continuance
(kənˈtɪnjuːəns)
[a. OF. continuance (13–14th c. in Godef.), f. continuer to continue (pr. pple. continuant): see -ance.]
I. The action of the vb. continue trans.
1. Keeping up, going on with, maintaining, or prolonging (an action, process, state, etc.).
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iii. 28 Of your lordship eke Continuance I wolde yow byseke. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. (MS. A) 103 Wiþ contynuaunce [v.r. contynewaunce] of þe same cure tofore seid. 1559 in Strype Ann. Ref. I. App. viii. 20 Howe the same from tyme to tyme were enlarged, and had their continuance. 1686 Evelyn Diary 1 Jan., Imploring the continuance of God's providential care for the yeare now enterd. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 120 ¶13 His own preservation, or the continuance of his species. 1846 M{supc}Culloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) II. 135 A prorogation..is the continuance of a parliament from one session to another. 1874 Morley Compromise (1886) 74 The continuance of the unending task of human improvement. |
† b. Retention in some position or state. Obs.
| 1691 T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. 90 An Unaccountable Continuance of the sheathing upon the Bodies of these Ships, beyond what the Practice..of the Navy..can justifie. |
2. Law. The adjournment or deferring of a suit or trial (or sometimes other proceedings) till a future date or for a period. (Sometimes the present cessation, sometimes the virtual continuity, is the prominent notion.) Cf. continue v. 8.
‘In the United States, the deferring of a trial or suit from one stated term of the court to another.’ Webster (1828). In England now Obs. in civil processes.
| 1425 Paston Lett. No. 5 I. 21 John..hath cesed of his sute..takyng continuance of the same matier unto Cristemasse next comyng. a 1639 Spottiswood Hist. Ch. Scot. vi. (1677) 353 Sir Robert Melvil..requested for some eight days continuance of the Execution; whereunto she answered, Not an hour. 1641 Termes de la Ley 80 Continuance in the Common Law is of the same signification with Prorogatio in the Civile Law: As continuance untill the next Assise. 1741 T. Robinson Gavelkind v. 64 Continuances are entered for two years more. 1768 Blackstone Comm. III. 316 The giving of this day is called the continuance, because thereby the proceedings are continued without interruption from one adjournment to another. 1880 Daily Tel. 26 Nov., A mandamus directing the justices to enter continuances, and hear an appeal brought by the applicants. |
II. The action of the vb. continue intr.
3. a. Continuing in, or going on with, an action or course of conduct; perseverance, persistence. (Said of agents.) arch.
| c 1386 Chaucer Frankl. T. Prol. 8 God..in vertu send thee continuaunce. c 1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode iv. xlvi. (1869) 197 Þis awgere..þat bi his good continuaunce maketh þe heuene an hygh to perce. 1558 Bp. Watson Sev. Sacram. v. 27 With pacience and continuaunce kepyng our promise. 1611 Bible Rom. ii. 7 By patient continuance in well doing. 1829 Carlyle Misc. (1857) II. 38 The want of earnestness, of intense continuance, is fatal to him. |
b. The going on (of an action or process), the duration or lasting (of a condition or state). The most usual current sense.
| 1530 Palsgr. 382 All suche dedes as..had contynuaunce after the same present tyme. 1562 Act 5 Eliz. c. 12 §1 All Lycences being made and granted as ys abovesaid..shall have Continuance and bee good onely for one Yere. 1612 T. Taylor Comm. Titus ii. 13 Blessednesse in greatest measure, and endles continuance. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxix. 170 Though they be grieved with the continuance of disorder. 1691 T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. 43 Any Voyage not exceeding five or six years continuance. 1750 Johnson Rambler No. 38 ¶11 Burnt up by a long continuance of drought. 1883 Froude Short Stud. IV. i. vii. 78 The sole cause of the continuance of the quarrel. |
c. adj. phr. of long (short, some, any, etc.) continuance.
| 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. lii, Their amitie and vnion..cannot be of long continuance. 1655–60 Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 133/1 We shall first dispatch those which were of shortest Continuance. 1721 Bradley Wks. Nat. 77 This Year (1719) we had no Frost or Snow of any Continuance in England. 1784 Cowper Lett. Feb. Wks. (1876) 160 A frost of nine weeks' continuance. 1797–1804 T. Bewick Brit. Birds (1847) I. 147 The strain is of short continuance. Mod. Is the rain likely to be of any continuance? |
4. The action or fact of continuing or remaining (in some place, position, state, or condition); stay. (Said of persons or things.)
| 1393 Gower Conf. III. 303 Men sain, that frele is youth With leiser and continuaunce. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxxiv. 229 Thurgh continuaunce and haboundaunce of waters. 1540 Act 32 Hen. VIII, c. 38 §2 After long continuances togither in matrimonye. 1555 Eden Decades 220 The most part of them..haue no houses of continuaunce, but..cary them from place to place. 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, ii. v. 106 Cloy'd With long continuance in a setled place. 1726 tr. Gregory's Astron. ii. xxxiii, The..Continuance above the Horizon of any Star. 1746 Wesley Princ. Methodist 18 Our Continuance in a State of Justification. 1835 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. I. 20 Our continuance in London has..become more uncertain. 1874 Act 37–38 Vict. c. 7 §2 The Assistant Judge, during his continuance in office. |
5. Duration or lapse of time, course of time (obs.); period, length of time (obs. or arch.). in continuance: in course of time.
| c 1440 York Myst. xxvi. 102 He coueres all þat comes..But in a schort contynuaunce. 1538 Leland Itin., A very neere kinswoman of the kinges fell in love with him, and in continuance was wedded unto him. 1589 Nashe Greene's Arcadia Pref. (Arb.) 9 The sea exhaled by droppes, will in continuance be drie. 1611 Bible Ps. cxxxix. 16 All my members..which in continuance were fashioned. 1684 Contempl. State Man i. ii. (1699) 13 The strongest and most sumptuous Palaces decay with continuance. 1754 Edwards Freed. Will ii. vi. 60 Ideas..don't remain so for any sensible Continuance. 1794 Godwin Cal. Williams 205 Speed I was nearly unable to exert for any continuance. |
† 6. The quality of lasting or enduring; permanence, durability. Obs.
| 1552 Huloet, Continuaunce, continuatio, perennitas. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. i. iv. 6 You call in question the continuance of his loue. 1620–55 I. Jones Stone-Heng (1725) 8 They raise Cabbins and Cottages..of no great Continuance. 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort. Introd. (1729) 188 Fruits..are to be as well consider'd in relation to their Lasting and Continuance, as to their Maturity and Beauty. |
† 7. The quality or fact of having lasted a long time; long standing, antiquity. Obs.
| 1528 Roy & Barlow Rede me (Arb.) 38 Goddis worde..slewe the masse downe right Of so auncient continuaunce. 1581 Savile Tacitus' Hist. ii. xlviii. (1591) 82 Hauing..brought into a house of no great continuance the honor of hauing an Emperor. 1631 Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 37 They were accounted the more sacred, by how much they were of more continuance. 1699 Bentley Phal. 363 The Aristocracy was of some Continuance. |
† 8. Continuity, connexion (lit. and fig.). Obs.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xiii. xxi. (1495) 454 Though it be al one see in contynuaunce therof, yet by costes and countrees he takith dyuerse names. 1586 A. Day Eng. Secretary i. (1625) 3 That continuance of matter ought not to be used in an Epistle. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. i. (1873) 90 Without a perfect continuance or contexture of the thread of the narration. 1756 Burke Subl. & B. iii. xxv, The winding surface, the unbroken continuance, the easy gradation of the beautiful. |
† b. Succession; sequence. Obs. rare.
| 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. i. (1873) 90 Commentaries..set down a continuance of the naked events and actions, without the motives or designs. |
9. concr. = continuation 9. ? Obs.
| 1552 Huloet, Continuaunce or tenoure of a matter, tenor. 1586 Thynne in Holinshed Chron. II. 405 In this my continuance of the Annales of Scotland. 1607–12 Bacon Ess., Parents xxiii. (Arb.) 272 Beholding them [Children], as the contynuance not onely of theire kind, but of theire worke. 1631 Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 761 To spend the continuance of their liues. 1838–9 Hallam Hist. Lit. II. vii. ii. §40. 314 This romance and a continuance of it by Gil Polo. 1879 Trollope Thackeray i, This novel [‘The Virginians’]..is a continuance of ‘Esmond’. |
10. attrib. continuance act, a legislative act continuing for a further period a temporary measure; † continuance-money, a payment for renewal of a loan.
| 1678 R. L'Estrange Seneca's Mor. (1702) 183 Procuration, and Continuance-Mony, these are only..the Dreams of Avarice. 1700 Brown tr. Du Fresny's Amusem. 29 A Hunger-starv'd Usurer in quest of a Crasie Citizen for Use and Continuance-Money. 1863 H. Cox Instit. i. iv. 21 Many statutes of temporary operation are kept in force from time to time by Continuance Acts. |
¶ Erroneously or loosely for continence.
| a 1619 Beaum. & Fl. Knt. Malta i. i, Zanthia doth enamour me Beyond all continuance. |