suggestion
(səˈdʒɛstjən, -tʃən)
Forms: 4–5 suggestyun, -tione, -tioun, soggestioun, 4–6 suggestyon, (4, Sc. 6 sugestioun, 5 sugiestion, -tyoun, 6 suggesteon), 4– suggestion. See also subjestion (cf. OF. subjestion).
[a. AF., OF. suggestioun (mod.F. suggestion), = Pr. suggestio, It. suggestione, Sp. sugestion, Pg. suggestão, ad. L. suggestio, -ōnem, n. of action f. suggerĕre to suggest.]
† 1. a. Prompting or incitement to evil; an instance of this, a temptation of the evil one. Obs.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter xxiv. 2 Þof þai waite nyght and daye with ill suggestions to till me til syn. c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶331 Deedly synne hath first suggestion of the feend. c 1440 Gesta Rom. lxvi. 303 (Harl. MS.) Tribulacion of þe wordle, temptacion of flesh, and sugiestion of þe devill. c 1460 Wisdom 497 in Macro Plays 52 Mynde. To þis suggestyon a-gre we. Wndyrstondynge. Delyght þer-In, I haue truly. Wyll. And I consent þer-to frelye. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 124 b, As longe as the mynde is not moued by y⊇ false suggestyon..there is the lesse ieopardy: as wele whan he fayneth ony thynge by suggestyon that is good, or [etc.]. 1588 A. King tr. Canisius' Catech. 127 Be thrie degreis men principallie cummis to sinne, be suggestion, delectation, and consent. 1595 Shakes. John iii. i. 292 Then arme thy constant and thy nobler parts Against these giddy loose suggestions. 1620 T. Granger Div. Logike 227 That which is spoken, and done by Satanicall Suggestion. 1667 Milton P.L. iii. 129 The first sort by thir own suggestion fell, Self-tempted, self-deprav'd. |
† b. In extended sense: A prompting from within, (hence) intention. Obs.
| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. viii. 69, Bidders and Beggers Beoþ not in þe Bulle, Bote þe suggestion be soþ þat schapeþ hem to Begge. c 1550 Bale K. Johan (Manly) 963 His suggesteon was to subdew the Yrysh men. |
2. a. The action of prompting one to a particular action or course of action; the putting into the mind of an idea, an object of thought, a plan, or the like; an instance of this, an idea or thought suggested, a proposal.
| 1382 Wyclif Gen. xl. 14 That thow make suggestioun to Pharao, that he lede me out of this prisoun. c 1400 Love Bonavent. Mirr. xlvii, At this suggestioun of John, oure lady..wolde no lenger letten his buryinge. c 1450 Godstow Reg. 400 Brefis were directed to hym at the suggestion of the abbesse of Godestowe. 1522 Skelton Why not to Court 1200 Some men myght aske a question, By whose suggestyon I toke on hand this warke, Thus boldly for to barke? 1590 Swinburne Test. 264 The later testament doth not take away the former, the later being made at the interrogation or suggestion of some other person. 1611 Bible 2 Macc. vi. 8 There went out a decree.., by the suggestion of Ptolomee, against the Iewes. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. i. v. 18 We are unready to put in execution the suggestions or dictates of reason. 1671 Milton Samson 599 Believe not these suggestions which proceed From anguish of the mind. 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v., A Testament is said to be made by Suggestion, when 'tis made by Surprize, and contrary to the Intention of the Testator. 1736 Franklin Ess. Wks. 1840 II. 74 America was not heard of, nor so much as a suggestion in the minds of men that any part of the world lay that way. 1748 W. Melmoth Fitzosborne Lett. lvi. (1749) II. 78 The wild suggestions of an heated imagination. 1838 James Robber ii, Did you not solemnly swear to her to follow my suggestions? 1842 Miss Mitford in L'Estrange Life (1870) III. ix. 169 At the suggestion of friends a subscription was raised. 1876 J. Parker Paracl. ii. xviii. 342 Any suggestion to the effect that theology is hostile to science is a lie. 1886 G. Allen Darwin ii. 25 Erasmus Darwin gave us brilliant suggestions rather than cumulative proof. |
† b. A foreboding, apprehension. Obs. rare.
| 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. xi. 257 These gloomy suggestions were soon happily ended. |
c. Hypnotism. The insinuation of a belief or impulse into the mind of a subject by words, gestures, or the like; the impulse or idea thus suggested.
| 1887 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 12 Mar. 595/2 MM. Fontan and Segard communicated several cases of cure by suggestion. 1892 19th Cent. Jan. 24 Proceedings by which Sarchas..gave sight to the blind..were essentially methods of what we should now call ‘suggestion’. 1903 F. W. H. Myers Human Pers. I. p. xxxv, I define suggestion as ‘successful appeal to the subliminal self’. |
† 3. The act of making a false or suborned statement or supplying underhand information; an instance of this, a false representation or charge. Often false suggestion (= AF. fause suggestioun, Britton). Obs.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxxi. (Eugenia) 408 Þe wikit wyf of putefere,..gert hyme be tane falsely & haldine lang in-to preson thru hyr wikit suggestione. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 216 Þis appropringe is geten bi fals suggestion maad to Anticrist. c 1386 Chaucer Monk's T. 427 Roger, which þat Bisshope was of Pize, Hadde on hym maad a fals suggestion. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 153 Þe Samaritans..lette hire work with sugestiouns and wiþ ȝiftes. 1460 J. Capgrave Chron. (Rolls) 289 Fals suggestiones, by whech many men were disherid of her londis. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 194 b, This Cardinall [sc. Wolsey]..by craftye suggestion gatte into his handes innumerable treasure. 1552 Edw. VI Jrnl. (Roxb. Club) II. 423 Whalley..confessed..how in his accoumptes he had made many false suggestions. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 235 Thou diddest vse all the suggestions that euer thou couldest inuent..to make them take weapon in hande againste mee. 1592 Kyd Sp. Trag. iii. i. 46 So am I free from this suggestion [of murder]. Ibid. 84 The hopeles life which thou..sought By thy suggestions to have massacred. [1620 J. Wilkinson Coroners & Sherifes 2 If any of these causes be untrue, and the Coroner therby discharged of his office by a false suggestion.] |
4. Law. An information not upon oath.
suggestion upon record: an information drawn in writing showing cause for a prohibition to a suit.
| 1485 Rolls of Parlt. VI. 292/2 The said Thomas..was committed to the Tower..by the comaundement of Edward the IIII{supt}{suph}..uppon a Suggestion and Ympeachment made to hym, that [etc.]. 1548 Act 2 & 3 Edw. VI, c. 13 §14 Under the Copie of the saide lybell shalbe written the Suggestyon wherefore the partie soe demaundeth the saide Prohibicion. 1651 tr. Kitchin's Courts Leet (1653) 297 Where a Grant of the King is not only of his meere motion, but also of suggestion, there, if any part of the suggestion bee not true, the whole Grant is voyd. 1768 Blackstone Comm. iii. 113 The party..applies to the superior court, setting forth in a suggestion upon record the nature and cause of his complaint. 1769 Ibid. iv. xxiii. 305 This mode of prosecution, by information (or suggestion) filed on record by the king's attorney general. 1835 Tomlins' Law-Dict. s.v., There are suggestions in replevin for a returno habendo, which, it is said, are not traversable. 1852 Act 15 & 16 Vict. c. 76 §191 In case the Right of the deceased Claimant shall survive to another Claimant, a Suggestion may be made of the Death, which Suggestion shall not be traversable. |
5. The process by which an idea brings to the mind another idea by association or natural connexion.
For the specific uses in the philosophical terminology of Reid and T. Brown, see quots. 1764, a 1820, 1875.
| 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. 52 b, The other part of Invention, which I terme Svggestion, doth assigne and direct vs to certaine Markes or Places, which may excite our Minde to returne and produce such Knowledge, as it hath formerly collected. 1764 Reid Inquiry ii. §7, I beg leave to make use of the word suggestion, because I know not one more proper, to express a power of the mind..to which we owe many of our simple notions which are neither impressions nor ideas, as well as many original principles of belief. a 1820 T. Brown Philos. Human Mind (1820) II. xxxiii. 190 There is..in the mind, a capacity of association; or as..I would rather term it,—the capacity of Simple Suggestion,—by which feelings, formerly existing, are revived,..as there is also a capacity of feeling resemblance,..or relation in general,..which mental capacity, in distinction from the former, I would term the capacity of Relative Suggestion. 1868 Lowell Among my Bks., Shaks. once more Ser. i. (1870) 177 It is by suggestion, not cumulation, that profound impressions are made upon the imagination. 1875 Encycl. Brit. II. 732/1 [Brown] preferred the word Suggestion to Association, which seemed to him to imply some prior connecting process, whereof there was no evidence in many of the most important cases of suggestion. |
6. An indication of the presence or existence (of something); a hint, an inkling.
| 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola i. v, A faint suggestion of weariness struggling with habitual patience. 1879 O. N. Rood Mod. Chrom. v. 60 Pure grey or bluish-grey without any suggestion of green. 1898 ‘H. S. Merriman’ Roden's Corner iv. 36 His presence had no suggestion of strength. |
¶ 7. Misused for subjection (sense 1 b). For the reverse see subjection ¶ 12.
| a 1400 Ipomedon (Kölbing) 323 All the lordes aboute him were vndre his suggestion and did him homage. |
8. attrib.: suggestion-book, box, a book, box in which are put written suggestions containing proposals for the alteration or improvement of the administration of an establishment, or the like.
| 1882 Suggestion Book (Bodleian Library). 1907 Daily Chron. 20 July 6/7 A ‘suggestion box,’ into which any worker may drop a suggestion for the increased comfort of the staff. 1931 W. Holtby Poor Caroline iv. 113, I put it down in the suggestion-book six weeks ago. 1967 V. Gielgud Conduct of Member i. 11 The Suggestion Book of the Fonthill Club was much like others of its kind. Its contents..dealt with the apparent shortcomings of the House Committee. |