excellency
(ˈɛksələnsɪ)
Also 5 excelencye.
[ad. L. excellentia: see prec. and -ency.]
† 1. = excellence 1. Obs. or arch.
| ? a 1400 Chester Pl. (Shaks. Soc.) I. 9 Exsaulted by my excelencye. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 195 b, To be had in honour..as theyr vertue or excellency requyreth. 1579 Fulke Heskins' Parl. 95 He could not better haue shewed his excellencie aboue Aaron. 1605 Camden Rem. (1637) 163 Lady Iane Grey..for her excellency in the Greek tongue was called for Greia, Graia. 1611 Bible Ps. lxii. 4 They onely consult to cast him downe from his excellency. 1674 Playford Skill Mus. Pref. 1 An high esteem of the Excellency of Musick. 1716–8 Lady M. W. Montague Lett. I. xl. 162 Fountains, famous for the excellency of their water. 1783 Ld. Hailes Antiq. Chr. Ch. iv. 87 There is friendship, says he, between good men and the Divinity, moral excellency uniting them. |
b. High degree of skill; proficiency.
| a 1704 Locke (J.), I have, amongst men of parts and business, seldom heard any one commended for having excellency in musick. |
† c. concr. Something that excels, or takes the highest place; the ‘beauty’ or ‘flower’. Obs.
| 1611 Bible Isa. lx. 15, I will make thee an eternall excellencie, a ioy of many generations. 1660 W. Secker Nonsuch Prof. 8 Man is the excellency of the creature, the Saint is the excellency of the man. 1667 E. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. i. i. iii. (1743) 6 The college of the knights of the garter..is curiously adorned..with the excellency of modern Painting and carving. |
† d. In phrases, by excellency, for excellency, with (an) excellency = by way of excellence: see excellence 1 b. Obs.
| 1574 Hellowes Gueuara's Fam. Ep. (1577) 4 For excellencie, it was written of him [Caesar] that he neuer forgot seruice, or euer did remember iniurie. 1631 Gouge God's Arrows v. §2. 411 This relative particle..They, as here it is used, is to be taken κατ' ἔωξκην [sic] with an excellency. 1648 N. Estwick A Treatise 44 The person here is called, by an excellencie, the Spirit of truth. 1716 M. Davies Athen. Brit. III. 3 The fifth advance in Humanity is nam'd Poetry or Humanity it self, by excellency or preference. |
2. a. That in which a person or thing excels; an excellent feature or quality; a chief accomplishment, a specialty: = excellence 2.
| 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. ii. iii. 163 Cram'd (as he thinkes) with excellencies. 1640 Fuller Joseph's Coat viii. (1867) 195 One's excellency may consist in the unsnarling of a known controversy. 1676 G. Etherege Man of Mode i. i, That a mans excellency should lie in neatly tying of a Ribbond, or a Crevat! 1712 J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 143 The Maple has this peculiar Excellency, that it grows in the Shade. 1771 Sir J. Reynolds Disc. iv. (1876) 357 Those higher excellencies of which the art is capable. 1839 Ld. Brougham Statesm. Geo. III, Ld. Grenville (ed. 2) 144 The faults of his character were akin to some of the excellencies. |
† b. With the: That which makes (a person or thing) to be excellent; the criterion of excellence.
| 1643 J. Burroughes Exp. Hosea iii. (1652) 207 What is the excellency of man but Religion? 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 98 The Excellency of Sawing is, to keep the Kerf exactly in the Line marked out to be sawn. 1807 T. Thomson Chem. (ed. 3) II. 495 The excellency of a good enamel is, that it easily fuses into a kind of paste at the heat which is necessary for baking stoneware. |
† 3. a. An excellent personality; a ‘dignity’. Obs.
| 1688 Collier Several Disc. (1725) 278 The Arians..say that Christ is..called God only by way of Participation, as other created Excellencies are. |
b. As a title of honour. Cf. eminence 5, excellence 3 b.
The quots. show that it was formerly applied to royal personages, to ladies, and others, though in England now limited to ambassadors, ministers plenipotentiary, governors (extended also to their wives) and certain other high officers.
| [c 1325 Address to Edw. II in Pike Year-bks. 13 & 14 Edw. III 362 Vestra Excellentia.] c 1532 G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 1037 Your excellency [Queen Mary of France] doth styre and move me continually. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 390 Sir John Bushe made request..that it might please the kinges hignesse and excellencie, that, etc. 1632 J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena B ij, The Lord grant your Excellencie [Dutchess of Richmond] all increase of felicitie. 1696 Whiston Th. Earth iii. (1722) 276 His Excellency the Muscovite Ambassador. 1727 Swift Gulliver i. v. 61 Their excellencies, who were privately told how much I had been their friend. 1763 Scrafton Indostan iii. (1770) 64 They desired a private conference with the Soubah: but his Excellency, etc. 1821 Shelley Hellas Ded., To his Excellency Prince Alexander Mavrocordato, late Secretary for Foreign Affairs. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 148 Retaining the guard of honour, the sword of state, and the title of Excellency. |