invention
(ɪnˈvɛnʃən)
[a. OF. invencion, envention (1270–97 in Godef. Compl.), ad. L. inventiōn-em n. of action from invenīre: see invent v.]
I. The action, faculty, or manner of inventing.
1. The action of coming upon or finding; the action of finding out; discovery (whether accidental, or the result of search and effort). Obs. or arch.
| a 1350 St. Stephen 212 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1881) 30 Saynt Steuyn inuencioun: Þat es þe finding of his body. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 258 In the inuencyon of the body of saynt Stephan. 1538 Starkey England i. iv. 116 For no study nor desyre of victory, but only for the inventyon of the truth and equyte. 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. ii. i. §3 That judicial method which serveth best for the invention of truth. 1665–6 Phil. Trans. I. 14, I have..reason to believe, that the Invention of Longitudes will come to its perfection. 1691 Ray Creation ii. (1692) 45 Nature hath provided..four..Channels to convey it into the Mouth, which are of late invention, and called by Anatomists, Ductus Salivales. 1728 Newton Chronol. Amended i. 166 The invention and use of the four metals in Greece. 1850 Neale Med. Hymns (1867) 104 But that thirst Thou wouldst express For lost man's invention. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1877) I. v. 440 note, His tomb must have been removed on the Invention of Arthur in the time of Henry the Second. |
b. Invention of the Cross: the reputed finding of the Cross by Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine, in A.D. 326 (see cross n. 2); hence, the church festival observed on the 3rd of May in commemoration of this.
| 1451 Paston Lett. I. 211 The Sonday next after the Fest of the Invencion of the Cros, the ix. day of May. 1587 Holinshed Scot. Chron. (1805) II. 65 On the Holy Rood⁓day, called the invention of the Cross. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 281 On the same day they commemorate St. Helen's Invention of the Cross at Jerusalem. 1709 Lond. Gaz. No. 4539/1 Yesterday being the Feast of the Invention of the Holy Cross, the Emperor, the two Empresses..performed their Devotions in the Church of the Jesuits. 1897 J. T. Tomlinson Prayer Book, Art. & Hom. i. 14 The Invention of the Cross..‘has not been disproved’,—a faint praise, which might be applied to many other doubtful ‘inventions’. |
† c. Finding out, solution (of a problem). Obs.
| 1484 Caxton Fables of Alfonce (1889) 3 A subtyle Inuencion of a sentence gyuen upon a derke and obscure cause. 1571 Digges Pantom. iv. xxiv. Ee iij a, Rules for the inuention of his capacitie superficiall and Solide. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. iii. iv. i. iii. (1651) 667 Pythagoras offered an hundred Oxen for the invention of a Geometrical Probleme. |
d. Rhet. The finding out or selection of topics to be treated, or arguments to be used.
| 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. viii. (Percy Soc.) 29 The fyrste of them is called Invencion, Whiche surdeth of the most noble werke Of v. inward wittes. 1531 Elyot Gov. i. xiv, Whiche is the fyrste parte of Rhetorike, named Inuention. 1659 O. Walker Oratory 1 The Parts of Oratory are Invention, taking care for the Matter; and Elocution, for the Words and Style. 1725 Watts Logic iii. ii. §7 By some logical Writers this Business of Topics, and Invention is treated of in such a manner with mathematical Figures and Diagrams, filled with the barbarous technical Words, Napcas, Nipcis, Ropcos, Nosrop, etc. a 1886 J. Ker Lect. Hist. Preach. xiv. (1888) 251 His sermons are remarkable for the skill displayed in what the French call ‘invention’ or the raising of topics. |
2. The action of devising, contriving, or making up; contrivance, fabrication.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 2 These thynges, whiche be not of myne inuencion, but with great labour gathered. 1551 Princess Mary in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. II. 163 To use alteracyons of theyr owne Invencyon. 1695 Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth (1702) 92 Carrying rather an appearance of Figment and Invention..than of Truth and Reality. 1704 Swift T. Tub Ded., This proceeding is not of my own invention. 1722 De Foe Plague (1754) 1 Printed News-Papers..to spread Rumours and Reports of Things; and to improve them by the Invention of Men. Mod. Who is credited with the invention of this fable? |
3. The original contrivance or production of a new method or means of doing something, of an art, kind of instrument, etc. previously unknown (see invent v. 3); origination, introduction.
| 1531 Elyot Gov. i. xxvi, They that write of the firste inuentions of thinges, haue good cause to suppose Lucifer..to be the first inuentour of dise playinge. 1604 Jas. I Counterbl. (Arb.) 99 The first inuention of Tobacco taking. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. i. iv. 12 The Invention of Printing..compared with the invention of Letters. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. xxxviii. (1869) II. 429 The military art has been changed by the invention of gunpowder. 1857 Buckle Civiliz. I. xiv. 820 All half civilized nations have made many great inventions, but no great discoveries. 1873 Hamerton Intell. Life vii. iv. (1876) 247 The extreme rarity of inventions due to women. |
b. In art and literary composition: The devising of a subject, idea, or method of treatment, by exercise of the intellect or imagination; ‘the choice and production of such objects as are proper to enter into the composition of a work of art’ (Gwilt Archit. Gloss.).
| 1638 F. Junius Paint. of Ancients 234 The Painter being loath to spoyle the naturall beautie..with an Artificiall bridge, fetcheth a sudden Invention out of..Palme-trees. 1666 Dryden Pref. Ann. Mirab. Wks. (Globe) 40 The first happiness of the poet's imagination is properly invention, or finding of the thought. 1769 Sir J. Reynolds Disc. ii. (1876) 317 Invention..is little more than a new combination of those images which have been previously gathered and deposited in the memory. 1843 Ruskin Mod. Paint. I. ii. vi. iii. §23 All so-called invention is in landscape nothing more than appropriate recollection. |
4. The faculty of inventing or devising; power of mental creation or construction; inventiveness.
| c 1480 Henryson Test. Cres. 67, I wait nocht gif this narratioun Be authoreist, or fenyeit of the new Be sum poeit, throw his inventioun. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. Ep. A ij, I commende your wit and invention. 1638 F. Junius Paint. of Ancients 226 Wee must rather give our Invention the full raines. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §100 He was not a man of much invention. 1838 Prescott Ferd. & Is. (1846) I. iii. 156 His invention was ever busy in devising intrigues. |
† 5. The manner in which a thing is devised or constructed; invented style, fashion, design. Obs.
| 1513 Bradshaw St. Werburge i. 1787 Your garmentes..Euery yere made after a newe inuencyon. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 115 ¶6 Guns of several Sizes and Inventions. 1715 Leoni Palladio's Archit. (1742) I. 59 The Chambers..are..painted in grotesque of a very fine Invention. |
II. The thing invented.
6. Something devised; a method of action, etc. contrived by the mind; a device, contrivance, design, plan, scheme. (Now merged in 8 and 9.)
| 1513 More in Grafton Chron. (1568) II. 786 The weight of all that invention rested in thys. 1516 Life St. Bridget in Myrr. our Ladye (1873) Introd. 53 There was a knyght that alway studyed to fynde newe inuencyons amonge the people. 1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, iv. i. 35 What, if both Lewis and Warwick be appeas'd, By such inuention as I can deuise? 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. xiii. lxxvii. (1612) 318 To worship meare Inuentions, yea inferior Things of nought. 1611 Bible Eccl. vii. 29 God hath made man vpright: but they haue sought out many inuentions. 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl., Disc. Occas. Medit. iv. ii, True Preachers..mingle not their own Inventions, or humane Traditions, with that pure and sincere Light of Revelation. 1819 Byron Juan ii. cxxiii, Those soft attentions, Which are (as I must own) of female growth, And have ten thousand delicate inventions. |
† b. A discovery. Obs.
| 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 36 Another of stone, in both which they writ their inventions of Astronomy. 1666 J. Smith Old Age To Rdr. A vij b, The Circular Motion of the Bloud; the best and most useful Invention of this Latter Age. |
† 7. A work or writing as produced by exercise of the mind or imagination; a literary composition. Obs.
| 1484 Caxton Fables of æsop 3 She gaf to hym the yefte of speche for to speke dyuerse fables and Inuencions. 1593 Nashe 4 Lett. Confut. 32 In al other my inuentions thou [Aristophanes] interfusest delight with reprehension. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. v. i. 341 Or say, tis not your seale, not your inuention. |
8. A fictitious statement or story; a fabrication, fiction, figment.
| 1500–20 Dunbar Poems ix. 125 In fowll disceptionis, in als inventionis breiding. 1601 Shakes. All's Well iii. vi. 105 None in the world, but returne with an inuention, and clap vpon you two or three probable lies. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 233 It may more probably be an Invention to fright Passengers. 1748 F. Smith Voy. Disc. I. 179 The Story which they had related..was all meer Invention. 1898 W. M. Ramsay Was Christ born in Bethlehem? v. 102 The extreme school of critics reject the tale as an invention. |
9. Something devised or produced by original contrivance; a method or means of doing something, an instrument, an art, etc. originated by the ingenuity of some person, and previously unknown; an original contrivance or device.
| 1546 Langley Pol. Verg. De Invent. iii. v. 70 b, Tyle and slate to couer houses were the inuencion of Sinyra. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. xix. 21 b, Gabions..in forme of Baskets..a very commodious invention, for the shot..can doe no hurt nor dammage. 1644 Evelyn Diary 2 May, We entered by the draw-bridge, which has an invention to let one fall, if not premonished. 1781 W. Blane Ess. Hunt. (1788) 7 Barometer..this instrument, though a fine invention, is still imperfectly understood. 1821 J. Q. Adams in C. Davies Metr. Syst. iii. (1871) 215 The French system..is in design the greatest invention of human ingenuity since that of printing. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Race Wks. (Bohn) II. 20 The English..have made or applied the principal inventions. |
† 10. Something formally or authoritatively introduced or established; an institution. Obs.
| 1639 R. Gentilis Servita's Inquis. (1676) 844 The Cardinal yielding to necessity went away, and the new inventions were revoked. 1672 Temple Ess., Govt. (R.), Being forced to supply the want of authority by wise inventions, orders, and institutions. |
11. Mus. A short piece of music in which a single idea is worked out in a simple manner.
| 1880 Grove Dict. Mus., Invention, a term used by J. S. Bach, and probably by him only, for small pianoforte pieces—15 in 2 parts and 15 in 3 parts—each developing a single idea, and in some measure answering to the Impromptu of a later day. |
III. † 12. Coming in, arrival. Obs. rare.
| 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. i. 3 And whilst green Thetis Nymphes..Sing our Invention safe unto her long-wisht Bay. |