▪ I. parallel, a. and n.
(ˈpærəlɛl)
Also 6 paralelle, 6–7 -allele, -alell, -alel, 7 -allell, -alele, 7–8 parr-.
[a. F. parallele (in Rabelais, 16th c.), ad. L. parallēlus, a. Gr. παράλληλος beside one another, side by side, f. παρα- beside, alongside of + ἄλληλος one another.]
A. adj.
1. a. Lying or extending alongside of one another and always at the same distance apart; continuously equidistant: said of two or more lines, surfaces, or concrete things; also of one line, etc., Extending alongside another at a continuously equal distance (const. to, with).
In Geom. applied to straight lines in the same plane, or to planes, which never meet however far produced in either (or any) direction, or (according to the definition of modern geometry) which intersect at infinity; more rarely to curved lines or surfaces continuously equidistant, i.e. having common normals at all points (e.g. concentric circles or spheres); or to curves upon a curved surface (e.g. circles on a sphere) which are continuously at the same distance as measured upon that surface, or are in parallel planes.
parallel bars, a pair of bars supported on posts about 4 to 6 feet above the ground, used for gymnastic exercises; also fig.; parallel roads (Geol.), name for a series of natural terraces at different levels on the side of a hill.
| 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 47 Cosmaghraphie..sal declair the eleuatione of the polis, and the lynis parallelis, and the meridian circlis. 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 37 In a Sphere the parallele or equidistant Circles, have all one Pole. 1570 Billingsley Euclid i. defin. 35. 5 b, Parallel or equidistant right lines are such, which being in one and the selfe same superficies, and produced infinitely on both sides, do neuer in any part concurre. 1600 Hakluyt Voy. III. 56 Reuolutions..that are parallel to the equinoctiall are also parallel to the horizon. 1655 Evelyn Diary 24 Feb., A chrystall ball sliding on parallel wyers. 1787 G. White Selborne i. 2 One straggling street, three quarters of a mile in length..running parallel with The Hanger. 1833 Lyell Princ. Geol. III. 131 The parallel roads of Coquimbo, in Chili. Ibid., The analogous parallel roads of Glen Roy in Scotland. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. i. 1, I..observed that the planes of cleavage were everywhere parallel. 1868 Trollope He Knew (1869) I. iii. 17 Certain poles and sticks and parallel bars with which feats of activity might be practised. 1878 [see horizontal a. (n.) 2 b]. 1893 Leland Mem. I. 261 [He] exhibited..his skill on the parallel bars, horizontal pole, etcetera. 1962 H. C. Weston Sight, Light & Work (ed. 2) viii. 225 Various objects have been suggested and used, such as the ‘parallel-bar’ test-object of Luckiesh. 1964 G. C. Kunzle Parallel Bars 19 The parallel bars are the most interesting and varied of all the pieces of apparatus. 1973 J. Fleming You won't let me Finish vii. 52 He was in the small gym giving exhibitions of walking along the parallel bars on his hands. |
b. transf. Applied to various things involving geometrical parallelism in some way, esp. to mechanical contrivances of which some essential parts are parallel, or which are used to produce parallelism of movement, etc.
parallel bar (see quot. 1875). parallel coping (see quot. 1842–76). parallel file, a file with parallel edges, not tapering. parallel forces (Dynamics), forces acting in parallel lines. parallel knife, a knife with two blades set parallel to each other, used for cutting thin sections for the microscope. parallel lathe, a small lathe bearing several grinding wheels of different sizes, besides a brush, a drill, etc., which all run simultaneously; used by jewellers, dentists, etc. parallel motion, (a) the motion of anything which always remains parallel to itself, i.e. in the same direction; (b) a mechanical device by which alternating rectilinear is converted into circular motion, and vice versa. parallel perspective, perspective in which the plane of the drawing is parallel to a principal surface of the object delineated. parallel rod, the rod which connects the cranks of the driving-wheels on the same side of a locomotive so as to cause them to move together; the coupling-rod (Webster 1864). parallel ruler (or parallel rulers), an instrument for drawing parallel lines, consisting of two or more straight rulers connected by jointed cross-pieces so as to be always parallel, at whatever distance they are set. parallel sphere, the celestial or terrestrial sphere in that position or aspect in which the equator is parallel to the horizon, i.e. at either of the poles; distinguished from oblique and right sphere. parallel text, one of two or more versions of a literary work, etc., printed in a format which allows direct textual comparison, freq. on facing or consecutive pages of the same volume; a text of different versions of a work set out in such a way; also (with hyphen) attrib. parallel tracking, tracking in which the pick-up is kept tangential to the record groove by a rectilinear motion of the arm; freq. attrib. parallel turn, a swing in skiing, with the skis kept parallel to each other. parallel vice, ‘a vice whose jaws move in exact parallelism, a bar on one slipping in a socket on the other’ (Knight Dict. Mech. 1875).
| 1594 Blundevil Exerc. iii. i. xvii. (1636) 313 This kind of Spheare is called a parallel Spheare, in which Spheare they that dwell have six months days, and six months nights. 1664 Power Exp. Philos. i. 5 Her body is..stuck all over with great black Bristles,..set all in parallel order, with their ends all pointing towards the tayl. 1704 J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Parallel Ruler. 1829 Nat. Philos. I. Mechanics ii. xiii. 59 (U.K.S.) The most remarkable method of converting an alternate rectilinear motion into an alternate circular one, is that known by the name of the parallel motion, invented by Watt for his double-acting steam-engine. 1830 Kater & Lardner Mech. xviii. 260 Parallel motion..the name is generally applied to all contrivances by which a circular motion is made to produce a rectilinear one. 1842–76 Gwilt Archit. (ed. 7) Gloss. s.v. Coping, Coping equally thick throughout is called parallel coping. 1857 Whewell Hist. Induct. Sci. (ed. 3) I. 381 The parallel motion of the Earth's axis. 1859 Ruskin Perspective 91 The greatest masters are..fond of parallel perspective. 1870 F. J. Furnivall Chaucer Soc. Six-Text Print of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in Parallel Columns (verso rear cover of first section), The issue for 1870 is, in the First Series, XIV. The Miller's, Reeve's, and Cook's Tales, with an Appendix of the Spurious Tale of Gamelyn, in 6 parallel Texts. 1871 ― (title) Chaucer Society one-text print of Chaucer's minor poems, being the best text of each poem in the parallel-text edition. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Parallel bar, a rod in the side-lever engine, forming a connection with the pump-rods and studs along the center line of the levers. 1877 Trans. Philol. Soc. 1875–76 10 The two best features of our editing are minute accuracy and fullness of material. Hence our parallel-text editions. 1878 Lumberman's Gaz. 5 Jan., He has successfully adopted the Austin parallel edger. 1889 C. Plummer Two Saxon Chrons. Parallel p. viii, This, the first of our two parallel texts, is commonly known as the Parker MS. 1941 B.B.C. Gloss. Broadcasting Terms 22 Parallel tracking unit. 1954 Broderman & McPartlin Ski-ing for Beginners ix. 77 The Parallel Turn is a speed turn. 1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio viii. 145 Where parallel tracking arms are used, calibration above the track is a fairly simple matter. (But parallel tracking..has not proved itself in practice.) 1963 Amer. Speech XXXVIII. 206 An especially fast kind of short parallel turn. 1971 (title) William Wordsworth: The Prelude: A parallel text. 1978 N. & Q. Feb. 75/2 Mrs. Bawcutt's own admirable parallel⁓text edition..will doubtless remain standard. |
† c. loosely (with to or with): In the same parallel (of latitude) as, in a line with. Obs.
| 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 6 In this latitude we were paralell to [later edd. with] Sierra Leoon. Ibid. 216 On the eleuenth of Nouember, [we] were parallel to the greene Cape, and to the Gorgades. |
d. Electr. Involving connection in parallel (cf. sense B. 6).
| [1884 Jrnl. Soc. Telegr. Engin. XIII. 497 These two machines..may be connected in one of two ways: they may be in parallel circuit with regard to the external conductor..; or they may be coupled in series.] 1886 Electrician 19 Feb. 296/2 The three direct systems are the parallel, series, and parallel-series methods of attaching lamps to the main conductors. 1891 J. W. Urquhart Dynamo Construction xvi. 232 For many years this difficulty stood in the way of parallel working with series machines. 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 614/2 Parallel feed, a method of connecting the anode of a thermionic valve to the high-tension supply through a high resistance or inductance, whilst the a.c. circuits are connected through a condenser. The d.c. and a.c. components of the anode current are thereby separated. 1962 [see sense B. 6]. |
2. fig. a. Having the same or a like course, tendency, or purport; running on the same or similar lines; resembling something else, or each other, throughout the whole extent; precisely similar, analogous, or corresponding. Const. as in 1.
| 1604 Shakes. Oth. ii. iii. 355 How am I then a Villaine, To Counsell Cassio to this paralell course, Directly to his good? 1648 Sterry Serm. on Clouds 22 These Parallel places make those expressions seem Parallel: Angels, Cloudes. 1664 Power Exp. Philos. iii. 156 Parallel and Analogical effects of Electrical with Magnetical Bodies. 1718 Hickes & Nelson Kettlewell iii. lxxiii. 387 Sorrow, that his Prudence should not be parallel to his Zeal. 1758 J. S. Le Dran's Observ. Surg. (1771) 173 Having observed it to happen before in a parallel Case. 1841 Myers Cath. Th. 66 There is nothing parallel to this in the history of any nation with which we are acquainted. 1875 Jowett Plato III. 113 The parallel passage in the ninth book. |
† b. Equal in amount or worth. ? Obs.
| a 1610 Healey Epictetus, Life (1616) A vj, Then hee should haue all Epictetus his wisdome inspired into him..and so become paralell to that admired father. 1674 S. Jeake Arith. (1696) 164 If the remain be added to the Number substracted, the Total will be parallel to the Number from which Substraction is made. |
c. Side by side in time; running through the same period of time; contemporary in duration.
| 1746–7 Hervey Medit. (1818) 174 That the benefits accruing to his people..might run parallel in their duration with eternity. 1862 Stanley Jew. Ch. (1877) I. xviii. 340 That Prophetical dispensation, which ran parallel with the Monarchy from the first to the last King. 1878 Stubbs Const. Hist. III. xviii. 131 The parallel lines of war and negotiation run on for three years more. 1953 K. Reisz Technique Film Editing i. 20 Porter himself developed this kind of parallel action editing further in his subsequent films. Ibid. 281 Parallel action, device of narrative construction in which the development of two pieces of action is represented simultaneously by showing first a fragment of one, then a fragment of the other, and so on alternately. |
d. Computers. Involving the concurrent or simultaneous performance of certain operations; functioning in this way.
| 1948 Math. Tables & Other Aids to Computation III. 149 The use of plugboard facilities and punched cards permits parallel operation (as distinguished from sequence operation), with further gain in efficiency. 1963 W. H. Ware Digital Computer Technol. & Design II. xi. 3 Parallel arithmetic tends to be faster than serial arithmetic because it performs operations in all columns at once, rather than in one column at a time. 1974 P. H. Enslow Multiprocessors & Parallel Processing i. 1 This book focuses on..the integration of multiple functional units into a multiprocessing or parallel processing system. |
e. S. Afr. parallel development = separate development.
| 1950 Ann. Reg. 1949 140 The conflict between the Southern Rhodesian policy of ‘parallel development’ with its emphasis on permanent European control, and the United Kingdom policy of partnership leading to self-government. 1971 Weekend World (Johannesburg) 9 May 3/4 Chief George agreed with an Opposition claim that parallel development in the Republic meant that the Europeans were in the sky and Africans were in the mud. |
f. S. Afr. parallel-medium, used attrib. to designate schooling or a school in which instruction is given through the medium of more than one language.
| 1958 Cape Argus 10 Dec. 20/5 The classroom instruction given in Afrikaans-medium classes in a parallel⁓medium school would be as Afrikaans as instruction given in the classes of an exclusively single-medium Afrikaans school. 1971 Sunday Times (Johannesburg) (Business Section) 28 Mar. 4/2 (Advt.), Separate English and Afrikaans medium primary schooling, and parallel⁓medium schooling to matriculation standard is available. |
g. Biol. parallel evolution = parallelism 7.
| 1963 E. Mayr Animal Species & Evolution xix. 609 There are numerous cases of..parallel evolution in the animal and plant kingdoms. 1972 Canad. Jrnl. Earth Sci. IX. 1032/1 The shell shape of C[olus] brevis closely resembles that of A[tractodon] stonei and provides a striking example of parallel evolution in response to parallel selective pressures. |
3. Mus. a. Applied to parts which move so that the interval between them remains the same (major and minor intervals of the same name, e.g. thirds or sixths, being in this case reckoned the same); also to the movement of such parts (parallel motion, a particular case of similar motion; sometimes loosely used as = similar motion); and to the intervals between such parts (usually called consecutive). b. Sometimes applied to major and minor keys which have the same signature (usually called relative).
| 1864 Webster, Parallel motion,..the ascending or descending of two or more parts in such a manner as to have constantly the same interval between the corresponding notes in the several parts. 1889 E. Prout Harmony (ed. 10) iv. §93 There are three kinds of motion; similar (sometimes, though less frequently, called ‘parallel’) when two or more parts move in the same direction—up, or down; oblique..; and contrary. 1898 Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. T., Parallel motion... Parallel fifths are under certain limitations forbidden. (Consecutives.) |
4. a. parallel cousin = ortho-cousin (ortho 1).
| 1936 R. Firth We, the Tikopia vi. 221 The differentiation between cross-cousin and parallel cousin is certainly not one of the outstanding features of the Tikopia kinship system. 1949 F. Eggan in M. Fortes Social Struct. 124 Parallel cousins are treated as siblings, whereas cross⁓cousins are differentiated. 1970 E. Leach Lévi-Strauss 121 A parallel cousin..is a cousin of the type ‘mother's sister's child’ or ‘father's brother's child’. 1972 [see ortho-cousin s.v. ortho- 1]. |
5. Comb., as parallel-edged, parallel-sided, parallel-veined adjs.
| 1859 Darwin Orig. Spec. viii. (1872) 224 A little parallel-sided wall of wax. 1861 Bentley Man. Bot. 153 We apply the term parallel-veined to all leaves in which the main veins are more or less parallel. 1879 St. George's Hosp. Rep. IX. 515 A narrow parallel-edged opening. 1882 Nature XXV. 228/1 The leaves..vary..although generally parallel-nerved. |
b. Forming adjectival phrases with ns., as parallel-jaw(s), parallel-plate.
| 1951 Good Housek. Home Encycl. 325/2 The bench..having..a parallel-jaw vice at the other end. 1962 L. S. Sasieni Princ. & Pract. Optical Dispensing ix. 214 Parallel jaw pliers. 1971 B. Scharf Engin. & its Lang. viii. 60 (caption) Parallel jaw vice. |
| 1926 Encycl. Brit. II. 331/2 The parallel plate method..for measuring the absolute conductivity of air. 1962 Corson & Lorrain Introd. Electromagn. Fields ii. 37 If one plate of a parallel-plate capacitor is charged on one face, an equal and opposite charge must exist on the opposite plate of the capacitor. |
B. n. I. 1. a. pl. Parallel lines (see A. 1); rarely in sing. A line parallel to another.
| 1551 Recorde Pathw. Knowl. i. Defin., Here might I note the error of good Albert Durer, which affirmeth that no perpendicular lines can be paralleles. 1603 Drayton Odes ii. 49 Those Paralels so even, Drawne on the face of Heaven. 1733 Pope Ess. Man iii. 103 Who made the spider parallels design, Sure as Demoivre, without rule or line? 1806 Capt. Mundy in Naval Chron. XV. 343 Intending to steer on a parallel with the enemy. 1882 Chrystal in Nature XXVI. 218/1 In the modern geometrical sense, a parallel (i.e. a line intersecting another at an infinite distance) cannot of course exist in elliptic space except as an imaginary line. 1972 Sci. Amer. Dec. 102/1 Circles of varying radii that go around the hole or center of the torus on parallel planes are called parallels. |
b. pl. Things running parallel, or having a parallel direction.
| 1589 Greene Menaphon (Arb.) 30 Thy aged yeres shalbe the calender of my fortunes, and thy gray haires the Paralells of mine actions. c 1611 Chapman Iliad xvii. 152 Make thy steps parallels To these of mine. 1615 H. Crooke Body of Man 552 As it was conuenient that the eyes should be paralels: so also the nerues, which because of the motion of the eyes might decline from the right line. |
2. a. Geog. Each of the parallel circles imagined as traced upon the earth's surface, or actually drawn upon a map (usually at intervals of 5 or 10 degrees), in planes perpendicular to the axis, and marking the degrees of latitude: in full, parallel of latitude. Also Astron. each of the corresponding circles on the celestial sphere (parallels of declination), or of similar circles parallel to the ecliptic (parallels of latitude), or to the horizon (parallels of altitude). Also attrib. in parallel sailing (Naut.), sailing along a parallel of latitude, i.e. directly east or west.
| 1555 Eden Decades 12 A hundreth leaques westwarde with⁓out the paralelles of the Ilandes. 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 37 Seyng th' Equinoctiall, the ij. tropikes, and the circles Arctike, and Antarctike, be equidistant paralleles. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. vi. ii. 103 Any Line drawn Parallel to the Ecliptick..represents a Parallel of Latitude of the Stars. 1704 J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Parallels of Altitude. 1710 Ibid. II, Parallel Sailing, in Navigation, is sailing under a Parallel of Latitude. 1824 Mackintosh Sp. S. Amer. St. Wks. 1846 III. 463 The prodigious varieties of its elevation exhibit in the same parallel of latitude all the climates and products of the globe. 1877 G. A. Allen Amer. Bison 465 Along the 49th parallel they also pass north in summer and south in winter. 1900 G. Santayana Poetry & Relig. 261 As the parallels and meridians make a checker-board of the sea. |
b. fig. Region, level.
| 1887 Mrs. A. Raleigh Stud. in Unseen 151 Faith, the human hand-clasp which brings God near, is only possible in another parallel than that in which the wise of this world live and move. |
3. Mil. In a siege: A trench (usually one of three) parallel to the general face of the works attacked, serving as a way of communication between the different parts of the siege-works.
| 1591 Garrard's Art Warre 326 [They] serve for Paralell to couer the souldiours. 1710 Lond. Gaz. No. 4687/1 On the 6th we advanced two new Parallels. 1812 Wellington Let. 20 Jan. in Gurw. Desp. VIII. 549 On the night of the 15th we..advanced from the left of the first parallel down the slope of the hill towards the convent. 1862 F. A. Griffiths Artil. Man. (ed. 9) 263 Parallels, or Places of arms, thrown up at sieges, are trenches formed to connect together the several approaches to a besieged place. |
| fig. 1874 L. Carr Jud. Gwynne I. viii. 250 She had already undermined the parallel which she felt convinced Judith had opened against the freedom of Cousin Norman. |
4. Printing. A reference-mark consisting of two parallel vertical lines (‖ ).
| 1771 Luckombe Hist. Print. 260 The Parallel is another Sign which serves for a Reference. 1861 Angus Handbk. Eng. Tongue xi. 342, (‖ ) the parallels..are used as marks of reference. |
5. fig. A thing or person agreeing with another in essential particulars (see A. 2); something precisely analogous, comparable, or of equal worth or force; a counterpart, equal, match.
| 1599 B. Jonson Ev. Man out of Hum. iii. i, Why, this is without parallel, this. 1683 Kennett tr. Erasm. on Folly 31 Cicero..was no less fatal to Rome, than his Parallel Demosthenes was to Athens. 1728 Theobald Double Falseh. iii. i, None but Itself can be its Parallel. 1871 Freeman Norm. Conq. IV. xviii. 107 Then followed a scene to which we find several parallels in Northumbrian history. |
II. 6. Parallel position; parallelism.
in parallel (Electr.): said of two or more circuit-wires connecting the same points; in Electr. also said of individual circuit components connected by such wires, so that a current is divided between them; also transf. Cf. A. 1 d).
| 1654 Gayton Pleas. Notes *2 a, Had thy full lines run out their Paralell, And not been charm'd in by a warie Spell. 1699 Garth Dispens. iii. 33 Lines that from their Parallel decline. 1884 Jrnl. Soc. Telegr. Engin. XIII. 529 The two alternate-current generators cannot work in series;..they can work in parallel. 1892 Gloss. Electr. Terms in Lightning 7 Jan., Abreast, when a current is divided between two or more paths, these paths are said to be abreast or in parallel. 1943 C. L. Boltz Basic Radio i. 21 A voltmeter is always connected in parallel with whatever part of a circuit across which we wish to measure the electrical pressure. 1949 E. P. Abraham et al. in H. W. Florey et al. Antibiotics II. xv. 644 The basic unit.., of which there were six working in parallel, was a glass tube containing amyl acetate. 1962 D. F. Shaw Introd. Electronics iii. 51 The capacitance C is connected in parallel with the combination L and R. 1962 Newnes Conc. Encycl. Electr. Engin. 569/2 Parallel operation. The operation of generators or transformers in parallel implies equality of terminal voltage. 1971 Sci. Amer. June 31/3 This could be accomplished by using a flow rate of 2,300 gallons per minute with two pumps operating in parallel. |
7. fig. a. Agreement in all essential particulars; close correspondence; analogy, parallelism.
| a 1617 Daniel To Sir T. Egerton xvii, Maintaining still an equall paralell, Iust with th' occasions of humanity. 1628 Prynne Cens. Cozens 61 Thus farre you haue an exact, and perfect Paralell of our authors writings with the Papists. 1718 Entertainer No. 15. 105 Our Case is much upon the Parallel. 1818 Hallam Mid. Ages (1872) I. iii. ii. 444 The two republics stand in continual parallel. 1878 R. B. Smith Carthage 57 It is the Battle of Megiddo and the brook Kishon that we fancy we see... The parallel is close indeed throughout. |
b. Contemporary continuance; in parallel with, contemporaneously, during the same time with. Also in parallel (without with), concurrently, simultaneously.
| 1878 Stubbs Const. Hist. III. xviii. 124 Negotiations for a peace..going slowly on in parallel with the slow and languishing war. 1938 New Statesman 7 May 796/2 Nor..does it seem right to attribute to ‘the scholastic tradition of the universities’ of the time, the failure of social studies to grow..in parallel with the natural sciences. 1957 R. K. Richards Digital Computer Components viii. 365 By transmitting all bits of a word to and from storage simultaneously or ‘in parallel’ a great increase in the speed of operation can be obtained in comparison with the transmission of one bit at a time. 1969 P. B. Jordain Condensed Computer Encycl. 373 By searching all (or very many cells) in parallel, the time of the operation is greatly reduced. 1971 Sci. Amer. Sept. 45/1 In parallel with the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere there has also been a rise in suspended particulate contamination. 1977 New Scientist 21 Apr. 140/1 ILLIAC IV is actually a group of 64 individual computers working in parallel and linked to a one billion bit bulk memory. |
8. The placing of things mentally or descriptively side by side so as to show their correspondence; comparison, or a comparison; esp. a comparison of things as being alike, a statement of parallelism or analogy, a simile.
| 1599 Broughton's Let. vii. 22, I craue pardon of his Grace for abasing him in paralell with such an one as thou art. a 1639 Wotton in Reliq. (heading) Of Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, and George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham: Some Observations by way of Paralell. 1646 Crashaw Delights Muses 107 How even thou'st drawn this faithful parallel, And match'd thy master-piece. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 188 ¶10 You are drawing Parallels between the greatest Actors of the Age. 1869 F. W. Newman Misc. 173 The difficulty..may be relieved..by putting in parallel the Roman armies during two full centuries of the republic. |
Add: [A.] [2.] h. Comm. parallel imports, goods imported by unlicensed independent distributors for sale at less than the manufacturer's official retail price. Also parallel importer, parallel importing.
| 1966 Economist 14 May 743/1 The EEC Commission has no intention of trying to outlaw all sole rights agreements, but only those that grant absolute territorial protection to the distributor, by guaranteeing him against parallel imports. 1979 Ibid. 8 Dec. 72/2 Industrial property rights cannot be invoked thereafter to prevent parallel imports, as the European court of justice has held in a string of cases beginning with Cousten/Grundig in 1966. 1981 Ibid. 19 Sept. 71/2 They may get away with restrictions on commercial parallel importers by playing games with type-approval certificates. 1982 Financial Times 2 June 14/5 On a large scale, parallel importing can seriously undermine the profits of companies which have spent millions in researching and developing the drug in the first place. 1989 Hotel Okura News (Tokyo) Apr. 1/3 In conducting our daily business, we felt strongly that the world economy had become globalized, meshed closely together and borderless. From this, there appeared a new headache. The so-called ‘Parallel Imports’. |
▪ II. ˈparallel, v.
Forms: see prec.
[f. prec. adj.]
1. trans. To place (one thing) beside another (const. with, to), or (two or more things) side by side mentally, so as to exhibit a likeness between them; to bring into comparison, compare; esp. to state or exhibit the likeness or analogy of; to represent as similar, corresponding, or of equal worth; to liken, compare as being like.
| 1598 Barret Theor. Warres v. ii. 172 To consider and paralleill his owne forces with the..powers of the aduersary. 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xxiv. (1623) 1236 Well may shee be paralelled with the euer-renowned Zenobia. 1693 Humours Town 31, I desire you to parallel the Follies and Vices of the Town with the shadows of such in the Country. 1756 Burke Subl. & B. iii. xxv, Let us parallel this with the softness..of the beautiful in other things. 1881 Guardian 9 Feb. 215 [He] parallels to-day's outcry against Ritualism with yesterday's against Methodism. |
† 2. To make parallel, bring into conformity, equalize. Obs.
| 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. iv. ii. 82 His life is paralel'd Euen with the stroke and line of his great Iustice. 1669 Sturmy Mar. Mag. i. ii. 16 [He] will make..use of swift-stealing Time,..that he may parallel his Art with his Valour. |
3. a. To show, present, or bring forward something parallel, equal, or corresponding to; to find or furnish a match for; to match.
| 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. ii. ii. 162 Well may we fight for her, whom, we know well, The world's large spaces cannot paralell. 1692 Ray Disc. ii. iv. (1732) 187 Such unknown Plants as we cannot parallel. 1841 W. Spalding Italy & It. Isl. I. 187 For the Italians, the Middle Ages were an era of such grandeur as even their ancient history had not paralleled. 1874 Mahaffy Soc. Life Greece ii. 25, I cannot parallel these facts in Homer. |
† b. To bring or present as a parallel. Obs. rare.
| 1605 Shakes. Macb. ii. iii. 67 My young remembrance cannot paralell A fellow to it. |
4. To be parallel or equal to; to correspond or be equivalent to; to come up to, equal, match.
| 1601 Shakes. All's Well iv. iii. 281 For rapes and rauishments he paralels Nessus. 1644 Evelyn Diary 17 Oct., Of all the wonders of Italy..nothing parallels this. a 1718 Penn Sandy Found. Shaken Wks. 1726 I. 249 Whose Faction, Prejudice, and Cruelty soon parallel'd the foregoing Heathenish Persecutions. 1861 Maine Anc. Law ix. (1870) 306 Reluctance to admitting that..there is anything in contemporary manners which parallels the loyalty of the antique world. |
5. Often in passive, in which case the distinction between senses 3 and 4 usually disappears, the subject becoming indeterminate: e.g. it cannot be paralleled = ‘no one can parallel it’ (sense 3), or ‘nothing can parallel it’ (sense 4).
| 1625 J. Williams Gt. Brit. Salomon 37 You neur read in your liues of two Kings more fully parallel'd amongst them⁓selues. 1697 Potter Antiq. Greece i. viii. (1715) 35 A Master-piece of Architecture, not easie to be parallel'd. 1705 W. Bosman Guinea 265 This Bird is not to be parrallelled for Beauty. 1853 Bright Sp., India 3 June (1876) 14 A state of things..which cannot be paralleled in any other country. 1863 Tyndall Heat viii. §318 (1870) 243 The Phenomena of light are..also paralleled by those of sound. |
6. intr. To be parallel; to correspond or match; to be comparable, ‘compare’ (with).
| 1626 Bacon Sylva §125 It [sound] parallelleth in so many other things with the sight and radiation of things invisible. 1637 Heywood Dialogues Wks. 1874 VI. 307 Will you then, Since that we parallell in number thus, Helpe us to fill a measure? 1657 in Burton's Diary (1828) II. 100 The case yesterday, as I apprehend, may directly parallel with this. 1907 Smart Set Mar. 52/2 He..recognizes the truth that so easily their paths might have paralleled if events had only favored. 1977 Zigzag Mar. 21/1 Then it parallels to R&B in quite a few ways. |
7. trans. To make parallel (in space). rare.
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. ii. ii. 63 [At the Azores] it [the needle] seemeth equally distracted by both [continents], and diverting unto neither, doth parallell and place it self upon the true Meridian. |
8. To run parallel with, run alongside of, go or tend in the same direction as. (Chiefly U.S.)
| 1885 Harper's Mag. Apr. 695/1 Railroad Avenue has been paralleled by another..business street named Gold Avenue. 1891 Cosmopolitan XII. 52/2 Ribbons of greenest turf,..paralleled on both sides by shaded promenades. 1899 R. Kipling Stalky 257 He had then..crossed over a ridge that paralleled their rear. |
9. trans. To connect (electrical apparatus) in parallel. Const. with.
| 1902 Electr. Rev. 27 June 1056/2 (heading) Apparatus for paralleling alternators. 1903 T. Sewell Elem. Electr. Engin. (ed. 2) xviii. 379 There is not so much danger in paralleling machines which have iron cored armatures, for their self-induction prevents a dangerous current from flowing. 1921 [see phase v. 5 a]. 1952 G. V. Mueller Alternating-Current Machines ix. 339 When a shunt generator is to be paralleled with an operating d-c system, it is driven at its rated speed by a prime mover. 1965 Wireless World Sept. 431/1 They [sc. thyristors] may be used singly to give a 2A d.c. output or they may be paralleled to give any desired output provided that suitable arrangements are made for simultaneous firing. |
Hence ˈparalleled ppl. a.; ˈparalleling vbl. n.
| 1606 Warner Alb. Eng. xiv. lxxxii. (1612) 344 Knowe our Weale-publiques blisse is now a paralelled Creation, Wherein Religion and our Lawes persever in their Station. 1634 Jackson Serm. Matt. ii. 17–18 §4 The exact paralleling of the type and antitype..they purposely leave to the industrious search of posterity. |