▪ I. difference, n.
(ˈdɪfərəns)
Also 4 differense, 4–6 differens, defference, 5 deference, 5–6 dyfference, -ens, 6 differance, diffrence, diference.
[a. F. différence, OF. also -ance (12th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), ad. L. differentia, abstr. n. f. different-em: see different and -ence.]
1. a. The condition, quality, or fact of being different, or not the same in quality or in essence; dissimilarity, distinction, diversity; the relation of non-agreement or non-identity between two or more things, disagreement.
| 1340 Ayenb. 210 Zuyche difference is betu[e]ne þe rearde of þe bene and þe deuocioun of þe herte. c 1470 Henry Wallace iv. 7 The changing courss quhilk makis gret deference. 1535 Coverdale 2 Chron. xiv. 11 Lorde, it is no difference with y⊇, to helpe by fewe or by many. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. i. i. 4 You shall see..great difference betwixt our Bohemia, and your Sicilia. 1699 Burnet 39 Art. xxv. (1700) 266 In all this Diversity there is no real difference. 1734 Pope Ess. Man iv. 56 All nature's diff'rence keeps all nature's peace. 1739 Hume Human Nat. i. v. (1874) I. 323 Difference is of two kinds as oppos'd either to identity or resemblance. 1824 Macaulay Athenian Orators Misc. Writ. 1860 I. 135 If he miss the mark, it makes no difference whether he have taken aim too high or too low. 1844 Emerson Lect. Yng. Amer. Wks. (Bohn) II. 298 Difference of opinion is the one crime which kings never forgive. 1847 Tennyson Princ. vii. 162 Not like to like, but like in difference. 1851 Ruskin Mod. Paint. I. Pref. to ed. 2. 15 Not so much by the resemblance of his works to what has been done before, as by their difference from it. |
† Various obs. and archaic constructions.
| 1526 Tindale Doctr. Treat. (1848) 389 Note the difference of the law and of the gospel. 1557 North Gueuara's Diall Pr. 150 a/2 There is a greate difference to teache the chyldren of Prynces, and to teache the chyldren of the people. Ibid. 210 b/1 There is great difference from the cares and sorowes of women, to that of men. 1671 H. M. tr. Colloq. Erasmus 354 There is also another difference of divine and humane laws. 1778 F. Burney Evelina lii, Let me observe the difference of his behaviour..to that of Sir Clement Willoughby. 1792 Elvina I. 6 The difference with us is most striking. 1820 Whewell in Life (1881) 61 Some idea of the difference of French and English manners. |
b. (with a and pl.) A particular instance of unlikeness; a point in which things differ.
| 1393 Gower Conf. III. 20 There is non evidence, Wherof to knowe a difference Betwene the drunken and the wode. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems 23 (Mätz.) A difference betwix day and night. 1513 More in Grafton Chron. (1568) II. 787 There is not betwene a Marchant and his mayde so great a difference as betwene a king and his subject. 1688 Vox Cleri Pro Rege 47 It seems his Power is absolute, but, not arbitrary, which is, like a Dear-Joy's Witticism, a distinction without a difference. 1847 Tennyson Princ. v. 173 You clash them all in one, That have as many differences as we. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. i. 15 While the differences of social degree were enormous, the differences in habits of life were comparatively slight. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 243 There is a great difference between reasoning and disputation. |
2. a. Math. The quantity by which one quantity differs from another; the remainder left after subtracting one quantity from another. b. spec. The increment produced in a function of a variable by increasing the variable by unity.
ascensional, descensional difference: see these words.
| c 1391 Chaucer Astrol. ii. §43 The diff[e]rense be-twen 1 and 2..is 1. 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 103 Subtract the lesser time, from oute of the greater, and the difference turn into degrees, and mi. of the Equinoctial. 1593 T. Fale Dialling 19 Which you shall find least subtract that from the greater, and that which remaineth keep, (for it shall be called the difference kept). 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. xvi. (1858) 204 The difference of that price was by no means worth saving. 1774 M. Mackenzie Maritime Surv. iii. 13 The greater the Difference of Latitude of the two Places is. 1807 J. Brinkley (title), An Investigation of the General Term of an important Series in the Inverse Method of Finite Differences. 1821 J. Q. Adams in C. Davies Metr. Syst. iii. (1871) 115 The difference between them was but of about half an ounce. 1827 Hutton Course Math. I. 12 note, If the difference of two numbers be added to the less, it must manifestly make up a sum equal to the greater. 1837 Penny Cycl. VIII. 487 s.v. Difference, It is a very wide branch of pure mathematics which must be considered under this term, namely, the method or calculus of differences. Ibid. 488 The symbol [Δna] is called the n{supt}{suph} difference of a. |
c. spec. The amount of increase or decrease in the price of stocks or shares between certain dates; in phrase to pay (etc.) the difference.
| 1717 S. Centlivre Bold Stroke for Wife iv. i, Hark ye, Gabriel, you'll pay the difference of that stock we transacted for t'other day. 1814 Stock Exchange Laid Open 11 Every man must either take, deliver, or pay his difference. 1885 Pall Mall G. 31 Mar. 8/2 He had paid all his ‘differences’ previous to his departure. 1887 Daily News 12 Oct. 2/2 The differences to be met and liquidated are enormous. |
d. phr. to split the difference: to divide the difference equally between the two parties so that they meet half-way; to come to a compromise by equal mutual concession.
| a 1778 Pitt Sp. (1806) I. 85 The common course, when parties disagreed, was what the vulgar phrase called ‘to split the difference’. 1787 Generous Attachment I. 213 My Aunt, coming in, began to split the difference, by seriously advising me to think of neither. 1846 Whately Rhet. Addit. (ed. 7) 23 The result will usually be, after much debate, something of what is popularly called ‘splitting the difference’. 1885 Pall Mall G. 9 June 3/1 A Cabinet of Compromise is of necessity a Cabinet of Split the Difference. |
3. a. A diversity or disagreement of opinion, sentiment or purpose; hence, a dispute or quarrel caused by such disagreement: used in various shades of intensity from a simple estrangement or dispute to open hostility. † in difference, in dispute (obs.).
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 423 (Mätz.) Touching þe cause þerof is no differens bytwene us. 1484 Caxton æsop ii. xviii, The ape.. made theyr dyfference to be acorded. 1556 Aurelio & Isab. (1608) A v, We cast lottes betwene us, by the which our difference shall finishe. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. iv. i. 171 Are you acquainted with the difference That holds this present question in the Court? 1606 G. W[oodcocke] tr. Hist. Ivstine 40 b, They encountred in battell, in which difference..they were ouercome. 1641 J. Jackson True Evang. T. i. 41 Who was the chiefe..remaines in some difference. 1652 Needham tr. Selden's Mare Cl. 1 In the year 1508, there began certain slight differences, which concluded in a notable..war. 1774 Goldsm. Grecian Hist. I. 253 With full power to concert all matters in difference. 1791 Boswell Johnson (1831) IV. 229 In the course of this year there was a difference between him and his friend Mr. Strahan. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 143 He had never, he said, in his life, had any difference with Tyrconnel, and he trusted that no difference would now arise. 1893 Leeds Mercury 17 May 5/1 The speedy..settlement of trade differences. |
† b. phr. to be (etc.) at difference: to have a controversy, be at variance; to quarrel.
| 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. (1812) II. 349 The duke of Bretayne was in great difference with the realme of Fraunce. 1607 Shakes. Cor. v. iii. 201 Thou hast set thy mercy, & thy Honor At difference. 1641 J. Shute Sarah & Hagar (1649) 170 We..are at such deadly differences amongst our selves. 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 391 He is doubtlesse his own best Friend, that is oft at difference with himselfe, for his mis⁓carriages. 1677 A. Yarranton Eng. Improv. 53, I fear their neighbouring Gentlemen will fall at Difference. 1737 Whiston Josephus' Hist. i. xi. §1 The great men were mightily at difference one with another. |
4. a. A mark, device, or characteristic feature, which distinguishes one thing or set of things from another. Now rare or Obs. exc. as in b and c.
| 1481 Caxton Myrr. ii. xiii. 94 Pictagoras..by his grete entendement fonde the poyntes and the difference of musyque. 1513 Douglas æneis x. vii. 81 Markyt ȝou swa with sic rude differens, That by hys keyll ȝe may be knaw fra thens. 1602 Shakes. Ham. v. ii. 112 An absolute gentleman, full of most excellent differences. 1631 Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 149 The foure Deacons, for a difference from the Priests, carried a round wreath of white cloth. 1842 Tennyson Two Voices 41 Will one beam be less intense, When thy peculiar difference Is cancell'd in the world of sense? |
b. Her. An alteration of or addition to a coat of arms, to distinguish a junior member or branch of a family from the chief line.
| c 1450 Holland Howlat 600 He bure the said Dowglass armis with a differens. 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. iv. xv. 275 The hed of the lordship bereth the playne armes without difference and thoo that are of his linage they putte therunto dyuerse dyfferences. 1564–78 W. Bullein Dial. agst. Pest (1888) 96 My name is Mendax, a yonger brother linially descended of an auncient house..We giue three Whetstones in Gules with no difference. 1602 Shakes. Ham. iv. v. 183 Ther's Rew for you, and heere's some for me..Oh you must weare your Rew with a difference. 1610 J. Guillim Heraldry i. vi. (1611) 22 The sonne of an Emperour cannot beare a difference of higher esteeme during the life of his father. 1864 Boutell Heraldry Hist. & Pop. xiv. 137 When the Heir succeeds, he inherits the Arms of his Father without any Difference. 1882 Cussans Handbk. Heraldry x. (ed. 3) 150 Devices called Marks of Difference..In the early days of Heraldry, Differences were effected by a variety of arbitrary arrangements—such as changing the tinctures of the Coat. |
c. Logic. A quality, mark, or characteristic, that distinguishes a thing from all others in the same class; the attribute by which a species is distinguished from other species of the same genus; more fully specific difference: = differentia.
| 1551 T. Wilson Logike (1567) 39 a, When the propertie or difference is graunted, then the kinde straight foloweth. 1656 Hobbes Lib. Necess. Wks. 1841 V. 371 He requires in a definition so exactly the genus and the difference. 1697 J. Sergeant Solid Philos. 387 Not by the old beaten way of Genus and Difference. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey) s.v., The difference of a Body is impenetrable Extension, and the difference of a Spirit is Cogitation or Thought. 1857 Whewell Hist. Induct. Sc. I. 208 The Predicables are the five steps which the gradations of generality and particularity introduce;—genus, species, difference, individual, accident. 1860 Abp. Thomson Laws Th. §69. 112 The difference, or that mark or marks by which the species is distinguished from the rest of its genus. |
† d. transf. A division, class, or kind. Obs.
| c 1532 G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 920 There ben two dyfference of perspectyves. 1541 R. Copland Galyen's Terap. 2 A iv, The flowyng of humours is dyuyded in two dyfferences. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 34 (D.) There bee of times three differences: the first from the creation of man to the Floud or Deluge..the second from the Floud to the first Olympias. 1668 Wilkins Real Char. 441 The several Species are to be learned, belonging to each Difference. a 1682 Sir T. Browne Tracts (1684) 36 The Sycamore..is properly but one kind or difference of Acer. |
5. A discrimination or distinction viewed as conceived by the subject rather than as existing in the objects. Now only in phr. to make a difference: to distinguish, discriminate, act or treat differently.
| 1382 Wyclif 1 Esdras iv. 39 To taken persones and differences is not anent it [truth]. 1393 Gower Conf. III. 10 In making of comparison There may no difference be Betwen a drunken man and me. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 427/1 He vysyted the seek folke without dyfference. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. ii. i. 57 I shall thinke the worse of fat men, as long as I haue an eye to make difference of mens liking. 1611 Bible Lev. xi. 47 To make a difference betweene the vncleane and the cleane. 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. ii. ii. §2 To make them more capable of putting a difference between truth and falshood. 1716 Addison Freeholder (J.), Our constitution does not only make a difference between the guilty and the innocent, but, even among the guilty, between such as are more or less criminal. 1819 Shelley Cenci v. iv. 82 No difference has been made by God or man..'Twixt good or evil, as regarded me. |
6. attrib. and Comb., as difference-engine, a machine for calculating arithmetical differences; difference-equation, an equation expressing a relation between functions and their differences (sense 2 b); difference limen or threshold [tr. G. unterschiedsschwelle (G. T. Fechner Elemente der Psychophysik (1860) i. x. 239)], the amount by which two stimuli or sensations must differ for the difference to be perceived; also, the degree of ability to perceive differences between stimuli; difference-tone, see tone n.
| 1876 Catal. Sci. App. S. Kens. §23 The mode in which the Difference Engine calculates tables is, by the continual repetition of the simultaneous addition of several columns of figures to other columns, in the manner more particularly described below, and printing the result. 1876 J. Ward in Mind I. 459 This ‘relativity’ between difference-threshold and stimulus [may] be due to something not in any sense psychical. 1895 E. B. Titchener tr. Kuelpe's Outl. Psychol. 160 With an area of contact of 1 mm. diameter, the difference limen on the index finger of the right hand was 1/19 to 1/20. 1902 W. James Var. Relig. Exper. vi. 135 When one is sensitive to small differences in any order of sensation, we say he has a low ‘difference-threshold’—his mind easily steps over it into the consciousness of the differences in question. 1953 C. E. Osgood Method & Theory Exper. Psychol. (1956) i. ii. 73 Absolute and difference thresholds are correlated in hearing, however, both varying concomitantly as functions of frequency. |
▪ II. ˈdifference, v.
[f. difference n.: cf. F. différencier, in Cotgr. 1611.]
† 1. intr. To be different, to differ. Obs. rare.
| c 1450 Mirour Saluacioun 3026 So differences fire werldly fro thilk purgatoriale. 1474 Caxton Chesse 72 The ryght lawe of nature defferenceth ofte tymes fro custom. 1483 ― Gold. Leg. 347 b/2 They difference as moche as is bitwene not to synne and to do well. |
† 2. trans. To make (something) different from what it was (or from what it is in another case); to change, alter, vary. Obs. rare.
| 1481 Caxton Myrr. ii. xxi. 111 In the londe of Samarye is a wel that chaungeth and differenceth his colour four tymes in the yere. 1572 J. Bossewell Armorie 8, I wil not here speake how well thys Lyon is differenced. 1593 Nashe Christ's T. 72 b, God shall reply..Thou hast so differenced and diuorced thy selfe from thy creation, that I know thee not for my creature. 1675 Evelyn Terra (1729) 11 How far Principles might be..differenced by Alteration and Condensation. |
b. Her. To make an alteration in or addition to (a coat of arms) for the purpose of distinguishing members or branches of the same family.
| 1708 J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. ii. ii. v. (1743) 379 The king at arms..has power to give and difference arms. c 1710 C. Fiennes Diary (1888) 96 Like Mullets that they have in an Eschuteon to difference the third son from the first and second in a family. 1882 Cussans Handbk. Heraldry x. (ed. 3) 152 The third son differences his paternal coat with a Mullet..The Arms of the sixth son are differenced by a Fleur-de-lys. Ibid. 153 All the members of the Royal Family—the Sovereign excepted—difference their Arms with a silver Label of three points, charged with some distinguishing mark, specially assigned to them by the crown. |
3. To make different, cause or constitute a difference in, differentiate, distinguish (from something else). Usually predicated of a quality or attribute: frequently in pass.
| 1598 Barret Theor. Warres v. i. 124 The artillery is deuided and differenced into greatnesse or Sizes royall, and into lesser sizes. 1627–77 Feltham Resolves i. xxv. 45 This differenceth a wise man and a fool. 1628 Prynne Love-lockes 17 A desire of singularitie, or differencing our selues from others. c 1698 Locke Cond. Underst. §31 Every individual has something that differences it from another. c 1710 C. Fiennes Diary (1888) 223 They have Little or noe wood and noe Coale w{supc}{suph} differences it from Darbyshire. 1851 Trench Study of Words vi. (1869) 221 Synonyms..differenced not by etymology..but only by usage. 1871 Tylor Prim. Cult. II. 300 That theologic change which differences the Jew of the Rabbinical books from the Jew of the Pentateuch. 1888 M. Burrows Cinque Ports vi. 162 The..corporation..was differenced off from all others by its military service, its special functions, etc. |
4. To perceive or mark the difference in or between; to make a distinction between, discriminate, distinguish (in the mind, or in speech). Const. from. (Now rare.)
| 1570–6 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 131 One called it Dorobrina, differencing it from Canterbury (which he termeth Doroborni). c 1611 Chapman Iliad v. 130 From thy knowing mind..I have remov'd those erring mists..That thou may'st difference Gods from men. 1646 Fuller Wounded Consc. (1841) 291 Thus these two kinds of repentance may be differenced and distinguished. 1755 S. Walker Serm. viii, He is known and differenced from never-so-many, who presume, without Title, to be of equal Birth with him. 1878 Gladstone Prim. Homer 149 The Nestor of the Odyssey is carefully differenced from the Nestor of the Iliad, yet in just proportion to the altered circumstances. |
† b. intr. or absol. To perceive or mark the difference, distinguish (between). Obs.
| 1646 S. Bolton Arraignm. Err. 166 You cannot difference between false and true. 1647 Trapp Comm. Matt. xix. 20 Aristotle..differencing between age and youth, makes it a property of young men to think they know all things. 1685 Case of Doubting Conscience 65 St. Paul saith, that he that doubteth or differenceth, is damned or condemned, if he eat. |
5. Math. a. To take or calculate the difference of. † b. To take the differential of; = differentiate v. 4 (obs.).
| 1670 Newton in Rigaud Corr. Sci. Men (1841) II. 307 I thank you for your intimation about the limits of equations and differencing their homogeneal terms. 1727–51 Chambers Cycl., Differential calculus..is a method of differencing quantities; that is, of finding a differential, or infinitely small quantity, which, taken an infinite number of times, is equal to a given quantity. 1788 Howard Cycl. I. 424 To difference quantities that mutually divide each other. |
Hence ˈdifferenced ppl. a.; † ˈdifferencer, one who or that which differences or distinguishes.
| 1638–48 G. Daniel Eclog. ii. 252 Shall looke at Glorie..with a differenced Light To those, who liveing saw that flame more bright. 1633 D. Rogers Treat. Sacraments i. 81 Circumcision..to be the Differencer of all other Nations from the Jewes. |
▪ III. † difference, a. Obs.,
representing L. deferens: see deferent B. 2.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. viii. xi. (1495) 317 The cercle that hyghte Difference is the cercle of a planete and highte Difference..for it beryth the cercle Epiciclis. |