dispensation
(dɪspɛnˈseɪʃən)
Also 4–6 dys-; -acioun.
[a. F. dispensation (12th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), or ad. L. dispensātiōn-em distribution of money or property, management, stewardship, regulation, economy, from dispensāre to dispense.]
I. The action of dealing out or distributing.
1. The action of dispensing or dealing out; distribution or administration to others; expenditure, spending, or disbursement (of money); economical use or disposal (of anything).
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 469 (Mätz.) Everych schulde make good for his owne partie, and ȝeve us special helpe and subsidie by his owne dispensacioun. 1649 Selden Laws of Eng. i. ii. (1739) 2 The dispensation of this grace unto all men. 1695 Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth i. (1723) 52 A Dispensation of Water promiscuously and indifferently to all Parts of the Earth. a 1704 T. Brown Praise Wealth Wks. 1730 I. 86 Blind in the dispensation of all our favours. 1841 D'Israeli Amen. Lit. (1867) 618 Elizabeth, a queen well known for her penurious dispensations. 1861 Tulloch Eng. Purit. i. 26 Changes in the dispensation of the Lord's Supper. 1878 Lecky Eng. in 18th C. II. viii. 439 The dispensation of bribes, places, and pensions. |
† 2. Anat. The distribution of blood, the nerves, etc., from some centre. Obs.
| 1668 Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. i. i. 301 But the Principle of Dispensation from whence the Veins arise, is the Liver, and not the Heart. Ibid. iii. i. 322 The Beginning of the dispensation of Nerves, or the part whence the Nerves immediately arise, is the Medulla oblongata. 1759 tr. Duhamel's Husb. ii. ii. (1762) 182 This dispensation of the nutritive juices. |
3. The process of dispensing medicines or medical prescriptions; ‘the making up of medicines in accordance with prescription, and the delivery of them to the patient’ (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1883).
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. v. iii. 237 In the due dispensation of medicines desumed from this animall. 1779–81 Johnson L.P., Garth, The Physicians procured some apothecaries to undertake the dispensation. |
II. The action of administering, ordering, or managing; the system by which things are administered.
[This group of senses originates in the L. use of dispensātio to render Gr. οἰκονοµία in N.T. and patristic writers. The latter is used in 1 Cor. ix. 17, Eph. iii. 2, Col. i. 25 for the ‘office of an administrator’ (see sense 4 below); but in Eph. i. 10, iii. 9, for ‘a method or system of administration’ (specifically that which involved the Incarnation). From this latter arose various theological uses: (1) Tertullian (Adv. Praxean ii, iii, iv.) uses dispensatio = οἰκονοµία to denote the Trinity as an administrative arrangement, i.e. a system of distribution and apportionment of functions designed by the Father for administrative purposes. This is known as an œconomical as distinguished from an essential Trinity: in the latter the personal distinctions are regarded as matters of nature and necessity, in the former of will. (See the distinction between dispensative, dispensatory, and essential.) (2) It was applied to the Incarnation (dispensatio assumpti corporis, d. susceptæ carnis, or simply dispensatio) as the basis or organ of the redemptive system under which mankind now live (August. Serm. 264 §5). (3) The evangelical system is termed dispensatio gratiæ in opposition to the Law or system of works (August. Ep. 82 §20), while the method of salvation by means of the Incarnation is dispensatio salutis nostræ (August. Serm. 237 §1). Hence, in the Latin version of Irenæus, Christ is called dispensator paternæ gratiæ (iv. 20. 7). (4) Dispensatio was applied to the divine purpose or decree which established the system, and determined its mode of action (Tertull. Adv. Marc. vi. 18, Hilar. Pict. De Trin. ix. 66, xi. 13); also, by Hilary, to the Passion, as the supreme mystery of Redemption.]
4. The orderly administration of things committed to one's charge; the function or office of administrator or steward; stewardship. arch.
| 1382 Wyclif 1 Cor. ix. 17 Forsoth if I willinge do this thing, I haue mede; sothly if aȝens my wil, dispensacioun is bitake to me. 1482 Monk of Evesham (Arb.) 98 They shulde geue acomtys of her dispensacyon that haue resceyued benefytys and ryches of the chyrche. 1548 Latimer Ploughers (Arb.) 34, I haue taken at my fathers hande the dispensation of redemynge mankynde. 1647 Bury Wills (Camden) 197 According to the will of him whose steward I am, and to whom I must give an accompt of the dispensacion of that which he hath committed vnto me. 1691 Norris Pract. Disc. 36 A Wise Dispensation of the Fading and Unrighteous Mammon. 1860 Trench Serm. Westm. Abb. xxxii. 366 A man..may forget or abuse his stewardship in the dispensation of one talent as effectually as in the dispensation of ten. |
5. Ordering, management; esp. the divine administration or conduct of the world; the ordering or arrangement of events by divine providence.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iv. pr. vi. 108 (Camb. MS.) Thanne the wyse dispensacioun of god sparith hym. 1382 Wyclif Col. i. 25, I poul am made mynystre bi dispensacioun of god. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. (1495) vi. xviii. 204 The dyspensacion of goddis word settyth some men to fore other. 1513 Bradshaw St. Werburge i. 3463 Whiche danes by sufferaunce and dispensacion Of almyghty god for synne and iniquite Punysshed vnpiteously all this region. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 27 Bothe body and soule, with the hole dispensacion and ordrynge of our lyfe & wyll. 1643–7 Westm. Confess. Faith viii. §8 (1877) Overcoming all their enemies by his almighty power and wisdom, in such manner and ways as are most consonant to his wonderful and unsearchable dispensation. 1665 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 260 Albeit in his dispensation..his strokes are..with an equal hand afflicting the innocent with the nocent. 1671 Milton Samson 61, I must not quarrel with the will Of highest dispensation. |
b. An arrangement or provision of Providence or of Nature.
| 1665 Hooke Microgr. 177 So infinitely wise and provident do we find all the Dispensations in Nature. 1754 Sherlock Disc. i. (1759) I. 39 The Gospel is a Dispensation of Providence in regard to Mankind. 1816 Keatinge Trav. (1817) I. 18 With the immutable decree that man should labour, comes the benevolent dispensation that he need not want. 1861 Mill Utilit. v. 76 Attached to it by a special dispensation of nature. |
c. A special dealing of Providence with a community, family, or person, dispensing blessing, affliction, or other event; the event or lot thus dealt out; as a mysterious dispensation or merciful dispensation.
| a 1652 Rogers (J.), Neither are God's methods or intentions different in his dispensations to each private man. 1704 Nelson Fest. & Fasts ii. (1739) 29 The Dispensations of God's Providence towards Men..are very promiscuous. 1823 Scott Peveril xxix, A humbling dispensation on the house of Peveril. 1837 Dickens Pickw. ii, Mysterious dispensations of Providence. 1848 Ruskin Mod. Paint. II. iii. i. xiv. §10. 111 Different dispensations of trial and of trust, of sorrow and support. 1895 Crockett Glistering Beaches in Bogmyrtle 154 In the north..everything is either a judgement or a dispensation, according to whether it happens to your neighbour or yourself. |
6. Theol. A religious order or system, conceived as divinely instituted, or as a stage in a progressive revelation, expressly adapted to the needs of a particular nation or period of time, as the patriarchal dispensation, Mosaic (or Jewish) dispensation, the Christian dispensation; also, the age or period during which such system has prevailed; = economy 5 b.
An extension of the patristic use of the word as applied to the evangelical system based on the Incarnation (see note under II above); the patriarchal and Mosaic ‘dispensations’ being conceived as prophetic of the Christian, all being one in substance though differing in form. This use became common in the theology of the 17th c.
| 1643–7 Westm. Confess. Faith vii. §6 (1877) There are not therefore two covenants of grace, differing in substance, but one and the same under various dispensations. a 1652 J. Smith Sel. Disc. Div. 297 The Jewish notion is this, that the law delivered to them on Mount Sinai was a sufficient dispensation from God. 1675 W. Cave (title), Antiquitates Apostolicæ..to which is added An Introductory Discourse concerning the three Great Dispensations of the Church, Patriarchal, Mosaical, and Evangelical. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey) s.v., In Divinity, God's high Dispensation, is the giving of the Levitical Law to the Jews, the Gospel to the Gentiles, the Sending his Son for the Redemption of Mankind. 1732 Berkeley Serm. to Soc. Prop. Gospel Wks. III. 246 The Christian dispensation is a dispensation of grace and favour. 1772 Priestley Inst. Relig. (1782) II. 124 Christianity is the last dispensation. 1838 Gladstone State in Rel. Ch. vii. (L.), [They] declared..that the preaching of the Reformers was a kind of renewed commencement of the gospel dispensation. 1877 W. Bruce Comm. Rev. v, As the Israelitish dispensation was abolished by the First Coming of Christ, the Christian dispensation is abolished by His Second Coming. |
† 7. The ordering or arrangement of anything in a particular way; concr. An arrangement, a system. Obs.
| 1633 Bp. Hall Hard Texts, N.T. 135 By my owne voluntary dispensation. 1662 H. More Philos Writ. Pref. Gen. 10, I never found my mind low or abject enough to sink into sense or conceit of that Dispensation [superstition], experimentally to find what is at the bottom thereof. 1668 ― Div. Dial. iv. iv. (1713) 295 He that lives in this dispensation of life. 1691 Norris Pract. Disc. 191 The great uses and advantages of such a Heavenly dispensation of Life. |
III. The action of dispensing with some requirement; med.L. dispensātio. (See dispense II.)
8. Eccl. An arrangement made by the administrator of the laws or canons of the church, granting, in special circumstances or in a particular case, a relaxation of the penalty incurred by a breach of the law, or exempting from the obligation to comply with its requirements, or from some sacred obligation, as an oath, etc.; the granting of licence by a pope, archbishop, or bishop, to a person, to do what is forbidden, or omit what is enjoined, by ecclesiastical law or by any solemn obligation; the licence so given.
| c 1380 Antecrist in Todd 3 Treat. Wyclif 139 Þei sellen it for mony, al þat þei maye; as pardons, indulgencis, & oþre dispensaciouns. 1382 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 162 Dispensacioun wiþ þis lawe winnes miche money. Ibid. 511 Monks and chanouns forsaken þe reules of Benet and Austyn, and taken wiþouten eny dispensacioun þe reule of freres. c 1386 Chaucer Clerk's T. 690 That he hath leue his firste wyf to lete As by the popes dispensacion. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxxx. 243 Sir Iohan..wedded dame blaunche duk henryes doughter of lancastre cosyn to the same Iohan by dispensacion of the pope. c 1555 Harpsfield Divorce Hen. VIII (1878) 129 A dispensation is but a gracious releasing to some certain person or persons of the common written law. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. ii. i. 87 Then seeke a dispensation for his oath. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. ix. iii. §30 Richard Cheyney, Bishop of Bristol, holding Glocester therewith in dispensation. 1696 tr. Du Mont's Voy. Levant 37 The Profits accruing from the Dispensation of eating Eggs, Milk, Flesh, etc. 1769 Blackstone Comm. IV. 114 To sue to Rome for any licence or dispensation, or to obey any process from thence, are made liable to the pains of praemunire. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. I. 143 The original bull of dispensation which had been granted by Julius II for the marriage of Henry and Catherine. 1873 Dixon Two Queens I. i. viii. 56 A dispensation would be needed; but a dispensation could be got from Rome. |
b. transf. and fig.
| 1664 Butler Hud. ii. ii. 103 That Saints may claim a Dispensation To swear and forswear on occasion. 1673 Dryden Assignation v. iv, 'Tis a crime past dispensation. 1682 Enq. Elect. Sheriffs 11 As if they had a dispensation to speak what they please. 1726 Adv. Capt. R. Boyle 44 He had a Dispensation from the Mufty to drink Wine. |
9. Law. The relaxation or suspension of a law of the realm in a particular case; the exercise of the dispensatory power claimed by Charles II and James II.
| 1607 Topsell Hist. Four-f. Beasts (1658) 452 The first that gave dispensation against those laws was Cneius Aufidius. 1667 Pepys Diary 9 Jan., A way of preventing the King's dispensation with Acts. 1686 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) I. 382 Ten [judges] were clear of opinion that the dispensation in the case in question was good. 1689–92 Locke Toleration i. Wks. 1727 II. 250 The private Judgment of any Person concerning a Law enacted..for the publick Good, does not take away the Obligation of that Law, nor deserve a Dispensation. 1730–6 Bailey (folio), Dispensation by non obstante. If any statute tends to restrain some Prerogative incident to the person of the King, as to the right of pardoning, etc., which are inseparable from the King, by a clause of non obstante, he may dispense with it; this was disannulled by Stat. 1. W. & M. a 1832 Mackintosh Rev. of 1688 Wks. 1846 II. 194 The King answered..that the royal power of dispensation had been solemnly determined to be a sufficient warrant for such acts. 1863 H. Cox Instit. i. v. 24 It was declared that..no dispensation with any statute should be valid unless such statute allows it. |
b. clause of dispensation (Sc. Law): see quot.
| 1861 W. Bell Dict. Law Scot., Where heritable subjects lay locally discontiguous..a clause of dispensation was sometimes inserted, specifying a particular place at which it should be sufficient to take infeftment for the whole lands, and other subjects, however discontiguous or dissimilar, and dispensing with any other subjects than earth and stone. The Crown alone could competently grant such a dispensation. |
10. transf. Exemption, release from any obligation, fate, etc.; remission. arch. or Obs.
| 1653 H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. lxviii. 275 The richest..resolved to get a dispensation from this voyage by the means of a great sum of money. 1676 Hale Contempl. i. 96 After this third application for a deliverance from this terrible Cup of the wrath of God, and yet no dispensation obtained, he returns to..the three Disciples. a 1711 Ken Serm. Wks. (1838) 161 Daniel never made business a dispensation from God's service. 1752 Johnson Rambler No. 200 ¶5 Our intimacy was regarded by me as a dispensation from ceremonial visits. 1771 tr. Viaud's Shipwreck 132 The present circumstances..appeared to be a sufficient dispensation from attending..to any other consideration. |
11. The action of dispensing with anything; a setting aside, disregarding; a doing away with, doing without. [Cf. sense 8, quot. 1382.]
| 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 248 And [he] with good thoughts makes dispensation Urging the worser sense for vantage still. 1612–15 Bp. Hall Contempl., O.T. xiv. i, Those temptations..which are raised from arbitrary and private respects, admit of an easie dispensation. 1848 Sir J. Parke in Exchequer Rep. II. 723 Going to the counting-house during business hours, and finding no one there to receive the notice was equivalent to dispensation of notice. 1855 Milman Lat. Chr. (1864) V. ix. vii. 359 The dispensation with appeal in certain cases only confirmed [it] in all others. |