▪ I. remonstrance, n.
(rɪˈmɒnstrəns)
[a. OF. remonstrance (15th c.; mod. remontrance), = med.L. remonstrantia: see remonstrate and -ance. In 1609 (sense 3) stressed on first or third syllable.]
† 1. An appeal, request. Obs. rare.
| c 1477 Caxton Jason 60 Whan the noble Jason had made his remonstraunce unto the quene Ysiphile..she withdrew her aparte. 1490 ― Eneydos xxii. 78 By many exhortacions & pyetous remonstrances excytatiue of all well wyllyng. |
† 2. Demonstration, proof, evidence, manifestation of some fact, quality, etc.; also, a ground of some belief. Obs. (common in 17th c.)
| 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxxvi. §6 The manifest oddes..are remonstrances more then sufficient how all our welfare..dependeth wholly vpon our Religion. 1603 Breton Packet Mad Lett. i, The remonstrance of your loue towards me, makes mee glory in so exquisite a friend. 1649 Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. i. Ad Sect. vi. 100 The externall and visible remonstrances of religion. 1673 Lady's Call. i. i. §19 When the spark [of love] shall be blow'd up by perpetual remonstrances of Passion. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 61 As a Remonstrance of their Credulity, they bring for proof [etc.]. a 1774 Goldsm. tr. Scarron's Com. Romance II. 38 Leander and she caressed only with their eyes, leaving farther remonstrances of kindness to a private meeting. |
† b. A representation, resemblance. Obs. rare.
| 1640 Shirley Imposture i. ii, Our virgins..Shall..make in Each garden a remonstrance of this battle, Where flowers shall seem to fight. 1644 Bp. Maxwell Prerog. Chr. Kings xi. 119 If you..parallel them with our times, you will find a full ὑποτύπωσις, remonstrance and resemblance with us. |
† 3. A (written or spoken) demonstration, statement, account, or representation. Usu. const. of (the matter declared or brought forward). Obs.
| 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. vii, [I made] vnto them protestations and remonstrances of the wrong and iniurie they did too our Ambassador. 1609 Daniel Civ. Wars iv. xxviii, The King..was glad, Both by his remonstrances well composed, And with his sword..provide To right himselfe. 1609 Bible (Douay) Gen., Comm., A briefe Remonstrance of the state of the Church. 1641 Hinde (title) A Faithfull Remonstrance of the Holy Life and Happy Death of John Bruen. a 1716 South Serm. (1744) IX. iii. 78 The atheist is too wise in his generation, to make remonstrances and declarations of what he thinks. 1760–72 H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) IV. 99 Our remonstrances to my late lord of the..services you had rendered. |
b. A formal statement of grievances or similar matters of public importance, esp. the Grand Remonstrance presented by the House of Commons to the Crown in 1641. Now only Hist.
| 1626 in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. III. 236 The Commons had made a Remonstrance to his Majesty, but would not grant him any supply. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. iv. 48 note, At the beginning of the Parliament, or shortly after,..a committee was appointed to prepare a Remonstrance of the state of the kingdom. a 1674 Ibid. xi. §200 Their army, which had merited so much from them by the Remonstrance which they had so lately published. 1770 Junius Lett. xxxvii. (1788) 197 The King's answer to the remonstrance of the city of London. 1831 Macaulay Ess., Hampden Wks. 1898 II. 157 That celebrated address to the King..known by the name of the Grand Remonstrance. |
c. Eccl. Hist. A document presented in 1610 to the States of Holland by the Dutch Arminians, relative to the points of difference between themselves and the strict Calvinists.
| a 1662 Heylin Laud (1668) 81 In the year 1610 the Followers of Arminius address their Remonstrance (containing the Antiquity of their Doctrines, and the substance of them) to the States of Holland. 1674 Hickman Quinquart. Hist. (ed. 2) 96 Of this Remonstrance..at length a Copy was got, and a Contra-remonstrance made. 1721 tr. Brandt's Hist. Reform. II. 79 The Committee of the States, after having duly weighed this Remonstrance and Petition, deputed two of their body to the Classis of Leyden. |
4. The action of remonstrating; expostulation.
| 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 10 Children must be trained and brought to their duety in all lenity, by faire words, gentle exhortations, and milde remonstrance. 1748 Johnson Van. Hum. Wishes 93 Through freedom's sons no more remonstrance rings. 1769 Junius Lett. (1788) 173 We should long since have adopted a style of remonstrance very distant from the humility of complaint. 1838 Lytton Alice i. viii, Mrs. Leslie..said nothing, except in kindly remonstrance on the indiscretion of braving the night air. 1874 Green Short Hist. viii. §2. 465 The book was suppressed on the remonstrance of the House of Commons. |
b. With a and pl. An instance of this.
| a 1729 Rogers (J.), Importunate passions..will not suffer him to attend to the remonstrances of justice. 1774 Jefferson Autobiog. App., Wks. 1859 I. 132 The remonstrances of the people were disregarded. 1832 Lytton Eugene A. i. vi, The youth..seemed to yield to the remonstrances of his uncle. 1870 Dickens E. Drood viii, We had better not say anything having the appearance of a remonstrance. |
5. R.C. Ch. A monstrance.
| 1656 Blount Glossogr., Remonstrance,..an instrument so called by the Romanists, and made of silver or gold, to expose the blessed Sacrament on the Altar. 1670–98 R. Lassels Voy. Italy II. 170 The Remonstrance to expose the B. Sacrament in, is made like a sun. 1846 G. Oliver Monast. Dioec. Exon. 261/1 He bequeathed a remonstrance or ostensoir..to the college. 1873 J. B. Bagshawe Threshold Cath. Ch. (1883) 211 A vessel called the ‘Monstrance’ or sometimes, though not so correctly, the ‘Remonstrance’. |
▪ II. † reˈmonstrance, v. Obs. rare—1.
[f. prec.]
trans. To demonstrate.
| 1621 Bp. R. Montagu Diatribæ 75 To remonstrance the pious disposition of our Saxon Ancestors. |