plurality
(plʊˈrælɪtɪ)
[a. OF. pluralite (14th c.), ad. late L. plūrālitās (Ambrose), f. plūrāl-is plural.]
I. Related in sense to pl.
1. The state of being plural; the fact or condition of denoting, comprising, or consisting of more than one.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. xxxii. (MS. Bodl.), Pluralite of hornes folowiþ þe clifte of fote [in four-footed beasts]. 1563 Homilies ii. Of Cert. Places of Script. i. (1859) 374 The plurality of wives was by a special prerogative suffered to the fathers of the Old Testament. 1624 Gataker Transubst. 183 To shew how in one nature there may be a plurality of persons. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v., A plurality of worlds is a thing which Mr. Huygens has endeavoured to prove in his Cosmotheoros. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. xviii. II. 103 Many of the Armenian nobles still refused to abandon the plurality of their gods and of their wives. 1869 H. F. Tozer Highl. Turkey I. 27 The..question of the unity or plurality of authorship of the poem. 1898 J. R. Illingworth Divine Immanence (1904) vii. 86/2 The fact that there is plurality, triune plurality in God. |
b. The fact of there being many; numerousness; hence, a large number or quantity; a multitude.
| 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 27, I haue studiede that hit schal be called Policronicon of the pluralite of tymes whom it dothe conteyne. 1533 Bellenden Livy i. Prol. (S.T.S.) I. 7 In sic pluralite of writaris my fame is obscure and of litill estimatioun. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 445 Pluralitie of meit and drink siclike, Forbiddin wes bayth for puir and ryke. 1609 B. Jonson Sil. Wom. iv. iii, Doe you count it lawfull to haue such pluralitie of seruants? 1664 Power Exp. Philos. i. 37 Through a good Microscope, he may easily see..variety in the plurality, paucity, and anomalous Situation of eyes. 1859 Mill Liberty iii. (1865) 42/2 Europe is, in my judgment, wholly indebted to this plurality of paths for its progressive and many-sided development. 1866 Rogers Agric. & Prices I. xx. 512 The money-chest was also secured by a plurality of locks. |
2. Eccl. a. The holding of two or more benefices or livings concurrently by one person. b. A benefice or living held concurrently with another or others; pl. two or more benefices held together.
| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. xi. 197 Dewid he is also, And haþ possessions & pluralites for pore menis sake. c 1440 Jacob's Well 18 Alle þey bene acursed, þat receyvin & holdyn pluralyte of cherchys. 1551 Crowley Pleas. & Pain 533 Geue ouer your pluralities..betake you to one benifice. 1642 Milton Apol. Smect. Wks. 1851 III. 325 Who ingrosse many pluralities under a non-resident and slubbring dispatch of soules. a 1715 Bp. Burnet Own Time vii. (1823) VI. 646 The scandalous practices of non-residence and pluralities. Ibid., I do not reckon the holding poor livings that lie contiguous, a plurality, where both are looked after, and both afford only a competent maintenance. a 1817 T. Dwight Trav. New Eng., etc. (1821) II. 50 There are two congregations in North-Haven: a Presbyterian, and an Episcopal. The latter is a small plurality, under the care of a neighbouring minister. 1877 Freeman Norm. Conq. (ed. 3) II. vii. 83 This holding of sees in plurality..was by no means uncommon at the time. |
c. transf. of offices or positions generally.
| 1678 Lady Chaworth in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 47 Some mention the laying sums upon all pluralities of qualities, dignities, and offices. 1850 Lyell 2nd Visit U.S. II. 82 Some wealthy slave-owners of Alabama have estates in Mississippi. With a view of checking the increase of these ‘pluralities’, a tax has recently been imposed on absentees. 1893 Law Times XCIV. 452/1 There is a growing feeling that plurality in the matter of directorships is dangerous and to be deprecated. |
II. Related in sense to L. plus more.
Etymologically, these are improper uses, being in form derivatives of pl., while in sense they are derivatives of plūs, plūr-. On the analogy of major-ity, minor-ity, superior-ity, etc., the etymological form is plurity.
3. The greater number or part; more than half of the whole; = majority 3. [At first Scotch, from F. pluralité.]
| 1578 Bk. Univ. Kirk of Scotl. (Bann. Cl.) 412 For electioun of ane Moderatour, Mrs Johne Row, David Fergusone and Johne Duncansone was proponit in leits, and be pluralitie of votes Mr Johne Row [Minister at Perth] was chosin Moderatour. 1581 Ibid. 522 The said Mr Johne, be pluralitie of votes, was chosin Moderator hac vice. 1600 E. Blount tr. Conestaggio 228 The pluralitie of voices refusing to accept the armes. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. (1839) 528 To bring the people together, to elect them by plurality of votes. 1654 Fuller Comm. Ruth (1868) 37 Verity consisteth not in the plurality of voices. 1683 Evelyn Mem. (1857) II. 187 The plurality of the younger judges and rising men judged it otherwise. 1703 Duke of Queensberry in Ellis Orig. Letters Ser. ii. IV. No. 394. 227 This was thrown out by a great plurality. 1794 Hist. in Ann. Reg. 91/1 The plurality..of their chiefs endeavoured in vain to stem the torrent of disobedience. 1823 Niles' Register XXIV. 217/2 At the late election..[in Maine], only three gentlemen were chosen... Neither of the others had a plurality of the whole number of votes. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 74 Socrates would rather not decide the question by a plurality of votes. |
4. U.S. Politics. An excess of votes polled by the leading candidate in an election above those polled by the one next to him, in cases where there are three or more candidates; as distinguished from majority, which in such cases is applied to an absolute majority of all the votes given.
(The earlier sense (3) was in use in 1823: see above.)
| 1828 Webster s.v., In elections, a plurality of votes is when one candidate has more votes than any other, but less than half of the whole number of votes given. 1846 Worcester s.v., A candidate, in an election, receives a plurality of votes, when he receives more than any other candidate; and he receives a majority of votes, when he receives more than all others. 1864 Webster s.v., Plurality of votes, the excess of votes cast for one individual over those cast for any other of several competing candidates. 1884 Manch. Exam. 8 Nov. 4/7 Governor Cleveland had a thousand plurality in New York State, and was elected President. 1885 Pall Mall G. 31 Mar. 8/2 He ran again last fall, and had a plurality over the Republican candidate; but as it requires in that State [Connecticut] a majority over all to elect, the Legislature elected his Republican competitor. |
III. 5. attrib. and Comb.
| 1642 Milton Apol. Smect. Wks. 1851 III. 307 The non-resident and plurality-gaping Prelats, the gulphs and whirle pooles of benefices. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 863 The differences on which the plurality hypothesis is founded. |