rigourrigorn.
/ˈrɪɡə/, U.S. /ˈrɪɡər/ I. Rigidity of action, interpretation, etc.
* Severity, harshness, and related senses.† 2. Hardness of heart; obduracy. Obsolete.
1.
a. Harsh inflexibility (in dealing with a person or group of people); severity, sternness; cruelty.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > strictness > [noun] > extreme strictness or rigour
rigorousté1399
rigourc1405
rigorousnessa1450
rigorositya1539
summum jus1539
extremitya1616
c1405 (c1395) G. Chaucer Franklin's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 67 Pacience..venquysseth..Thynges that rigour [v.rr. Rigor, rigoure] sholde neuere atteyne.
?a1450 in C. von Nolcken Middle Eng. Transl. Rosarium Theol. (1979) 64 (MED) Lordes oweþ for to giffe to þair seruantis riȝtwisnes wiþout rigour.
1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde iii. xi. f. 158 Their rygour and fiercenesse ageynst suche as stoobernly..contemned them.
1597 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. lxxvi. 226 If..they haue tempered rigour with lenitie.
1639 in L. B. Taylor Aberdeen Council Lett. (1950) II. 116 Exacting the saids customes with regor and extremitie.
a1665 K. Digby Jrnl. Voy. to Mediterranean (1868) 30 Such is the effect of gentlenesse and faire wordes after rigour vpon a iust ground, with the vulgar.
1690 J. Locke Two Treat. Govt. ii. vi. §67 There is little Fear that Parents should use their Power with too much Rigor.
1776 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall I. vii. 190 The rigour of the one was tempered by the other's clemency.
1823 W. Scott Peveril I. vii. 175 His rights as a creditor, he had hitherto used with gentleness; and if he should employ rigour, [etc.].
1878 G. MacDonald Ann. Quiet Neighb. xii Rigour was past, and tenderness had not come.
1925 G. S. Hellman Washington Irving Esquire i. 4 Military rulers who treated the patriotic element of the population with rigour and disdain.
1968 G. F. Hudson Fifty Years of Communism iv. 41 Although the Russian government was still an unqualified autocracy, the rigour of state repression of dissent had been considerably softened.
1992 J. M. Kelly Short Hist. Western Legal Theory iii. 113 The Church, nevertheless, had some influence in mitigating the rigour of criminal law.
b. An act or instance of harsh inflexibility, severity, or cruelty; a severe or injurious action or proceeding. Frequently (later usually) in plural. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > strictness > [noun] > extreme strictness or rigour > instance of
rigour?a1475
?a1475 in C. D. Eckhardt Prophetia Merlini (1982) 79 (MED) He þat schall doo this Rigour schall be come a man of brasse.
1534 (?a1500) Weavers' Pageant l. 986 in H. Craig Two Coventry Corpus Christi Plays (1931) 63 The fyfte cummandythe for any reygur Man nor woman that thou schuldist kyll.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Edward IV f. ccv This was a greate rigor and extremitie, for the seruaunt to vse agaynst the Master.
1579 G. Fenton tr. F. Guicciardini Hist. Guicciardin i. 64 The remembrance of many rigors which his father Ferdinand had vsed against them.
1607 E. Grimeston tr. Gen. Inuentorie Hist. France ii. 613 The Maior and Sherifs proceed farther..commaunding the pesants..to set vpon the rebels, not to receiue, lodge, nor feed them that are expelled the Townes: (a rigour which humanitie neuer vsed to the most barbarous).
1672 A. Marvell Rehearsal Transpros'd i. 33 At that time the Ecclesiastical Rigours here were in the highest ferment.
a1734 R. North Examen (1740) i. iii. §164 Many affect Rigors, and will apply them in all Cases, but of themselves and their Partisans.
1786 E. Burke Articles of Charge against W. Hastings 112 All the rigours practised upon the chief ministers..being found ineffectual.
1850 R. W. Emerson Representative Men 180 Those who smarted under the immediate rigors of the new monarch.
1874 S. Cox Pilgrim Psalms 107 By the rigours of bondage they might be constrained to repent.
1919 R. G. Hawtrey Currency & Credit xvi. 261 This was the period of the Terror in France, when the assignats were forced into circulation by all the rigours of the Committee of Public Safety.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > decision > obstinacy or stubbornness > [noun] > obduracy
hardnessOE
rigourc1425
induration1493
indurateness1537
induritness1558
obduracy1600
obdurance1606
obdurateness1612
obdureness1624
obduredness1633
obdurity1655
c1425 Bk. Found. St. Bartholomew's (1923) 25 (MED) He myght not tempyr the hardnes of that yndurat herte from his rygoure.
a1500 tr. La Belle Dame sans Mercy (Cambr.) 720 in F. J. Furnivall Polit., Relig., & Love Poems (1903) 106 (MED) O marbre hert..What vayleth you to schew so gret rygour?
c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy 9863 All the grekes with grem gedret þere herttes..And þus in Rigour þos Renkes Restyn tyll efte.
1620 T. Shelton tr. M. de Cervantes 2nd Pt. Don Quixote lxx. 471 Altisdora would have continued her plaints, accusing Don Quixote of rigour and unkindness.
1673 Bp. S. Parker Reproof Rehearsal Transprosed 319 I cannot conjecture any other grounds you have of charging the Clergy with rigour and obstinacy in all Ages.
1779 S. Dobson tr. J.-B. de la Curne de Sainte-Palaye Lit. Hist. Troubadors 259 He complained bitterly of her rigour, and quitted her for another Lady.
3.
a. Hostility, harshness, or severity (of weather, climate, etc.); extremity of cold; (also) hardship or suffering caused by this. Also (later usually) in plural.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > bad weather > [noun] > condition of > severity
rigoura1525
rudeness1649
severitya1676
austerity1742
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > bad weather > [noun] > stormy weather > violence of a storm
rigoura1525
a1525 (a1500) Sc. Troy Bk. (Douce) l. 1658 in C. Horstmann Barbour's Legendensammlung (1882) II. 275 Wyntir..Was cummand frome his lurkand laire With his rigoure, þe plesand aire Puttand away frome all brichtnes.
1528 R. Copland tr. Secrete of Secretes of Arystotle sig. C.ivv Many euyle & perylles cometh by the rygour of grete coldnesse of wynter.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry V f. lviiiv Suche is the power of the wynd, and suche is the rigoure of the tempest.
?1591 T. Coningsby Jrnl. Siege Rouen (Harl. 288) 43 in Camden Misc. (1847) I It would grieve a man to be torned naked in the rygor of the weather.
1603 R. Johnson tr. G. Botero Hist. Descr. Worlde 147 The snowe..keeping it warme from the rigor of the frost.
1665 R. Boyle Disc. iv. iv, in Occas. Refl. sig. F4 In Winter, when it needs their shelter from the Rigors of that Cold season.
a1771 T. Gray Agrippina in Poems (1775) 132 The rigour Of bleak Germania's snows.
1772 Ann. Reg. 1771 99/2 The present severity and extreme rigour of the weather is..very remarkable.
1851 T. Carlyle Life J. Sterling ii. xi. 289 The rigours of spring were always dangerous to him in England.
1878 R. B. Smith Carthage 209 From regions of Arctic rigour.
1936 H. C. Bailey Clue for Mr. Fortune 36 The flower borders..were..stunted by the rigours of that grim March.
1962 Times 15 Dec. 16/3 (advt.) You can exchange the rigours of Winter for health-giving sunshine by booking an ‘Andes’ cruise.
1998 S. Faulks Charlotte Gray iii. i. 251 After a Highland childhood she had never feared the rigours of the season, though she did wonder how a house the size of the Domaine was heated.
b. Great hardship or distress. Also (later usually) in plural: hardships, privations.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > adversity > [noun] > hardship
hardeOE
grief?c1225
nowcinc1225
sharpship?c1225
straitnessa1340
necessityc1390
hardlaikc1540
hardshipc1540
disage1607
rough1615
rigour1632
erumny1657
strait1837
sufferation1976
the mind > emotion > suffering > mental anguish or torment > [noun]
tintreghc893
threat971
piningOE
murderOE
anguish?c1225
woea1250
pinec1275
tormentc1290
languorc1300
heartbreakc1330
surcarkingc1330
martyrement1340
threst1340
agonyc1384
martyrdomc1384
tormentryc1386
martyre?a1400
tormentisec1405
rack?a1425
anguishing1433
angorc1450
anguishnessa1475
torture?c1550
heartsickness1556
butchery1582
heartache1587
anguishment1592
living hell1596
discruciation1597
heart-aching1607
throeing1615
rigour1632
crucifixion1648
lancination1649
bosom-hell1674
heart-rending1707
brain-racking1708
tormentation1789
bosom-throe1827
angoisse1910
1632 H. More tr. G. Piatti Happines Relig. State i. xiii. 74 The difficulties, and rigour of Pouertie.
1770 Ann. Reg. 1769 Characters 13/2 By this time, the besieged endured the utmost rigour of famine.
1836 C. Dickens Sketches by Boz 1st Ser. II. 99 Alleviating the rigour of her condition by pecuniary donations for her comfort.
1885 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Oct. 449/1 The status of the women of these tribes is not raised, neither does it appear that the rigour of their condition is softened from contact with the white man and the gradual assimilation of his manners.
1924 Iowa City Press-Citizen 18 Sept. 5/3 Truly an example of pioneer life, with its perils, privators and rigors.
1926 M. W. Crookes Plant Life in Maoriland 160 The Fescue tussock..is..suited to withstand the rigour of life on those wind swept altitudes.
1965 L. Tierney in A. F. Davies & S. Encel Austral. Soc. vii. 119 In Australia the rigours of poverty were softened by the climate and the conditions of settlement.
1992 Canad. Geographic Mar. 104/2 Poole interviewed homesteaders fresh to the task of surviving here, and others worn out by the rigours of life on the rain coast.
c. In plural. The requirements, demands, or challenges of a task, activity, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > difficulty > types of difficulty > [noun] > quality of being difficult or exacting
exactiveness1628
rigours1861
exactingness1866
demandingness1930
1861 A. Stevens Hist. Methodism III. xvii. 479 The natural loftiness of the genius of its author characterizes many of his pages, notwithstanding the rigors of a philosophic and scientific composition.
1874 Chronicle (Univ. Michigan) 28 June 212/2 The rigors of the intellectual contest did not prevent us from attending to many matters of business.
1923 Daily Mail 10 Sept. 8/5 It often happens that the muscles of the young player are not sufficiently supple for him to face the rigours of the game.
1958 W. Willetts Chinese Art I. iv. 226 Silk thread is ‘thrown’—that is, twisted—so as to increase its tensile strength and elasticity, the better to undergo the rigours of weaving.
1995 Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey) 22 Oct. vi. 1/2 To support the rigors of marathon training, you need to eat a carbohydrate-rich diet.
2004 New Yorker 18 Oct. 159/2 A politician's aides fire hostile questions at him as a method of preparing for the rigors of public appearances.
** Senses relating to stringency or precision.
4. Sometimes with some implication of cruelty or severity; cf. Phrases.† a. Used elliptically for the rigour of the law: the full extent or strict letter of the law; the application or enforcement of this. Cf. the rigour of the law at Phrases a. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > law enforcement > [noun] > strict terms or enforcement of law
virtue1410
rigourc1425
the rigour of the lawc1425
rigour1426
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) v. l. 1573 (MED) He forȝete nauȝt a point Iustly to punyshe by rigour & bi riȝt Egistus eke.
c1485 ( G. Hay Bk. Law of Armys (2005) 83 The prince..may do him sum fauour yat he be nocht all punyst be the rigour.
1532 in J. D. Marwick Extracts Rec. Burgh Edinb. (1871) II. 57 To be ryalli pvnist..to the rigour but fauouris.
1681 W. Atwood Speech in Jus Anglorum 13 These were the Free-men which made such a cry for their Liberties, as appears by Magna Charta, most of which is onely an abatement of the Rigour, and a Relaxation of the feudal Tenures.
1700 in Pennsylvania Arch. (1852) I. 137 I will have him proceeded against..to ye utmost Rigour.
a1715 Bp. G. Burnet Hist. Own Time (1724) I. 582 The setting fines on their husbands to the rigour would make all the estates of the Country be at mercy.
b. The strict terms, application, or enforcement of some law, rule, etc.; (also) the permitted extent or scope of a regulation, etc. Now rare, except in rigour of the law: see Phrases a(a).
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > strictness > [noun] > rigour or severity of rules, judgement, or discipline
smarthead?a1400
rigour1426
strictness1602
exactness1631
severity1660
society > law > law enforcement > [noun] > strict terms or enforcement of law
virtue1410
rigourc1425
the rigour of the lawc1425
rigour1426
1426 in Rotuli Parl. (1767–77) V. 409/2 That thenne the rygour of the Statut be executed.
1489 W. Caxton tr. C. de Pisan Bk. Fayttes of Armes iii. xxi. 221 Suche a man..ought not to be spared, but al rygoure of rudnesse be doon to hym.
1552 Abp. J. Hamilton Catech. Prol. f. 3 I haif determit to vse agains thame the rigour of iugement.
1605 E. Sandys Relation State of Relig. sig. Y2 v That rigor of justice, which the bountifulnesse of this mercy did mitigate and asweeten.
1673 in O. Airy Essex Papers (1890) I. 89 Should there be any Lands of ye Northumberland family wch, in rigor of law, revert to ye Crowne upon ye failure of an Heir Male.
1823 C. Lamb Mrs. Battle's Opinions on Whist in Elia 73 A clear fire, a clean hearth, and the rigour of the game.
1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. III. i. ii. 20 Let ‘Domiciliary visits’, with rigour of authority, be made to this end.
1872 J. Morley Voltaire iii. 104 The rigour of the rule did not forbid theatrical performances.
1957 Canad. Jrnl. Econ. & Polit. Sci. 23 83 I shall not try to apply this law in the full rigour of its formulation.
5.
a. Austere quality, state, or condition; (in plural) duties, observances, etc., of an austere or exacting character.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > strictness > [noun]
districtionc1450
rigourc1450
straitnessc1460
preciseness1561
strictness1578
districtness1592
stringency1844
the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > asceticism > [noun]
sharpness1340
austerenessa1450
austerityc1450
rigourc1450
severity1481
severeness1579
asceticism1845
ascetism1850
c1450 Alphabet of Tales (1904) I. 11 Ane abbatiss..kepyd diligentlie emang hur susters þe rigur of disciplyne.
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. YYYiiiiv That it is impossible for vs to perseuer & contynewe in suche rigour & streytnesse of lyuyng.
1578 J. Lyly Euphues f. 23v Seeing I cannot by reason restrayne your importunate sute, I will by rigour done on my selfe, cause you to refraine the meanes.
1674 D. Brevint Saul & Samuel 220 The Holy Fathers did lay on him several Degrees of Rigors, before they would take him in again.
1684 Bp. G. Burnet tr. T. More Utopia 115 To undergo, much pain, many watchings, and other rigors.
1705 J. Addison Remarks Italy 524 This Prince..liv'd in this Convent with all the Rigor and Austerity of a Capucin.
a1784 S. Johnson Serm. (1788) I. xiii. 271 Men have ever been persuaded..that they may commute with heaven for a temporal fine, and make rigour atone for relaxity.
1833 L. Ritchie Wanderings by Loire 120 The rigour of the monastic discipline speedily terminated her life.
1933 W. Lewis in Archit. Rev. Jan. 5/1 The barren rigours of the koranic compulsions.
1963 Daily Tel. 3 Oct. 20/2 Many parents rejoice inwardly at..their sons being immured under a régime of spartan rigour.
1967 T. Wilder Eighth Day ii. 157 He was undermining the somber pleasure they derived from the rigor of their existence.
2001 Church Times 25 May 21/3 A portrait of a Jesuit noviciate of a rigour that is almost unimaginable.
b. Extreme strictness or stringency (of standards, conduct, etc.); scrupulousness or rigidity in the application of rules, principles, or precepts; (also occasionally) an instance of this. Cf. rigorism n. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > a standard of conduct > [noun] > acting according to some standard, fashion, etc. > strict or rigorous conformity
austerenessa1450
rigour1536
preciseness1545
precisianism1573
rigorism1704
precisionism1868
1536 R. Taverner tr. P. Melanchthon Confessyon Fayth Germaynes f. 16 The Canons them selues do say, that the olde rigour ought other whyles in the later tymes to be released.
1637 J. Milton Comus 5 Rigor now is gone to bed, And Advice with scrupulous head,..Age, and..Severitie With their graue Sawes in slumber lie.
1650 J. Trapp Clavis to Bible (Deut. ii. 5) 80 It is therefore a rigour, to say, the wicked are usurpers of what they have.
1748 S. Richardson Clarissa VII. 157 Such rigors as these make it difficult for a sliding virtue ever to recover itself.
1785 W. Cowper Task ii. 321 What vice has it [sc. satire] subdu'd? whose heart reclaim'd By rigour, or whom laugh'd into reform?
1835 C. Thirlwall Hist. Greece I. ix. 352 The emergencies of the war had induced the Spartans to relax the rigour of their principles.
1906 W. C. Mackenzie Short Hist. Sc. Highlands & Isles 290 The gradual recession of the clergy of the Established Church from the rigour of Calvinism.
1999 Independent 16 Aug. ii. 1/1 Mackintosh radiates moral rigour and high seriousness, as he bends gravely to listen to a waiter bringing bad news.
2000 A. Mason in A. Hastings et al. Oxf. Compan. Christian Thought 335/1 Jansenism was indeed rigorist, but this is a rigour that desires love, not fear.
6. Strict sense or interpretation; precision, exactness; (in later use also) the quality or condition of being highly detailed, accurate, and thorough.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > freedom from error, correctness > exactness, accuracy, precision > [noun] > strictness
reddoura1375
rigour1494
severity1638
strictness1656
1494 Loutfut MS f. 109, in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue (at cited word) Ȝit..thai diffir in to syndry poyntis as the appellacioun and..quhen it cummis to the rigour of the mater of the quhilk salbe maid remembrance.
1565 T. Cooper Thesaurus at Accipio Ad verbum accipere, to take the rigour of the woorde: to take the woorde as it lyeth.
1595 W. Allen et al. Conf. Next Succession Crowne of Ingland i. vi. 132 As this man in rigour is not truly mayor,..nor the other is properly Emperor.
a1665 J. Goodwin Πλήρωμα τὸ Πνευματικόv (1670) viii. 235 This word in the rigour of the Grammatical signification of it is not alwaies used for interceding for another.
1723 W. Meston Knight i. 26 Of all he knew the right Construction, And could with Nicety and Rigour, Reduce them all to Mode and Figure.
1774 W. Mitford Ess. Harmony Lang. 271 Either the value of the syllable is taken with the utmost rigor, or with latitude.
a1856 W. Hamilton Lect. Metaphysics (1859) I. iii. 61 Sciences, which the term philosophy exclusively denotes, when employed in propriety and rigour.
1873 J. A. Symonds Stud. Greek Poets i. 17 Zeal for greater rigour of thought was instrumental in developing a new vehicle of language in the creation of a prose style.
1879 W. Thomson & P. G. Tait Treat. Nat. Philos. (new ed.) I: Pt. i. §77 Hence we may with perfect rigour conclude that even the extreme case..is included in the general theorem.
1908 Mind 17 373 The Absoluteness of Truth is maintained in all its theoretic rigour.
1964 M. A. K. Halliday et al. in J. A. Fishman Readings Sociol. of Lang. (1968) 164 The spurious rigour of some pseudo-scientific ‘measurements’ of the ‘efficiency’ of language.
1990 Times Educ. Suppl. 23 Nov. 5/2 The more you try to organise integrated humanities around themes and topics, the more you are likely to lose rigour.
II. Physical rigidity or stiffness.† 8. Of material objects: stiffness, rigidity; hardness; (also) an instance of this. Obsolete.
7. = rigor n. 1. Also in extended use. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > fever > [noun] > ague > cold stage of
colda1398
rigora1400
rigour1541
chill1601
algor1716
?c1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (Paris) (1971) 186 A bytyng humour in woundes..inducith rygoure [?a1425 N.Y. Acad. Med. rigorez; L. rigores] and crampes.
a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) iii. 95 (MED) Whan thei ha doon gret part off ther passages, Off werynesse tasswagen ther rigour..Looke offte ageyn..To seen how moch ther iourne is a-cheued.
c1475 ( Surg. Treat. in MS Wellcome 564 f. 127 (MED) Þei siken greuously, & a scharp feuere falliþ, þe which a rigour goiþ bifore.
1541 T. Elyot Castel of Helthe (new ed.) 48 In palseys, or apoplexies, or agaynst the rigour, whiche hapneth in feuers.
1543 B. Traheron tr. J. de Vigo Most Excellent Wks. Chirurg. i. iii. f. 96v/1 Whyche cause rigours, fieuers, spasmes.
1664 J. Chandler tr. J. B. van Helmont Wks. xxix. 226 I slid down, rigour presently came on me, with a loathing, vomiting, and the former appetite to eat, being suppressed.
1676 R. Wiseman Severall Chirurg. Treat. vi. App. ii. 444 The Part is first benummed,..and a Horrour and Rigour seizeth upon the Patient.
1754 W. Smellie Treat. Midwifery III. 180 A fever intervened, with irregular horrors and rigours.
1776 Sir G. Baker in E. S. Thompson Influenza (1890) 80 Some few had, in the beginning, successive rigours.
1859 G. A. Sala Gaslight & Daylight xxvi. 297 Shall the young lady in the apartment next to mine string my nerves into the rigours?
1890 R. L. Stevenson Let. 20 Jan. (1995) VI. 353 I find it at once produces a glow, stops rigour.
1991 Saudi Med. Jrnl. 12 322/1 She was admitted on 27 April 1989 with a 3-day history of fever, rigours, malaise and a generalized rash which on examination was characteristic of chicken pox.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > constitution of matter > hardness > types of hardness > [noun] > stiffness or rigidity
stefhede1340
stiffnessa1398
stefnes?1527
rigour1578
unpliableness1595
rigidity1607
inflexibility1611
unpliancy1657
anchylosis1852
1578 J. Banister Hist. Man vii. f. 90 That so, the outer might defend the inner Membran..from the rigour of the ribbes.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost x. 297 The rest his look Bound with Gorgonian rigor not to move. View more context for this quotation
1693 J. Dryden tr. Ovid Metamorphoses i, in Examen Poeticum 35 The Stones..Did first the Rigour of their Kind expell, And, suppl'd into softness, as they fell.
1749 J. Barrow Dict. Medicum Universale Rigor,..2. A stiffness or inflexibility.
1753 J. Lind Treat. Scurvy i. i. 4 A rigor or stiffness of the lower jaw.
Phrases
a. the rigour of the law and variants: (a) the law interpreted in its strict sense, the letter of the law; the application or enforcement of this; (b) the stringency, severity, or harshness of the law; the application of the law without mitigation or mercy. rare and archaic in later use.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > law enforcement > [noun] > strict terms or enforcement of law
virtue1410
rigourc1425
the rigour of the lawc1425
rigour1426
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) ii. l. 1681 (MED) I schulde in cruel wyse Execute ful hastely iustece Þoruȝ þe rigour of my mortal lawe.
1439–40 Rolls of Parl.: Henry VI (Electronic ed.) Parl. Nov. 1439 §19. m. 13 The said feffes owght not by rigour of lawe, to declare hem self of þexpendyng and demenyng of þe proffitz and revenus.
?1479 W. Pickenham in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) II. 365 To shew vn-to yow the rigur of the lawe.
1553 T. Wilson Arte of Rhetorique 58 b With mercie to mitigate all rigor of the lawe.
1567 A. Golding tr. Ovid Metamorphosis (new ed.) ix. f. 119 Too age it dooth belong Too keepe the rigor of the lawes and search out ryght from wrong.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2 (1623) i. iii. 199 I doe beseech your Royall Maiestie, Let him haue all the rigor of the Law . View more context for this quotation
1669 S. Sturmy Mariners Mag. Summary N 2 b Not to take the just rigour of the Law of England,..but take reasonable satisfaction.
1701 J. Le Clerc Harmony of Evangelists 126 If you are threatened with the Law for the recovery of a Debt, common Prudence will direct you to compound the matter as soon as may be, lest your Creditor force the Rigour of the Law upon you.
1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones II. v. x. 204 The Wickedness of the Country was principally owing to the Encouragement he had given to Vice,..by having mitigated that just and wholesome Rigour of the Law.
1858 Ld. St. Leonards Handy Bk. Prop. Law ii. 3 Chancellors..moderated the rigour of the law according..to equity.
1871 H. E. P. Spofford New-Eng. Legends 38 These Wentworths were a powerful and hotblooded race—nothing but the rigor of the law ever stood between them and a purpose.
1920 Northeastern Reporter 127 3/1 Had he shown good faith in his solemn engagements of marriage, he would have been protected from the rigor of the law.
1998 Huntingdon Libr. Q. 61 136 Even the clergy..could deflect ecclesiastical justice and soften the rigor of the law by telling a good story.
b. the full (also utmost) rigour of the law and variants: the full (also utmost) scope permitted by the law; the application or enforcement of the law in the strictest, severest, or least merciful terms.
ΚΠ
1561 T. Norton tr. J. Calvin Inst. Christian Relig. iii. xix. f. 209v If beyng deliuered from this seuere exacting of the lawe, or rather from the whole rigor of the lawe, thei heare that they be called of God with fatherly gentlenesse: thei wil merily & with great cherefulnesse answer his calling.
1637 R. Humfrey tr. St. Ambrose Christian Offices i. 18 Ful performance of duty according to the extreme rigour of the law.
1798 C. Stearns Rogue proved Honest i. iii. 359 Your brother is a villain, & I intend to prosecute him to the utmost rigor of the law.
1831 in J. A. Picton City of Liverpool: Select. Munic. Rec. (1886) II. 330 The party offending should..be..proceeded with to the utmost rigour of the law.
1873 Harper's Mag. Nov. 939/1 The Italian citizens of this country..desire the utmost rigor of the law to be employed toward those engaged in this diabolical occupation.
1965 Times 5 May 6/6 The magistrates are prepared to invoke the utmost rigour of the law.
1998 A. Taylor Suffocating Night xliv. 311 I shall pursue this with the full rigour of the law. I hope you won't mind if I use your telephone to ring the police.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2010; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
<
n.c1405