proprietary, n. and a.
(prəʊˈpraɪɪtərɪ)
[ad. late L. proprietāri-us (Paulus) proprietary, in med.L. also n. a proprietor, f. proprietās property: see -ary1.]
A. n.
† 1. One who has ‘propriety’ or property in something, or to whom something belongs as property; an owner: = proprietor 2. Obs.
| 1473 Rolls of Parlt. VI. 65/2 The first or former proprietaries and owners of the same. 1541 Declar. War Sc. in Hall Chron., Hen. VIII (1548) 252 b, Our sayd progenitour,..enioyed it, as very proprietary and owner of the realme. 1622 Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 113 If a Factor..giueth not aduice to the owner or proprietarie of the sale of the said goods. 1707 Norris Treat. Humility vii. 299 We are not receivers, but original proprietaries of what we have. 1790 Hist. Europe in Ann. Reg. 16/2 The enraged proprietaries, with their..servants, defeated the plunderers. |
† 2. A member of a religious or monastic order who, in violation of his vow of poverty, reserved goods for himself as private property. Hence fig. A self-seeking or selfish person. Obs.
| c 1450 tr. De Imitatione iii. xxxvii. 107 All proprietaries & louers of hemself. 1502 W. Atkynson Ibid. 226 All proprietaries & louers of them selfe be fetered and nat fre. 1496 Dives & Pauper (W. de Worde) vii. xxi, One of his monkes was in harde payne of purgatorye, for he had a propryetarye vnto the tyme of his deynge. 1538 Bale Thre Lawes 1005 We are such mercenaryes, And subtyle proprietaryes. |
† 3. The holder of an appropriated benefice: = approprietary. Obs.
| c 1460 Oseney Regr. 161 Þe foresaide prior and Couent of Merton proprietaries and persons of þe parisch church of Dunstywe. 1540 Act 32 Hen. VIII, c. 7 §1 The owners proprietaries and possessours of the personnages vicarages [etc.]. 1616 Spelman De non Temer. Eccl. (1668) 96 Upon these reasons Proprietaries are still said to be Parsons of their Churches. 1661 J. Stephens Procurations 30 In such Grants..of Impropriate Rectories those payments..are..left as a charge..upon the Proprietaries. |
4. Amer. Hist. The grantee or owner, or one of the grantees or owners, of any one of certain North American colonies: see B. 3. Also lord proprietary.
| 1637 in Archives of Maryland (1883) I. 23 Insolencies, mutinies and contempts against the Lord Proprietary and the government of this place. 1683 (title) A Letter from William Penn, Proprietary and Governour of Pennsylvania in America. 1765 T. Hutchinson Hist. Mass. I. 329 To govern under..the lords proprietaries. 1876 Bancroft Hist. U.S. I. vii. 182 To the proprietary was given the power of creating manors and courts baron. |
5. A proprietary body, a body of proprietors; proprietors collectively.
| 1803 W. Taylor in Ann. Rev. I. 406 An incroaching but modest plan of reform which will divide the proprietary into hostile factions. 1849 Bright Sp., Burdens on Land 15 Mar. (1876) 423 Certain burdens..borne exclusively by the landed proprietary and real property of this country. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. I. i. 14 The advocates for a peasant proprietary. 1884 Bazaar, Exchange & Mart 13 June 633/2 Of the greatest importance to the proprietary of a paper. |
6. The holding of something as property; proprietorship.
| 1624 Donne Devotions, etc. (ed. 2) 559 Euen in pleasures, and in paines, there is a proprietary, a meum and tuum. 1868 Contemp. Rev. VIII. 610 There is a spiritual commonalty..in which he can claim no exclusive proprietary. 1886 H. George in N. Amer. Rev. April 395 ‘Peasant proprietary’ or ‘occupying ownership’,..the names European economists give to that system of ownership. |
7. Something held as property, a possession; esp. a landed property or estate. ? Obs.
| 1608 Norton Stevin's Disme D ij, That which Land-meater shall need to doe but once, and that at the end of the casting vp of the proprietaries. 1800 Proc. Parl. in Asiat. Ann. Reg. 12/2 Nor could the estate be..divided or parcelled into shares or several proprietaries. 1846 Blackw. Mag. LIX. 406 To one-half of the great proprietaries of the kingdom, a diminution of rent, even by a third, would make their possessors personally bankrupt. |
B. adj.
1. a. Belonging to a proprietor or proprietors; owned or held as property; held in private ownership.
In mod. use applied esp. to medicines or other preparations of which the manufacture or sale is, by patent or otherwise, restricted to a particular person or persons. proprietary name or proprietary term, a word or phrase over which a person or company has some legal rights, esp. in connection with trade (as a trade mark).
| 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie i. xxiv. (Arb.) 62 Worldly goods they come and go, as things not long proprietary to any body. 1701 Grew Cosm. Sacra iii. ii. §38. 99 Though Sheep, which are Proprietary, are seldom Marked, yet they are not apt to straggle. 1818 Hallam Mid. Ages (1872) I. ii. i. 147 note, Alodial lands are commonly opposed to beneficiary or feudal; the former being strictly proprietary. 1866 G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. i, I had formerly officated as curate in a proprietary chapel. 1900 Westm. Gaz. 22 Mar. 9/1 [They] are now charging a shilling a pound more for certain well-known proprietary tobacco. 1911 T. Eaton & Co. Catal. Spring & Summer 175 (heading) Proprietary Medicines. 1921 W. A. Craigie Let. 18 Feb. (Oxf. Dict. files), We have expressly recognized that it [sc. Vaseline] is a proprietary term. 1924 Pocket Oxf. Dict. 932/1 Vaseline... Proprietary term introduced in 1872 by R. A. Chesebrough. 1930 Engineering 7 Mar. 304/1 These stock, or proprietary, engines are made by..specialists. 1930 Economist 22 Nov. 957/1 The Economic Council was unable to agree as to whether the undertaking by retailers selling proprietary articles to charge the price fixed by the manufacturers..should be prohibited. 1933 O.E.D. (new impr.) s.v. Vaseline... A proprietary term, introduced by R. A. Chesebrough in 1872. Ibid. Suppl. s.v. Ferozone... Proprietary name. 1958 New Statesman 28 June 822/2 Many [doctors]..tend to prescribe a well-advertised proprietary brand because they have no time to consult their list for a cheaper standard preparation. 1972 Physics Bull. Aug. 489/2 ‘Freon’ is the proprietary name for Du Pont's brand of the fluorinated derivatives of hydrocarbons used as refrigerants and aerosol propellants. 1974 Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 4 Aug. 10/1 By the mid-18th century, more than 200 so-called ‘proprietary medicines’ were being sold in Britain and in the American colonies. |
b. proprietary company = private company s.v. private a. 7 h. Austral.
| 1896 Companies Act (Victoria, Austral.) §2 ‘Proprietary Company’ means a company..which..(a) has not more than twenty-five members or shareholders; (b) does not receive deposits, except from its members or shareholders..; (c) does not use its title without the addition thereto immediately before the word ‘limited’ of the word ‘proprietary’. 1973 R. N. Purvis Purvis on Proprietary Companies i. 8 A public company must have at least three directors, whereas a proprietary company need have only two. |
2. Holding property; that is a proprietor, or consisting of proprietors.
| a 1709 Atkyns Parl. & Pol. Tracts (1734) 409 He would be the great Proprietary Owner and Disposer of all Estates. 1825 M{supc}Culloch Pol. Econ. Introd. 45 The second, or proprietary class, consists of those who live on the rent of the land, or on the net surplus produce raised by the cultivators. 1844 Ld. Brougham Brit. Const. vi. (1862) 91 The classes who are without any property..would overpower the proprietary classes. |
3. Amer. Hist. Pertaining or subject to the proprietor or owner of any one of certain N. American colonies, which were granted by the Crown to particular persons; being such a proprietor: see A. 4.
| 1704 W. Penn in 15th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. iv. 79 How much better the Colonies thrive in proprietary hands than under the immediate Government of the Crown. 1825 Jefferson Autobiog. Wks. 1859 I. 16 The backwardness of these two colonies might be ascribed partly to the influence of proprietary power and connections. 1899 Westm. Gaz. 30 Aug. 3/2 The provincial governor was either royal or proprietary, and his authority was imposed on the colony by the Crown directly, or by the proprietors through rights granted by the Crown. |
4. Of or relating to property or proprietorship.
| a 1832 Bentham Anarch. Fallacies Wks. 1843 II. 503 Property stands second on the list,—proprietary rights are in the number of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. 1844 H. H. Wilson Brit. India I. 19 The complicated questions of proprietary right to lands that had repeatedly changed masters. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xviii. IV. 183 William could defend the proprietary rights of the Crown only by putting his negative on the bill. |
Hence proˈprietarily adv., in a proprietary capacity; as a proprietor.
| 1654 Vilvain Theol. Treat. vii. 205 Their progeny..enjoyed it [the promised land] proprietarily for many ages. |