▪ I. aˈffect, n. Obs. exc. in sense 1 e.
[ad. L. affectu-s, n. of completed action, f. affic-ĕre to act upon, dispose, constitute.]
Disposition or constitution.
I. Mental.
1. a. The way in which one is affected or disposed; mental state, mood, feeling, desire, intention.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iii. 1342 And therto dronken had as hotte and stronge As Cresus did, for his affectes wronge. 1528 Roy Rede me (Arb.) 117 Goode christen men with pure affecte. 1531 Elyot Gov. (1557) ii. vii. 104 Contrary to his owne affectes and determinate purposes. 1533 Tindale Supper of the Lord Wks. III. 266 God is searcher of heart and reins, thoughts and affects. 1580 Sidney Arcadia (1622) 351 She gaue a dolefull way to her bitter affects. 1626 Bacon Sylva §97 The affects and Passions of the Heart and Spirits, are notably disclosed by the Pulse. |
esp. b. Inward disposition, feeling, as contrasted with external manifestation or action; intent, intention, earnest, reality. Contrasted with chere or outward appearance; and with effect or result.
| c 1400 Rom. Rose 5489 Fully to knowen, without were, Freend of affect, and freend of chere. c 1449 Pecock Repr. v. v. 509 This man ouȝte loue in affect and in effect his owne bodi more than the bodi of his fadir. 1552 Latimer Serm. in Linc. vii. 127 Restitution must be made eyther in effect or affect, thou must be sorry in thy hart and aske God forgiueness. 1591 Florio Second Frutes 35, I accept the affect, in lieu of the effect. 1615 T. Adams Lycanthr. 6 Reall in his right, in his might: Royall in his affects and effects. |
c. Feeling, desire, or appetite, as opposed to reason; passion, lust, evil-desire.
| 1531 Elyot Governour (1580) 109 Temperance..is the moderatrice..of al motions of the minde, called affects. 1545 Joye Expos. Daniel iv. G 4 These flaterers so nyghe them in fauour, feding their affectes. 1591 Greene Maidens Dreame xxv, He bridled those affects that might offend. 1619 Middleton Temple Masque Wks. V. 144 No doubt affects will be subdued with reason. |
d. Biased feeling, partiality.
| 1557 Earl of Surrey in Tottell's Misc. (Arb.) 29 An eye, whose iudgement none affect could blinde. |
e. Psychol. [G. affekt.] (with pronunc. ˈæfekt). (See quots.)
| 1891 J. M. Baldwin Handbk. Psychol. II. 314 Affects..are the feeling antecedents of involuntary movements; as motives, including affects, are the inner antecedents of acts of will. 1894 W. James Coll. Ess. & Rev. (1920) 358 We may also feel a general seizure of excitement, which Wundt, Lehmann, and other German writers call an Affect, and which is what I have all along meant by an emotion. 1923 Wkly. Westm. Gaz. 24 Mar. 181 Their psychic lives are overfull of complexes, levels and affects. 1926 W. McDougall Outl. Abnormal Psychol. 26 The terms ‘affect’ and ‘affective’ denote the emotional-conative aspect of all mental activity. |
attrib. and Comb.
| 1934 H. C. Warren Dict. Psychol. 7/1 Affect psychoses, psychoses which are especially characterized by disturbances in the emotional life. 1943 Horizon VIII. 271 The personality, rich in affect-life. 1944 Mind LIII. 180 The dream-process is an affect-regulative mechanism. 1949 A. Koestler Insight & Outlook v. 68 The affect-amplifying emergency-mechanisms of the sympathico-adrenal system became gradually superfluous. 1951 C. Kluckhorn in Parsons & Shils Towards Gen. Theory Action iv. ii. 390 Affect-laden customs or traditions. 1958 Listener 17 July 93/2 These areas of the brain..have come to be known as the ‘pleasure’ centres and ‘pain’ centres... Perhaps it would be best to call them the ‘affect’ systems, one which seems to be particularly related to positive affect (or pleasantness) and the other to negative affect (or unpleasantness). |
2. Disposition, temper, natural tendency.
| 1541 Elyot Im. Govern. 35 To knowe the sundry wittes, maners, affectes, and studies of men. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. i. i. 152 For euery man with his affects is borne. 1592 Greene Conny catching Pref. i, Time refineth mens affects. 1606 L. Bryskett Civill Life 50 Plato..distinguisheth these two affects, into both these faculties of the soule. |
3. esp. Feeling towards or in favour of; kind feeling, affection.
| 1440 Promp. Parv. Affecte, or welwyllynge, Affectus. 1543 Becon Policy of War Wks. 1843, 234 Her private affect toward her children. 1586 J. Hooker Giraldus's Hist. Irel. in Holinsh. II. 55/1 Vtterlie void of that affect, which is naturallie ingraffed in man. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, i. iv. 30 Wooing poore Craftesmen, with the craft of soules..As 'twere, to banish their affects with him. 1596 Southwell (title) Consolatorie Epistle for afflicted minds, in the affects of dying friends. 1633 Ford Loves Sacrif. i. ii. (1839) 78 Madam, I observe, In your affects, a thing to me most strange. |
4. An affectation, a trick.
| 1588 Fraunce Lawiers Logike i. v. 31 b, This were an affect of an extemporall Rhetor to salute a man by name without premeditation. |
II. Physical.
5. The way in which a thing is physically affected or disposed; especially, the actual state or disposition of the body.
| 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. ix. §3 (1873) How far the humours and affects of the body do alter or work upon the mind. 1626 ― Sylva §835 The true passages and processes and affects and consistencies of matter and natural bodies. 1679 Brian Pisse-proph. 7 The symptoms and affects of the sick party. |
6. esp. A state of body opposed to the normal; indisposition, distemper, malady, disease; ‘affection’.
| 1533 Elyot Castel of Helth (1541) 54 Vomyte amendeth the affectes of the raynes. 1563 T. Gale Antidot. ii. 9 Very precious in burnings and scaldings and lyke affectes. 1616 Surflet & Markh. Countrey Farme 245 It is of great vse for the affects of the lungs. 1679 tr. Willis's Pharm. Ration. in Blount Nat. Hist. (1693) 112 Who presently after drinking Coffee became worse as to those Affects. |
▪ II. † aˈffect, ppl. a. Obs.
[ad. L. affect-us pa. pple. of afficĕre to do something to, to act upon, influence, dispose, incline; f. af- = ad- to + fac-ĕre to do.]
Disposed, inclined = affected II.
| c 1400 Apol. for Loll. 88 Þey are more affect to o ymage þan to an oþer. 1538 Starkey England ii. §19, 47 Euery cuntrey, cyty, and towne lyke wyse affecte and disposyd. |
▪ III. affect, v.1
(əˈfɛkt)
[a. Fr. affecte-r (15th c.), ad. L. affectā-re to aim at, aspire to, endeavour to have, pretend to have; freq. of afficĕre (f. ad to + facere to do) to put to, hence refl. (se facere ad) to put or apply oneself to, to aim at. See also affect v.2]
† 1. trans. To aim at, aspire to, or make for; to seek to obtain or attain. a. a thing. Obs.
| 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 263/1 Roch affectyng no mortal glorye hyd his lignage. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iv. vii. 104 Have I affected wealth, or honour? 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. i. vii. §27 (1873) Cæsar did extremely affect the name of king. 1615 Sandys Trav. 105 Elated with these beginnings, he affected the empire of the world. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. ix. 192 He with more earnestness refused a Bishoprick, then others affected it. 1675 T. Brooks Gold. Key Wks. 1867 V. 21 Gracious hearts affect that which they cannot effect. 1721 Strype Eccl. Mem. (1816) II. 200 Was beheaded on Tower hill for affecting the kingdom. 1725 Pope Odyssey xi. 386 The Gods they challenge, and affect the skies. 1794 Paley Nat. Theol. xxiii. 390 How should the blind animal affect sight, of which blind animals..have neither conception nor desire? |
† b. to do a thing.
| 1589 Bernard Terence Ded., I have affected to make knowne the good will I doe..beare to you. 1611 Bible Ecclus. xiii. 11 Affect not to be made equall vnto him in talke. 1776 T. Jefferson Autobiog. Wks. 1859 I. 22 He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power. |
2. To be drawn to, have affection or liking for; to take to, be fond of, show preference for; to fancy, like, or love. a. a person. arch. or ? Obs.
| ? a 1550 Robin Hood in Prose Rom. (1858) II. 91 He, whom he most affected..was called little John. 1580 North Plutarch (1676) 43 Their favourers and lovers, which did affect and entertain them. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. ii. v. 28 Maria once told me, she did affect me. 1623 Bingham Xenophon 39 Alwaies soure and cruell, so that Souldiers affected him as children doe their Schoolemaster. 1627 Feltham Resolves i. xvi. Wks. 1677, 28 It learns him in his patience, to affect his Enemies. 1633 Bp. Hall Hard Texts 223 Those that affect me shall be sure not to lose their love. 1690 W. Walker Idiom. Ang-Lat. 13, I do not affect you, non amo te. 1760 Sterne Tr. Shandy (1802) VIII. xxxiv. 192 All the world knows that Mrs. Wadman affects my brother Toby. |
b. a thing. arch.
| 1593 Drayton Eclogues v. 45 Nor things so base doe I affect at all. 1639 Fuller Holy War i. xv. (1840) 25 Who never cordially affected this war. 1656 Bramhall Replic. i. 71 Persons..who doe passionately affect Episcopacie. 1720 Shadwell Timon i. II. 302 No man can justly praise But what he does affect. 1735 Pope Donne Sat. ii. 76 Takes God to witness he affects your cause. 1875 F. I. Scudamore Day Dreams 5 Nor do I greatly affect the early thrush. |
c. a thing touching one's own practice: To like to practise, use, wear, or frequent.
| 1589 Nashe Alm. for Parrat 15 a, As in garments so in gouernment continually affecting new fashions. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iv. xiv. 319 She much affected rich and costly apparell. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 373 The Turkes without scruple affect the name of Mahomet. 1660 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 85/2 Socrates little affected Travel, his Life being wholly spent at home. 1665 Wither Lord's Pr. Pref., They who superstitiously affect this Form of Prayer. 1704 Hearne Duct. Histor. (1714) I. 416 Dionysius affected Plato's Conversation. 1718 Free-thinker No. 75. 142 The little Genius affects Wiles. 1854 Thackeray Newcomes I. 126 That peculiar costume which he affected. 1862 Lond. Rev. 23 Aug. 168 He affected the back Ministerial benches. |
d. to do a thing. ? Obs.
| 1660 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 28/2, I affect above all things to live under a Democracy. 1699 Evelyn Acetaria (1729) 180 Some affect to have it fry'd a little broun and crisp. 1751 Jortin Serm. (1771) V. viii. 172 The greatest monarchs have affected to be called Father of their country. |
† e. absol. To incline or like. Obs.
| 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. I. iii. 71, I go from hence Thy Souldier, Seruant, making Peace or Warre, As thou affects. 1643–5 in Sel. fr. Harl. Misc. (1793) 301 His malady increased or diminished as he [his man] affected. |
3. Of animals and plants: To frequent naturally or habitually, to haunt, to inhabit.
| 1616 Surflet & Markh. Countrey Farme 285 Iuniper affecteth the tops of mountaines. 1793 G. White Nat. Hist. Selb. xviii. (1853) 210 Here and there a bird may affect some odd peculiar place. 1849 M. Somerville Connex. Phys. Sc. §27. 305 Groups of algæ..affect particular temperatures or zones of latitude. 1873 Browning Red Cotton Night-Cap Country 1076 Tessellated pavement,—equally Affected by the scorpion for its nest. |
4. Of things: To have or display a natural tendency toward, to tend to assume or put on.
| 1612 Drayton Poly-olbion v. notes 80 Their tongues did naturallie affect..the British Dialect. 1664 Power Exp. Philos. iii. 158 A contrary posture to that which it naturally affects. 1756 Burke Subl. & B. Wks. 1842 I. 57 Any body..affecting some regular shape. 1850 C. G. B. Daubeny Atomic Th. viii. (ed. 2) 269 Why the same body should sometimes affect one crystalline form, and sometimes another? |
5. To show ostentatiously a liking for; to make an ostentatious use or display of; to take upon oneself artificially or for effect, to assume.
| 1605 Shakes. Lear ii. ii. 102 Who hauing beene prais'd for bluntnesse, doth affect A saucy roughnes. 1663 Butler Hudibr. i. i. 94 A Babylonish Dialect, which learned Pedants much affect. 1715 Burnet Hist. own Time (1766) I. 17 He affected the grandeur of a regal court. 1735 Pope Hor. Ep. ii. i. 97 Spenser himself affects the obsolete. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. II. xxxiv. 283 He at first affected a stern and haughty demeanour. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 781 They affected the appellation of patriots. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 135 To affect the character of loyal men. 1866 Rogers Agric. & Prices I. xiv. 250, I am not botanist enough to affect any judgment on the subject. |
b. To assume the character of (a person).
| 1595 Shakes. John i. i. 86 The accent of his tongue affecteth him. a 1616 B. Jonson Discov. (T.) Spenser, in affecting the ancients, writ no language. 1729 T. Cooke Tales, etc. 27 Her Sire, affecting now the tender Man. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. II. vi. viii. 217 He affected the freethinker, and carried libertinism to excess. |
c. with inf.: To ‘profess,’ take upon one.
| 1720 Waterland Serm. 56 Some of late have affected very much to say that all things were created through the Son. 1724 De Foe, etc. Tour thr. Gt. Brit. (1769) IV. 273 The Lochs..which some affect to call the River Aber. 1853 Maurice Proph. & Kings viii. 123 He affected to restore the idolatry which Aaron had sanctioned in the wilderness. 1856 Kane Arctic Expl. I. xxviii. 363 Every one who affects to register the story of an active life. |
Hence, by imperceptible gradations,
6. a. To put on a pretence of; to assume a false appearance of, to counterfeit or pretend.
| 1661 Barrow Serm. I. i. 4 He affects commendations incompetent to him. 1723 J. Sheffield (D. of Buckhm.) Wks. (1753) I. 290 Who..would soon have shewn A real rage, which now he but affected. 1813 Scott Rokeby v. xvi. 209 Each look and accent, framed to please, Seemed to affect a playful ease. 1837 Disraeli Venetia i. viii. (1871) 40 He had ever affected a haughty indifference on the subject. |
b. with inf. (or gerund).
| 1603 Daniel Defence Rhime 13 (1717) 12 We smooth up a weak confused Sense, affecting Sound to be unsound. 1679 Sheffield & Dryden Ess. on Sat. 70 How that affects to laugh, how this to weep. 1753 Smollett Ct. Fathom (1784) 138/1 Although Fathom looked upon this proposal as an extravagant symptom of despair, he affected to approve of the scheme. 1816 Scott Antiq. (1879) II. xxv. 52 He tired, or affected to tire. 1848 Dickens Dombey (C.D. ed.) 33 {oqq}Oh you beauties!{cqq} cried Susan Nipper, affecting to salute the door by which the two ladies had departed. 1879 M. Arnold Irish Cath. in Mixed Ess. 100, I have never affected to be surprised..at the antipathy of the Irish to us. |
† 7. absol. To assume artificial or pretended manners; to put on airs. Obs. rare.
| 1631 Cornwallyes Ess. xxiii, Affectation begets Extremities: Man is allowed onely the middle way, he strayeth when he affects. 1692 Lady Russell Let. 21 July, I take some care not to affect in these retirements. |
▪ IV. affect, v.2
(əˈfɛkt)
[f. (directly or through Fr. affecter) L. affect- ppl. stem of afficĕre to do to, act on, influence, attack with a disease; also, to put to, attach to; f. ad to + facĕre to do, make. The L. frequentative affectāre (see prec.) had also rarely the sense of ‘attack as a disease,’ whence sense 1 might be taken, merely as another branch of the preceding verb; but the others can be referred only to afficĕre. Though all the senses are in mod.Fr., our 1–4 are not in Cotgr. (1611–50), who has only to ‘fasten or tye on; destinate (or bind for); assigne or appoint unto;’ whence our sense 5, though this is also a less common use of L. afficĕre (aliquid ad aliquem). It corresponds formally, and in sense partly, to the earlier afaite, which was obs. long before the introduction of this.]
1. To attack, lay hold of, act upon contagiously, or attaint (as, or after the manner of, a disease). Rare in the active voice in earlier usage.
| 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. ii. ii. 59 And the will dotes that is inclineable To what infectiously it selfe affects. 1722 De Foe Plague 77 The inward gangrene affected their vitals. 1782 F. Home Clin. Exper. 283 Affected with pain in his loins, which affects the thigh-joint. 1881 Daily Tel. 27 Dec., The returning pilgrims..were the means of affecting the people of the districts through which they passed. |
† 2. To attaint with a crime or offence: ‘a phrase merely juridical.’ J. Obs.
| 1726 Ayliffe Parergon 59 She shall have alimony..unless you can affect them with Fraud. |
3. To lay hold of, impress, or act upon (in mind or feelings); to influence, move, touch.
| 1662 Fuller Worthies (1840) III. 159 A passage that affected me with wonder. 1667 Milton P.L. v. 97 The trouble of thy thoughts this night in sleep Affects me equally. 1722 De Foe Moll. Fl. (1840) 238 When once we are hardened in crime no fear can affect us. 1780 Burke in Corr. (1844) II. 354, I do not think I have ever on any occasion seemed to affect the House more forcibly. 1832 H. Martineau Life in Wilds vii. 99 The honour paid to her husband had affected her. 1876 Black Madcap V. xviii. 161 The sportsman was not affected with all these taunts and jeers. |
4. To make a material impression on; to act upon, influence, move, touch, or have an effect on.
| 1631 Sanderson Serm. II. 6 Oils and ointments..affect three distinct senses. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 653 The Sun..so to move, so shine, As might affect the Earth with cold and heat. 1667 Boyle Orig. Formes & Qual. 26 External bodies being fitted to affect the Eye, others the Ear, others the Nostrils. 1764 Reid Inq. Hum. Mind v. §2. 121 The effluvia of bodies affected our hearing. 1817 Malthus Population I. 360 Causes, which affect the number of births or deaths, may or may not affect the average population. 1840 Macaulay Clive 70 This system..might affect the amount of the dividends. 1846 Prescott Ferd. & Isab. I. Introd. 17 No person could be affected in life or property, except by a decision of this court. 1855 Bain Senses & Intell. (1864) ii. i. §11. 93 Bodily exercise indirectly affects all the organs of the body. |
5. To apply specially; to assign, to allot; to attribute. (Only in passive voice, as in mod.Fr., though in 17th c. Fr. active, as in L.)
| 1611 Cotgr., Nantir, to consigne..to tye fast; affect, appoint, or point out, one thing for th' indemnitie, or assurance, of another. 1807 W. Taylor in Ann. Rev. V. 296 Broker is become a nobler designation than formerly, and is now affected to agents of exchange. 1847 Thackeray Van. Fair iii. viii, One of the domestics was affected to his special service. 1868 M. Pattison Academ. Organ. §4. 108 Of our total endowment fund, one, and the smallest third, is affected to the promotion of science and learning. |