▪ I. unity1
(ˈjuːnɪtɪ)
Forms: 4–6 vnite, vnyte, 4–7 unite, 5–6 unyte; 4 vnitee, vnytee, 6 unitee; 5 vnytie, 6 unytie, 5–6 vnytye, vnitye, 5–7 vnitie, 6–7 unitie, vnity (7 vnitty), 7– unity.
[a. AF. unite, OF. unite, uniteit (c 1200), F. unité (= Sp. unidad, Pg. unidade, It. unità), or ad. L. ūnitāt-, ūnitās oneness, sameness, agreement, f. ūn-us one: see -ity.]
I. 1. The fact, quality, or condition of being, comprising, or consisting of one in number; oneness, singleness. Freq. of the Deity, and in early use in the phr. in unity.
Used spec. in Philos. and Metaph. to express the negation of multiplicity of being or existence; individuality, identity (see Baldwin Dict. Philos. & Psychol.).
| a 1300 Cursor M. 6342 Þis wandes takens persons thre, And an-fald godd in vnite. c 1325 Spec. Gy Warw. 429 Wid þe fader, and wid þe sone, And wid þe holi gost in vnite. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 383 Two passen fro unyte. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. cxvi. (1495) 921 The one and vnyte of nombre..: therby is fygure and lyknesse of the vnyte of our lorde god. c 1532 G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 1023 The blessed Trinite thre persones in unite. 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. i. ii. §2 Our God is one, or rather very oneness, and meere unitie. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. v. ii. 141 If there be rule in vnitie it selfe, This is not she. 1621 T. Bedford Sin unto Death 6 The singular number doth not alwayes imply an individuall vnitie. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. ii. vi. §1 Amongst all the Ideas we have,..there is none more simple than that of Unity, or One. 1725 Watts Logic (1736) 245 The Unity and Spirituality of the Godhead. 1766 Blackstone Comm. II. 433 The notion of an unity of person between the husband and wife. 1844 Kingsley Lett. (1878) I. 117 Perfect unity in extreme multiplicity. 1864 Bowen Logic ix. 292 A question often involves a real duplicity under a seeming unity. a 1881 A. Barratt Phys. Metempiric (1883) 106 A priori a spacial principle of unity seems as reasonable as a temporal. |
b. Math. The condition of the unit or number one; the numeral one regarded abstractly as the basis of number in reckoning or calculation.
| 1570 Billingsley Euclid vii. i. 184 Vnitie is that, whereby euery thing that is, is sayd to be on. 1657 Hobbes Absurd Geom. 2 The excesse of the rising proportion above subtriple is the same which unity hath to the six times the number of termes after 0. 1709–29 V. Mandey Syst. Math., Arith. 6 Unity measures every number by the number itself; so 1 measures 7 by 7. 1831 Brewster Optics iv. 28 Take 1 part or unity from the same scale. 1869 J. H. Smith Elem. Algebra 50 The quotient is unity when the Dividend and the Divisor are equal. 1885 Watson & Burbury Math. Th. Electr. & Magn. I. 232 Taking unity as the combining number for hydrogen. |
c. A quantity, magnitude, or substance regarded as equivalent to the number one in calculation, measurement, or comparison.
| 1728 Chambers Cycl., Measure, in Geometry, any certain Quantity assumed as one, or Unity, to which the Ratio of other..Quantities is express'd. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVII. 659/1 The most convenient way..would be to consider the weight of the standard as unity. 1801 Monthly Rev. XXXV. 525 The ten millionth part of the..distance..was taken as the unity of measure. 1816 Playfair Nat. Phil. II. 287 If the mass of Jupiter be supposed unity. 1836 Brande Chem. (ed. 4) 220 Others adopt oxygen as unity, in which case hydrogen becomes one-eighth of that unit. 1880 Haughton Phys. Geog. iii. 138 If we call the Gulf Stream unity, we may form an approximate estimate of the other four systems of circulation. |
2. An instance of this: † a. = unit n. 1. Obs.
| c 1425 Craft Nombrynge (E.E.T.S.) 22 Reken ten for on vnite. Ibid. 28 Loke how mony vnityes ben in þe nounbre þat comes of þe multiplicacioun of þe 2 digittes. 1543 Recorde Arith. 119 b, In that place of vnities dothe appere only 7. 1587 Fleming Centn. Holinshed III. 1490/2 The residue..being multiplied by vnities, doo make vp the complet number of three score and twelue. 1630 Wingate Arith. i. i. 15 The Integers, or intire Vnities. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. iii. ii. 129 Because the Angle CAB is a Right Angle,..I therefore only put an Unity before the second Term. 1837 Whewell Hist. Induct. Sci. I. 250 His objections to geometry and arithmetic are founded on abstract cavils concerning the nature of points, letters, unities. |
b. One separate or single thing, quality, etc.; something which is complete or entire in itself, or is regarded as such.
| 1587 Golding De Mornay ii. 16 The foresayd most single and alonly One, abyding still one in it selfe, bringeth foorth all the other vnities. 1598 Marston Sco. Villanie i. iv. (1599) 187 Sylenus now is old, I wonder, I, He doth not hate his triple venerie... Me thinkes a vnitie were competent. a 1600 Edmonds Observ. Cæsar's Comm. 38 The life and strength of a multitude consisteth in vnities. 1681 Whole Duty Nations 7 He himself is the prime Unity and Universality. 1828 Carlyle Misc. (1840) I. 319 The clear view of it as an indivisible Unity. 1847 Emerson Repr. Men, Swedenborg ¶17 The unities of each organ are so many little organs, homogeneous with their compound. 1889 Mivart Orig. Hum. Reason 46 They are apprehensions of abstract qualities grouped round a unity. |
II. 3. The quality or condition of being one in mind, feeling, opinion, purpose, or action; harmonious combination together of the various parties or sections (of the Church, a state, etc.) into one body; concord or harmony amongst several persons or between two or more.
In the usage with a († an) the meaning tends to become concrete (see (b)).
| c 1325 Poem temp. Edw. II (Percy) xxii, Among men of religioun Is non unite. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 226 Þis unite shulden men have bi þe lore of Jesus Crist, and þanne shulden þei be of o wille. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. ix. viii. 942 That tyme at Bulone..Wes a tretis of vnyte Betuix þe Franche and Inglismen. 1460 J. Capgrave Chron. (Rolls) 294 Be this mene was the unite of the Cherch lettid. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 123 The Germains within them selues shold..come to some vnitie & concord. 1590 Greene Never too late (1600) 42 Vnitie is the essence of amitie. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. i. iii. 100 The vnity and married calme of States. 1647 Trapp Comm. Rom. xv. 6 (1656) 652 It is recorded to the high commendation of the Church of Scotland, that for this 90 years and upwards they have kept unity. 1738 Wesley Ps. cxxxiii. i, When Brethren all in One agree; Who knows the Joys of Unity! 1776 Paine Com. Sense 49 'Tis not in numbers but in unity that our great strength lies. 1830 D'Israeli Chas. I, III. v. 62 Laud..contemplated establishing unity by uniformity. 1854 Milman Lat. Chr. iv. iv. II. 99 No sooner has Anglo-Saxon Britain become one (no doubt her religious unity must have contributed..to her national unity) than [etc.]. 1878 Stubbs Const. Hist. III. xviii. 221 The king's death at once broke up the unity of the Court. |
| (b) 1460 J. Capgrave Chron. (Rolls) 120 Edgare..mad a very unite of all the vii. kyngdammes. a 1466 Hist. Coll. Cit. Lond. (Camden) 116 The same yere..the general conselle was endyd, and a unyte made in Hooly Chyrche, and oo pope chosynne. a 1500 Bale's Chron. in Six Town Chron. (1911) 145 The king..and divers lordes..agreed and ther made a full unyte and peas betwene the dukes of york and somerset. 1577 Holinshed Chron. I. 286/2 Diuerse offers were made on both partes..for an vnitie to haue beene had betwixte the two Princes. |
b. Freq. in adverbial phr. at unity or † in unity, in agreement, concord, or harmony; at one.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iii. 29 Ye holden regne and hous in vnite. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 194 So schal I live in unite With every man. c 1430 Lydg. Lyke thyn Audience i, Yf yow wilt lyffe in pease and vnite. c 1450 Burgh Secrees 1520 These Sustrys Cheyned in parfight vnyte, departe may not by natural resoun. 1535 Coverdale Ps. cxxi, Ierusalem is buylded as a cite, that is at vnitie in it self. a 1619 M. Fotherby Atheom. ii. x. §4 (1622) 308 An Vnity is alwayes at vnitie with it selfe, and neuer varieth from it selfe. 1662 Playford Skill Mus. i. v. 18 To guide his Voyce in unity to the sound of the Instrument. 1671 Baxter Holiness lxiv. 18 It plainly sheweth that they are very much at unity in the main. 1714 in Jrnl. Friends Hist. Soc. (1918) 27 Leaving our family and friends in great love and Unity. 1768 Sterne Sent. Journ., Dwarf, The old French officer would have set me at unity with myself. 1825 Q. Rev. XXXII. 369 No Italian city or state was at unity in itself. 1871 Jowett Plato I. 56 The bad..are never at unity with one another or with themselves. |
c. Agreement or accord between things.
| 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. iv. 338 As adiectif and substantyf vnite asken, Acordaunce in kynde, in cas and in numbre. Ibid. 398. 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 1558 These contraries such unity do hold, Only to flatter fools and make them bold. 1611 ― Wint. T. v. ii. 35 There is such vnitie in the proofes. |
† d. Agreement or concurrence with something.
| 1760 J. Woolman Journal vii. (1900) 146 Some Friends..expressed their willingness to have it read; which being done, many expressed their unity with the proposal. |
4. The fact of forming or being united into one body or whole; union (of two or more persons or things, or of one with another); rarely, physical union or connexion; † conjunction of two or more things.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) V. 9 By tokene þe onynge and þe unite of Crist and of holy chirche. 1472–3 Rolls of Parlt. VI. 23/1 Entierly desiryng..the unyte of the nobles and other his subgettes. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 255 b/2 The unyte and assemble of the flesshe of oure lord and of oure lady. 1565 Allen Defence Purg. xvii. 283 Which forme of argument serued the Arians against the consubstantiall vnitye of God the father, and his son our sauiour. 1578 Timme Calvin on Gen. 76 Herein we see a true image of our unitie with the Son of God. 1597 A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 11/2 The synnuish filamentes which have a vnitye and fasteninge with the Pericranium. 1611 Tourneur Ath. Trag. i. ii, The unitie of Families is a worke of loue and charitie. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. ii. xvii. 87 This is more than consent, or concord; It is a reall Unitie of them all, in one and the same Person. 1796 Burke Regic. Peace i. 43 In this unity and indivisibility of possession are sunk ten..wealthy provinces. 1801 Hamilton Wks. (1886) VII. 186 They have approved the unity of the legislative power in one branch. 1871 R. W. Dale Commandm. i. 23 That our Lord claimed for himself a mysterious unity with the Father. 1880 J. Caird Philos. Relig. v. 157 The unity of subject and object..is implied in every act of thought. |
† b. A meeting or assembly of people. Obs.—1
| a 1470 Harding Chron. clxxxvii. ii, In cytees al he helde wel vnitees, Great iustes ay, and ioyous tournementes. |
c. A body formed by union, esp. the Unity of the (Moravian) Brethren. In later quots. ellipt.
| 1780 B. La Trobe tr. Cranz's Hist. Brethren 67 Twenty-four ministers of the Unity of the Brethren. Ibid. 353 Every actual member of the Unity that is desirous of taking the benefit of this act. 1814 Wm. Brown Hist. Propag. Christianity II. 124 This, by the synods of the Brethren's church, is vested solely in the Elders' Conference of the Unity. 1865 J. Gill Banished Count xxv. 262 The affairs of the Unity called the Count..to the Continent. |
5. The quality or fact of being one body or whole, esp. as made up of two or more parts; an undivided whole, as distinct from its parts.
| 1390 Gower Conf. I. 37 If a man were Mad al togedre of o matiere Withouten interrupcioun, Ther scholde no corrupcioun Engendre upon that unite. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. ii. (Bodl. MS.), Yf the vertu is ilette..þe vnyte & ioynyng of alle þe body to falleþ. 1533 Gau Richt Vay (S.T.S.) 57 He is wordine man and sua is spousit with the halie chrissine kirk in to ane body the quhilk vnite S. Paul..callis ane greit halie secreit thing [etc.]. 1583 B. Melbancke Philotimus P iv b, The coniunction of manye in an vniforme vnitie. 1813 Shelley Q. Mab iv. 144 Every grain Is sentient both in unity and part. 1850 Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. iv. (1857) 57 In proportion as you rise from lower to higher life, the parts are more distinctly developed, while yet the unity becomes more entire. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 69 [Plato] does not insist, as in the Protagoras, on the unity of the virtues. |
† 6. The quality of being of one kind; uniformity of substance or appearance. Obs.
| 1638 Junius Paint. Ancients 119 To vary the unitie of a stone by inserting such spots into the crust as were not by nature. |
7. As a literary or artistic quality: a. Agreement of the various parts of which something is composed so as to form a whole which exhibits singleness of design or effect; combination or arrangement which produces this, or the effect so produced.
| 1712 Addison Spect. No. 267 ¶3 Aristotle himself allows, that Homer has nothing to boast of as to the Unity of his Fable. 1756 J. Warton Ess. Pope I. iii. 101 Horace observed a strict method, and unity of design, in his epistle to the Pisones. 1783 Blair Lect. I. 216 The second quality of a well-arranged sentence, which I termed its Unity. 1808 L. Murray Eng. Gram. I. 430 But most of all, in a single sentence, is required the strictest unity. 1864 Pusey Lect. Daniel i. 11 Amid apparent want of unity on the surface of the Book, there is a real unity in the whole, resting on the unity of the plan of the writer. 1874 R. Tyrwhitt Sketch. Club 272 Unity in a picture is the sympathy of its groups or parts. |
b. One or other of the three principles of the Aristotelian canon of dramatic composition as adopted and expanded by the French classical dramatists, according to which a play should consist of one main action, represented as occurring at one time (i.e. one day) and in one place. Also in loose application.
| 1668 Dryden Ess. Dram. Poesy Ess. (Ker) I. 38 The famous Rules, which the French call Des Trois Unitez, or, the Three Unities, which ought to be observed in every regular play. [1682 Sheffield (Dk. Buckhm.) Ess. Poetry 12 The Unites of Action, Time, and Place.] 1712 Addison Spect. No. 267 ¶2 Homer to preserve the Unity of his Action hastens into the Midst of Things. 1789 Belsham Ess. I. ii. 18 The diction of these plays is lofty,..the unities strictly preserved. 1816 Scott Old Mort. xxxvii, It is fortunate for tale-tellers that they are not tied down like theatrical writers to the unities of time and place. 1859 Trollope Bertrams xvi, Two years..; it is a terrible gap in a story, but in these days the unities are not much considered. 1878 O. W. Holmes Motley iv. 24 A series of incidents..flung together with no more regard to the unities than [etc.]. |
| transf. 1821 Lamb Elia i. My Relations, Nature hath her unities, which not every critic can penetrate. |
c. transf. (See quot.)
| 1861 G. J. Whyte-Melville Good for Nothing xvi, Those functionaries in white hats and red waistcoats, who with singular attention to ‘the unities,’ adopt the very colours of the Post-office Directory and Court Guide. |
8. Freedom from or absence of diversity or variety; unvaried nature of (some quality or thing).
Not always clearly distinct from sense 1.
| 1802 Paley Nat. Theol. xx. (1819) 314 What we have first to notice is unity of purpose under variety of expedients. 1824 Miss Mitford in L'Estrange Life (1870) II. ix. 176 [‘Our Village’] is..a series of sketches..with some story intermixed, and connected by unity of locality, and of purpose. 1841 Myers Cath. Th. iii. §48. 184 Amidst all this variety, what unity of spirit and of aim is there in the Bible! 1884 F. Temple Relat. Relig. & Sci. vi. 164 The unity of plan..pervading any great class of animals..seems to point to unity of ancestry. |
b. Singleness of aim, purpose, or action.
| 1836 Hor. Smith Tin Trump. I. 5 There is a simplicity and unity in despotism which is not without its advantages. 1848 W. K. Kelly tr. L. Blanc's Hist. Ten Y. II. 176 The grand principle of unity in power. 1866 Geo. Eliot F. Holt i, She had thought that the possession of this child would give unity to her life. |
9. Law. (See quots.)
| 1607 Cowell Interpr., Vnitie of possession,..in the Ciuill lawe,..a ioynt possession of two rights by seuerall titles. 1691 Blount Law. Dict. s.v. Possession, If the Lord purchase the Tenancy held by Heriot service, the Heriot is extinct by Unity of Possession. 1766 Blackstone Comm. II. 180 The properties of a joint estate are derived from it's unity, which is fourfold; the unity of interest, the unity of title, the unity of time, and the unity of possession. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) III. 104 It was held clearly that this common was extinguished by the unity of possession. 1858 Ld. St. Leonards Handy-bk. Prop. Law xxv. 189 Unity of possession—that is, where the land and the right exercised over it are in the same person. |
▪ II. † ˈunity2
obs. var. of or error for unite n.
| 1604 in Rymer Fœdera (1715) XVI. 605/2 One Peece of Gold.., to be called The Unitie. 1643 Baker Chron., Jas. I, 147 Ordayning the peice called the Vnity..to bee currant now for two and twenty. |