extinguishment
(ɛkˈstɪŋgwɪʃmənt)
[f. extinguish v. + -ment.]
The action of extinguishing; the fact of being extinguished; = extinction.
1. The quenching (of fire, light, anything burning or shining). Cf. extinguish v. 1.
| 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xliii. iv, Evermore, without extinguyshment, In burnyng tongues he shall be permanent. 1665 Sir T. Roe's Voy. E. India 443 Lamps..which have burned without extinguishment from many foregoing generations. 1724 T. Richers Hist. R. Geneal. Spain 326 To endeavour the Extinguishment of those Flames. 1870 Daily News 19 Aug. 6 The men skilled in extinguishment far away. |
† b. A means of extinguishing. Obs.
| 1667 Waterhouse Fire Lond. 58 Application of remora's and extinguishments, to both wind and fire. |
2. transf. and fig. Cf. extinguish v. 2.
| 1503 Hawes Examp. Virt. xiii. 275 Theyr payne haue none extinguysshement. 1546 in Vicary's Anat. (1888) App. viii. 218 The..vtter extingguysshement of the seyd grugge and dyspleasure. 1607 Topsell Serpents (1653) 636 When once the wound beginneth to be purple, green, or black, it is a sign..of the extinguishment of the venom. a 1639 W. Whately Prototypes ii. xxvi. (1640) 70 An extinguishment of love. 1850 L. Hunt Autobiog. x. (1860) 179 The final extinguishment of the king's reason. |
3. The putting a total end to (something), blotting out of existence; suppression (of an institution).
| 1537 Acts Irel. 28 Hen. VIII, c. xiii, Statutes..made for the..extinguishment out of this land of the pretended power of the Bishop of Rome. 1586 J. Ferne Blaz. Gentrie 32 The extinguishment of anye one of them [foure complexions] is the destruction of the bodye. a 1648 Ld. Herbert Hen. VIII (1649) 397 That for extinguishments of all Ambiguities and doubts, it may be enacted, etc. 1741 T. Robinson Gavelkind v. 66 A Total Extinguishment of the Custom. 1865 Reader 2 Sept. 253/2 Munitions of war, which not only influenced banefully..the fortunes of Prince Charlie, but led..to their final extinguishment. |
b. The putting an end to (a contract, right, etc.); abolition (of a law, custom, † tax). In Law also spec. ‘the annihilation of a collateral interest, or the supersedure of one interest by another and greater interest’ (Wharton Law Lex.).
| 1535 Act 27 Hen. VIII, c. 10 §1 The..extinguishment of all suche subtill practised feoffementes. 1554 in Depositions, etc. (Surtees Soc. No. 21) 57 For the..extinguishment of a mariage solempnized betwixt them in their infancies. 1574 tr. Littleton's Tenures 64 a, A release shall enure by waye of extinguishemente. 1683 T. Hunt Def. Charter 36 Charged with the extinguishment of many excellent Laws. 1818 Hallam Mid. Ages (1872) I. 428 A suspension, but not extinguishment of rights. 1886 Law Rep. Weekly Notes 35/2 The accounts were limited to the period before Michaelmas, 1881, the time from which the extinguishment took effect. |
c. The full discharge, ‘wiping out’ (of a debt or obligation).
| 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 266 To provide for the extinguishment of the existing debt. 1847 C. G. Addison On Contracts ii. iv §i. (1883) 664 The extinguishment of the principal obligation necessarily involving in it the discharge of the surety. 1868 Rogers Pol. Econ. iv. (1876) 7 Reciprocal extinguishment of obligations. |
† d. The cutting off, putting an end to (a family, race, etc.); the fact of becoming extinct. Obs.
| 1539 Taverner Gard. Wysed. i. 13 b, Syngle lyfe hathe these incommodyties..extinguyshment of bloud, a straunger to be thyne heyre. 1612 Davies Why Ireland, etc. 210 Rebellion, wherein he perished himselfe, and made a final extinguishment of his house and honour. 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 114 By the extinguishment of the Picts, it reached also unto Tweed. |
† e. Annihilation (of the soul). Obs.
| 1592 Davies Immort. Soul xxx. §4 When Death's Form appears, she [the soul] feareth not An utter Quenching, or Extinguishment. 1625 Ussher Answ. Jesuit 327 A most absolute extinguishment as well of the soule as of the body. |