cohabitation
(kəʊhæbɪˈteɪʃən)
[a. F. cohabitation, ad. late L. cohabitātiōn-em a dwelling together, f. cohabitāre to cohabit.]
1. Dwelling or living together; community of life. arch. (or distinguished from 2 by use of hyphen and secondary stress on co-).
| c 1450 Mirour Saluacioun 944 The womman Sunamyte dredde the cohabitacionne of Elye. 1555 Coverdale (title), Treatise of the cohabitation of the Faithful with the Unfaithful. 1645 Milton Tetrach. (1851) 163 He is not bid to leave the dear cohabitation of his father, mother, brothers and sisters. 1728 Newton Chronol. Amended ii. 210 Oannes taught the Chaldæans..Cohabitation in Cities. 1856 Olmsted Slave States 17, I am struck with the close co-habitation and association of black and white. |
b. transf. and fig.
| 1551 Cranmer Answ. Bp. Gardiner 353 (T.) Nestorius graunted two natures in Christ, yet..by cohabitation or inhabitation, so that he made but one Christ. 1656 Jeanes Fuln. Christ 164 The cohabitation of the Godhead with the manhood, in the person of Christ. 1882 Vines Sachs' Bot. 329 The Alga which is the host of the Fungus become[s] modified in consequence of the cohabitation. |
† c. Clustering as a community. Obs.
| 1662 Petty Taxes 28 While ever there are people in England, the greatest cohabitation of them will be about the place which is now London. |
2. Living together as husband and wife (often with the implication of not being married: see cohabit v. 2).
| 1548 Act 2 & 3 Edw. VI, c. 23 §2 Sentence for Matrimony, commanding Solemnization, Cohabitation, Consummation, and Tractation. 1631 Star Chamb. Cases (Camden) 54 After this was the cohabitation continued and the children borne as before mentioned. 1690 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) II. 54 For..holding correspondence and cohabitation with one not his wife. 1751 Chambers Cycl., Co-habitation, implies a concubinage, or a copulation, or carnal knowledge, between two persons. 1751 Jortin Eccl. Hist. (1845) I. xxxi. 422 The cohabitation of slaves was not called by the name of marriage. 1824 Coleridge Aids Refl. 28 A large number of legal cohabitations have little claim to the name of Christian marriages. |
† b. Sexual intercourse. Obs.
| 1579 Fenton Guicciard. i. (1599) 38 The death of Galeas happened by immoderate cohabitacion. |
Hence cohabiˈtational a.
| 1949 Koestler Promise & Fulfilment v. 284 This is the first coeducational—or rather cohabitational—prison in the world. 1984 Daily Express 18 July 21/2 He took their co-habitational problems—they're both fed up with each other's wally ways—to a marriage guidance counsellor. |
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Add: 3. Pol. Co-operation between members (esp. a President and Prime Minister) of opposing parties, orig. in France; an instance of this. (Sometimes pronounced as a Fr. word and printed in italics.)
| 1978 Washington Post 23 Mar. a 23/1 Giscard said it was time to achieve ‘a reasonable cohabitation’ between the majority and the opposition in France. 1985 Economist 9 Feb. (Survey Suppl.: France) 20/1 Mr Barre rules out any talk of cohabitation with Mr Mitterand. 1986 Economist 5 Apr. 57/3 Like France, Portugal is adjusting to the ‘cohabitation’ of a Socialist president and a Conservative prime minister. 1987 Times 7 Apr. 15/3 There is evidence that cohabitation may, with time, erode France's considerable diplomatic influence. |