▪ I. monition, n.
(məˈnɪʃən)
[a. OF. monition (from 13th c.), or ad. L. monitiōn-em, n. of action f. monit-, monēre to admonish.]
1. † a. Instruction, direction (obs.). b. Warning; admonitory counsel. Also in particularized sense, an admonition, a warning.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints iii. (Andreas) 655 Andro mad þame monicione, þat þai suld nocht his passione let. Ibid. vi. (Thomas) 49 Þe kinge..gerte mak gret monicione, Þat, al þat euire vare in þe tovne Suld..cume to þat feste. 1421–2 Hoccleve Dialog 234 To do this labour..at the excitynge and monicion of a devout man. 1471 Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) II. 527 But neuer for..the monyssions ne warnynges of cassandra the kyng wold not change his purpoos. 1494 Fabyan Chron. ii. xlvii. 32 The kynge disdeynynge this demeanure of Andragius, after dyuers monycions to hym gyuen, gatheryd his knyghtes & made warre vpon Andragius. 1516 Joseph Arim. 34 By monycion of the Archaungell gabryell they made a Churche..of our Lady. 1529 More Dyaloge iii. Wks. 245/2 With a good monicion & fatherly counsell to vse it reuerently. 1552 Bk. Com. Prayer, Coll. 1st Sund. Lent, O Lord..geue us grace to use such abstinence, that..we may euer obey thy godly monicions. 1636 Jackson Creed viii. xii. §4 That peremptory monition to his Apostles. ‘Pray that yee enter not into temptation’. 1682 Sir T. Browne Chr. Mor. ii. §11 The capital sufferings of others are rather our monitions than acquitments. 1692 R. L'Estrange Fables ccxx. 193 Deaf..to the Councels and Monitions of the very Spirit of Reason it self. 1713 Swift On Himself Wks. 1755 IV. i. 11 Sage monitions from his friends His talents to employ for nobler ends. 1843 Carlyle Past & Pr. iii. xiii, To them the voice of Prophecy, of heavenly monition, is quite ended. 1879 Green Read. Eng. Hist. xxiii. 117 Turning the deafest of all deaf ears to the monitions which he received to stay. |
2. A warning or intimation of the presence or imminence of something (now only, of some impending danger).
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvi. xlviii. (1495) 569 Blacke gete gyuyth monycyon of them that haue fendys wythin theym. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) II. 229 In that he ȝafe not to hym a monicion þer of. 1694 W. Holder On Time vi. 72 We have no visible Monition of the Returns of any other Periods, such as we have of the Day, by Successive Light and Darkness. 1839 Penny Cycl. XV. 332/1 These Monitory Lizards..obtained credit for this monition solely from the accident of their haunts. 1906 Daily News 10 Apr. 6 The first monitions of the impending catastrophe occurred in 63 a.d., when..Campania was shaken by an earthquake. |
3. An official or legal intimation or notice, esp. one calling on a person to do something specified.
| c 1460 Oseney Reg. 92 After thre monicions or warnynges (by þ⊇ vicare of Cudelynton or his stedys beryng to þem to be paide) [etc.]. 1467 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 406 That they appere in the yeld halle..vpon monicion to them yeven by eny seriaunt, vppon the peyn of xij d. 1492 Bury Wills (Camden) 78 That than the seyd aldyrman..shall after resonable warnyng and ther monycion avoyde hym. 1512 Act 4 Hen. VIII, c. 4 Preamble, Of the which outlaries..the partie defendaunt..had never knowlege ne monycion. 1540–1 Elyot Image Gov. (1549) 142 Onely hearyng that he was chosen Pretor, before that he had monicion thereof, he fled. 1615 Act 12 Jas. I, c. 8 in Bolton Stat. Irel. (1621) 434 That every person should have lawfull knowledge and monition of such actions as hereafter bee to be..sued against him. 1863 Jowett in Life & Lett. (1897) I. x. 311, I hear that this monition is to be issued at the V.-C. Court next week. |
b. A formal notice from a bishop or an ecclesiastical court admonishing the person complained of to refrain from a specified offence.
| 1509 Barclay Shyp of Folys (1570) 236 To thy monition my Bishop I assent. 1610 Bp. Carleton Jurisd. 275 That all Translations of Prelates, all depriuations, reuocations, monitions, Ecclesiasticall censures..shall be voide, vaine, and of none effect. 1696 Phillips (ed. 5), Monition,..a warning given by Ecclesiastical Authority to a Clerk to reform his Manners, upon Intimation of his Scandalous Life. 1725 tr. Dupin's Eccl. Hist. 17th C. I. iii. i. 77 What Monitions soever, Excommunications or Interdicts he [the Pope] may make. 1827 Hallam Const. Hist. I. ii. 77 note, A severe monition from Archbishop Morton to the abbot of St. Alban's, imputing all kinds of scandalous vices to him and his monks. 1847 Coote Pract. Eccl. Courts 255 [Form of] Monition to Refrain. 1906 [see monition v.]. |
c. In those courts which use the civil law process (as the court of admiralty), a process in the nature of a summons. (Bouvier Law Dict. 1856.)
| 1840 Haggard Cases Admiralty III. 300 The Court..further decreed a monition against Matthew Russell. 1854 Act 17 & 18 Vict. c. 78 §13 It shall be competent to him to proceed by way of Monition, citing the Owner or Owners of such Ship [etc.]..to appear and defend the Suit. |
▪ II. moˈnition, v. Eccl. Law.
[f. prec. n.]
trans. To warn by a monition.
| 1883 Q. Rev. CLVI. 530 The offending clergymen had been solemnly monitioned. 1906 Sir L. Dibdin in Guardian 28 Feb. 347/2, I suspend Mr. F. from office and benefice for two years. I monition him not to offend again... Disobedience to the monition which I have decreed..can be..dealt with by the infliction of an even severer sentence. |
▪ III. monition
obs. form of munition.