distributive, a. and n.
(dɪsˈtrɪbjʊtɪv)
[a. F. distributif, -ive, ad. L. distribūtīv-us (Priscian) apportioning, f. distribūt- ppl. stem: see distribute.]
A. adj.
1. a. Having the property of distributing; characterized by dispensing, bestowing, or dealing out, in portions; given to or engaged in distribution.
distributive finding of the issue: a finding by a jury which is in part for plaintiff and in part for defendant (Wharton Law Lexicon).
| 1475 Bk. Noblesse 85 Wolde..God that every harde covetouse hert were of suche largesse and distributif of here meveable good and tresoure to the comon wele. 1732 Berkeley Alciphr. iii. §14 To endeavour to destroy the belief of..a distributive Providence. 1821 Blackw. Mag. IX. 323 A ready ‘Shelty’ stands in waiting by, Around the board distributive to fly. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. iii. i. (1872) 100 The distributive Citoyennes are of violent speech and gesture. |
b. Of, pertaining to, or designating a political system or state in which personal property is owned by the largest possible number of people.
| 1912 Belloc Servile State 6 A reaction towards a condition of well-divided property or the Distributive State. Ibid. iii. 50 The State..was an agglomeration in which the stability of this distributive system (as I have called it) was guaranteed by the existence of co-operative bodies. 1919 G. B. Shaw Matter with Ireland (1962) 212 An economic Utopia which Mr Chesterton and Mr Belloc call the Distributive State. 1925 R. H. Tawney T. Wilson's Disc. Usury 19 Elizabethan England..is still, in a convenient modern phrase, a Distributive State. |
2. a. Characterized by distributing or diffusing itself; having a tendency to diffusion.
| 1627–77 Feltham Resolves i. lxxxvi. 132 Wisdom and Science are worth nothing, unless they be distributive, and declare themselves to the world. Wealth in a Misers hand is useless. 1873 B. Stewart Conserv. Force iv. 106 If we reflect that heat is essentially distributive in its nature. |
b. distributive fault, a fault in which the displacement is distributed among several parallel planes at short distances from one another instead of being confined to a single plane.
| 1904 Chamberlin & Salisbury Geol. (1905) I. 494 Sometimes the faulting is distributed among a series of parallel planes,..thus giving rise to a distributive fault. 1955 W. L. Russell Struct. Geol. for Petroleum Geologists v. 113 Step and distributive faults consist of a number of parallel breaks, each with a throw in the same direction. |
3. a. Of, belonging to, or arising from, distribution.
| 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 363 The distributiue vertue of the Trees being occupied about many, must needs haue the lesse for euerie one, whereas when it hath but a few to feed, it dealeth the more bountifully. 1771 Contemplative Man I. 60 All the Sisters agreed..that Mrs. Barnes's distributive Share of her Father's Effects should be entrusted to Mr. Crab. 1813 G. Edwards Meas. True Pol. 13 A Local Agency appropriated to each distributive circle of the Kingdom. 1879 Daily News 16 Apr. 3/6 To use..the profits derived from the distributive business on manufacturing industry. |
b. distributive justice, one of the two divisions of Justice, according to Aristotle (the other being commutative); that which consists in the distribution of something in shares proportionate to the deserts of each among the several parties.
[The old Latin version of Aristotle's Ethics c 1250 renders διανεµητικὸν δίκαιον by distributivum justum; Aquinas, in his commentary on the text, has distributiva justitia.]
| 1531 Elyot Gov. iii. i, Justice..is..described in two kyndes or spices. The one is named iustyce distributiue, which is in distribution of honour, money, benefite, or other thinge semblable..Justice distributiue hathe regarde to the persone. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 192 Neither doth God therfore offend in Justice distributive, if he have mercy on whom hee will have mercy: or if hee doe harden whom he will harden. 1586 T. B. La Primand. Fr. Acad. i. 370 Distributive justice consisteth in giving to everie one according to his desert, whether it be honor and dignitie, or punishment. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) II. 488 Nature..in her distributive Justice endeavours to deal as equally as possibly she can with all Men. 1791 Paine Rights of Man (ed. 4) 74 Their ideas of distributive justice are corrupted at the very source. |
c. Hence, applied to that part of substantive law, which is concerned with the determination of rights, as distinguished from the corrective, penal, or vindicative part.
| 1651 Hobbes Govt. & Soc. xiv. §6. 216 The civill Law (according to the two offices of the Legislator, whereof one is to judge; the other to constrain men to acquiesce to his judgements) hath two parts; the one distributive, the other vindicative, or penall. By the distributive it is, that every man hath his proper Right. Ibid. §7 The first of them [parts of a Law] which is called distributive, is Prohibitory, and speaks to all, the second which is styled vindicative, or pœnary, is mandatory, and onely speaks to publique Ministers. 1678 Young Serm. at Whitehall 29 Dec. 7 The Civilians distinguishing a Law into parts, the Preceptive Part, which enjoyns the Duty, and the Distributive Part, which assigns the Punishment or the Reward. |
4. Expressing distribution or division among individuals; spec. in Gram. Having reference to each individual of a number or class, as distinguished from the whole number taken together.
distributive adjectives, the words each, either, neither, every (the three first of which can also be used pronominally). distributive numerals, in Latin, singuli, one by one, bini, two by two, etc.
| 1520 Whitinton Vulg. (1527) 5 b, Nownes distributives: as nullus, neuter. 1530 Palsgr. Introd. 29, I speke also amongest the pronownes of nownes partityves and distributyves as tout, nul..chascun. a 1653 Gouge Comm. Heb. i. 5 The distributive particle which (unto which of the Angels) implieth a number of Angels. 1818–48 Hallam Mid. Ages (1872) II. 359 Dr. Lingard has clearly apprehended..the distributive character of the words eorl and ceorl. 1824 L. Murray Eng. Gram. (ed. 5) I. 247 The distributive adjective pronouns, each, every, either, agree with the nouns..and verbs, of the singular number only. 1881 E. Adams Elem. Eng. Lang. 68 Distributive numerals signify how many at a time. There are no separate forms to express them in English. |
5. Logic. Referring to each individual of a class separately, and not to the whole class as made up of these individuals. Opposed to collective.
| 1725 Watts Logic iii. iii. §1 This sort of sophisms is committed when the word all is taken in a collective and a distributive sense, without a due distinction. 1863 E. V. Neale Anal. Th. & Nat. 253 A defect..pointed out by the sagacity of Sir William Hamilton, namely, the absence of the distributive words ‘all’ or ‘some,’ in the predicates of its formal judgments. |
6. Math. Operating (or expressing operation) upon every part in operating upon the whole; as distributive formula, distributive function, distributive operation, distributive principle, distributive symbol.
| 1855 Carmichael Calculus of Operations 8 A symbol ϕ is said to be distributive when, u and v being two distinct subjects, ϕ (u + v) = ϕ u + ϕ v. Ibid. 11 Any algebraic function of a distributive symbol is itself also distributive. |
B. n.
1. Gram. A distributive word: see A. 4.
| 1530 Palsgr. 74 Pronownes, unto whiche I joyne..partityves, distributyves and numeralles. 1612 Brinsley Pos. Parts (1669) 102 All Relatives, Interrogatives, Distributives, Indefinites..do lack the Vocative case. 1874 Morris Hist. Eng. Gram. 98 Distributives express how many at a time, as one by one, one and one, by twos, two each, etc. |
† 2. That which is distributed. Obs.
| a 1635 Naunton Fragm. Reg. (Arb.) 52 Parents..though they may expresse more affection to one in the abundance of bequests, yet cannot forget some Legacies, just distributives, and dividents to others of their begetting. |