enjoin, v.
(ɛnˈdʒɔɪn)
Forms: α. 3 enjunȝe, (anjoyni, ? angeonni), 3–4 enyoyn, 4–8 enjoyn(e, 4 (enjon), enjoign, (6 enjun), 7 enjoine, 7– enjoin. β. 6–7 inioyn(e, injoyn(e, (7 inoyne), 6–9 injoin. (See also adjoin ¶ .)
[a. Fr. enjoign- (stem of enjoindre, corresp. to Pr. enjunher, It. ingiugnere:—L. injungĕre to join on, to impose (a penalty or duty), f. in- + jungĕre to join.]
† 1. trans. To join together. Obs.
| 1382 Wyclif Matt. xix. 6 Therfore a man departe nat that thing that God enioynyde, or knytte to gidre. 1393 Langland P. Pl. C. xi. 130 With wynd and water wittyliche en-ioyned. 1502 Ord. Crysten Men v. ii. (1506) 366 To enioyne hete and colde in one selfe torment. 1559 Homilies i. Adultery ii, Through whoredome to be enjoyned [1547 joined] and made all one with a whore. c 1600 Norden Cornwall in Johns Week Lizard (1848) 224 The forces of manie strong men enjoyned can doe no more in moving it. 1684 Charnock Wks. (1864) I. 115 A reflection upon what God hath done should be enjoined with our desires of what we would have God to do for us. |
† b. To take part in; also, to attach oneself to, join (a company). Obs.
| 1546 Gardiner Decl. Articles Joye 59 His ministers..enioyning his glory and his honour. 1571 Digges Pantom. Pref., Enjoyning the company of Euclide, Archimedes, etc. |
† c. intr. for refl. To join, make common cause with. Obs. rare—1.
| 1734 tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. II. vii. 382 Theron enjoined [1739 (ed. 2) joined] with his father-in-law. |
2. In early use: To impose (a penalty, task, duty, or obligation); said esp. of a spiritual director (to enjoin penance, etc.). Hence in mod. use: To prescribe authoritatively and with emphasis (an action, a course of conduct, state of feeling, etc.). Const. on, upon (a person); formerly to, or dat. (or acc.: see 2 b); also simply.
‘It is more authoritative than direct, and less imperious than command’ (J.).
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 346 Al þet vuel þet tu euer þolest uor þe luue of Iesu Crist, wiðinnen þine ancre wowes,— al ich on iunne [better readings enjunȝe, angeonni] þe. 1340 Ayenb. 172 Þet he habbe power..him penonce to anioynj be þe zenne. c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 43 Þo mynystris..schullen wiþ mercy enyonye hen penaunce. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xiii. 412 Penaunce þat þe prest enioigneth. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 32 It semiþ þat God enioniþ to doctors & dekunis þe minstri of presthed & of dekunhed. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon lxv. 223 That was eniunyd hym on payne of deth. 1577 Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1619) 503 And enioyned him no other punishment. 1616 Hieron Wks. II. 31, I perswade not a neglect of reading; nay, I intend and inioyne these. 1669–70 Marvell Corr. cxxxvi. Wks. 1872–5 II. 302 The Lords..have enjoyned their clerks secrecy. 1667 Poole Dial. betw. Protest. & Papist (1735) 30 [The Romish Church] enjoyns these Practices to all her Members. a 1778 Chatham Lett. Nephew iv. 22 Pythagoras enjoined his scholars an absolute silence for a long noviciate. 1841 Myers Cath. Th. iii. §5. 17 A law enjoining all that ought to be done by man. 1863 Bright Sp. America 26 Mar., In spite of all that morality may enjoin upon them. |
b. The construction with dat. of person and acc. of thing is formally identical in mod. Eng. with the construction with double acc. Hence sometimes in pass. with acc. of the thing.
| 1644 Milton Areop. 54 But to be enjoyn'd the reading of that at all times. |
† c. to enjoin (a person) to a penalty, observance, etc. Obs.
| c 1380 Wyclif Antecrist in Todd 3 Treat. Wyclif 149 Þei enioynen hem to brede & watur & to go barefote. 1586 Cogan Haven Health (1636) 291 Not much greater punishment than the Nunne was enjoyned to. 1678 C. Hatton in Hatton Corr. (1878) 163 He wispers it about as a great secret, injoyning all persons to privacy. 1693 Col. Rec. Penn. I. 372 He wold Enjoine the Senecas to peace and friendship with them. |
† d. To impose rules on (oneself). Obs. rare—1.
| 1626 Bacon Sylva §292 Monkes and Philosophers, and such as do continually enjoyne themselves. |
e. with personal obj. (orig. indirect, in dative or preceded by on, to; afterwards direct) and inf. or subord. clause.
| 1297 R. Glouc. 234 He hem enyoynede bocsomnesse do To þe herchebyssop of Kanterbury. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. cxlvii. 126 Atte last the pope..enioyned to the bisshops of englond that they sholde done general enterdyting thurgh oute al Englond. 1526 Tindale Acts xv. 5 To inioyne them to keepe the lawe of Moses. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. ii. iii. 173 We enioyne thee..that thou carry This female Bastard hence. c 1680 Beveridge Serm. (1729) I. 8 There are several canons enjoyning bishops to visit. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 268 ¶7 They injoined me to bring them something from London. 1825 T. Jefferson Autobiog. Wks. 1859 I. 18 They were enjoined..to do nothing which should impede that object. 1883 Froude Short Stud. IV. i. iii. 42 The pope..advised and even enjoined him to return to his duties. |
f. without personal obj. and with inf. or subord. clause. Hence impersonally in passive.
| 1547 Homilies i. Pref. 5 A Sermon according as it is injoined in the book of her Highness Injunctions. a 1694 Tillotson (T.), Enjoining that truth and fidelity be inviolably preserved. 1868 Stanley Westm. Ab. ii. 74 In his will he enjoined that his image on his tomb, etc. Mod. Christianity enjoins that we love our enemies. |
3. To prohibit, forbid (a thing); to prohibit (a person) from (a person or thing). Now only in Law: To prohibit or restrain by an injunction.
| 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie (1869) 30 Sore agreeued..for that he had enioyned them from their wiues. 1814 Ld. Eldon in Vesey & Beame Reports II. 412 The Court..would..injoin that action for ever. 1884 Sir C. Bowen in Law Rep. Chanc. Div. XXVI. 709 We are now asked to..enjoin him for ever from infringing a right which does not exist. |
Hence † enˈjoinance, an injunction, command. enˈjoined, ppl. a. enˈjoiner, one who enjoins. enˈjoining, vbl. n. enˈjoinment, the action of enjoining, injunction.
| 1782 J. Elphinston Martial iii. ii. 132 That is thy father's own enjoinance. 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. ii. viii. (1611) 78 That which the bond of..enioyned duty tied him vnto. 1601 Shakes. All's Well iii. v. 97 Of inioyn'd penitents There's foure or fiue, to great S. Iaques bound. 1587 Golding De Mornay xxxiii. 532 The founder or Inioyner thereof by Lawe. 1662 Fuller Worthies Sussex iii. 101 He was a great punisher of Pluralists, and injoyner of Residence. a 1570 Becon New Catech. Wks. (1844) 217 The enjoining of this outward baptism doth not save. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. (J.), Critical trial should be made by publick enjoinment. 1816 Scott Antiq. xxxix, Letters of more strict enjoinment and more hard compulsion. 1868 Browning Ring & Bk. II. iv. 777 Her putative parents had impressed On their departure, their enjoinment. |