quinary, a. and n.
(ˈkwaɪnərɪ)
[ad. L. quīnāri-us, f. quīnī distrib. to quinque five: cf. F. quinaire.]
A. adj.
1. Pertaining to, characterized by, the number five; consisting of five (things or parts). quinary system, a principle of division in zoology, introduced by Macleay in 1819, but now discarded.
| 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 1342 Plato hath reduced the number of five worldes to the five primitive figures of regular bodies, saying, that God in ordaining and describing the whole world used the Quinarie construction. 1682 H. More Annot. Glanvil's Lux Orient 180 Every number, suppose, Binary, Quinary, Ternary, is such a setled number and no other. 1788 T. Taylor Proclus I. xcvi. (Disser.), The quinary, and septenary numbers are especially attributed to the soul. 1826 Kirby & Spence Entomol. Let. xlvii. IV. 399 Though Mr. MacLeay regards this quinary arrangement of natural objects as very general, it does not appear that he looks upon it as absolutely universal. 1837 Whewell Hist. Induct. Sc. (1857) I. 93 Designating the successive numbers..by means of names, framed according to the decimal, quinary or vigenary scale. 1843 Penny Cycl. XXVII. 810/1 On the Continent the Quinary System has never found favour, and it has now few if any followers in this country. |
2. Of or belonging to the fifth order or rank; fifth in a series.
| 1924 [see quaternary a. 3]. 1953 Amer. Econ. Rev. May Papers & Proceedings 365 Logically and empirically, quinary industries as we shall define them are not once more a residual category. These industries comprise medical care, education, research, and recreation... The principle that guides this grouping is that they all have to do with the refinement and extension of human capacities. 1973 New Society 15 Nov. 386/3 The ‘tertiary’ sector contains at least three divisions—‘tertiary’ proper (pure service provision..); ‘quarternary’ [sic] (information exchange and decision-making); and ‘quinary’ (research, development and education). |
B. n.
1. A set of five; a compound consisting of five things. Now rare.
| 1651 J. F[reake] Agrippa's Occ. Philos. 391 Angels, who might rule the signs, triplicities, decans, quinaries, degrees and stars. 1678 Cudworth Intellect. Syst. i. iv. §36. 625 The juniour Platonists..did..no longer acknowledge a Trinity, but either a quaternity, or a quinary, or more, of Divine Hypostases. 1889 Pop. Sci. Monthly XXXIV. 740 Quaternaries,..quinaries, sextaries, etc., according as the number of the constituent elements increases. |
† 2. a. A Roman silver coin, of the value of half a denarius. b. A small Roman medal. Obs. rare.
| 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v., The gold quinary is the half of a gold medal. Ibid., The quinaries were of a finer and more finished coin than the other medals. |
3. Something that belongs to the fifth order or rank.
| 1937, 1946 [see quaternary n. 2]. |