▪ I. intimate, a. and n.
(ˈɪntɪmət)
[ad. L. intimāt-us, pa. pple. of intimāre, f. intimus inmost, deepest, profound or close in friendship, as n. a close friend, f. int-us within: see intimate v.]
A. adj.
1. a. Inmost, most inward, deep-seated; hence, Pertaining to or connected with the inmost nature or fundamental character of a thing; essential; intrinsic. Now chiefly in scientific use.
| 1632 Sherwood, Intimate (or inward), intime. 1647 H. More Song of Soul iv. xxxi, This faculty is very intimate And near the Centre. 1678 Hobbes Decam. iv. 44 The true and intimate Substance of the Earth. 1830 Herschel Stud. Nat. Phil. iii. iv. (1851) 291 Its necessary connection with the intimate constitution of the substance. 1878 Stewart & Tait Unseen Univ. iii. §92. 100 With regard to the intimate structure of matter and ether. |
b. Entering deeply or closely into a matter.
| 1817 Coleridge Biog. Lit. iv. (1894) 42 A more intimate analysis..matured my conjecture into full conviction. |
2. Pertaining to the inmost thoughts or feelings; proceeding from, concerning, or affecting one's inmost self; closely personal.
| 1671 Milton Samson 223 They knew not That what I motioned was of God; I knew From intimate impulse, and therefore urged The marriage on. 1702 Eng. Theophrast. 218 Justice..is nothing but an intimate fear of losing one's own. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola ix, He had an intimate sense that Romola was something very much above him. 1871 R. Ellis Catullus xxxv. 5 Some particular intimate reflexions One would tell thee. |
3. a. Close in acquaintance or association; closely connected by friendship or personal knowledge; characterized by familiarity (with a person or thing); very familiar. Said of persons, and personal relations or attributes. Also transf. of things, Pertaining to or dealing with such close personal relations.
| 1635 J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Banish'd Virg. 106 A Knight who was an intimate friend of his. 1659 D. Pell Impr. Sea 117 They are bound by the Laws..of Heaven..to maintain no intimate, or delightful converse with the wicked. 1700 S. L. tr. Fryke's Voy. E. Ind. 91 Sorry at the fate of one of 'em..being one of my intimate acquaintance. 1754 Richardson Grandison I. xxviii. 205 Kindred minds will be intimate at first sight. 1784 Cowper Task iv. 139, I crown thee [winter] king of intimate delights. 1831 Lytton Godolph. xxxvi, Our losses are not intimate and household. 1841 Miss Mitford in L'Estrange Life (1870) III. viii. 124 My friends the Carys..are very intimate with Mr. Newman. a 1870 T. Erskine Spir. Order (1876) 14 The family relation is a more intimate one than the political, and makes more demands on the heart and inner life. 1897 A. Upward Secr. Crts. Europe 157 Another anecdote..is, perhaps, a little too intimate for general repetition. |
b. euphem. of sexual intercourse.
| 1889 [see intimacy 1 b]. 1926 R. Macaulay Crewe Train ii. vi. 139 Some of them were..what newspapers call intimate together, without having undergone marriage. 1963 ‘E. McBain’ Ten Plus One (1964) xiv. 162 Do you mean that you and the other two girls were intimate with these boys? 1969 Times 15 Nov. 3/2, I ripped her dress off. She was lying on her face. I was intimate with her. |
c. Familiarly associated; closely personal.
| 1884 H. James Little Tour in France 214 These diminutive intimate things bring one near to the old Roman life. 1898 Daily News 8 Aug. 6/1 Writers like Mr. Henry James, Mr. Howells, and Miss Wilkins, students and observers only of the minute, the delicate, and the intimate. |
d. Used allusively of women's underclothing.
| 1904 P. Gibbon Souls in Bondage i. 5 Clothes hung on lines in all directions, intimate linen flapped in the wind. 1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 28 Sept. 32/4 (Advt.), Next week we'll be highlighting panti hose and the week after it will be Intimate Apparel week in our Foundations Departments. 1973 Tucson (Arizona) Daily Citizen 22 Aug. 10 (Advt.), Intimate Apparel, mall level. |
e. Of a theatrical performance, esp. a revue: that aims at establishing familiar and friendly relations with the audience. Also of a theatre itself.
| 1915 H. K. Moderwell Theatre To-Day xvi. 309 The [Manchester Repertory] theatre happens to work mostly with the modern ‘intimate’ or ‘realistic’ play, and so is enabled to get along with one company of actors, albeit a large one. 1919 A. Hornblow Hist. Theatre Amer. II. xxxi. 343 The new method is to build a smaller house, or théâtre intime, allowing of an auditorium with limited capacity so that no seat will be very far from the stage. Among these theatres may be mentioned..the Maxine Elliott, one of the first of the intimate theatres. 1929 N.Y. Times 1 May 28/5 The Little Show. An intimate revue in two acts and twenty-seven scenes. 1930 Nation (N.Y.) 24 Sept. 331/1 The place and the popularity of the intimate music show is assured. People are delighted if it sounds like an impromptu affair. 1948 Penguin Music Mag. VI. 51 A series of intimate opera to be given at La Scala with a small audience seated on the stage. 1952 Granville Dict. Theatr. Terms 102 Intimate revue, a smart, topical revue played in a small (intimate) theatre. 1959 Times 22 Jan. 3/2 Intimate revue, at a glance, appears to be the theatre's gift to television. 1961 A. Berkman Singers' Gloss. Show Business 52 The Intimate Position of the head is that in which both the face and the eyes are directed squarely toward the other person. 1974 Times 27 Aug. 8/5 That quiet British archness which put the phrase Intimate Revue into the language. |
4. Of knowledge or acquaintance: Involving or resulting from close familiarity; close.
| a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) I. 211 Challenge intimate Acquaintance With all the learned Moderns, and the Ancients. 1771 Junius Lett. liv. 286 My abhorrence..arises from an intimate knowledge of his character. Mod. One who has an intimate acquaintance with parliamentary procedure. |
5. Of a relation between things: Involving very close connexion or union; very close.
| 1692 South 12 Serm. (1697) I. 502 Pride..is of such Intimate, and even Essential Connexion with Ingratitude. 1831 Lardner Pneumat. v. 286 Such pressure only renders the contact of the valve more intimate. 1839 Murchison Silur. Syst. i. xxxi. 415 This grit is made up of an intimate mixture of fine grains of white quartz and pink felspar. 1860 Emerson Cond. Life vi. (1861) 127 There is an intimate interdependence of intellect and morals. 1876 Clin. Soc. Trans. IX. 153 The adhesions were most intimate over the upper lobe. |
B. n.
† 1. One who intimately belongs to something; a typical representative or example. Obs.
| 1607 T. Walkington Opt. Glass xi. 124 For the intimates of this complexion [the Phlegmatic]..are always pale coloured; slow pac'd; drowsie Headed. |
2. A person with whom one is intimate; a very close friend or associate.
| 1659 Gentl. Calling (1696) 118 The other sort of power that which they have over their Friends and intimates. 1670 Devout Commun. (1688) 169 Make the liveliest of them my most intimates, and..improve their fellowship to the best advantage. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 515 ¶1 To procure from that Intimate of hers one of her Letters. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xx, Henry..only remembered that Oliver had been his friend and intimate. 1888 Burgon Lives 12 Gd. Men I. iii. 344 The variety and extent of his knowledge..often astonished his intimates. |
▪ II. intimate, v.
(ˈɪntɪmeɪt)
Pa. pple. intimated; also 6–7 intimate.
[f. late L. intimāt-, ppl. stem of intimāre to put or bring into, drive or press into, to make known, announce, notify by legal process, f. intim-us inmost. Cf. F. intimer (1325 in Godef. Compl.).]
1. trans. To make known formally, to notify, announce, state; † formerly, to communicate (knowledge), to declare (war).
| 1538 Bale Thre Lawes 1490 What fashyon vse ye, to vs here intymate. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. IV 17 He incontinente did proclaime and intimate open warre. Ibid., Hen. VII 34 b, Assone as the commynge of ye Mayre was intymate and knowen to the ryotous persones, they fledde. 1614 in Vicary's Anat. (1888) App. iii. 145 Their humble peticion..Intymating..that the said Hospitall hath bin chardged with the keeping of three Children. 1629–39 Sir W. Mure Ps. xix. 2 Day speaks to day and night to night Doth knowledge intimate. 1759 Robertson Hist. Scot. vi. Wks. 1813 I. 418 This resolution she intimated to the leaders of both factions. 1816 Scott Introd. 1st Ser. Tales My Landlord, I have only further to intimate, that Mr Peter Pattieson..hath more consulted his own fancy than the accuracy of the narrative. 1884 Manch. Exam. 19 Feb. 4/7 The coalmasters..have posted a notice..intimating a reduction of ten per cent in the wages of miners. |
† b. To designate as something. Obs. rare.
| 1799–1805 S. Turner Anglo-Sax. (1836) I. iii. xi. 255 note, It was Athelstan..that may, with the greatest propriety, be entitled primus monarcha Anglorum; and accordingly Alured of Beverley so intimates him. |
2. To make known or communicate by any means however indirect; hence, to signify, indicate; to imply, to suggest, to hint at.
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. ix. 30 To her he sought to intimate His inward griefe, by meanes to him well knowne. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 69 Till Easter day, when they take up the representative Bodie, intimating thereby his Resurrection. 1660 Jer. Taylor Worthy Commun. ii. 14 The Apostle expresses one duty and intimates another. 1728 Young Love Fame v. 74 Her darling china, in a whirlwind sent, Just intimates the lady's discontent. 1814 Scott Wav. viii, The open avowal of what the others only ventured to intimate. 1876 Mozley Univ. Serm. vi. 135 The Great Spirit, speaking by dumb representation to other spirits, intimates and signifies to them something about Himself. |
b. To mention indirectly or in passing.
| 1634 Canne Necess. Separ. (1849) 74 We do deny that those here intimated are true ministers. 1661 Bramhall Just Vind. x. 275 This is the treatise of Schisme intimated in my answer to Monsieur de la Militiere. 1800 Asiat. Ann. Reg., Proc. E. Ind. Ho. 85/1 He had intimated another subject, which could not be brought forward without fourteen days notice. |
† 3. To make intimate, to familiarize. Obs.
| 1642 Rogers Naaman 362 The Lord intimated his heart with this thought. 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 451 For two of a Profession (that are not intimated by nearenesse of Friendship) to give one another a good word is Candidnesse miraculous. |
Hence ˈintimated ppl. a. Also ˈintimater, one who intimates.
| 1606 Ford Honour Triumph, Monarchs Meet. xi, A goodly view of majestie it was To see such intimated league betwixt them. 1611 Florio, Indittore, an inditer, a denouncer. Also an intimater. 1850 W. Irving Goldsmith xxvii. 274 Goldsmith treasured up the intimated hope. |