constitution
(kɒnstɪˈtjuːʃən)
Also 4 -cioun, 4–6 -cion, 6 -tioun, etc.
[a. F. constitution, -cion (12th c. in Littré), learned ad. L. constitūtiōn-em, n. of action from constituĕre to constitute.]
1. a. The action of constituting, making, establishing, etc.: see the verb.
| 1582 N. T. (Rhem.) Eph. i. 4 Before the constitution of the world. 1592 West Symbol. ii. A iij, The constitution or making of an Obligation. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. ii. xviii. 91 Before constitution of Soveraign Power all men had right to all things. 1782 A. Monro Compar. Anat. (ed. 3) 41 Both ventricles going equally far down to the constitution of the apex. 1861 W. Bell Dict. Law Scot. s.v., Every decree by which the extent of a debt or obligation is ascertained, is a decree of constitution. |
† b. Appointment. Obs.
| 1665 Pepys Diary 20 Mar., I received their constitution under all their hands presently, so that I am already confirmed their Treasurer. |
† 2. The action of decreeing or ordaining. Obs.
| 1393 Gower Conf. II. 75 The worldes constitucion Hath set the name of gentilesse Upon the fortune of richesse. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xiii. 58 After þe constitucioun and þe ordinaunce of þe rewmes whare þai dwell. 1555 Eden Decades 173 (Bull of Alex. VI) This letter of owre..donation, graunt, assignation, constitution, deputation, decree, commaundement. 1661 Bramhall Just Vind. v. 88 By the constitution of the Apostles, and by the solemn sentence of the Catholick Church. |
3. a. A decree, ordinance, law, regulation; usually, one made by a superior authority, civil or ecclesiastical; spec. in Rom. Law, an enactment made by the emperor. Also fig. (Now only Hist.)
Apostolical Constitutions (in Eccl. Hist.): a collection of ecclesiastical regulations, purporting to have been made by the apostles, but known to be of much later date. Constitutions of Clarendon (in Eng. Hist.): a body of propositions drawn up at the Council of Clarendon in the reign of Henry II (1164), defining the limits of civil and ecclesiastical jurisdiction in England.
| c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 89 Þei studien faste & techen here owene constitucions. a 1450 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 444 Constitucions and ordenaunce mad withinne the forseide Cite. 1538 Starkey England ii. ii. 193 The statutys of kyngys, also, be over-many, even as the constytutyonys of the emperorys were. 1612 T. Taylor Comm. Titus i. 6 How basely do they deeme of Apostolicall Constitutions. 1661 Bramhall Just Vind. iv. 59 All this while our Kings and Bishops called Councels..made Ecclesiastical Lawes and constitutions in their Synods and Parliaments. 1737 Whiston Josephus' Antiq. xi. v. §8 The people..willingly harkened to the constitutions of Nehemiah. 1837–9 Hallam Hist. Lit. I. iii. i. §53. 175 It was enacted, in 1408, by a constitution of Archbishop Arundel in convocation, that no one should thereafter translate any text of Holy Scripture into English. 1872 Freeman Growth Eng. Const. ii. 110 The Constitutions of Clarendon..forbad the ordination of villains. 1885 Catholic Dict., Apostolical Constitutions..The first Greek printed text was edited by Turrianus, and published in 1563. The spurious character of the book was soon evident to Catholic scholars..Pearson assigns the work, as it stands, to the middle of the fifth century. |
b. fig. and gen. An ordinance, settled arrangement, institution.
| 1668 Howe Bless. Righteous (1825) 295 Wouldst thou overturn the laws of nature, and subvert the most sacred divine constitutions. 1710 Prideaux Orig. Tithes 208 The payment of Tithes was grown to be a Veteran and thorough settled Constitution of this Kingdom. 1833 I. Taylor Fanat. ii. 41 So jealous is Nature of her constitutions. 1833 S. Hoole Disc. ix. 115 All these wise constitutions and appointments the Psalmist refers..to, etc. |
4. a. The way in which anything is constituted or made up; the arrangement or combination of its parts or elements, as determining its nature and character; make, frame, composition. constitution of nature, constitution of the world, constitution of the universe, constitution of things (the actual existing order); so constitution of society, etc.
| 1601 Holland Pliny I. 529 Vnlesse the constitution of the tract and qualitie of a country require the contrary. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. i. iii. 141 By the excellent constitution of thy legge. 1722 Wollaston Relig. Nat. ii. 38 That an inferior being may in opposition to His will break through the constitution of things. 1736 Butler (title), The Analogy of Religion..to the Constitution and Course of Nature. 1832 H. Martineau Life in Wilds ix. 118 That..is the fault of the constitution of society. 1839 Thirlwall Hist. Greece x. 377 The constitution, functions, and authority of the council. 1847 Emerson Repr. Men, Plato Wks. (Bohn) I. 292 Philosophy is the account which the human mind gives to itself of the constitution of the world. 1868 M. Pattison Academ. Organ. 6 Before any further change is made in the constitution of the University. |
b. Composition in reference to elements.
| 1659 Vulg. Errors Censured 26 The tenement of clay shall crumble into its primitive constitution. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 315 ¶1 Heaven, Earth and Hell enter into the Constitution of his [Milton's] Poem. 1831 Brewster Optics vii. 73 This view of the constitution of the solar spectrum. 1880 Huxley Cray-Fish 19 The exoskeleton is not of the same constitution throughout these regions. |
† c. Consistency. Obs.
| 1668 Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. i. ii. 3 Of a midling constitution between hardness and softness. |
5. spec. a. Physical nature or character of the body in regard to healthiness, strength, vitality, etc.
| 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. 63 b, The temperature of the mynde folowes the constitucion of the bodie. 1583 Babington Commandm. vii. (1637) 67 We dare solace our selves in soft beds, too long for our constitutions. 1611 Tourneur Ath. Trag. v. i, The true state And constitution of their bodies. 1625 K. Long tr. Barclay's Argenis i. xviii. 49 Men..of sickly constitutions. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 25 ¶3 Imaginary Sick Persons that break their Constitutions by Physick. 1789 W. Buchan Dom. Med. (1790) 25 A good constitution ought certainly to be our first object in the management of children. 1803 Med. Jrnl. IX. 279 The peculiarities of the female constitution. 1855 Prescott Philip II, i. (1857) 33 His constitution was far from robust. |
b. Nature, character, or condition of mind; mind, disposition, temperament, temper.
| 1589 Greene Menaphon (Arb.) 29 The frowning Constitution of Mars. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. iii. ii. 249 Else nothing in the world Could turne so much the constitution Of any constant man. 1618 Wither Motto (1633) 526, I have no Constitution, to accord To ought dishonest, sooner for a Lord Then for his meanest Groome. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. (1703) II. vi. 100 Imparting himself equally to all Men of several constitutions. 1741 Middleton Cicero II. xii. 516 His failings were..such as flowed from his constitution, not his will. 1855 Prescott Philip II, i. ii. (1857) 39 His temperament and his constitution of mind peculiarly fitted him for the reception of these influences. |
6. The mode in which a state is constituted or organized; especially, as to the location of the sovereign power, as a monarchical, oligarchical, or democratic constitution.
| 1610 Bp. Hall Apol. agst. Brownists 21 The Constitution of the Common-wealth of Israel. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. (1843) 3/1 Who exactly knew the frame and constitution of the kingdom. 1681 Nevile Plato Rediv. 139 Sweden remains in point of Constitution and Property exactly as it did anciently. 1705 Addison Italy Pref., No other Country in the World has such a Variety of Governments that are so different in their Constitutions. 1827 Hallam Const. Hist. (1876) III. xiii. 17 The original constitution of England was highly aristocratical. 1862 Ruskin Munera P. (1880) 38 Whatever may be the constitution of the State. |
7. The system or body of fundamental principles according to which a nation, state, or body politic is constituted and governed.
This may be embodied in successive concessions on the part of the sovereign power, implied in long accepted statutes, or established gradually by precedent, as in the British Constitution; or it may be formally set forth in a document framed and adopted on a particular occasion by the various orders or members of the commonwealth, or their representatives, as in the Constitution of the United States, the various Constitutions of France after 1790, and those of other nations, framed in imitation of these. In the case of a written Constitution, the name is sometimes applied to the document embodying it. In either case it is assumed or specifically provided that the constitution is more fundamental than any particular law, and contains the principles with which all legislation must be in harmony.
This sense gradually arose out of the prec. between 1689 and 1789: see the early quots.
| [1689 Declar. Estates of Scotl. 11 Apr., Whereas King James the Seventh..did by the advice of wicked and evil counsellers invade the fundamental constitution of the kingdom, and altered it from a legal limited monarchy, to an arbitrary despotick power.] 1735–8 Bolingbroke On Parties 108 By Constitution We mean, whenever We speak with Propriety and Exactness, that Assemblage of Laws, Institutions and Customs, derived from certain fix'd Principles of Reason..that compose the general System, according to which the Community hath agreed to be govern'd. 1750 Chesterfield Lett. (1774) III. 2 England is now the only monarchy in the world that can properly be said to have a constitution. 1789 Constit. U.S. Preamb., We..do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. 1789–92 A. Young Trav. France 124 There is an idea..that this union of the orders is only for the verification of their powers, and for making the constitution, which is a new term they have adopted; and which they use as if a constitution was a pudding to be made by a receipt. 1791 Paine Rights of Man (ed. 4) 93 The American constitutions were to liberty, what a grammar is to language: they define its parts of speech, and practically construct them into syntax. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. v. xi, The Twelve eldest are sent solemnly to fetch the Constitution itself, the printed Book of the Law. 1855 Prescott Philip II, i. ii. (1857) 19 With all the forms prescribed by the constitution. 1863 M. Howitt F. Bremer's Greece I. viii. 264 The new constitution of Greece is formed very much upon that of France. 1864 Sat. Rev. XVIII. 449/2 By the English constitution we understand a few great traditional principles of government, any fundamental breach of which would involve either tyranny or anarchy. 1872 Freeman Growth Eng. Const. ii. 54 Our English constitution was never made, in the sense in which the constitutions of many other countries have been made. |
8. a. attrib. as (in sense 5 b) † constitution evil, † sin; Constitution Church, that established in France by the Constituent Assembly on 12 July, 1790; b. Comb. as (sense 7) constitution-builder, constitution-building, constitution-maker, constitution-making, constitution-monger, constitution-mongering; also constitution-build vb. nonce-wd.
| 1665 T. Mall Offer F. Help 92 Your proper sin, or constitution-evil. 1675 Brooks Gold. Key Wks. 1867 V. 20 His constitution sins, his most prevalent sins. 1795 Barruel's Hist. Clergy Fr. Rev. 62 The two churches were easily distinguished..that of the ancient pastors was called the Catholic, the other the Constitution Church. 1795 Windham Speeches Parl. 27 May (1812) I. 270 The Honourable Gentleman is a sort of constitution-monger..he declared..that he would give to France the same constitution as that of America. 1816 Coleridge Lay Serm. 324 Planners and constitution-makers. 1820 Deb. Congress 1st Sess. I. 945 Nineteen out of twenty of our agricultural citizens know better the art of constitution-making than the best methods of raising cabbages. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. vii. vii, Arrange it, constitution-build it, sift it through ballot-boxes as thou wilt. 1840 ― Heroes vi. 308 No ballot-box, parliamentary eloquence, voting, constitution-building. Ibid. vi. 361 Theoretical constitution-builders. 1849 Mill in Westm. Rev. LI. 42 The presence of such checks, not their absence, would have been the novelty in constitution-making. 1949 I. Deutscher Stalin 185 However, the time for real Constitution-making had not yet come. 1833 Mill Let. 9 Mar. (1910) I. 39 Our Utilitarian Radicals..will no longer rely upon the infallibility of Constitution-mongering. 1875 Helps Organiz. Daily Life, Ess. 124 The failure of constitution-mongers like the Abbé Sièyes, who are sublimely indifferent to the state of facts around them. |