correspondence

correspondence
  (kɒrɪˈspɒndəns)
  [ad. med.L. *correspondēntia, f. correspondēre: see correspond v. and -ence. In F. correspondance, 14th c.]
  1. a. The action or fact of corresponding, or answering to each other in fitness or mutual adaptation; congruity, harmony, agreement. Also said of the relation of one of the corresponding things.

1413 Lydg. Pilgr. Sowle iv. xxvi. (1483) 71 Somme maneor of correspondence or relacion must nedes ben bytwene the two that ben y lyke. 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxx. §4 They are in their times and seasons continued with the most exquisite correspondence. 1612 T. Taylor Comm. Titus i. 9 Considering..the sutable correspondence of the parts of the context. 1729 Butler Serm. iii. Wks. 1874 II. 37 The correspondence of actions to the nature of the agent renders them natural. 1772 Sir J. Reynolds Disc. v. (1876) 374 Perfect correspondence..between the subjects which he chose and his manner of treating them. 1809–10 Coleridge Friend (1865) 23 By verbal truth we mean..the correspondence of a given fact to given words. 1860 Pusey Min. Proph. 343 Micah vi. 14 The correspondence of the punishment with the sin shall shew that it is not by chance.

  b. Math. A relation between two sets in which each element of one set is associated with a constant number (a{p}) of elements of the second, and each element of the second set is associated with a constant number (a) of elements of the first.
  Where a and a{p} are both 1, it is called a one-to-one correspondence (see also one 33).

1866 Cayley in Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. I. vii. 1 If two points of a unicursal curve have an (a, a{p}) correspondence, the number of united points is = a + a{p}. 1882 Sylvester Coll. Math. Papers (1912) IV. 24 The theorem of one-to-one and class-to-class correspondence between partitions of n into uneven and its partitions into unequal parts. Ibid. 38 There is thus a one-to-one correspondence, and consequently equality of content between the two systems of partitions. 1906 Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. VII. 393 We thus establish a correspondence between points in the space y, and planes in the space x. 1941 Birkhoff & MacLane Surv. Mod. Algebra xii. 344 The number of many-one correspondences of the class S to a subclass of T. Ibid., Any such correspondence x → y is determined by a function y = f (x) which defines for each argument x in S a value y in T. 1949 Semple & Roth Introd. Algebraic Geom. iv. 58 The equation..determines an (m, n) correspondence between the variables x and y, such that to any x there correspond n value..of y, while to any y there correspond similarly m values..of x. 1959 A. G. Oettinger in R. A. Brower On Translation 257 Frequent one-to-many correspondences between Russian and English words create..one of the most perplexing problems of automatic translation. 1962 M. P. Crosland Hist. Stud. Lang. Chem. v. i. 294 In an ideal nomenclature of a science there is obviously a one-to-one correspondence between names and the things named.

  2. a. Relation of agreement, similarity, or analogy.

1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. i. vi. §4 Light..hath a relation and correspondence in..corporal things to knowledge in..incorporal things. 1672 Cave Prim. Chr. i. vi. (1673) 135 The form..of their Churches was..oblong to keep the better correspondence with the fashion of a ship. 1729 Butler Serm. i. Wks. 1874 II. 11 There is such a correspondence between the inward sensations of one man and those of another. 1869 Gladstone Juv. Mundi iii. 101 The most striking correspondence is that Arès with Mars, both used to signify war itself. 1880 Nature XXI. 212 The special interest of this planet [Mars] arising from its supposed close correspondence with the earth.

  b. Doctrine of Correspondences: the tenet of Swedenborg, that every natural object symbolizes or corresponds to some spiritual fact or principle which is, as it were, its archetype or prototype, and that the Scriptures were written in harmony with these correspondences.

1860 J. Gardner Faiths of World II. 881/2 The doctrine of Correspondences..is the central idea of Swedenborg's system. 1876 J. G. Wilkinson Hum. Sc. & Div. Rev. 76 Now correspondences, according to which the Word of God is written, are equations between the spiritual and the natural worlds.

  † 3. Concordant or sympathetic response. Obs.

1530–1 Act 22 Hen. VIII, c. 15 The..beneuolent myndes of his saied subiectes..toward his highnesse..by correspondence of gratitude to theym to be requited. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. Ded., A thankfull correspondence of affection and duty. 1649 Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. ii. Serm. on Mount ¶3 To answer the importunity of our lusts, not by a denyall but by a correspondence and satisfaction. 1680 Ld. Falkland Life Edw. II in Harl. Misc., Being now a king and a sovereign, he expects a correspondence of the same nature.

  † 4. Relation between persons or communities; usually qualified as good, friendly, fair, ill, etc. Obs. (Very common in 17th c.)

1599 Sandys Europæ Spec. (1632) 52 Preferments to enterteine them with in good content and correspondence. 1622–62 Heylin Cosmogr. iii. (1673) 166/2 There were so good Correspondences betwixt the Nations, that, etc. 1672 Marvell Reh. Transp. i. 33 Our ill correspondence with the French Protestants. 1714 Swift Pres. State Affairs, One step towards cultivating a fair correspondence with the power in possession. 1835 I. Taylor Spirit. Despotism iii. 110 The natural alliance..between Church and State..had given way to such a correspondence as belongs to a truce between enemies.

  † 5. a. Intercourse, communication (between persons). Obs. exc. as in 6.

1603 B. Jonson Sejanus iv. v, He holds That correspondence..with all that are Neere about Caesar, as no thought can passe Without his knowledge. 1655–60 Stanley Hist. Philos (1701) 5/2 The Phœnicians, with whom the Græcians had a very ancient correspondence. 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. 28 Apr., This amiable maiden has actually commenced a flirting correspondence with an Irish baronet of sixty-five. 1786 Burns Ep. Yng. Friend x, A correspondence fix'd wi' Heaven Is sure a noble anchor.

  † b. Often, intercourse or communications of a secret or illicit nature. Obs.

1639 Massinger Unnat. Combat. i. i, If Your father..Held not or correspondence, or connived At his proceedings. 1697 Congreve Mourning Bride iv. i, Concerning Osmyn and his correspondence With them who first began the mutiny. 1734 tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) VI. xv. xviii. 308 Their impious correspondence with the devil. 1760–72 tr. Juan & Ulloa's Voy. (ed. 3) I. 334 To..prevent the Indians..from..carrying on any clandestine correspondence with those whom his arms had not reached.

  † c. Commercial intercourse; business relations.

1605 B. Jonson Volpone iv. i, To serue the State of Venice with red herrings..from Roterdam, Where I haue correspondence. 1769 De Foe's Tour Gt. Brit. I. 374 Exeter drives a very great Correspondence with Holland. 1798 W. Hutton Autobiog. 20, I wished to fix a correspondence for what I wanted, without purchasing at second hand.

  † d. Religious or ecclesiastical connexion. Also concr. A connexion, communion. Obs.

1642 Jer. Taylor Episc. xxxii. (1647) 192, I had rather speake a truth in sincerity, then erre with a glorious correspondence. 1649 Bp. Hall Cases Consc. iv. ix, An Institution..kept both by all the Churches of the Roman-Correspondence, and by all the Reformed.

  † e. Sexual intercourse. Obs.

1698 Froger Voy. 14 Fasting and abstaining from correspondence with their Wives.

  † f. Of things: Physical communication. Obs.

1698 J. Crull Muscovy 49 The Caspian Sea..has no communication or correspondence with any other Sea. 1700 Rycaut Hist. Turks v. iii. 166 A secret Passage, by which the wet and moorish Ground kept a Correspondence with the Ditch.

  g. fig. Of persons and things: Vital, practical, or active communication.

1608 Hakewill Van. Eye 93 The braine (with which the eie holdes a maruelous correspondence). 1727 De Foe Syst. Magic i. ii. (1840) 46 The wise Men of the East..maintained a correspondence with the stars. 1742 Young Nt. Th. vi. 81 How short our correspondence with the sun! 1821 Lamb Elia, Old Benchers, Sun-dials..holding correspondence with the fountain of light. 1883 H. Drummond Nat. Law in Spir. W. v. (1884) 147 In biological language he is said..to be ‘in correspondence with his environment’..that is to say, in active and vital connection with them, influencing them possibly, but especially being influenced by them.

  6. a. Intercourse or communication by letters.

1644 Milton Educ. (1738) 135 Not to mention the learned correspondence which you hold in foreign parts. 1741 Middleton Cicero (ed. 3) II. vi. 66 Cicero, with whom he held a correspondence of Letters. 1781 Cowper Lett. 25 Aug., Letter for letter is the law of all correspondence. 1810 Scott Let. 18 Mar. in Lockhart, The risks of sentimental correspondence. 1875 Helps Organ. Daily Life Ess. 146 As education advances..there will be more correspondence by letters. a 1893 Mod. Newsp., This correspondence must now cease.

  b. The letters that pass between correspondents; also, letters contributed to a newspaper or journal (cf. correspondent B.4 b).

1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. Introd., Printing the private correspondence of persons still living. 1847 Emerson Repr. Men, Montaigne Wks. (Bohn) I. 336 The correspondence of Pope and Swift. 1868 G. Duff Pol. Surv. 30 The Times correspondence from Hungary. 1891 Post Office Guide Apr. 33 Railway Sub-offices (i.e. offices which receive their correspondence direct from a Travelling Post Office).

  7. attrib.: correspondence card, a blank card intended for use as notepaper; correspondence class, course, a class or course conducted by correspondence; correspondence clerk, a clerk who deals with the correspondence of a business house; correspondence college, school, a college or school which instructs by means of correspondence; correspondence principle Physics, a principle connecting classical with quantum physics (see quots.); correspondence theory Philos., the theory that the definition, or the criterion, of truth is that true propositions correspond to the facts (opp. coherence theory); also correspondence-notion.

1892 G. Saintsbury in Macmillan's Mag. June 107 There are great temptations not to write letters. Telegrams, postcards, *correspondence-cards, letter-cards,—all of these things the truly good and wise detest. 1907 Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 333/2 Black bordered correspondence cards and envelopes. 1933 A. Selwyn Printing for Amateurs vi. 65 Correspondence Cards are 4½ × 3½, and Post Cards 5½ × 3½. 1970 L. Evans Lett. Walter Pater p. xliii, White correspondence cards, approximately 11·5 by 9·2 cm, with rectangular (instead of the usual rounded) corners.

1876 Monthly Packet Feb. 6 The number of pupils who join these *correspondence classes increases regularly. 1885 Chambers's Jrnl. 610/1 The Correspondence Class is intended for the extension of skilled teaching to any woman within reach of the post.

1906 Dicksee & Blain Office Organis. 8 *Correspondence clerks should have a good knowledge of shorthand.

1911 W. Owen Let. 18 June (1967) 75 Studying with a *Corresp. College at the same time. 1931 W. Holtby Poor Caroline vi. 232, I know your correspondence college is rotten.

1902 World's Work IV. 2524 He subscribes to a *correspondence course. 1925 S. Lewis Martin Arrowsmith xxii. §1, The editor of the magazine which told clerks how to become Goethes and Stonewall Jacksons by studying correspondence-courses. 1929 Encycl. Brit. VI. 468/1 In 1921 the U.S. department of war established 342 correspondence courses in military tactics for reserve officers. 1946 Wodehouse Money in Bank xxviii. 245 ‘Was I very haughty?’ ‘Cleopatra could have taken your correspondence course.’

1906 H. H. Joachim Nature of Truth i. 7 A certain conception of truth is implied or expressed, which I shall call the ‘*correspondence-notion’ of truth.

1922 N. Bohr Theory of Spectra ii. iii. 50 The *correspondence principle suggests that the radiation emitted by the perturbed atom must exhibit circular polarization. 1928 A. S. Eddington Nat. Physical World ix. 195 The classical laws are the limit to which the quantum laws tend when states of very high quantum number are concerned. This is the famous Correspondence Principle enunciated by Bohr. 1935 ― New Pathways iv. 77 The classical laws of mechanics and electro-magnetism..are simply the limiting form assumed by the formulae of quantum theory... This connection is known as Bohr's Correspondence Principle. 1964 in R. G. Colodny Frontiers Sci. & Philos. vi. 253 The field theories have started moving away from the correspondence principle.

1889 Christian Lit. Mag. I. 91 The Chautauqua School gives a certificate.., and so very properly may any *correspondence school. 1929 Encycl. Brit. VI. 468/2 The correspondence school movement is rapidly reaching a recognized stage of permanency. 1933 Wodehouse Mulliner Nights v. 157 A strange elation filled Sacheverell Mulliner's bosom as he left the offices of the Correspondence School.

1902 Baldwin Dict. Philos. II. 720/1 The fundamental difficulty with a ‘*correspondence theory’ is this: it assumes a reality with which that which claims to be true may be compared. 1940 B. Russell Inquiry xvi. 232 In this case, the correspondence-theory of truth holds simpliciter.

Oxford English Dictionary