▪ I. consummate, a.
(kənˈsʌmət, ˈkɒnsəmət)
Also 6– 7 -at, 7 -sumate.
[ad. L. consummāt-us brought to the highest degree, perfect, complete, consummate, pa. pple. of consummāre (see next). As to pronunciation, see the vb.]
A. as pa. pple.
† 1. Completed, perfected, fully accomplished. Obsolescent.
| 1471 Ripley Comp. Alch. i. in Ashm. (1652) 133 And alsoe thy Bace perfytly consummate. 1530 Palsg. 495/2 This worke that hath ben so longe in hande is nowe at the laste consommate. 1615 Chapman Odyss. xiii. 284 Till righteous fate Upon the Wooers' wrongs were consummate. a 1626 Bp. Andrewes Serm. (1661) 9 a, Consummate it shall be, but not yet. 1752 Young Brothers iii. i, Guilt, begun, must fly To guilt consummate, to be safe. 1767 Blackstone Comm. II. 128 The husband by the birth of the child becomes tenant by the curtesy initiate..but his estate is not consummate till the death of the wife. 1832 Austin Jurispr. (1879) I. vi. 330 A fraction of a community already consummate or complete. |
† 2. Of marriage: = consummated. Obs.
| c 1530 in Fiddes Life Wolsey (1726) ii. 171 The Matrymonie was consummate by that Act. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado iii. ii. 2, I doe but stay till your marriage be consummate. 1649 Bp. Hall Cases Consc. iv. v. 434 Not ratified onely, but consummate by carnal knowledge. 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. 435 Marriages contracted..in the face of the church, and consummate with bodily knowledge. |
B. adj.
† 1. Summed up, finished; having in it finality.
| c 1430 tr. T. à Kempis 107 Holde a short and a consummate worde: Leve all & þou shalt finde all; forsake couetynge and þou shalt finde rest. |
2. Complete, perfect: a. of things. arch.
| 1527 R. Thorne in Hakluyt Voy. (1589) 257 There lacke many thinges that a consummate Carde [= map] should haue. 1667 Milton P.L. v. 481 Last the bright consummate floure Spirits odorous breathes. 1743 Fielding J. Wild i. i, A perfect or consummate pattern of human excellence. 1868 M. Pattison Academ. Org. v. 191 In Oxford..degrees in arts were not final or consummate degrees, but steps on the road.. to the doctor's degree. |
b. of persons: Complete; accomplished, supremely qualified.
| 1643 Milton Divorce ii. iii. (1851) 69 What a consummat and most adorned Pandora was bestow'd upon Adam. 1725 Pope Odyss. iv. 283 Form'd by the care of that consummate sage. 1758 Chesterfield Lett. IV. 126 The dignity and importance of a consummate Minister. 1789 Belsham Ess. I. xvi. 304 Those consummate generals, Condé, Turenne, and Luxemburg. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 50 The consummate hypocrite. 1878 Browning Poets Croisic 67 Step thou forth Second consummate songster! |
3. Perfect, of the highest degree or quality; supreme; utmost. Usually of qualities, or states, as consummate bliss, skill, wisdom, etc.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 231 b, To knowe the god omnipotent is the consummate iustyce. 1644 Milton Areop. 56 The most consummat act of his fidelity. 1695 Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth ii. (1723) 94 The most consummate and absolute Order and Beauty. 1704 Hearne Duct. Hist. (1714) I. 406 A consummate skill in Arithmetic. 1725 Watts Logic ii. v. §4 Consummate folly. 1805 Wordsw. Prelude iv. (1889) 259/1 That day consummate happiness was mine. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 271 Conducted with consummate ability. 1876 M. Davies Unorth. Lond. 371 It was a consummate sermon. 1880 Beaconsfield Endym. lxxiii. 340 Little dinners, consummate and select. |
† 4. ? = consumed 2, consumpt. Obs.
| 1684 tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. viii. 298 Lixivia [in dropsy]..are proper..but not..for such as are consummate, and make a red deep coloured urine. |
▪ II. consummate, v.
(ˈkɒnsəmeɪt, ˈkɒnsjʊ-, kənˈsʌmeɪt)
[f. prec., or L. consummāt-, ppl. stem of consummāre to sum up, make up, complete, finish, f. con- altogether + summa sum, summus highest, utmost, supreme, extreme, etc. The ppl. adj. consummate was in earlier use than the vb., and after the latter came into use, continued for some time to be used as its pa. pple., until succeeded in this capacity by consummated. The pronunciation conˈsummate is given in all the dictionaries until within the last few years, but ˈconsummate is now prevalent: see contemplate. With this stress-pattern the second syll. is freq. (sjʊ). In the adj. conˈsummate is still usual, though ˈconsummate is often said.]
1. trans. To bring to completion or full accomplishment; to accomplish, fulfil, complete, finish.
| 1530 Palsg. 495/2, I consommate, I make a full ende of a thyng, je consumme. 1580 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 450 [This] brought greater desire to them, to consumate them. 1595 Shakes. John v. vii. 95 To consummate this businesse happily. 1610 Histrio-m. i. 214 The Sunne heere riseth in the East with us..And so hee consummates his circled course In the Ecliptick line. 1632 tr. Bruel's Praxis Med. 399 This disease is consummated and brought to its full ripenes in 24 houres. 1692 Ray Dissol. World 25 God also consummated the Universe in six days. 1725 Pope Odyss. xx. 18 And let the Peers consummate the disgrace. 1798 Southey Wife of Fergus Poems II. 108 As if I knew not what must consummate My glory! 1835 Browning Paracelsus ii. 48 This done..to perfect and consummate all..I would supply all chasms with music. 1837 Thirlwall Greece IV. xxx. 158 Lysander was eager to consummate his victory. |
† b. To make an end of, or put an end to, by doing away with. Obs.
| 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 135 Arbela, where he [Darius] consummated life and monarchie. a 1649 Chas. I Wks. 292 What more speedy way was there to consummate those distractions then by a personal treaty. 1649 Fuller Just Man's Fun. 24 God would..consummate this miserable world, put a period to the dark night. |
2. To complete marriage by sexual intercourse.
| 1540 Act 32 Hen. VIII, c. 25 Your maieste..maie..contract and consummat matrimonie wyth any woman. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 11 ¶5 Prince Nassau..consummated on the 26th of the last Month his Marriage with the beauteous Princess of Hesse-Cassel. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xxxi, Her aunt..had insisted that her nuptials with Mr. Thornhill should be consummated at her house. 1823 Lingard Hist. Eng. VI. 202 That the marriage between Arthur and Catharine had been consummated. |
b. absol.
| 1748 H. Walpole Corr. (1837) I. 128 They consummated at her house. 1762 Scrafton Indostan (1770) 17 They are married in their infancy; and consummate at fourteen on the male side, and ten or eleven on the female. 1771 Contemplative Man I. 27 Her Highness was obliged to consummate at a lonely..Cottage, to avoid being discovered. |
† 3. To make perfect; to perfect. Obs.
| [1535 Goodly Prymer (1834) 165 After they are consummate in all kind of virtue.] 1582 N. T. (Rhem.) Heb. v. 9 Being consummated, he became, to all that obey him, the cause of eternal salvation. 1678 A. Lovell tr. La Fontaine's Mil. Duties Cavalry 79 Consummated in the experience of War. |
4. intr. (for refl.) To fulfil or perfect itself.
| 1839 Bailey Festus (1848) p. xvi, From the first These things were fixed, and are and aye shall be Consummating. 1844 Mrs. Browning Vis. Poets, Room..for new hearts to come Consummating while they consume. |