conduction
(kənˈdʌkʃən)
[ad. L. conductiōn-em, n. of action from condūcĕre to conduct: see -ion1. So mod.F. conduction from 13th c. (Littré).]
I. † 1. Leading, guidance, conveyance (of that which leads, or is led); = conduct n. 1.
| 1541 Act 33 Hen. VIII, c. 15 The saufe conduction, leadynge, and bringing of all saintuary menne..to the foresaide citie of Westchester. 1602 Carew Cornwall (1723) 154 b, Which leaves you to the conduction of a winding and craggy path. 1652 Bp. Hall Serm. Rem. Wks. (1660) 153 This leading of God's Spirit must [not] be a..momentary, transient conduction. 1653 Cloria & Narcissus I. 239 Yesterday, by the conduction of your Dwarfe, we entred. |
† 2. Leadership, command, esp. military or naval (of the person commanding, or of the army, etc., commanded); = conduct n. 5. Obs.
| 1551 Robinson tr. More's Utop. ii. (Arb.) 138 The reule, governaunce, and conduction of the whole armye. 1577–87 Holinshed Sc. Chron. (1806) II. 221 English horsemen under the conduction of the lord William Evers. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World v. ii. §3. 588 Had they not submitted themselves to the conduction of Miltiades. a 1642 Sir W. Monson Naval Tracts iii. (1704) 374/2 Chosen..as the Master is for the Conduction of his Ship. |
† 3. The carrying on, management or direction (of an affair, etc.); = conduct n. 6. Obs.
| 1565 Act 8 Eliz. c. 13. §1 The Master, Wardens and Assistants of the Trinity-house..charged with the Conduction of the Queen's Majesty's Navy Royal. 1609 Tourneur Fun. Poem 314 The right conduction Of his affaires. 1644 Fifth of Nov. Pref. 3 Under the conduction and direction of their tyrannie. 1841 Catlin N. Amer. Ind. (1844) I. xii. 88 In the conduction of those annual religious rites. |
† 4. Aptitude for leading, or for managing affairs; generalship, management, skill; = conduct n. 7.
| a 1577 Sir T. Smith Commw. Eng. (1633) Either for wit, conduction, or power. 1580 North Plutarch 493 (R.) The noblest captain, and of best conduction of any man in his time. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World i. 100 So greate a worke.. could not be affected without order and conduction. |
II. 5. The conducting of (liquid through a channel or pipe). Now chiefly applied to natural processes, e.g. the movement of sap in plants.
| 1612 Brerewood Lang. & Relig. xiii. 140 Vitruvius and Palladius, in their conduction of waters, require..that, in proceeding of 200 foot forward, there should be allowed one foot of descending. 1882 Vines Sachs' Bot. 684 The cause of withering is the interruption in the conduction of water from below. |
6. Physics. The transmission of heat, electricity, or nerve-force from particle to particle of a substance. (The chief current sense.)
| 1814 W. C. Wells Ess. Dew (1866) 87 Losing more quickly its heat by conduction. 1855 Bain Senses & Int. i. ii. §12 (1864) 40 We know of no other mode of employing a nerve thread than in Conduction. 1881 Maxwell Electr. & Magn. I. 33 The wire is said to be a conductor of electricity, and the second body..to be electrified by conduction. |
III. † 7. Hiring. Obs. exc. in Rom. Law.
| 1538 Aberd. Reg. V. 16 (Jam.) Tuechyng the conductioun and feyng of the menstrallis. 1540 Sc. Acts Jas. V (1597) §111 (heading) Anentis conduction of craftes-men. a 1618 Raleigh in Gutch Coll. Cur. I. 75 The making of such a bargain [locatio] is called Conduction. 1645 Ussher Body Div. (1647) 300 Conduction, which is the alienation of the hire for the use of the thing. 1880 Muirhead tr. Instit. Gaius iii. §144 It is also doubtful if there be location and conduction when I have given you the use of a thing, receiving from you the use of something else in return. |
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Add: IV. 8. Special comb.: conduction band Physics, a partly-filled energy band in a solid, the electrons of which can move freely and so conduct current; cf. valence band s.v. valence n.2 5.
| 1939 Proc. R. Soc. A. CLXXI. 282 To obtain a photo-electromotive force it is necessary to remove electrons from the full band to the empty *conduction band. 1975 H. M. Rosenberg Solid State ix. 143 The higher the temperature, the more electrons will be excited to the conduction band. |