sublimityn.

Brit.

/səˈblɪmᵻti/, U.S.

/səˈblɪmədi/

Forms: Middle English–1500s sublimite, Middle English–1500s sublymyte, 1500s sublimitee, 1500s sublimitye, 1500s–1600s sublimitie, 1500s– sublimity, 1600s sublimmity.

Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French sublimité; Latin sublīmitāt-, sublīmitās.

Etymology: < (i) Middle French sublimité (French sublimité ) excellence, perfection (12th cent. in Old French as sublimiteit ), high position or altitude, great height (1521), and its etymon (ii) classical Latin sublīmitāt-, sublīmitās height, elevation, high place, elevated state of mind, sense of exaltation, magnanimity, grandeur of style, in post-classical Latin also high position, high degree of honour (late 2nd cent. in Tertullian; Vulgate), superior being (late 2nd or early 3rd cent. in Tertullian), (with possessive pronoun) title of respect used in addressing a person of high rank or status (6th cent.) < sublīmis sublime adj. + -tās (see -ty suffix¹; compare -ity suffix). Compare Old Occitan sublimitat (14th cent.), Spanish sublimidad (early 15th cent.), Italian sublimità (14th cent.).Some meanings are paralleled in French only at a later date than their first occurrence in English, e.g. ‘greatness of artistic or intellectual conception, grandeur of language or style’ (1694), ‘a sublime thing, feature, thought, or action’ (1829, earliest with reference to literature).

a. Nobility or greatness of nature, character, or conduct; moral, spiritual, or intellectual excellence; perfection.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > surpassing excellence > [noun]

pricea1275

sovereigntyc1340

primacyc1384

sublimityc1429

vassalagec1430

precellence?a1439

pre-excellencec1450

pre-eminencec1460

superexcellencec1475

chief1519

pre-eminency1523

greaterness1540

precellency1557

superexcellency?1563

divinenessa1586

superancya1586

sublimenessa1599

pre-excellency1603

especialness1614

transcendencea1616

transcendency1615

transcendentness1625

top1627

antecellency1657

quality1665

transcendingness1730

transcendentalism1841

surpassingness1879

transcendentality1881

c1429 Mirour Mans Saluacioune (1986) l. 4540 (MED) Fille myne hert with perfit and verray humilitee For til ascende in vertue til hevenly sublimitee.

a1500 (?c1425) Speculum Sacerdotale (1936) 33 (MED) Seeth now, sires, how grete worthynes and sublimite is of Seynt Peter, the prince of apostles.

a1530 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfeccyon (1531) iii. f. CCviii^v The length, the brede, the deepnes, & the sublimite or hye excellence of y^e crosse of Chryst.

1597 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. lxvii. 181 Those things which..for height and sublimitie of matter..wee are not able to reach vnto.

1614 W. Raleigh Hist. World i. i. i. §7. 11 In respect of Gods incomprehensible sublimitie, and puritie.

1655 M. Carter Anal. Honor in Honor Rediv. 17 [Painting] hath beene for its sublimity reckoned..among the liberall Sciences.

1711 tr. S. Werenfels Disc. Meteors Stile in tr. S. Werenfels Disc. Logomachys 229 Remember to distinguish between true Sublimity of Mind and Stile, and a vain flatulence of both.

1756 tr. J. G. Keyssler Trav. I. 279 For truth and sublimity of doctrine, no book or system in the whole world came up to the Holy Scriptures.

a1812 J. S. Buckminster Serm. (1827) 36 Is there any thing to be learned..from the sublimity of the character, which is so much a subject of taste?

1851 ‘L. Mariotti’ Italy in 1848 29 In 1846, France had not reached the acme of republican sublimity.

1874 L. Stephen Hours in Libr. 1st Ser. 289 The genuine old Puritan spirit ceases to be picturesque only because of its sublimity.

1920 Theosophical Path July 17 He [sc. Man] is capable of shaming the angels with his sublimity.

2003 H. Bloom G. Eliot 11 Projected sublimity, traditional heroism, is set aside.

b. An example of this; a morally, spiritually, or intellectually excellent quality, condition, or attribute.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > perfection > [noun] > most perfect form or manifestation

quintessence1579

fifth-essence1584

sublimity1642

sublime1727

refinement1806

1642 J. Milton Apol. Smectymnuus 17 Knowledge and vertue, with such abstracted sublimities as these.

1683 E. Hooker in J. Pordage Theologia Mystica Pref. Epist. 10 Then are you utterly incapacified as to the Concerns of these Mysteries and Sublimities.

a1715 Bp. G. Burnet Hist. Own Time (1724) I. 136 He loved to talk of great sublimities in religion.

1793 W. Roberts Looker-on No. 44. 351 It was no wonder that these mysteries and sublimities of the art were above my comprehension.

1829 I. Taylor Nat. Hist. Enthusiasm ii. 31 Those false sublimities of an enthusiastic pietism.

1869 Ladies' Compan. 18 2nd Ser. 121/2 There is..a sublimity in that wave of life, that flows to and fro through London streets.

1911 J. Hastings Great Texts Bible 522 Our Lord's joy was found among the sublimities; in communion with the Highest.

2001 W. A. Davis Deracination 84 We discover a sublimity within ourselves: our ability to triumph over any force outside us that threatens our dissolution.

a. High office, rank, dignity, or esteem; nobility of status. Formerly also: †a high rank or status (obsolete). Now archaic.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > reputation > honour > [noun] > an honourable position

sublimity?1537

place of worship1592

place1822

society > society and the community > social class > nobility > rank > [noun]

highnesseOE

dignityc1230

worshiphead1340

gentryc1390

heighta1400

rank?c1430

portc1475

affair1480

stateliness1548

character1629

sublimitya1656

station1706

rate1707

elevatedness1731

tchin1861

?1537 tr. Erasmus Declamatio Med. sig. C.v They deserued not chyefly to be praysed which..are contented from theyr hyghnes and sublimitie to humble themselfes vnto these so vyle seruice.

1593 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie i. iv. 56 Being held with admiration of their own sublimitie and honor.

1643 W. Prynne Soveraigne Power Parl. i. 41 If we be profitable servants, why doe we envy the eternall gaines of our Lord for our temporall sublimities or Prerogatives?

a1656 J. Ussher Power of Princes (1661) i. 43 The Regal sublimity is constituted by God.

a1684 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1650 (1955) III. 9 He exaggerated the sublimitie of the calling.

a1727 I. Newton Chronol. Anc. Kingdoms Amended (1728) ii. 226 Jupiter upon an Eagle to signify the sublimity of his dominion.

1795 tr. J.-M. Roland de La Platière Appeal to Impartial Posterity iii. 180 Penetrated..with the rigour and sublimity of the duties of a wife.

1805 Boston Weekly Mag. 23 Feb. 69/1 Those elegant authors..whose profound erudition and brilliant genius, elevated them to that sublimity of rank which insects can never expect to reach.

1868 R. E. Wallis tr. Cyprian Writings I. Epist. xxi. 97 Just as the dignity of their offspring brightens their crown, so the sublimity of his ancestry illuminates his glory.

1910 Current Lit. Apr. 445/1 Noble ancestors, he felt, were essential to his sublimity; and as he had none, he invented some.

1957 E. H. Kantorowicz King's Two Bodies iii. 58 Honor was due..not to the king's personal mediocrity, but to the honor of his sublimity.

2001 T. J. Gianotti tr. al-Ghazālī in Al-Ghazālī's Unspeakable Doctr. of Soul i. 48 Do not neglect the Companions and the sublimity of their rank.

b. Chiefly with capital initial. With possessive adjective: a title of respect used in addressing or referring to a person of high rank or status. Cf. sublime adj. 6b.In 19th cent. chiefly applied to the Ottoman sultan or to the Ottoman government; cf. Sublime Porte at Porte n. Now chiefly in fictional contexts.

ΘΚΠ

society > society and the community > social class > nobility > title > title or form of address for persons of rank > [noun]

yea1225

my Lordc1300

seigniorc1330

squire1382

noblessec1390

lordship1394

grace1423

gentlenessc1425

magnificencec1425

noblenessc1425

greatness1473

worshipc1475

your mightinessa1500

excellency?1533

celsitude1535

altitude1543

Your Honour1551

sublimity1553

excellencea1592

captal1592

gentleperson1597

clemencya1600

gravity1618

grace1625

grandeur1632

eximiousness1648

professorship1656

prince1677

excellenceshipc1716

Graceship1804

seigniorship1823

valiancy1828

your seignorie1829

1553 T. Wilson Arte of Rhetorique iii. f. 86^v I beeyng a Scholastical panion, obtesiate your sublimitee to extoll myne infirmitee.

?1589 T. Nashe Almond for Parrat Ded. 1 Which if your sublimitie accept in good part,..I am yours.

1730 S. Whatley tr. Pope John XXIII in tr. J. Lenfant Hist. Council of Constance I. 64 We desire your Sublimity to be assur'd, that we will do every thing in our Power for the Advancement of your Estate and Honour.

1769 Oxf. Mag. July 19/2 His Sublimity must be more resolute on that head than on any other.

1821 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto IV xci. 116 In the Dardanelles, Waiting for his sublimity's firmān.

1892 Sat. Rev. 22 Oct. 466/1 Its Sublimity was unable to perceive any violation of the Treaty of Berlin.

1930 E. Pound Draft of XXX Cantos xxvi. 124 The humble svt. of yr. Sublimity.

1996 ‘J. le Carré’ Tailor of Panama (1997) viii. 129 His Sublimity strode forward, turned on his heel and faced his guests.

†c. A person of high rank. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

society > society and the community > social class > nobility > rank > [noun] > person of

proudOE

higha1200

estate1399

honourablea1450

statec1449

dignitya1525

high and mighty1576

palasinc1580

titular1605

sublimity1610

dignitary1672

person of condition1673

figure1692

title1817

titulary1824

Hon.1836

high-up1882

high-ranker1899

1610 J. Boys Expos. Domin. Epist. in Wks. (1629) 163 Soueraigne Sublimities on earth are Gods among men.

†a. High position or altitude; great height. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > relative position > high position > [noun]

sublimity1563

altitudo1933

1563 2nd Tome Homelyes Agst. Peril Idol. ii. sig. H h iv When Images are placed in Temples, and set in honorable sublimitie, and begin once to be worshipped.

1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. ii. xvi. 11 The other cause of their [sc. the planets] sublimities is, for that [etc.].

1665 T. Herbert Some Years Trav. (new ed.) 192 The subtility of the air and the sublimity of those Hills, which he says surpass the Alps.

1846 W. S. Landor Imaginary Conversat. in Wks. I. 463/1 The sublimity which he attains who is hurled into the air from a ballista.

b. A high degree or standard, a height; (with the) the highest degree of a quality, emotion, etc.; the height of, the acme.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > quantity > increase in quantity, amount, or degree > [noun] > increase to highest point or degree > highest point of increase

status1577

apex1624

sublimity1637

climax1647

culmination1657

acme1761

boiling-point1773

crescendo1925

1637 Earl of Monmouth tr. V. Malvezzi Romulus & Tarquin 241 Bounding upon madnesse, it [sc. Melancholy] brings men to a sublimity [It. conduce gli huomini al massimo], out of which one cannot passe.

1649 Bp. J. Taylor Great Exemplar i. v. 163 For that is the sublimity of wisdom to do those things living which are to be desired and chosen by dying persons.

1749 J. Heylyn Select Disc. Points of Relig. xiii. 103 in Theol. Lect. at Westminster-Abbey What Tongue of Man or Angel can suffice to tell the Depth, and the Height; the Profundity of His Sufferings, and the Sublimity of Perfection to which They raised Him!

1795 H. M. Williams Lett. Sketch Politics France III. ii. 50 None of them could raise themselves to Carrier's sublimity of wickedness.

1812 S. T. Coleridge Friend (1818) III. 34 There belong to it sublimities of virtues which all may attain, and which no man can transcend.

1828 C. Lamb Guy Faux in Elia 2nd Ser. 140 Such a sublimity of malice.

1883 P. L. Lavroff tr. ‘Stepniak’ Underground Russia 42 He combines in himself the two sublimities of human grandeur: the martyr and the hero.

1911 Fortn. Rev. Jan. 94 The palm for the sublimity of all that is cute and cunning should be awarded to a debate I was privileged to listen to on my first visit to Congress.

1979 B. Chase-Riboud Sally Hemings xxx. 232 He had goaded his master builders, John and Joe, into a sublimity of effort.

†c. A word signifying an extreme or supreme condition or degree. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > ornateness > [noun] > loftiness or grandiloquence > instance of

sublimity1651

sublime1660

sublime1679

grandiloquacity1814

1651 N. Bacon Contin. Hist. Disc. Govt. 79 A qualified legiance beared of those sublimities of absolute, indefinite, immutable, &c.

4. Greatness of artistic or intellectual conception; grandeur of language or style.In later use frequently coloured by sense 6.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > ornateness > [noun] > loftiness or grandiloquence

magnificence1481

stateliness1550

sublimity1581

grandiloquence1589

sublimenessa1599

magniloquency1615

magniloquence1623

elevationa1639

rotundity1655

grandiloquy1656

magniloquy1656

grandeur1657

loftiness1663

magnificentness1727

altiloquence1775

grandiosity1801

grandioso1816

grandiloquent1829

ororotundity1831

ororotundoism1840

orotundity1909

1581 T. Newton in T. Newton et al. tr. Seneca 10 Trag. Ep. Ded. sig. A3^v Penned with a peerelesse sublimity and loftinesse of Style.

1624 T. Gataker Discuss. Transubstant. 103 That subtilty and sublimitie of wit, that Jerome commandeth in Ephrems workes.

1675 T. Hobbes in tr. Homer Odysses To Rdr. sig. B3^v The Sublimity of a Poet, which is that Poetical Fury which the Readers for the most part call for.

1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 279. ¶4 Milton's chief Talent, and indeed his distinguishing Excellence, lies in the Sublimity of his Thoughts.

1790 W. Paley Horæ Paulinæ i. 7 Bursts of rapture and of unparalleled sublimity.

1841 W. Spalding Italy & Ital. Islands I. 158 Polycletus,..a fellow-pupil of Phidias,..did not reach the sublimity of his rival in the representation of divinity.

1896 Duke of Argyll Philos. Belief 280 It is impossible to deny the sublimity of this conception.

1922 W. A. Nitze & E. P. Dargan Hist. French Lit. vi. iii. 541 Oceans and wars, demi-gods and centuries parade before us, and Hugo's highest visioning does not fall short of sublimity.

1975 H. Bloom Map of Misreading iii. vii. 143 What Davenant and Cowley could not manage was a complete translation to their own purposes of received rhetoric; but Milton raised such translation to sublimity.

1998 L. Kozlowski in F. Stafford & H. Gaskill From Gaelic to Romantic 121 Burke associates sublimity of language with abstract words.

5. The state of emotion produced by the perception or contemplation of the sublime, esp. in nature or art. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > pleasure > joy, gladness, or delight > rapture or ecstasy > [noun] > produced by contemplation of the sublime

sublimity1739

1739 D. Hume Treat. Human Nature II. iii. 282 Any great elevation of place communicates a kind of pride or sublimity of imagination.

c1791 Encycl. Brit. (1797) VIII. 107/2 The emotions of grandeur and sublimity are nearly allied.

1887 A. Bain On Teaching Eng. vi. 100 The Emotion termed Sublimity is connected with vastness of Power.

2003 C. Jones Literary Memory ii. 50 The emotion of beauty or sublimity is increased by whatever stimulates the imagination.

a. That quality in nature or art which produces feelings of awe, reverence, or other high emotion; great beauty, grandeur, magnificence, etc.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > excitement > inspiration > [noun] > sublimely exciting quality

sublimity1759

1759 A. Gerard Ess. on Taste ii. i. 81 The sublimity of the heavens could not fail to enrapture one unaccustomed to the glorious spectacle.

1785 Gentleman's Mag. Nov. 584/1 The Carthusian Convent of St. Martin..I believe the best situated monastrey in Europe; every thing appertaining to it corresponds with the sublimity of the view.

1849 J. Ruskin Seven Lamps Archit. iii. 72 This expedient of continued series forms the sublimity of arcades and aisles.

1883 R. Broughton Belinda II. vi. 273 A sunset of suave sublimity usually means that it will be followed by a sunrise as nobly fair.

1919 J. C. van Dyke Text-bk. Hist. Painting (new ed.) x. 128 Some of the Venetian chromatic schemes rise in sublimity almost to the Sistine modellings of Michelangelo.

1986 Brit. Jrnl. Aesthetics Autumn 383 Addison's discussions of Beauty and Greatness—or Sublimity, as it later came to be called.

1999 J. Raban Passage to Juneau iii. 160 Ingraham's commonplace delight in sublimity was a necessary precondition for explorers of this coast.

b. A sublime feature or aspect of nature or art. Usually in plural.In quot. 1844: a sublime expanse.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > excitement > inspiration > [noun] > sublimely exciting quality > feature

sublimity1778

1778 J. Sturch View Isle of Wight i. 4 This alone, to one of your taste for the beauties and sublimities of nature would..be considered as a noble and entertaining object.

1793 Universal Mag. Sept. 191/2 A man admires the beauties of a piece of art, or the sublimities of a scene of nature.

1819 in Corr. Lady Lyttelton (1912) 214 The sublimities of the Alps.

1844 J. R. Lowell in Littell's Living Age 16 Nov. 165/1 The sky, With all its bright sublimity of stars.

1911 E. Q. Smith Trav. at Home & Abroad I. vii. 110 There are mountains on every side, with a sublimity of snow-capped peaks and rocky steeps.

1974 Q. Bell V. Woolf iv. 78 They drove off..to an evening party at the Holman Hunts where they found the Master with a large company explaining the sublimities of The Light of the World.

2001 M. Pollan Bot. Desire iv The sublimities of wilderness have their place,..but I want to speak a word here for the satisfactions of the ordered earth.

Derivatives

† sublimityship n. Obsolete rare (with possessive adjective) a mock title of respect for a person of high status or grand demeanour.

ΚΠ

1857 Blackwood's Mag. July 35/1 Her Serene Sublimityship, Lady Selina Vipont.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	sublimity
释义	sublimityn. Brit. /səˈblɪmᵻti/, U.S. /səˈblɪmədi/ Forms: Middle English–1500s sublimite, Middle English–1500s sublymyte, 1500s sublimitee, 1500s sublimitye, 1500s–1600s sublimitie, 1500s– sublimity, 1600s sublimmity. Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French sublimité; Latin sublīmitāt-, sublīmitās. Etymology: < (i) Middle French sublimité (French sublimité ) excellence, perfection (12th cent. in Old French as sublimiteit ), high position or altitude, great height (1521), and its etymon (ii) classical Latin sublīmitāt-, sublīmitās height, elevation, high place, elevated state of mind, sense of exaltation, magnanimity, grandeur of style, in post-classical Latin also high position, high degree of honour (late 2nd cent. in Tertullian; Vulgate), superior being (late 2nd or early 3rd cent. in Tertullian), (with possessive pronoun) title of respect used in addressing a person of high rank or status (6th cent.) < sublīmis sublime adj. + -tās (see -ty suffix¹; compare -ity suffix). Compare Old Occitan sublimitat (14th cent.), Spanish sublimidad (early 15th cent.), Italian sublimità (14th cent.).Some meanings are paralleled in French only at a later date than their first occurrence in English, e.g. ‘greatness of artistic or intellectual conception, grandeur of language or style’ (1694), ‘a sublime thing, feature, thought, or action’ (1829, earliest with reference to literature). 1. a. Nobility or greatness of nature, character, or conduct; moral, spiritual, or intellectual excellence; perfection. ΘΚΠ the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > surpassing excellence > [noun] pricea1275 sovereigntyc1340 primacyc1384 sublimityc1429 vassalagec1430 precellence?a1439 pre-excellencec1450 pre-eminencec1460 superexcellencec1475 chief1519 pre-eminency1523 greaterness1540 precellency1557 superexcellency?1563 divinenessa1586 superancya1586 sublimenessa1599 pre-excellency1603 especialness1614 transcendencea1616 transcendency1615 transcendentness1625 top1627 antecellency1657 quality1665 transcendingness1730 transcendentalism1841 surpassingness1879 transcendentality1881 c1429 Mirour Mans Saluacioune (1986) l. 4540 (MED) Fille myne hert with perfit and verray humilitee For til ascende in vertue til hevenly sublimitee. a1500 (?c1425) Speculum Sacerdotale (1936) 33 (MED) Seeth now, sires, how grete worthynes and sublimite is of Seynt Peter, the prince of apostles. a1530 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfeccyon (1531) iii. f. CCviii^v The length, the brede, the deepnes, & the sublimite or hye excellence of y^e crosse of Chryst. 1597 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. lxvii. 181 Those things which..for height and sublimitie of matter..wee are not able to reach vnto. 1614 W. Raleigh Hist. World i. i. i. §7. 11 In respect of Gods incomprehensible sublimitie, and puritie. 1655 M. Carter Anal. Honor in Honor Rediv. 17 [Painting] hath beene for its sublimity reckoned..among the liberall Sciences. 1711 tr. S. Werenfels Disc. Meteors Stile in tr. S. Werenfels Disc. Logomachys 229 Remember to distinguish between true Sublimity of Mind and Stile, and a vain flatulence of both. 1756 tr. J. G. Keyssler Trav. I. 279 For truth and sublimity of doctrine, no book or system in the whole world came up to the Holy Scriptures. a1812 J. S. Buckminster Serm. (1827) 36 Is there any thing to be learned..from the sublimity of the character, which is so much a subject of taste? 1851 ‘L. Mariotti’ Italy in 1848 29 In 1846, France had not reached the acme of republican sublimity. 1874 L. Stephen Hours in Libr. 1st Ser. 289 The genuine old Puritan spirit ceases to be picturesque only because of its sublimity. 1920 Theosophical Path July 17 He [sc. Man] is capable of shaming the angels with his sublimity. 2003 H. Bloom G. Eliot 11 Projected sublimity, traditional heroism, is set aside. b. An example of this; a morally, spiritually, or intellectually excellent quality, condition, or attribute. ΘΚΠ the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > perfection > [noun] > most perfect form or manifestation quintessence1579 fifth-essence1584 sublimity1642 sublime1727 refinement1806 1642 J. Milton Apol. Smectymnuus 17 Knowledge and vertue, with such abstracted sublimities as these. 1683 E. Hooker in J. Pordage Theologia Mystica Pref. Epist. 10 Then are you utterly incapacified as to the Concerns of these Mysteries and Sublimities. a1715 Bp. G. Burnet Hist. Own Time (1724) I. 136 He loved to talk of great sublimities in religion. 1793 W. Roberts Looker-on No. 44. 351 It was no wonder that these mysteries and sublimities of the art were above my comprehension. 1829 I. Taylor Nat. Hist. Enthusiasm ii. 31 Those false sublimities of an enthusiastic pietism. 1869 Ladies' Compan. 18 2nd Ser. 121/2 There is..a sublimity in that wave of life, that flows to and fro through London streets. 1911 J. Hastings Great Texts Bible 522 Our Lord's joy was found among the sublimities; in communion with the Highest. 2001 W. A. Davis Deracination 84 We discover a sublimity within ourselves: our ability to triumph over any force outside us that threatens our dissolution. 2. a. High office, rank, dignity, or esteem; nobility of status. Formerly also: †a high rank or status (obsolete). Now archaic. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > reputation > honour > [noun] > an honourable position sublimity?1537 place of worship1592 place1822 society > society and the community > social class > nobility > rank > [noun] highnesseOE dignityc1230 worshiphead1340 gentryc1390 heighta1400 rank?c1430 portc1475 affair1480 stateliness1548 character1629 sublimitya1656 station1706 rate1707 elevatedness1731 tchin1861 ?1537 tr. Erasmus Declamatio Med. sig. C.v They deserued not chyefly to be praysed which..are contented from theyr hyghnes and sublimitie to humble themselfes vnto these so vyle seruice. 1593 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie i. iv. 56 Being held with admiration of their own sublimitie and honor. 1643 W. Prynne Soveraigne Power Parl. i. 41 If we be profitable servants, why doe we envy the eternall gaines of our Lord for our temporall sublimities or Prerogatives? a1656 J. Ussher Power of Princes (1661) i. 43 The Regal sublimity is constituted by God. a1684 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1650 (1955) III. 9 He exaggerated the sublimitie of the calling. a1727 I. Newton Chronol. Anc. Kingdoms Amended (1728) ii. 226 Jupiter upon an Eagle to signify the sublimity of his dominion. 1795 tr. J.-M. Roland de La Platière Appeal to Impartial Posterity iii. 180 Penetrated..with the rigour and sublimity of the duties of a wife. 1805 Boston Weekly Mag. 23 Feb. 69/1 Those elegant authors..whose profound erudition and brilliant genius, elevated them to that sublimity of rank which insects can never expect to reach. 1868 R. E. Wallis tr. Cyprian Writings I. Epist. xxi. 97 Just as the dignity of their offspring brightens their crown, so the sublimity of his ancestry illuminates his glory. 1910 Current Lit. Apr. 445/1 Noble ancestors, he felt, were essential to his sublimity; and as he had none, he invented some. 1957 E. H. Kantorowicz King's Two Bodies iii. 58 Honor was due..not to the king's personal mediocrity, but to the honor of his sublimity. 2001 T. J. Gianotti tr. al-Ghazālī in Al-Ghazālī's Unspeakable Doctr. of Soul i. 48 Do not neglect the Companions and the sublimity of their rank. b. Chiefly with capital initial. With possessive adjective: a title of respect used in addressing or referring to a person of high rank or status. Cf. sublime adj. 6b.In 19th cent. chiefly applied to the Ottoman sultan or to the Ottoman government; cf. Sublime Porte at Porte n. Now chiefly in fictional contexts. ΘΚΠ society > society and the community > social class > nobility > title > title or form of address for persons of rank > [noun] yea1225 my Lordc1300 seigniorc1330 squire1382 noblessec1390 lordship1394 grace1423 gentlenessc1425 magnificencec1425 noblenessc1425 greatness1473 worshipc1475 your mightinessa1500 excellency?1533 celsitude1535 altitude1543 Your Honour1551 sublimity1553 excellencea1592 captal1592 gentleperson1597 clemencya1600 gravity1618 grace1625 grandeur1632 eximiousness1648 professorship1656 prince1677 excellenceshipc1716 Graceship1804 seigniorship1823 valiancy1828 your seignorie1829 1553 T. Wilson Arte of Rhetorique iii. f. 86^v I beeyng a Scholastical panion, obtesiate your sublimitee to extoll myne infirmitee. ?1589 T. Nashe Almond for Parrat Ded. 1 Which if your sublimitie accept in good part,..I am yours. 1730 S. Whatley tr. Pope John XXIII in tr. J. Lenfant Hist. Council of Constance I. 64 We desire your Sublimity to be assur'd, that we will do every thing in our Power for the Advancement of your Estate and Honour. 1769 Oxf. Mag. July 19/2 His Sublimity must be more resolute on that head than on any other. 1821 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto IV xci. 116 In the Dardanelles, Waiting for his sublimity's firmān. 1892 Sat. Rev. 22 Oct. 466/1 Its Sublimity was unable to perceive any violation of the Treaty of Berlin. 1930 E. Pound Draft of XXX Cantos xxvi. 124 The humble svt. of yr. Sublimity. 1996 ‘J. le Carré’ Tailor of Panama (1997) viii. 129 His Sublimity strode forward, turned on his heel and faced his guests. †c. A person of high rank. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ society > society and the community > social class > nobility > rank > [noun] > person of proudOE higha1200 estate1399 honourablea1450 statec1449 dignitya1525 high and mighty1576 palasinc1580 titular1605 sublimity1610 dignitary1672 person of condition1673 figure1692 title1817 titulary1824 Hon.1836 high-up1882 high-ranker1899 1610 J. Boys Expos. Domin. Epist. in Wks. (1629) 163 Soueraigne Sublimities on earth are Gods among men. 3. †a. High position or altitude; great height. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > space > relative position > high position > [noun] sublimity1563 altitudo1933 1563 2nd Tome Homelyes Agst. Peril Idol. ii. sig. H h iv When Images are placed in Temples, and set in honorable sublimitie, and begin once to be worshipped. 1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. ii. xvi. 11 The other cause of their [sc. the planets] sublimities is, for that [etc.]. 1665 T. Herbert Some Years Trav. (new ed.) 192 The subtility of the air and the sublimity of those Hills, which he says surpass the Alps. 1846 W. S. Landor Imaginary Conversat. in Wks. I. 463/1 The sublimity which he attains who is hurled into the air from a ballista. b. A high degree or standard, a height; (with the) the highest degree of a quality, emotion, etc.; the height of, the acme. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > quantity > increase in quantity, amount, or degree > [noun] > increase to highest point or degree > highest point of increase status1577 apex1624 sublimity1637 climax1647 culmination1657 acme1761 boiling-point1773 crescendo1925 1637 Earl of Monmouth tr. V. Malvezzi Romulus & Tarquin 241 Bounding upon madnesse, it [sc. Melancholy] brings men to a sublimity [It. conduce gli huomini al massimo], out of which one cannot passe. 1649 Bp. J. Taylor Great Exemplar i. v. 163 For that is the sublimity of wisdom to do those things living which are to be desired and chosen by dying persons. 1749 J. Heylyn Select Disc. Points of Relig. xiii. 103 in Theol. Lect. at Westminster-Abbey What Tongue of Man or Angel can suffice to tell the Depth, and the Height; the Profundity of His Sufferings, and the Sublimity of Perfection to which They raised Him! 1795 H. M. Williams Lett. Sketch Politics France III. ii. 50 None of them could raise themselves to Carrier's sublimity of wickedness. 1812 S. T. Coleridge Friend (1818) III. 34 There belong to it sublimities of virtues which all may attain, and which no man can transcend. 1828 C. Lamb Guy Faux in Elia 2nd Ser. 140 Such a sublimity of malice. 1883 P. L. Lavroff tr. ‘Stepniak’ Underground Russia 42 He combines in himself the two sublimities of human grandeur: the martyr and the hero. 1911 Fortn. Rev. Jan. 94 The palm for the sublimity of all that is cute and cunning should be awarded to a debate I was privileged to listen to on my first visit to Congress. 1979 B. Chase-Riboud Sally Hemings xxx. 232 He had goaded his master builders, John and Joe, into a sublimity of effort. †c. A word signifying an extreme or supreme condition or degree. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > ornateness > [noun] > loftiness or grandiloquence > instance of sublimity1651 sublime1660 sublime1679 grandiloquacity1814 1651 N. Bacon Contin. Hist. Disc. Govt. 79 A qualified legiance beared of those sublimities of absolute, indefinite, immutable, &c. 4. Greatness of artistic or intellectual conception; grandeur of language or style.In later use frequently coloured by sense 6. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > ornateness > [noun] > loftiness or grandiloquence magnificence1481 stateliness1550 sublimity1581 grandiloquence1589 sublimenessa1599 magniloquency1615 magniloquence1623 elevationa1639 rotundity1655 grandiloquy1656 magniloquy1656 grandeur1657 loftiness1663 magnificentness1727 altiloquence1775 grandiosity1801 grandioso1816 grandiloquent1829 ororotundity1831 ororotundoism1840 orotundity1909 1581 T. Newton in T. Newton et al. tr. Seneca 10 Trag. Ep. Ded. sig. A3^v Penned with a peerelesse sublimity and loftinesse of Style. 1624 T. Gataker Discuss. Transubstant. 103 That subtilty and sublimitie of wit, that Jerome commandeth in Ephrems workes. 1675 T. Hobbes in tr. Homer Odysses To Rdr. sig. B3^v The Sublimity of a Poet, which is that Poetical Fury which the Readers for the most part call for. 1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 279. ¶4 Milton's chief Talent, and indeed his distinguishing Excellence, lies in the Sublimity of his Thoughts. 1790 W. Paley Horæ Paulinæ i. 7 Bursts of rapture and of unparalleled sublimity. 1841 W. Spalding Italy & Ital. Islands I. 158 Polycletus,..a fellow-pupil of Phidias,..did not reach the sublimity of his rival in the representation of divinity. 1896 Duke of Argyll Philos. Belief 280 It is impossible to deny the sublimity of this conception. 1922 W. A. Nitze & E. P. Dargan Hist. French Lit. vi. iii. 541 Oceans and wars, demi-gods and centuries parade before us, and Hugo's highest visioning does not fall short of sublimity. 1975 H. Bloom Map of Misreading iii. vii. 143 What Davenant and Cowley could not manage was a complete translation to their own purposes of received rhetoric; but Milton raised such translation to sublimity. 1998 L. Kozlowski in F. Stafford & H. Gaskill From Gaelic to Romantic 121 Burke associates sublimity of language with abstract words. 5. The state of emotion produced by the perception or contemplation of the sublime, esp. in nature or art. Now rare. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > pleasure > joy, gladness, or delight > rapture or ecstasy > [noun] > produced by contemplation of the sublime sublimity1739 1739 D. Hume Treat. Human Nature II. iii. 282 Any great elevation of place communicates a kind of pride or sublimity of imagination. c1791 Encycl. Brit. (1797) VIII. 107/2 The emotions of grandeur and sublimity are nearly allied. 1887 A. Bain On Teaching Eng. vi. 100 The Emotion termed Sublimity is connected with vastness of Power. 2003 C. Jones Literary Memory ii. 50 The emotion of beauty or sublimity is increased by whatever stimulates the imagination. 6. a. That quality in nature or art which produces feelings of awe, reverence, or other high emotion; great beauty, grandeur, magnificence, etc. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > excitement > inspiration > [noun] > sublimely exciting quality sublimity1759 1759 A. Gerard Ess. on Taste ii. i. 81 The sublimity of the heavens could not fail to enrapture one unaccustomed to the glorious spectacle. 1785 Gentleman's Mag. Nov. 584/1 The Carthusian Convent of St. Martin..I believe the best situated monastrey in Europe; every thing appertaining to it corresponds with the sublimity of the view. 1849 J. Ruskin Seven Lamps Archit. iii. 72 This expedient of continued series forms the sublimity of arcades and aisles. 1883 R. Broughton Belinda II. vi. 273 A sunset of suave sublimity usually means that it will be followed by a sunrise as nobly fair. 1919 J. C. van Dyke Text-bk. Hist. Painting (new ed.) x. 128 Some of the Venetian chromatic schemes rise in sublimity almost to the Sistine modellings of Michelangelo. 1986 Brit. Jrnl. Aesthetics Autumn 383 Addison's discussions of Beauty and Greatness—or Sublimity, as it later came to be called. 1999 J. Raban Passage to Juneau iii. 160 Ingraham's commonplace delight in sublimity was a necessary precondition for explorers of this coast. b. A sublime feature or aspect of nature or art. Usually in plural.In quot. 1844: a sublime expanse. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > excitement > inspiration > [noun] > sublimely exciting quality > feature sublimity1778 1778 J. Sturch View Isle of Wight i. 4 This alone, to one of your taste for the beauties and sublimities of nature would..be considered as a noble and entertaining object. 1793 Universal Mag. Sept. 191/2 A man admires the beauties of a piece of art, or the sublimities of a scene of nature. 1819 in Corr. Lady Lyttelton (1912) 214 The sublimities of the Alps. 1844 J. R. Lowell in Littell's Living Age 16 Nov. 165/1 The sky, With all its bright sublimity of stars. 1911 E. Q. Smith Trav. at Home & Abroad I. vii. 110 There are mountains on every side, with a sublimity of snow-capped peaks and rocky steeps. 1974 Q. Bell V. Woolf iv. 78 They drove off..to an evening party at the Holman Hunts where they found the Master with a large company explaining the sublimities of The Light of the World. 2001 M. Pollan Bot. Desire iv The sublimities of wilderness have their place,..but I want to speak a word here for the satisfactions of the ordered earth. Derivatives † sublimityship n. Obsolete rare (with possessive adjective) a mock title of respect for a person of high status or grand demeanour. ΚΠ 1857 Blackwood's Mag. July 35/1 Her Serene Sublimityship, Lady Selina Vipont. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.c1429
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