notation
(nəʊˈteɪʃən)
[ad. L. notātiōn-em, n. of action, f. notāre to note. Hence also F. notation (14th c.), Sp. notacion, It. notazione, Pg. nota{cced}ão.]
† 1. The explanation or exposition of a term in accordance with its etymology; the etymological or primary sense of a word. Obs. (common in 17th cent.).
| 1570 J. Dee Math. Pref. b j, This Description, or Notation, is brief. 1588 Fraunce Lawiers Log. i. vi. 35 b, As for conjugates and notation,..I dare not admit them into the text. 1609 Downam Christ. Lib. 30 This..error they seeke to iustifie by the like notation of the Latine words. a 1654 Gataker Antid. Errour (1670) 7 If we respect the Notation or Original of the word Justifie, it should signifie to make just. 1690 Andros Tracts II. 32 If we may Admit that Gentleman's Notation of a Libell (a Lie because False, and a Bell because Loud). |
2. A note or annotation. Now rare.
| 1584 Fenner Def. Ministers (1587) 96 We may lett passe the sifting of these notations altogither vnworthie to be noted. 1685 Boston Rec. (1881) VII. 175 Some articles..which wee have thought fit to leave some notations or memorandum with the Selectmen about. 1706 J. Sergeant Chapter Bp. Chalcedon (1853) 122 Neither was there any room for inferences, or many notations. 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) V. 150 No other notation at all concerning any designer, engraver, or publisher whatever. 1822 Galt Provost xxxv, Intending these notations for the instruction of posterity. 1845 R. W. Hamilton Pop. Educ. i. (ed. 2) 3 The Sacred Volume has gathered up certain notations of this great study of our nature. 1929 J. Gallishaw Twenty Probl. Fiction Writer 228 The wise writer depends upon recorded observations, and makes notations. 1932 L. C. Douglas Forgive our Trespasses (1937) vii. 128 The papers submitted on Tuesday were, in the main, satisfactory. They would be returned, with notations, to their makers, at the close of the hour. |
3. The action of taking or making note of something. rare.
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. i. iv. 13 Although there be no lesse then sixe, yet are there but two onely thereof worthy our notation. 1667 Waterhouse Fire London 43 He..would not himself have set a foot this work..upon that day..But that the Notation of the day might lesson us displeasure extraordinary. 1866 Crump Banking, etc. v. 113 A different operation from the ‘notation of protest’, as regards foreign bills of exchange. |
† 4. A mark or indication. Obs. rare—1.
| a 1661 Fuller Worthies (1840) I. xxi. 81, I have endeavoured..to time eminent persons by one of these notations; first, that of their morning, or nativity [etc.]. |
5. The process or method of representing numbers, quantities, etc., by a set or system of signs; hence, any set of symbols or characters used to denote things or relations in order to facilitate the recording or considering of them. a. Arith. and Algebra.
| 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Notation... In Arithmetick, it is that part which shows how to express, read, or declare..any Number written. 1730 Bailey (folio), Notation (with Algebraists), the representing quantities by Letters of the Alphabet. 1806 Hutton Course Math. (ed. 2) I. 241 Avoiding the short ways of notation, which..are..less useful to the pupil. 1847 Emerson Repr. Men, Uses of Gt. Men Wks. (Bohn) I. 276 The inventor of decimal notation. 1882 Minchin Unipl. Kinemat. 93 If (A) denotes the area traced out by A, and (X) the area of D, we have, with the previous notation [etc.]. |
b. Music.
| 1776 Burney Hist. Mus. I. 7 As the notation of the Greeks was imagined in the infancy of the art of music. 1811 Busby Dict. Mus. s.v., The literal notation for the lute is constantly called the Tablature. 1876 Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms (1888) 309 The ecclesiastical notation of the Greek Church..is supposed to have originated in the Greek accents. |
c. In miscellaneous uses.
| 1831 Brewster Nat. Magic xi. (1833) 293 A system of mechanical notation invented by Mr. Babbage. 1837 Whewell Induct. Sci. (1857) III. 185 The various methods of notation by which it has been proposed to represent the faces of crystals. 1855 Abp. Thomson Laws Th. §101 A mode of notation to be able to represent to the eye by figures the relation which subsists in thought between conceptions. 1871 Watts Dict. Chem. IV. 136 The system of chemical notation now in use among chemists belongs exclusively to modern times. |
6. Logic. (See connotation 2, quot. 1829.)