-worshipper n.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > kinds of worship > [noun] > of nature > practitioner of
physiolater1825
nature-worshipper1852
1852 Amer. Whig. Rev. Nov. 400/2 In the early periods of the world it [sc. the myth of a ‘man-god’] was originated by many different orders of pantheistic priests or nature-worshippers.
1929 A. Huxley Do what you Will 158 St. Francis is often hailed as the first nature-worshipper..in Europe since..the Greeks.
1990 Jrnl. Hist. Ideas 51 601 Neither Hegel nor Schopenhauer..was a romantic Nature-worshipper.
C4.
a. attributive, chiefly in sense ‘of, belonging to, or relating to, or associated with nature’.
nature force n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > materiality > [noun] > nature
kindc1225
naturec1390
physis1606
nature-power1847
nature force1853
1853 Littell's Living Age Nov. 503/1 Russia must grow until it has reached its nature-ordained size and magnitude. This growth is not merely arbitrary, but deeply resting upon an innermost propelling nature-force.
1876 W. E. Gladstone Homeric Synchronism 214 His ideas..separate so broadly between human beings and the Nature forces.
2001 Philippine Daily Inquirer (Nexis) 2 Feb. 12 Feng shui is deeply rooted in Taoism, a religious belief that acknowledges the power of nature forces to affect people's health, happiness, fortune and future.
nature kingdom n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > materiality > [noun] > the material world or nature
worldOE
naturec1400
nature kingdom1865
1865 Family Treasury Sunday Reading 412 In the spiritual kingdom, as in the great nature-kingdoms.
1997 T. Clark Empire of Skin i. 43 Fables of northern nature kingdoms.
nature-mystic n.
ΚΠ
1927 J. S. Huxley Relig. without Revelation iv. 123 The nature-mystic.
1958 Economist 8 Nov. (Suppl.) 11/1 To regard him [sc. Traherne] as a lone eccentric or a pre-Romantic Nature-mystic is to under-estimate his stature as a Christian humanist.
1995 Church Times 16 June 15/3 Abelard..was pitted against Bernard, nature-mystic turned Cistercian propagandist and Pope-maker.
nature mysticism n.
ΚΠ
1899 W. R. Inge Christian Mysticism viii. 302 The true Nature-Mysticism is prominent in St. Francis of Assisi.
1932 C. Williams Eng. Poetic Mind ii. 13 Wordsworth was..not ever writing a child's primer of Nature-mysticism; he left that to his commentators.
1982 E. D. Gray Patriarchy as Conceptual Trap v. 125 She..began focusing upon women's spirituality and its distinctive nature mysticism.
nature myth n.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > mythology > [noun] > a mythical story or myth > type of
creation story1860
creation myth1863
sun myth1865
solar myth1870
nature myth1871
just-so story1897
monomyth1929
FOAF1989
1871 E. B. Tylor Primitive Culture I. viii. 257 Those most beautiful of poetic fictions, to which may be given the title of Nature-Myths.
1996 J. Goldthwaite Nat. Hist. Make-believe vi. 273 If she..had to have sprung from a nature myth,..certainly saying so afforded Harris an agreeable way out of his quandary.
nature-mythology n.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > mythology > [noun] > type of
solarism1885
nature-mythology1886
1886 New Englander (New Haven, Connecticut) June 1012 In China, where, of all historical religions, ancestor worship most predominated, this worship rests..upon an anterior nature-mythology.
1979 G. W. Anderson Trad. & Interpr. 246 He was clearly anxious to secure for the dramatic psalms cultic contexts based on the commemoration of history to the exclusion of Nature-mythology.
nature poem n.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > poem or piece of poetry > other types of poem > [noun] > nature poem or poetry
nature poetry1870
nature poem1877
1877 Littell's Living Age Mar. 718/2 The poem is full of nature, but it is too one-sided, and strikes too exclusively only such notes as are in unison with the dominant passion, to be a great nature-poem.
1946 ‘G. Orwell’ Coll. Ess. (1968) I. 1 I wrote bad and usually unfinished ‘nature poems’ in the Georgian style.
1987 J. Saltman Mod. Canad. Children's Bks. 123 The selections share the immediacy of a child's vision, especially in the many nature poems.
nature poet n.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > poet > poet by kind of poem > [noun] > nature poet
natural1821
nature poet1857
1857 N. Amer. Rev. Oct. 496 Bacon was as little of an empiric, in the sense generally attached to that term, as was Shakespeare a nature-poet.
1938 L. MacNeice Mod. Poetry i. 8 Rooted, as nature-poets should be, in their subject.
1994 Harvard Jrnl. Asiatic Stud. 54 407 Today, and ever since the Northern Song Dynasty, it is Wei Yingwu the ‘nature poet’ who prevails.
nature poetry n.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > poem or piece of poetry > other types of poem > [noun] > nature poem or poetry
nature poetry1870
nature poem1877
1870 Littell's Living Age Mar. 773 This is not so characteristic a note of his [sc. Wordsworth's] nature-poetry.
1987 J. Saltman Mod. Canad. Children's Bks. 120 Heidbreder's nonsense has a raw vigour and his nature poetry exhibits a lyrical quality reminiscent of haiku.
nature-power n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > materiality > [noun] > nature
kindc1225
naturec1390
physis1606
nature-power1847
nature force1853
1847 J. Torrey tr. A. Neander Gen. Hist. Christian Relig. & Church II. 54 There arises a pure active opposition to the godlike—a barely negative, blind, ungodly nature-power, which obstinately resists all plastic influence of the divine element.
1847 J. Torrey tr. A. Neander Gen. Hist. Christian Relig. & Church II. 213 The subjugation of that tumultuous and blind nature-power is in fact the end aimed at in the creation of the world.
1865 W. E. Gladstone Farewell Addr. Edinb. Univ. 22 The absorption of Deity into mere nature-power.
1926 Sci. Monthly June 514/2 Direct man-power, militaristically mobilized, has simply given place to objective nature-power mechanically controlled.
nature ramble n.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > aspects of travel > going on foot > [noun] > walking for exercise or recreation > hiking or rambling > an act of
hike1865
randonnée1921
nature ramble1925
1925 H. V. Webb (title) Nature rambles in Somerset.
1944 A. Thirkell Headmistress xi. 231 There would be a Nature Ramble at a good brisk pace in Lord Pomfret's grounds.
1999 Guardian (Electronic ed.) 22 Oct. They strolled through Hell this week like it was a nature ramble.
nature symbol n.
ΚΠ
1896 Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst. 25 96 Not only do we get the cross as nature-symbol, but we find it associated with especial colours.
1927 H. Crane Let. 12 Sept. (1965) 305 Pocahontas is the mythological nature-symbol chosen to represent the physical body of the continent.
2001 Houston Chron. (Nexis) 22 May (Technology section) 6 Ukranian [sic] Easter Eggs..are typically decorated with nature symbols..to ensure that goodness prevails over evil.
nature symbolism n.
ΚΠ
1870 Littell's Living Age Mar. 774 The dominant note of Tennyson's poetry is assuredly the delineation of human moods modulated by nature, and through a system of nature-symbolism.
1892 Internat. Jrnl. Ethics 3 5 The ethical idea beneath the husk of nature-symbolism.
1999 Guardian (Nexis) 24 Aug. ii. 14 Images of blood and soil are reworked [by the artist Joseph Beuys] as a kind of nature symbolism of growth and renewal.
nature walk n.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > aspects of travel > going on foot > [noun] > walking for exercise or recreation > an act of > through natural surroundings
nature walk1927
1927 Science 30 Dec. 651/1 [The society] maintains a school service, lecture program, nature walks and excursions.
1964 O. Blakeston Fingers i. 9 Drilling the catechism class..and giving the children a yearly ‘nature walk’ as a treat.
1989 BBONT News Jan. 3/1 Do you remember nature walks from your schooldays?.. The sometimes uncomfortable outing in all weathers?
nature writer n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > study > person who writes on > [noun] > natural history
historiographer1564
nature writer1901
1901 Atlantic Monthly June 71 (advt.) The recent death of Rowland E. Robinson removes from the group of American Nature writers one of its most pleasing members.
1995 Time 1 May 14/2 I wondered if nature writer Henry Beston would have spent a year on the Great Beach had he been hooked by cybermania.
nature-writing n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > study > person who writes on > [noun] > natural history > the art of writing about natural history
nature-writing1901
1901 Atlantic Monthly June 860 Wordsworth and the other great poets of the century who have gone to Nature for their inspiration, and have made Nature-writing the characteristic note of modern verse.
1969 Times Lit. Suppl. 16 Jan. 61/1 Thomas's nature writing was good of its kind and time.
1994 Independent on Sunday 2 Oct. (Review Suppl.) 38/3 What, precisely, is nature-writing? Is it a genre in its own right or an uneasy dweller on the borders of other disciplines?
b.
nature being n. [after Dutch natuurwezen (1876 in passage translated in quot. 1877)] = nature god n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > [noun] > specific thing as > (a phenomenon of) nature as
naturea1393
nature god1851
nature deity1858
nature being1877
1877 J. E. Carpenter tr. C. P. Tiele Outl. Hist. Relig. 23 All the spirits which they worship..are nature-beings of more or less might.
1998 Christian Sci. Monitor (Nexis) 28 Jan. 16 Ancient myths say that the Japanese are descended from gods, or powerful nature beings.
nature boy n. colloquial (originally U.S.) a naive or innocent person; a person who is fond of the outdoors; a boy or man who lives a healthy and athletic life in the countryside; (hence) a yokel, a rough or crude person.
ΚΠ
1948 E. Ahbez (song, perf. Nat ‘King’ Cole) (title of song) Nature boy.
1951 J. Kerouac On the Road: Orig. Scroll (2007) 187 Wild negroes with bop caps and goatees came laughing by; then..an occasional Nature Boy saint in beard and sandals.
1962 Listener 16 Aug. 249/1 It would appear this superb dramatist is no more than an uncouth nature-boy, spilling out the Yiddishes blarney.
1994 R. Davies Cunning Man 21 I was quickly dubbed Nature Boy, a denizen of the woods.
nature conservation n. the preservation of wild fauna and flora and natural habitats and ecosystems, esp. from the effects of human exploitation, industrialization, etc.
ΚΠ
1923 Sci. Monthly Apr. 382 In these enlightened days nature conservation is an American creed, but in no sense is it a fighting slogan.
1943 Nature Conservation & Nature Reserves (Brit. Ecol. Soc.) 7 The whole problem of nature conservation requires to be viewed against the human or social background.
1968 C. Burke Elephant across Border v. 203 You can do more for nature conservation by shocking people..than a whole heap of discussion groups and bird magazines can do.
1999 National Trust Mag. Autumn 17/1 The land is of very high nature conservation value.
nature cure n. the curing of disease by natural agencies, without the use of drugs (cf. naturopathy n.); an instance of this.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > non-scientific treatments > [noun] > nature-cure
nature cure1876
1876 J. R. Lowell Among my Bks. 2nd Ser. 249 His system of a nature-cure, first professed by Dr. Jean Jaques and continued by Cowper.
1906 Chambers's Jrnl. 24 Nov. 832/1 At Dr. Lahmann's nature-cure sanatorium,..care is taken to cook vegetables so as to retain the nutritive and soluble salts.
1983 B. Inglis & R. West Alternative Health Guide 16 There have arisen a great number of therapeutic aids which fall into the nature cure category.
nature deity n. = nature god n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > [noun] > specific thing as > (a phenomenon of) nature as
naturea1393
nature god1851
nature deity1858
nature being1877
1858 S. F. Dunlap Vestiges Spirit-hist. Man viii. 195 Iao is..a complex of Nature-deities whose essence he unites in the meaning of his mysterious name.
1896 E. Clodd in R. M. Dorson Peasant Customs (1968) I. 394 The chief Celtic gods were, in virtue of common attributes as elemental nature-deities, identified with certain dii majores of the Roman pantheon.
1993 Rolling Stone 8 July 112/3 The high spirits carry over to ‘Glastonbury Song’, a series of poetic hymns to angels and nature deities.
nature faker n. originally U.S. a person who misrepresents, or presents false reports of, natural phenomena, esp. animal behaviour.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > disregard for truth, falsehood > false assertion > [noun] > one who falsifies > reports of natural phenomena
nature faker1907
1907 N.Y. Times 27 May 2/6 Persons who had read about the brutal sport of seal fishing..doubted their reading and began to talk about ‘nature fakers’.
1949 Nat. Hist. Mar. 131/2 Many nature fakers had obtained free meals..through the gullibility of newspaper reporters.
1992 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 14 May 32/4 He waged the only real battle of his career with the ‘nature-fakers’.
nature faking n. the activity of a nature faker.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > disregard for truth, falsehood > false assertion > [adjective] > faking nature reports
nature faking1907
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > disregard for truth, falsehood > false assertion > [noun] > deliberate falsification > of reports of natural phenomena
nature faking1907
1907 E. B. Clarke in Everybody's Mag. Sept. 423/1 Naturalists..of international record..have a word to say now about nature faking and nature fakers.
1947 Sports Afield Dec. 6/3 It was apparent to me that the writer colored his material, particularly in regard to the nature faking episode.
1996 Denver Post (Nexis) 9 Feb. a1 Stouffer has a reputation among wildlife photographers and federal biologists for nature faking, or staging scenes that normally wouldn't occur in the wild.
nature film n. a documentary film or television programme about a natural history subject.
ΚΠ
1954 Woman's Home Compan. May 38/2 (heading) Why I like making Nature films.
1993 R. Hughes Culture of Complaint iii. 169 Corporate underwriters on the whole refused to write checks for..that inexhaustible genre of nature films.
nature folk n. = nature-people n.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > customs, values, and civilization > a civilization or culture > [noun] > ancient culture > people of
nature-people1877
nature folk1893
1893 Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst. 22 192 The good if simple qualities, of an almost entirely nature folk.
1927 H. Peake & H. J. Fleure Peasants & Potters i. 8 They had settled down into a routine, as had many nature-folk the world over before European industrialism touched them in the last century.
1987 ‘J. Gash’ Moonspender (1988) xiv. 134 Does Manor Farm get a lot of trouble from vandals, Robie? Not much. There's ramblers. Them nature folks.
nature food n. (originally) food provided by nature; (in later use) food which uses only natural or organically produced ingredients.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > qualities of food > [noun] > pure, whole, or health food
natural food1671
nature food1847
wholefood1880
health food1882
nutraceutical1990
phytonutrient1994
1847 E. Walker Diary in C. M. Drury Elkanah & Mary Walker (1940) viii. 205 The year has been fruitful in nature food.
1963 Observer 3 Nov. 33/3 A nature-food devotee who wanted nothing but natural fertilisers used to speed up agriculture.
1971 Sunday Express (Johannesburg) 28 Mar. 5/6 He tended the children himself, using nature foods prescribed by Mr. Peter Dowling, a practising naturopath.
2000 Stuart (Florida) News 8 Nov. c3 Council on Aging and Indian River Community College will offer a seminar on health and nature foods.
nature-friendly adj. that uses natural materials, that is intended to have a minimal impact on the natural environment; spec. = environmentally friendly adj. at environmentally adv. Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > safety > [adjective] > safe or not dangerous > safe or harmless > to the environment
environmentalist1968
environmentally sound1969
environmentally friendly1971
friendly1971
low-impact1972
sustainable1976
environmental1977
environmental friendly1977
sustainability1980
eco-sensitive1982
environment-friendly1982
nature-friendly1984
ozone-friendly1988
earth-friendly1989
eco-friendly1989
1984 Water Sci. & Technol. 16 377 The financial aspect of ‘nature-friendly’ solutions sometimes appears to prevent further development of a certain idea.
2001 J. G. Trulove (title) Hot dirt, cool straw: nature-friendly houses for the 21st century.
nature god n. a power or phenomenon of nature personified as a god.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > [noun] > specific thing as > (a phenomenon of) nature as
naturea1393
nature god1851
nature deity1858
nature being1877
1851 ‘G. Eliot’ in Westm. & Foreign Q. Rev. Jan. 365 The Nature-God, El or Ilus, worshipped in Arabia, Palestine, and Phoenicia.
2001 Washington Post (Nexis) 4 May t14 Strathmore Hall is one of those places to offer a special ‘Japanese’ tea during the Cherry Blossom Festival..with a little help from the nature gods, it's a transporting experience.
nature-goddess n. a power or phenomenon of nature personified as a goddess.
ΚΠ
1854 J. G. Wilkinson Pop. Acct. Anc. Egyptians 333 ‘The Queen of heaven’, the ‘Mother of the child’ [etc.] are various characters of the Nature goddess.
1999 Independent 5 June ii. 9/6 Their rituals were not concerned with the traditional broomsticks and potions, but with the worship of an ancient nature-goddess called Aradia.
nature-identical adj. designating a substance which has been prepared synthetically but which is chemically identical to a natural one.
ΚΠ
1976 Nahrung 20 253 The class of nature-identical flavouring substances has to be treated separately for practical purposes of food control and because the substances of this group offer more certainty with regard to their safety.
1989 Which? Sept. 428/1 Supporters of hormones argue that both nature-identical and synthetic hormones are completely safe if used correctly.
1997 Independent 1 Feb. (Mag.) 40/4 Chemically synthesised vanillin is stronger and cheaper. This is called nature-identical vanillin and it lacks some of the subtle vegetable scent notes produced when extracting vanillin from pods.
nature name n. a toponym embodying an allusion to a natural occurrence or topographical feature.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > naming > name or appellation > [noun] > place name > derived from topographical feature
nature name1924
toponymic1933
toponym1939
1924 Mod. Lang. Notes 39 205 Scandinavian investigators employ the corresponding stedsnavn..3, ‘nature names’ (hills, mountains, forests [etc.]).
1960 P. H. Reaney Orig. Eng. Place-names ii. 30 Farnborough ‘fern-clad hill’, Hertford, ‘stag-ford’..were originally nature-names from which later settlements near-by took their names.
2000 Phoenix New Times (Nexis) 30 Mar. (Features section) A group of tract homes where all the streets have two-word compound nature names such as Foxfire and Amber Creek.
nature notes n. a record of observations or comments on natural history.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > study > [noun] > natural history > work of
Physiologeta1300
history1534
natural history1534
life cycle1855
life history1856
nature notes1890
1890 (title) Nature notes; the Selborne Society's magazine.
1937 Discovery Oct. 318 The marvellous journey of Domingo Gonsales..with its ingenious form of aerial transport and its lunar ‘nature notes’.
2001 Irish Times (Electronic ed.) 14 Apr. Oh, for the innocent Nature Notes of bygone days! I find myself longing for a first butterfly.
nature park n. a public park where the primary attraction is the flora or fauna; (also) = nature reserve n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > collection or conservation of natural specimens > sanctuary or reserve > [noun]
sanctuary1879
natural park1888
game reserve1907
nature reserve1912
nature sanctuary1928
nature park1929
wildlife sanctuary1936
1929 Science Aug. 166/2 Kattehalemore, a characteristic boggy area..has now been acquired for a botanical and zoological nature park and sanctuary.
2000 Leicester Mercury (Electronic ed.) 18 Dec. The Welford Road path..is now the entrance to a nature park.
nature-people n. [after Dutch natuurvolk (1876 in passage translated in quot. 1877 for nature being n.)] a people living close to nature or in a state of nature.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > customs, values, and civilization > a civilization or culture > [noun] > ancient culture > people of
nature-people1877
nature folk1893
1877 J. E. Carpenter tr. C. P. Tiele Outl. Hist. Relig. 24 The worship of spirits..and the doctrine of immortality are not developed any further among the Finns than among the Nature-peoples.
1922 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 28 212 No so-called ‘nature-people’ has been discovered which did not display some sort of furtive notion of being at the mercy of some kind of powers pervading surrounding space.
nature philosophy n. [after German Naturphilosophie Naturphilosophie n.] = Naturphilosophie n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > naturalism > [noun]
naturalism1750
descendentalism1833
nature philosophy1842
naturism1847
1842 W. T. Brande Dict. Sci., Lit., & Art (1843) 1095/1 Beside Fichte's method..of descending from the ego, Schelling held it to be necessary to ascend from nature up to ego. The former method is given in his transcendental philosophy, the latter in the nature-philosophy.
1855 G. Brimley Ess. (1858) i. 24 A sentimental nature-philosophy, and a pantheistical worship.
1961 Mind 70 100 There is much else in the literary idiom of nature-philosophy.
1993 Independent (Nexis) 30 June 23 Nature philosophies have been used to justify almost every brand of exploitation from oligarchy and slavery to totalitarian repression.
nature-religion n. the belief that a god or (usually) gods create and inhabit inanimate objects and natural phenomena; the worship of such objects and phenomena.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > aspects of faith > religion > kinds of religions > [noun] > natural
natural religion1622
religion of nature1622
naturalisma1641
neologism1827
nature-religion1853
pre-animism1910
1853 Jrnl. Amer. Oriental Soc. 3 316 The Vedic religion..is..a nature-religion, a worship of the powers supposed to..produce the phenomena of the visible world.
1982 Jrnl. Southern Hist. 48 459 The nature-religion of Thoreau and Whitman..embody a self-conscious transcendence of Calvinist narrowness.
nature reserve n. a tract of land, usually having some particular biological or ecological value or interest, set aside and managed in order to preserve its fauna, flora, and physical features.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > collection or conservation of natural specimens > sanctuary or reserve > [noun]
sanctuary1879
natural park1888
game reserve1907
nature reserve1912
nature sanctuary1928
nature park1929
wildlife sanctuary1936
1912 New Phytologist 11 363 It..appeared to be most desirable that it [sc. Blakeney Point] should be preserved for all time as a nature-reserve.
1949 Act 12 & 13 Geo. VI c. 97 §15 The expression ‘nature reserve’ means land managed for the purpose—(a) of providing..special opportunities for the study of, and research into, matters relating to the fauna and flora..or (b) of preserving flora, fauna or geological or physiographic features of special interest in the area.
2001 Daily Tel. 15 July 8/7 The last surviving bog orchid in East Anglia..has been stolen in a night raid on a nature reserve.
nature sanctuary n. an area in which the fauna and flora are protected from disturbance.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > collection or conservation of natural specimens > sanctuary or reserve > [noun]
sanctuary1879
natural park1888
game reserve1907
nature reserve1912
nature sanctuary1928
nature park1929
wildlife sanctuary1936
1928 Science 2 Nov. 421/1 The park in the Belgian Congo and the Kruger National Park, South Africa, were only the first links in what they hoped would become a chain of nature sanctuaries extending throughout Africa.
2001 Observer (Electronic ed.) 21 Jan. Rough weather is forecast for the next couple of days, which could hamper clean-up efforts and further disperse oil into the waters off the nature sanctuary.
nature spirit n. a spirit thought to reside in a natural element or object.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > supernatural being > fairy or elf > [noun] > nature-spirit
nature spirit1871
1871 E. B. Tylor Primitive Culture II. xv. 187 Here we must seek to realize to the utmost the definition of the Nature-Spirits.
1992 C. Paglia Sex, Art, & Amer. Culture 154 Buddha, like Christ, underwent a series of temptations. He was tempted three times by the Kama-mara, the nature spirit representing carnal love and fear of death.
nature strip n. Australian regional a strip of land, usually grassed, between dwellings and a street; a verge.
ΚΠ
1948 Archit. in Austr. Jan. 34 I did not see one allotment where the whole of the ground was cared for and the street nature strip in front attended to.
2000 Australian 31 May (Brisbane ed.) 8/5 Fruit and vegetable stalls that have long lined the street..have in recent months been pulled down and replaced by neat nature strips and small gaily-painted fences.
nature student n. rare a student of natural history; a naturalist.
ΚΠ
1885 Harper's Mag. May 912/1 The..feeling of anticipation which is common to almost every habitual saunterer and nature student, by which..he receives a premonition of the discovery of some rare plant or bird.
1902 Pall Mall Mag. Aug. 485 Few of these nature-students are men of leisure.
1996 Asbury Park Press (Neptune, New Jersey) (Nexis) 20 Oct. h14 The public might be the once-a-year visitor to a small city park, or the dedicated nature student who spends every waking hour outdoors.
nature trail n. a signposted footpath through a nature reserve or other area of countryside for the observation of plants, animals, and natural phenomena, frequently with the aid of descriptive literature.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > track, trail, or path > [noun] > for recreational walking
tourist track1912
nature trail1926
trailway1939
heritage trail1976
1926 F. E. Lutz (title) Nature trails.
1927 58th Ann. Rep. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 1926 107 This Nature Trail has been a wonderful stimulus to the present-day movement toward the emphasis of the outdoor museum and hundreds of nature trails have been made in various parts of the country.
1990 Country Walking Jan. 44/1 If that's too far, try a one mile nature trail from the centre.
nature-worship n. the worship of inanimate objects and natural phenomena.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > kinds of worship > [noun] > of nature
physiolatry1818
nature-worship1820
paganism1854
naturism1880
physitism1885
1820 S. T. Coleridge Coll. Lett. (1971) V. 95 This..[sc. Wordsworth's] Confusion of God with the World & the accompanying Nature-worship.
1850 R. W. Mackay Progress of Intellect I. iii. 151 The elements of personification, as well as Pantheism, are in all Nature-worship.
1960 C. Day Lewis Buried Day vii. 147 I took up nature worship now because it was a poetic thing.
2001 Independent on Sunday (Electronic ed.) 10 June Shinto has no sacred texts or moral precepts. Its origins lie in nature-worship, and its deities are rocks, trees, winds and the Sun.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2003; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

† naturev.1

Origin: Probably of multiple origins. Probably partly a borrowing from French. Probably partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French naturer; Latin naturare.
Etymology: Probably partly < Middle French naturer to create (14th cent.; already in Old French (1226) in sense ‘to resemble’; < nature nature n.), and partly < post-classical Latin naturare to create, give existence or specific nature to (used chiefly in the scholastic phrases natura naturans natura naturans n. and natura naturata natura naturata n. (compare nature naturing at sense 2); earlier in sense ‘to beget’ (11th cent.); < classical Latin natūra nature n.).
Obsolete.
1. transitive. To give (a created thing, esp. a species) a particular nature.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > intrinsicality or inherence > character or nature > impart a character or nature to [verb (transitive)]
naturea1393
naturize1607
clothe1611
character1621
characterize1786
temperament1855
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) vii. 393 He which natureth every kinde, The myhti god.
2. intransitive. To create; spec. to give to each thing its specific nature. Cf. naturing adj.
ΚΠ
1509 S. Hawes Pastime of Pleasure (1845) xxxix. 201 Tyll that dame Nature naturing had made All thinge to grow to theyr fortitude.
?1520 J. Rastell Nature .iiii. Element sig. Aiiijv The perfeccyon and furst cause of euery thynge I meane that only hye nature naturynge.
1694 R. Burthogge Ess. Reason 118 The unwary Expression of some..Theologizing Philosophers, who Denominated God Nature Naturing.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2019).

naturev.2

Brit. /ˈneɪtʃə/, U.S. /ˈneɪtʃər/
Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: nature n.
Etymology: < nature n.
rare.
1. transitive. To endow with a (new) nature.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > intrinsicality or inherence > character or nature > impart a character or nature to [verb (transitive)] > invest with a new nature
nature1648
1648 S. Rutherford Surv. Spirituall Antichrist i. 323 The Lord by the word Spiriteth, and of new, Natureth us over again into new spirituall children.
1857 J. Pulsford Quiet Hours 1st Ser. 39 It is granted to us fallen men, to be born and natured anew, from the Eternal Word.
1975 R. Kelly Loom 288 To be calm in face of the process naturing me all day long.
†2. transitive. To fix in one's nature, to make natural. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > customary or habitual mode of behaviour > do habitually [verb (transitive)] > render (a thing) habitual > make customary or natural to a person
naturalize1606
nature1890
1890 J. H. Stirling Gifford Lect. v. 89 The patrimonial use and wont, and established manners, so to speak, natured in them.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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