departure
(dɪˈpɑːtjʊə(r))
[a. OF. *departeüre, desparteüre:—late L. type *dispartītūra, f. dispartīre, F. départ-ir to depart: see -ure.]
† 1. a. Separation, severance, parting. Obs.
| a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon clxii. 631, I shall make a departure of your two loues. 1559 Scot in Strype Ann. Ref. I. App. vii. 17 The departure of Gascoygne. 1581 Lambarde Eiren. ii. vii. (1588) 201 Controversies, betweene masters and servants, touching their departure. 1643 Milton Divorce viii. (1851) 40 Much more can no other remedie or retirement be found but absolute departure. |
† b. concr. A boundary separating two regions; a separation, division. Obs.
| 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cccxxiv. 505 By the ryuer of Aude, the whiche was the departure of bothe realmes. |
† c. Old Chem. Separation of a metal from an alloy or a solution. Obs.
| 1727–51 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Depart, If the aqua fortis, having quitted the silver, and being united with the copper, be then filtrated, it is called aqua secunda; in which if you steep an iron plate some hours, you will have another departure; for the menstruum will let go the copper, and prey on the iron. |
† d. departure with: parting with, giving up. (Cf. departing vbl. n. 4.)
| a 1563 G. Cavendish Wolsey (1893) 177 A bare and symple departure with another's right. |
2. a. The action of departing or going away.
| a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon lxxxv. 268 After his departure Kynge Charlemayn made redy his company. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. iii. ii. 78 You knew of his departure, as you know What you haue vnderta'ne to doe in's absence. 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 303 Departure from this happy place. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 375 The hour of departure has arrived. |
b. The action of departing this life; decease, death. Obs. or arch.
| 1558 Bury Wills (1850) 150 All theise..things to him before bequeathed to be delyvered to him..w{supt}in a quarter of one yeare after my departure. 1611 Bible 2 Tim. iv. 6 The time of my departure is at hand. 1752 Johnson Rambler No. 203 ¶7 The loss of our friends..impresses..upon us the necessity of our own departure. 1821 F. Burney Lett. Nov., I had thought him dead, having heard..a report that asserted his departure. |
3. transf. and fig. Withdrawal, divergence, deviation (from a path, course, standard, etc.).
| a 1694 Tillotson (J.), The fear of the Lord, and departure from evil. 1705 C. Purshall Mech. Macrocosm 122 Their..Departure North, and South, are sometimes Greater, and sometimes Less, than that of the Sun. 1782 Priestley Corrupt. Chr. I. Pref. 15, I have not..taken notice of every departure from the original standard. 1832 Examiner 261/2 Every departure from truth is a blemish. 1875 Maine Hist. Inst. ii. 52 Partial and local departures from the Brehon Law were common all over Ancient Ireland. |
4. The action of setting out or starting on a journey; spec. the starting of a railway train from a station. Also attrib. (Opposed to arrival.)
| 1540 Stat. 32 Hen. VIII, c. 14 [They] intende to make..their departur from the said porte..as soone as wynde and wether wyl serue. 1598 Hakluyt Voy. I. 421 (R.) At their departure was shot off all the ordinance of the ship. 1776 Gibbon Decl. & F. i. (1838) I. 17 Whenever the trumpet gave the signal of departure. 1871 Morley Voltaire (1886) 101 The period of twenty years between Voltaire's departure from England and his departure for Berlin. 1887 W. E. Norris Major & Minor II. 138 Miss Huntley was standing on the departure side of the little Kingscliff station. a 1895 Mod. The Booking Office is open 15 minutes before the departure of each train. |
5. fig. The starting or setting out on a course of action or thought. new departure: a fresh start; the beginning of a new course of procedure; cf. 7 b.
| 1839 J. C. Calhoun Wks. (1874) III. 399 My aim is fixed, to take a fresh start, a new departure on the States Rights Republican tack. 1876 Gladstone Homeric Synchr. 9 To begin by stating my point of departure. 1883 Chalmers & Hough Bankruptcy Act Introd. 9 The present Act makes a fresh departure in bankruptcy legislation. |
6. Law. a. A deviation in pleading from the ground taken by the same party in an antecedent plea. † b. departure in despite of the court: see quot. 1641 (obs.).
| 1548 Act 2–3 Edw. VI, c. 2 §6 The Justices..shall..determine..the said Offences concerning every such Departure. 1628 Coke On Litt. 304 b, A departure in pleading is said to be when the second Plea containeth matter not pursuant to his former. 1641 Termes de la Ley 110 b, Departure from a plee or matter. Ibid., Departure in despight of the Court, is when the Tenant or Defendant appeareth to the action brought against him, &..is called after..in the same term, if he do not appeare, but make default, it is a departure in despight of the Court, and therefore he shall be condemned. |
7. Navigation. a. The distance (reckoned in nautical miles) by which a ship in sailing departs or moves east or west from a given meridian; change of longitude. (Abbreviated dep.) b. The bearing of an object on the coast, taken at the commencement of a voyage, from which the dead reckoning begins.
| 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. bk. iv. 158 Retain the observed Difference of Latitude..and thereby find the Departure from the Meridian. 1699 W. Hacke Coll. Voy. I. 42 Next day we took a new Departure from thence [Isle of Ascension]. 1810 J. H. Moore Pract. Navigator 52 Easting or westing, in Plane Sailing, is called Departure or Meridian Distance. Ibid. 66 Suppose a ship takes her departure from the Lizard. 1837 Penny Cycl. VIII. 414 The number of miles in the course multiplied by the sine of the angle which it makes with the meridian gives the departure in miles. 1884 Encycl. Brit. XVII. 270 When clear of the harbor..a bearing is taken of one known object and the distance estimated..the result..is entered in the log-book with the exact time. This is called the departure (i.e. from the land). |
8. Ellipt. for departure lounge (at an airport); also, the entrance to this. Also (with cap. initial) in colloq. use.
| 1948 Airports & Air Transportation May 404/1 Adjoining..the first departure lounge, is a new staff bar. 1963 ‘R. Erskine’ Passion Flowers in Italy iv. 48, I spent it [sc. the time] in the Departure Lounge. 1965 ‘W. Haggard’ Powder Barrel iii. 36 No trouble, sir. He's through in Departure now. 1968 A. Diment Gt. Spy Race ii. ix. 165 The driver shook my hand at Departure. ‘Have a good trip, sir.’ |
Hence (nonce-wds.) deˈparturism, deˈparturist, in the expressions new departurism, new departurist, the principle, or the advocate, of a ‘new departure’ in any movement or course of action.
| 1887 J. E. Dwinell Side Lights 10/2 The argument for the presence of New Departurism. 1887 G. W. Veditz in Amer. Annals of Deaf July 163, I did not mean him, but only the new departurists, Rössler, Arnold. |