prohibition
(prəʊhɪˈbɪʃən)
[a. F. prohibition (1237 in Godef. Compl.), ad. L. prohibitiōn-em, n. of action f. prohib-ēre to prohibit.]
1. The action of forbidding by or as by authority; an edict, decree, or order forbidding or debarring; a negative command.
| 1387–8 T. Usk Test. Love iii. iii. (Skeat) I. 54 This..semeth to some men into coaccion, that is to saine, constrainyng, or els prohibicion that is defendyng. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) VII. 287 Prestes despisynge this prohibicion. 1538 Starkey England ii. i. 160 Ther must be a prohybytyon set out by commyn authoryte. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 645 So glister'd the dire Snake, and into fraud Led Eve..to the Tree Of prohibition. 1717 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to Abbé Conti 1 Apr., The prohibition of wine was a very wise maxim. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 404 The prohibition of excessive wealth is a very considerable gain in the direction of temperance. |
2. Law. a. A writ issuing from a superior court, formerly from the Court of King's Bench, and sometimes from the Court of Chancery or of Common Pleas, now out of the High Court of Justice, forbidding some court, and the parties engaged in it, from proceeding in a suit, on the ground that this is beyond the cognizance of the court in question.
| [1312 Rolls of Parlt. I. 282/2 Ceux qi par malice purchacent prohibitions.] 1548 Act 2 & 3 Edw. VI, c. 13 §14 If any Party..for any Matter..sued..before the Ecclesiastical Judge, do sue for any Prohibition in any of the King's Courts. 1595 Expos. Termes Law, Prohibition..lieth where a man is impleded in y⊇ spiritual court of y⊇ thing y{supt} toucheth not matrimonie nor testament,..but that toucheth the kinges crowne. 1682 Burnet Rights Princes viii. 305 A Prohibition was served upon those Vicars. 1726 Ayliffe Parergon 435 Every Statute Prohibitory is a Prohibition of Law. 1863 H. Cox Instit. ii. ii. 310 The courts of law frequently issued ‘Prohibitions’ against proceeding in the Ecclesiastical Courts with suits not lawfully cognizable there. 1885 Encycl. Brit. XIX. 793/1 A writ of prohibition is a prerogative writ—that is to say, it does not issue as of course, but is granted only on proper grounds being shown. |
b. Sc. Law. Each of the three technical clauses in a deed of entail prohibiting the heir from selling an estate, contracting debt that would affect it, or altering the order of succession to it.
| 1848 Act 11 & 12 Vict. c. 36 §32 Disencumbering the entailed estate..and the heir of entail.. of all the prohibitions, conditions, restrictions, limitations, and clauses irritant and resolutive, of the tailzie. 1861 W. Bell Dict. Law Scot. 802/2 Before the passing of the act 11 and 12 Vict. c. 36, 1848, it was doubted whether an entail could be effectual which did not contain the whole of the three prohibitions;—against alienations; against the contraction of debt, so as to affect the estate; and against the succession; but it was decided, that a deed of entail containing any one of these prohibitions, properly fenced, was effectual so far as it went. |
3. a. The interdiction by law of the importation of some foreign article of commerce.
| 1670 Temple Let. to Ld. Arlington Wks. 1731 II. 214 Another Point..is the Prohibition of French Commodities. 1825 M{supc}Culloch Pol. Econ. I. 33 Heavy duties and absolute prohibitions were interposed to prevent the importation of manufactured articles from abroad. 1872 Yeats Growth Comm. 302 Manufacturers in want of customers cried out for trade prohibitions. |
b. A thing prohibited. rare.
| 1905 Post Office Guide 1 Jan. 493 Eau de cologne is a prohibition into Basutoland. |
4. spec. The forbidding by law of the manufacture and sale of intoxicating drinks for common consumption. Now usu. with reference to the restrictions on the manufacture and sale of intoxicating drinks in the United States (1920–33) under the Volstead Act.
| 1851 (May) Annual Rept. Exec. Committee Amer. Temp. Union 27 The State of Vermont has struggled arduously to arrive at the summit level of entire prohibition. 1869 Daily News 6 Sept., The majority of the people of the State [Massachusetts] are..opposed to prohibition, though they would favour a good license law. 1891 (title) The Cyclopædia of Temperance and Prohibition (U.S.). 1899 Rowntree & Sherwell Temperance Problems iii. (1901) 42/1 The agitation in favour of prohibition in Maine began early in the thirties... The efforts of [Generals Appleton and Dow]..resulted in 1846 in the passage of the first Prohibitory Act. 1925 W. J. Bryan Mem. 186 His views on the initiative and referendum and prohibition had not altered. 1927 New Republic 21 Sept. 109/1 The Republicans have been laboring night and day to keep prohibition from becoming an issue in the campaign. 1931 M. F. Furness Mem. Sixty Years xix. 246 We of course heard much talk of Prohibition, and also saw a good deal of its absence. 1966 C. M. Bowra Mem. 1898–1939 viii. 212 Maurice had been in the United States during the fantastic boom of the twenties. This was also the period of prohibition, which made it a matter of prestige and honour to drink too much, especially hard liquor. 1970 Nature 19 Sept. 1186/2 For that matter the laws [in the U.S.A.] against marihuana have become so widely abused as to appear to many as a new Prohibition. |
5. Astrology. (See quots.)
| 1658 Phillips, Prohibition,..in Astronomy it is, when two Planets are applying to Conjunction, or Aspect, and before they come to joyn themselves, another comes to Conjunction, or Aspect of the Planet applied to. 1819 J. Wilson Dict. Astrol., Prohibition, the same as frustration. |
6. attrib. and Comb. (in senses 3 and (especially) 4). Also prohibition party, a political party in U.S., formed in Sept. 1869 to nominate or support only persons pledged to vote for the prohibition of the liquor traffic; prohiˈbitionward adv., towards prohibition.
| 1869 in D. L. Colvin Prohibition in U.S. (1926) iv. 73 We adopt the name of the National Prohibition Party, as expressive of our primary object. 1877 Harper's Mag. Dec. 146/1 R. Pitman..Prohibition candidate for Governor. 1877 Ibid. 146/2 He argues..the prohibition system a success. 1883 Harper's Mag. Dec. 162/1 The prohibition amendment was defeated [in Ohio]. 1884 N.Y. Weekly Tribune 20 Aug. 7/1 The platform..means specifically that the prohibition law shall be enforced. 1885 G. W. Bain in Voice (N.Y.) 29 Nov., It is delightful to see the tendency of public sentiment prohibitionward in the South. 1892 Outing Dec. 209/1 They have no beer here: North and South Dakota are prohibition states. 1897 Westm. Gaz. 31 Dec. 2/2 He carefully studied the Prohibition Question while there... In one Prohibition town he was taken to various hotels by the Dominion M.P...who..was elected on the Prohibition card—for the purpose of having a whisky-and-soda. 1901 Daily Chron. 10 July 7/1 Manitoba, by a law, known as the ‘Liquor Law’, which was passed last year, endeavoured to make itself into a ‘prohibition’ province. 1907 Westm. Gaz. 11 Dec. 8/1 The outcome of this foolish (almost wicked) retention of the Prohibition Order is that now an American Meat Trust is able to name the price that must be paid for meat by poor British consumers. 1909 G. F. Parker Recoll. Grover Cleveland (1911) 71 In addition, something over 300,000 votes had been cast for the Prohibition and the Greenback candidates. 1922 S. Lewis Babbitt xiii. 174 He was blind and deaf from prohibition-era alcohol. 1948 Time 12 Jan. 13/1 The Prohibition Party has nominated a candidate for President ever since its formation in 1869. 1949 Daily Oklahoman 13 Feb. d.2/2 A petition will be circulated calling for repeal of the state's liquor prohibition law. 1949 Time 10 Oct. 27/3 The state's church-going United Drys..were fiercely proud of living in a prohibition state. 1968 N.Y. City (Michelin Tire Corp.) 32 The area later became famous as the ‘speakeasy belt’ during the Prohibition era. |