▪ I. creˈate, ppl. a.
Also 4–6 ˈcreat.
[ad. L. creāt-us, pa. pple. of creāre to produce, make, create.]
Created.
† 1. as pa. pple. Obs.
| c 1393 Chaucer Scogan 2 Statutez..That creat were eternally to dure. c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. xiv, Whan such a counsell is ffully create and estableshed. 1549–62 Sternhold & H. Quicunque vult, Of none the Father is, ne made, ne creat, nor begot. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. v. i. 412 And the issue there create, Euer shall be fortunate. |
2. as adj. arch.
| 1477 Norton Ord. Alch. v. in Ashm. (1652) 62 A create perfection. 1549 Chaloner Erasmus on Folly M ij b, Whether it be..a create or an uncreate thyng. 1647 Ward Simp. Cobler (1843) 21 Any creat' Ens or Bonum. 1805 Cary Dante, Inferno iii. 7 Before me things create were none. |
▪ II. create, v.
(kriːˈeɪt)
Also 6–7 creat; pa. tense 5–6 creat(e, 6 Sc. creatt; pa. pple. 4–6 creat(e.
[f. creāt- ppl. stem of L. creāre: see prec.
The early instances are all of the pa. pple (= L. creātus, It. creato), or the pa. tense; creat(e continued a true pple. to c 1600, but already in 15th c. it varied with created, and in 16th c. we find the present create, with pple. creating, etc.]
1. a. trans. Said of the divine agent: To bring into being, cause to exist; esp. to produce where nothing was before, ‘to form out of nothing’ (J.).
| c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶144 Al be it that God hath creat [3 MSS. created] al thing in right ordre. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. i. (1495) 6 The creatour..fro the begynnynge of tyme creat..the creature..of no thynge, or of no matere precedent. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 189 Wherefore poetes feyne hym..to haue create men of stones. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 133/2 [He] that had created alle the world. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 201 b, He create & infuded that noble soule. 1535 Coverdale Gen. i. 1 In y⊇ begynnynge God created heauen and earth. 1591 Jas. I Poet. Exerc., L iij b, Praise him for that he creat hath The heauen, the earth, and all. 1611 Bible Ps. li. 10 Create in mee a cleane heart, O God. 1644 Milton Areop. (Arb.) 52 Wherefore did he creat passions within us? 1651 Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxxi. 190 To say the World was not Created..is to deny there is a God. 1862 Max Müller Sel. Ess. (1881) II. xx. 395 And the gods consulted a second time how to create beings that should adore them. |
b. with complemental extension.
| 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. iii. ii. 39 Are you a god? would you create me new? 1611 Bible Isa. lxv. 18, I create Ierusalem a reioycing, and her people a ioy. 1732 Pope Ess. Man i. 148 And what created perfect? 1862 F. Hall Hindu Philos. Syst. 143 God created man a moral creature. |
c. absol.
| 1592 Davies Immort. Soul vii. (1714) 46 To create, to God alone pertains. 1667 Milton P.L. vii. 606 To create Is greater then created to destroy. 1851 Ruskin Stones Ven. (1874) I. App. 381 It is only for God to create without toil. |
2. a. gen. To make, form, constitute, or bring into legal existence (an institution, condition, action, mental product, or form, not existing before). Sometimes of material works as fig. of 1.
| 1592 West 1st Pt. Symbol. §46 D, A constitutiue Instrument creating..whereby any estate, propertie, power or obligation, not hauing any essence or being before, is newely raysed and created. 1612 Davies Why Ireland, etc. (J.), With power to create a manor, and hold a court-baron. 1679 Dryden Troilus & Cr. Prol. 8, I found not, but created first the stage. 1697 ― Virg. Georg. iv. 295 Thus make they Kings to fill the Regal Seat; And thus their little Citizens create. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) IV. 336 The word heirs is not necessary to create a fee simple. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 345 Those towns where wealth is created and accumulated. 1854 Ronalds Chem. Technol. (ed. 2) I. 225 It is always necessary, before lighting the fire in the stove, to create a draught by heating the chimney. |
b. absol.
| 1775 Sheridan Rivals Pref., The imagination..becomes suspicious of its offspring, and doubts whether it has created or adopted. 1831 Brewster Newton (1855) II. xxvii. 400 The inspired genius which creates. 1852 Robertson Serm. 3rd Ser. xii. 147 The mason makes, the architect creates. |
c. Of an actor: To be the first to represent (a part or rôle), and so to give it its character. [F. creer un rôle: see Littré, Hatzfeld.]
| 1882 Stevenson New Arab. Nts. (1884) 314, I have created..more than one important rôle. 1882 Standard 24 May, Madame Christine Nilsson..at the Royal Italian Opera..when she will create Boito's Opera Mefistofele. |
d. To design (a costume): see creation 5 c. Also, to design and execute a scheme of interior decoration.
| 1930 Daily Tel. 7 Apr. 7/7 A brown mixture tweed suit..created by Schiaparelli. 1957 New Yorker 5 Oct. 33/3 The interior-decorating firm that created the foyer. |
3. To constitute (a personage of rank or dignity); to invest with rank, title, etc. Constr. to create a peer, to create a man a peer.
| c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. ix, Hugh Capite..wich tho was the myghtieste subgett off Ffraunce, and therfore create and callid Dux Ffranciæ. 1495 Act 11 Hen. VII, c. 35 Preamb., The Kyngis Grace..created hym Duke. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 347 During the which [Parliament] he created two Dukes, a Marques and five Erles. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. v. v. 20 Arise my Knights o' th' Battell, I create you Companions to our person. 1655–60 Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 34/1 The Ephori were first Created about the sixth Olympiad. c 1670 Wood Life (1848) 51 He was..created bach. of arts. 1771 Goldsm. Hist. Eng. III. 374 Edward Hyde..was now created a peer by the title of lord Clarendon. 1874 Green Short Hist. ii. 103 Opposition came from the very prelate whom Henry had created to enforce his will. |
4. To cause, occasion, produce, give rise to (a condition or set of circumstances).
| 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iv. i. 264 O Ceremonie..Art thou ought else but Place, Degree, and Forme, Creating awe and feare in other men? 1667 Decay Chr. Piety (J.), Difficulties of their own creating. 1709 Hearne Collect. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) II. 185 'Tis only fit to create Mirth. 1873 Black Pr. Thule xii. 190 She failed to create any profound impression. 1876 J. H. Newman Hist. Sk. I. i. i. 11 Position and climate create habits. |
5. intr. To make a fuss, grumble, ‘go on’ about (something). slang.
| 1919 Athenæum 8 Aug. 729/1 ‘Creating’ is presumably an abbreviation of ‘creating (or making) a fuss’. 1932 S. Gibbons Cold Comfort Farm xviii. 250 Create! I thought 'e'd 'ave to be picked off the ceiling. Ibid. 251 'E always creates at me something awful when I've finished telling 'im anything spiteful. 1955 ‘E. C. R. Lorac’ Ask a Policeman viii. 92 The old lady came and created about her nephew living here. 1956 K. Farrell Cost of Living ii. 44 If my old man doesn't get 'is bit of fish at one, and that means one, he'll create. 1959 M. Hastings Hour-Glass to Eternity i. iii. 87 What does he do but come aboard and start creating about the loss of time! |