expression

expression
  (ɛkˈsprɛʃən)
  [a. F. expression, ad. L. expressiōn-em, n. of action f. exprimĕre: see express v.¹]
  I. 1. a. The action of pressing or squeezing out.

1594 Plat Jewell-ho. 59 After..the Coast-men have by expression..gotten that kind of traine oyle..from the fish. 1626 Bacon Sylva §633 Their Juyces..are so fleshy..they cannot make Drink by expression. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Plague, Separate the Vinegar from the Herbs by way of strong Expression. 1822 J. Imison Sc. & Art II. 129 Many vegetables afford essential oil by expression or by distillation. 1859 Tennent Ceylon II. ix. vi. 542 The crushing of the coco-nut for the expression of the oil.

  † b. concr. Something pressed or squeezed out; an expressed drink, juice, liquor, etc. Obs.

1612 Enchirid. Med. 158 Let it bee again boyled. Then make a strong expression. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 435 Mixe together both these expressions, letting them coole. 1686 W. Harris tr. Lemery's Chym. (ed. 3) 504 Express through a Linen Cloth..and let the expression settle.

  II. Representation, manifestation. Cf. express v.¹ II.
  2. a. The action of expressing or representing (a meaning, thought, state of things) in words or symbols; the utterance (of feelings, intentions, etc.). Also, in early use: † Explicit mention; description (obs.). b. The action or process of manifesting (qualities or feelings) by action, appearance or other evidences or tokens.

1460 J. Capgrave Chron. Ded. 2 Elde bokes..make more expression of thoo stories..than I have. 1634 W. Tirwhyt Balzac's Lett. 48 You have now no further use of Cyphers, for the expression of your minde to my Lorde the Cardinall. 1647 Crashaw Sosp. d'Her. xxv, The forehead's shade, in grief's expression there, Is what in sign of joy..a smile is here. 1659 Pearson Creed (1839) 282 It behoved us to take notice of the Roman governor in the expression of our Saviour's passion. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. iii. 207 To encourage the fullest expression of public feeling.

  c. phr. beyond expression, past expression, † within the compass of expression to seek expression, find expression.

1624 Massinger Parl. Love v. i, This is cruelty Beyond expression. 1665 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 17 The greatest peace of barbarity within the compas of expression. 1667 Milton P.L. iii. 591 The place he found beyond expression bright. 1700 Dryden Theodore & H. 384 The unhappy man..who past expression loved. 1830 Tennyson Adeline i, Faintly smiling Adeline..beyond expression fair. 1870 Max Müller Sc. Relig. (1873) 218 Some of the fundamental ideas that found expression in the ancient systems of faith and worship. 1878 M. A. Brown Nadeschda 44 Born in love's own heaven Was all that sought expression.

  3. quasi-concr. a. An utterance, declaration, representation. b. An action, state, or fact whereby some quality, feeling, etc., is manifested; a sign, token. (Now only const. of.)

a. 1634 Habington Castara (Arb.) 134 You'le..hate th' expressions of your heart. a 1649 Chas. I. Wks. 206 Who have..made most real expressions to prevent the present Distractions. 1665 Manley Grotius' Low C. Warres 898 King Philips expressions were not written in Latine or French, but in the Spanish Tongue. 1714 Ockley in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 350 Upon the account of an unguarded expression. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 256 Your words..are the very expression of my own feelings.

b. a 1628 Preston New Covt. (1634) 385 That fearfullnesse at Mount Sinai, was but only an expression of the feare which [etc.]. 1669 W. Holder Speech 5 Common life is full of this kind of significant Expressions, by Knocking, Beckoning, Frowning..and the like. 1734 Grub St. Jrnl. 2 May 4/3 A Conference on their [the Passions'] general and particular Expressions. 1816 Mackintosh Bacon & Locke Wks. 1846 I. 336 To render theory the simple expression of facts. 1836 J. Gilbert Chr. Atonem. viii. 308 The death of Christ was the expression of Divine love. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 222 Every change in the form and size of the growing plant is simply the expression of the mode of growth.

  † c. nonce-use. to become expression: to become a byword, or proverbial type of something.

c 1634 W. Cartwright Ordinary iii. iii. in Hazl. Dodsley XII. 262 Mean. Let me be More miserable than Littleworth. Jane. Is he become expression?

  4. a. Manner or means of representation in language; wording, diction, phraseology.

1628 Wither Brit. Rememb. ii. 18 Such a plaine Expression, to acquire, That ev'ry one my meaning may discerne. 1669 W. Holder Speech 5 The variety of instructive Expressions by speech, wherewith Man..is endowed..for the communication of his thoughts. 1709 Pope Ess. Crit. 317 Expression is the dress of thought. 1738 Birch Milton I. 78 Stuffed with gawdy Metaphors and Fancy, far more Expression than Matter. 1757 Gray Let. Poems (1775) 252, I..mean by expression..the whole dress, fashion, and arrangement of a thought. 1859 Geo. Eliot A. Bede 7 Gyp..gave a short bark..he had not a great range of expression. 1887 Pall Mall G. 28 Feb. 12/1 It is not merely the authors of books who should study right expression.

  b. A word, phrase, or form of speech.

1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iii. xviii. 153 His eyes were dimme..caligarunt oculi, saith Jerom..which are expressions of diminution, and not of absolute privation. a 1661 Fuller Worthies (1840) II. 542 The Scripture expression, ‘From Dan to Beersheba’. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xviii. iii, Having left Mr. Miller a little while to chew the cud (if I may use that expression). 1886 Froude Oceana i. 7 Ambiguous expressions were explained away when challenged.

  † c. A designation, descriptive title. Obs.

a 1631 Donne On Transl. Ps. Wks. 1839 VI. 562 Eternal God, for whom whoever dare Seek new expressions, do the circle square.

  d. Alg. A collection of symbols together expressing an algebraical quantity.

1796 Hutton Math. Dict. I. 460/2 The expression..2 ab. 1807 ― Course Math. II. 294 When the given Fluxional Expression is in this Form..namely, a Fraction. 1841 J. R. Young Math. Dissert. Pref. 3 The analytical expression for the radius of curvature. 1871 B. Stewart Heat §51 We have obtained an expression for the difference in pressure.

  5. a. Of the countenance, voice, or (occas.) attitude, etc.: Capacity or fact of expressing feeling or character; expressive quality. b. The aspect (of the countenance), intonation (of the voice) as indicating a state of feeling.

a. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) II. 95 The parts of the head which give the least expression to the face, are the ears. 1779 J. Moore View Soc. Fr. II. li. 23 There is more expression in the countenances of French women. 1834 Medwin Angler in Wales II. 175 His eyes possessing wonderful fire and expression. 1842 Miss Mitford in L'Estrange Life III. ix. 156 A want..of shifting shadow—of that transition which is as expression to a lovely face. 1847 L. Hunt Jar Honey x. 132 Infusing a soul into the features of nature, as expression lights up a beautiful countenance.

b. 1830 E. Porter Analysis (ed. 3) Introd., The nameless and ever varying shades of expression which real pathos gives to the voice. 1830 D'Israeli Chas. I, III. vi. 111 The countenance whose peculiar expression afterwards was so faithfully..transmitted to us. 1834 Pringle Afr. Sk. iii. 158 The peculiar expression of the sound..instantly undeceived me. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xi. 7 An expression of fatigue stamped upon his countenance. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. i. vi, ‘Can't I!’ said Abbey, with infinite expression.

  6. Fine Arts. a. In Painting and Sculpture: The fact or way of expressing character, sentiment, action, etc. Also (rarely) a feature intended for expression.

1715 J. Richardson Th. Paint. 86 Passerotto has drawn a Christ's Head as going to be Crucified, the Expression of which is marvellously fine. Ibid. 99 Robes, or other Marks of..a Profession..are Historical Expressions common in Portraits. 1768 W. Gilpin Ess. Prints 79 There is more expression both in action and feature, than was ever perhaps shewn in so small a compass. 1816 J. Scott Vis. Paris 253 Raphael's feeling for expression was probably the most intense feeling ever bestowed on a human being. 1856 Ruskin Mod. Paint. III. iv. iii. §19 The chief masterpieces of expression which the world possesses are small pictures by Angelico.

  b. In Music. The manner of performance (with respect, e.g. to degrees of loudness or softness) suited to bring out the feeling of a musical passage.

1773 Barrington in Phil. Trans. LXIII. 288 Expression is wanting, without which music is so languid and inanimate. 1797 Mrs. Radcliffe Italian i, Which she touched with most affecting and delicate expression. 1864 M. E. Braddon H. Dunbar xxi, She played with brilliancy, and, what is much rarer, with expression.

  7. Genetics. The appearance in a phenotype of a character or effect attributed to a particular gene; also, the process by which possession of a gene leads to the appearance in the phenotype of the corresponding character. Cf. express v.¹ 11. (In quot. 1927¹ = expressivity b.)

1927 N. W. Timoféeff-Ressovsky in Genetics XII. 131, I use the word ‘manifestation’ to signify the presence of the given character in the phenotype of the fly, and the word ‘expression’ to signify the degree and form of the character. Ibid. 157 Some cases of strong hereditary variations of the expression of radius incompletus..enable us to suppose that a great hereditary variability of the phenotypic expression of this gene could be obtained with the aid of a more precise accounting. 1946 R. R. Gates Human Genetics I. xi. 422 Just as families can differ greatly in the degree of expression of polydactyly, so they can differ in the degree of dominance of the character. 1957 C. H. Waddington Strategy of Genes iii. 91 Geneticists commonly use the word ‘expressivity’ to indicate the degree of expression of some phenotypic character. 1957 Jrnl. General Microbiol. XVI. 115 Expression of the character Az{supr} begins at the time of dilution..of the zygotes and then rises exponentially to become complete just before the recombinants which inherit start to divide. 1968 [see express v.1 11]. 1969 Nature 10 May 541/1 The expression of certain genes is controlled by the products of specific regulator genes which act as repressors.

  8. attrib. in expression-mark (Music), a sign or word indicative of the desired kind of expression; expression-stop, in the Harmonium, a stop by which the performer is enabled to vary the pressure of the air and thus produce expression.

1880 Grove Dict. Music s.v. Harmonium, The Expression stop is used, by which the air reservoir is cut off and the pressure made to depend entirely upon the management of the bellows.

Oxford English Dictionary