▪ I. civil, a.
(ˈsɪvɪl)
Also 4–7 with usual interchange of u and v, i and y, l and ll, le.
[a. F. civil ad. L. cīvīl-is of or pertaining to citizens (f. cīvis citizen), their private rights, etc., hence relating to the body of citizens or commonwealth, political, public; also, pertaining to the citizen as distinct from the soldier; and citizen-like, polite, courteous, urbane. The sense-development, being already effected in L., has received only slight extension in Fr. and Eng.]
A. adj. I. 1. Of or belonging to citizens; consisting of citizens, or men dwelling together in a community, as in civil society, civil life; also, of the nature of a citizen, as † civil man, † civil creature. The literal sense ‘of citizens’ is rare (quot. 1848).
| 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. Prol. (Globe), Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. i. §10 (R.) Ciuill Society doth more content the nature of man then any priuate kind of solitary liuing. 1598 Florio, Inurbare, to endenizen, to become or make a citizen, or a ciuill man. 1655 Carter Hon. Rediv. (1660) 63 Man as a Civill creature, was directed to this form of subjection. a 1684 Earl Roscom. (J.), Civil life was by the muses taught. 1690 J. Harrington Def. Rights Univ. Oxford 7 And for a civil man to go to the Vice Chancellor for leave to be out of his house. a 1770 Jortin Serm. VII. i. 14 Since then infants are subjects of the State and members of civil society. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 669 The proudest capitals of Western Europe have streamed with civil blood. |
2. Of or pertaining to the whole body or community of citizens; pertaining to the organization and internal affairs of the body politic, or state.
| 1494 Fabyan 4 London, that auncyent Cytie..I thynke somwhat to expresse, Of theyr good ordre, and Cyuyle polycy, That they so longe haue ruled theyr Cytie by. 1553 Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 34 The inhabitantes..keepe also a certayn ciuile iustice and frendly loue one to another. a 1600 Hooker Eccl. Pol. vii. xv. §5 To exercise civil dominion of their own. a 1656 Bp. Hall Art Divine Medit. xiv, The Heathen Romans entred not upon any publike civill businesse, without, etc. 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. i. xii. 309 The civil state consists of the nobility and the clergy. 1830 Mackintosh Eth. Philos. Wks. 1846 I. 37 If he had turned to civil institutions, he might have learned that some nations had preserved an ancient, simple, and seemingly rude mode of legal proceeding. |
3. a. civil war, civil strife, civil troubles, etc.: such as occur among fellow-citizens or within the limits of one community.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) IV. 189 A batayle ciuile bygan bytwene Julius and..Pompeus. 1494 Fabyan v. cxviii. 93 A louer of cyuyle batayle. 1550 J. Coke Eng. & Fr. Herald §24 (1877) 63 Contencions and warres..amonge themselves or with theyr neyghbours, whiche the Romaynes call the cyvyle warre. 1559 Bp. Scot in Strype Ann. Ref. I. App. vii. 12 As we see for civill quietness, there is appointed in every Village one constable. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 625 Domesticall dyscorde, and cyvill discencion. 1579 Fulke Ref. Rastel 763 By meanes of ciuil and externe warres. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, iii. iii. 102 With ciuill and vnciuill Armes. 1595 ― John iv. ii. 247 Hostilitie, and ciuill tumult reignes. 1603 Drayton Bar. Wars ii. (R.), When that approued and victorious shield Must in this civil massacre be torne. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 125 ¶3 A furious Party-Spirit, when it rages in its full Violence, exerts itself in Civil War and Bloodshed. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 172 Compelled by civil troubles to go into banishment. 1865 Kingsley Herew. ix. 145. |
b. the Civil War: in England applied specifically to the struggle between the Parliament and Charles I in the 17th c.; in U.S. often to the War of Secession, of 1861–5.
| [1649 Bp. Reynolds Hosea vi. 104 We are now under the heavy calamity of a Civill warre.] 1712 Budgell Spect. No. 313 ¶16 The Civil War broke out..one of them followed the Parliament, the other the Royal Party. a 1834 Mackintosh Revolution Wks. 1846 II. 13 Their sufferings in the royal cause during the civil war. |
c. civil disobedience: the refusal to obey the laws, tax demands, etc., of a government as part of a political campaign.
Thoreau's essay (see quot. 1866) was entitled ‘Resistance to Civil Government’ when first published in æsthetic Papers, ed. E. Peabody (1849).
| 1866 Thoreau Yankee in Canada 123 (title) Civil disobedience. 1922 Ann. Reg. 1921 275 Mr. Gandhi announced that he reserved the right to continue..preparations for civil disobedience. 1930 Economist 22 Feb. 416/1 A widespread campaign of civil disobedience, such as was envisaged at the recent Lahore Congress, might affect the collection of taxes. 1959 Observer 8 Mar. 1/3 The campaign [in Nyasaland] was to begin with civil disobedience. |
† 4. Civic, municipal. civil crown: = civic crown. Obs.
| 1513 Douglas æneis vi. xiii. 37 With ciuile crownis of the strang aik tre. 1590 Marlowe Edw. II, iii. iii. 30 Make England's civil towns huge heaps of stones. 1713 Guardian (1756) I. No. 49. 215 The folly of the civil land⁓lord in London, who..is a stranger to fresh air and rural enjoyments. |
5. a. Of or pertaining to the individual citizen.
| 1788 Priestley Lect. Hist. v. xxxix. 281 The power which the community leaves him possessed of with respect to his own conduct, may be called his civil liberty. 1793 Blackstone Comm. (ed. 12) 149 That system of laws..calculated to maintain civil liberty. 1841 Lane Arab. Nts. I. 62 Slaves have no civil liberty; but are entirely under the authority of their owners. |
b. civil rights [right n.1 9]: the rights of each citizen to liberty, equality, etc.; spec. in the U.S., the rights of Black people as citizens. Cf. civil law, † right.
| 1721 Boston Rec. 154 That they Indeavor to maintain all our Civel Rights and Properties against any Incrochments upon them. 1866 A. Johnson in W. L. Fleming Hist. Reconstruction (1906) I. 225 The Civil Rights bill was more enormous than the other. 1869 Trollope Phineas Finn I. xxv. 211 A London policeman..feels himself to be an instrument for the moment of despotic power as opposed to civil rights. 1874 in W. L. Fleming Hist. Reconstruction (1907) II. 201 The mere mention of Civil (negro) Rights has almost destroyed the public schools and colleges in some of the Southern States. 1964 Ann. Reg. 1963 iv. i. 179 President Kennedy..requested from Congress sweeping civil rights legislation to protect the rights of Negroes in voting, education, and employment. 1970 K. Giles Death in Church iv. 90 You probably don't have all the nosy civil rights committees. |
6. Becoming or befitting a citizen.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 44 These iiii cardynall vertues, Temperaunce, Justice ciuyle or morall, Fortitude..and Prudence. 1628 Feltham Resolves ii. lxii. (1677) 288 There is a Civil Hatred when men in general detest Vice. 1655–60 Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 21/2 To esteem the deceased holy is pious, to spare the absent, just, to take away the eternity of hatred, civil. 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) IV. 61 For the instruction of heathen children in christian duties and civil knowledge. 1862 Merivale Rom. Emp. (1865) IV. xxxiii. 105 It was civil, in the Roman sense, to mingle in the amusements of the citizens. 1883 T. H. Green Proleg. Ethics Introd. 7 That civil spirit through which the promptings of personal passion are controlled. |
† 7. Having proper public or social order; well-ordered, orderly, well-governed. Obs.
| 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. v. iv. 156 They are reformed, ciuill, full of good. 1599 ― Hen. V, i. ii. 199 The ciuil Citizens kneading vp the hony. 1600 J. Dymmok Treat. Ireland (1843) 13 The south parte [of the County of Wexford] as the more cyvill. 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. v. i. 16 Ciuill streets. 1641 Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 37 A more quiet, clean, elegantly built, and civil place, than..Antwerp. 1659 Milton Rupt. Commw. (1847) 439/2 That Army, lately so renown'd for the civilest and best order'd in the world. 1685 Morden Geogr. Rectified 38 Ireland is a Flourishing Island, Civil in its self, and a good additional strength to the British Empire. |
8. In that social condition which accompanies and is involved in citizenship or life in communities; not barbarous; civilized, advanced in the arts of life.
| 1553 Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 36 A region wel inhabited and ful of ciuile people. 1579 Cyuile & Vncyuile Life To Rdrs., Wee that inhabit a most cyuill Countrey. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie i. ii. (Arb.) 30 Among the Latines of the ciuiller ages. 1626 Bacon Sylva §680 Beasts are more Hairy than Men; and Savage Men more than Civil. 1682 Milton Hist. Mosc. Pref. 567 Moscovy..being the most northern region of Europe reported civil. 1697 Potter Antiq. Greece ii. v. (1715) 237 The Practice of all Nations, whether Civil or barbarous. 1708 J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. ii. i. ii. (1743) 311 On the other side..the People are much more civil. 1829 Southey O. Newman vii, As in civil, so in barbarous states. 1841 Catlin N. Amer. Ind. (1844) II. xxxvi. 32 From my long silence of late, you will no doubt have deemed me out of the civil, and perhaps out of the whole world. |
† 9. Educated; well-bred; refined, polished, ‘polite’. Obs. a. of persons.
| 1567 J. Maplet Gr. Forest 42 A kinde of Symphonie whiche the common sort call a Pipe: the learned and more ciuil kinde of men name it a Dulcimer. a 1568 R. Ascham Scholem. ii. (Arb.) 130 A learned preacher, or a Ciuill Ientleman. 1628 Wither Brit. Rememb. 29 Unbeseeming jests, And stuffe which every civill eare detests. 1647 Evelyn Corr. (1857) III. 5 My character..for the civilest Traveller that ever returned. a 1704 Locke Lett. (1708) 31, I know what latitude civil and well bred men allow themselves. |
b. of things.
| 1551 Robinson tr. More's Utop. i. (Arb.) 64 This schole philosophie..thinketh all thinges mete for euery place. But there is an other philosophye more ciuile, whyche knoweth..her owne stage. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xviii. (Arb.) 200 The Greekes call it Asteismus, we may terme it the ciuill iest. 1612 Brerewood Lang. & Relig. iii. 23 To their own languages, which they held to be more civil than the Roman. 1716 Cibber Love Makes Man iv, Hard by, Sir, at an House of civil Recreation. |
c. Public, popular.
| 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. xi. §3 The conceits..(now almost made Ciuile) of the Maistring Spirite, and the force of confidence, and the like. |
† 10. Of apparel. Not gay or showy; sober, decent, grave; also, of persons, decent or seemly in behaviour, customs, etc. Obs.
| 1606 Dekker Sev. Sinnes i. (Arb.) 13 In words, is he circumspect: in lookes, graue: in attire, ciuill. 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. vi. xx. 105 Wantonly clad in the habit of an Amazon woman; alwayes costly, but seldome ciuill. 1612 T. Taylor Comm. Titus ii. 11 Let this work be neuer so ciuill and seemely. c 1622 Fletcher Woman's Prize iii. iii, That fourteen yards of satten giue my woman; I do not like the colour—'tis too civill. a 1691 Virgin's Compl. in Bayford Ballads (1878) 931 Dolly, Molly, Susan, Bess, Pretty Maids in civil Dress. |
† 11. Humane, gentle, kind. Obs.
| 1613 R. C. Table Alph. (ed. 3), Ciuill, honest in conuersation, or gentle in behauiour. 1648 Milton Observ. Art. Peace (1851) 557 Poynings Act, which was..the civillest and most moderate acknowledgment impos'd of thir dependance on the Crown of England. 1661 Trial James in Howell St. Trials (1816) VI. 104 The sheriff and hangman were so civil to him in his execution, as to suffer him to be dead before he was cut down. 1684 tr. Eutropius vii. 121 He was so civil in his government at Rome, that none ever was punished. |
12. Polite or courteous in behaviour to others; sinking, in recent use, to ‘decently polite’, ‘up to the ordinary or minimum standard of courtesy’, or the merely negative sense of ‘not (actually) rude’; while courteous and polite denote positive qualities.
Courteous is thus more commonly said of superiors, civil of inferiors, since it implies or suggests the possibility of incivility or rudeness.
| 1606 Holland Sueton. 101 A passing civill Apophthegme of his extant which hee uttered in the Senate. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. (1843) 13/2 A man..whom he had endeavoured by many civil offices to make his Friend. 1653 Walton Angler i. 38 We'l drink a civil cup to all the Otter Hunters that are to meet you to morrow. 1681 Ray Corr. (1848) 130 Your very civil and obliging letter. 1718 Free-thinker No. 61. 38 A youth ought..always to shew a Civil Regard to his Elders. 1760 Goldsm. Cit. W. lxxvii, They were certainly the civillest people alive. 1796 Jane Austen Pride & Prej. xviii, With an expression of civil disdain, thus accosted her. 1814 Wellington in Gurw. Disp. XII. 138, I am sorry to add that I did not receive so civil an answer as ought to have been given to any body. a 1839 Praed Poems (1864) I. 231 And never said one civil thing When you were by to hear one. 1840 Lever H. Lorrequer ii, The proud Earl of Callonby, who never did the ‘civil thing’ anywhere. Mod. ‘I hope he answered you politely.’ ‘Well, he was civil, which is something.’ |
13. transf. Of animals and things.
| 1572 J. Bossewell Armorie ii. 70 b, Aristotle saithe, that the Crane is a ciuill byrde, Quia sub Duce degit. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 71 The hils of the Alps, waxing more mild and ciuil. a 1667 Jer. Taylor Serm. (1678) 326 A Lybyan Tiger..shut up and taught to eat civil meat. 1887 Stevenson Underwoods i. ii. 3 Let the streams in civil mode Direct your choice upon a road. |
II. Since civil connotes what pertains to the citizen in his ordinary capacity, it is distinguished from various words expressing specific departments, and thus often opposed to these as a negative term.
| 1832 Austin Jurispr. (1879) II. xliv. 780 The word civil has about twelve different meanings; it is applied to all manner of objects which are perfectly disparate. As opposed to criminal, it means all law not criminal. As opposed to ecclesiastical it means all law not ecclesiastical; as opposed to military it means all law not military; and so on. |
14. a. Distinguished from military: non-military. Also (as in Civil Service), from military and naval.
| 1612 Davies Why Ireland, etc. (1747) 70 Sir Anthony St. Leger..performed great service in a ciuill course..Sir Edward Bellingham who succeeded him, proceeded in a martiall course. 1632 G. Herbert Temple, Church-Porch xxxiv, Game is a civil gunpowder, in peace Blowing up houses with their whole increase. 1738 Glover Leonidas i. 411 Around him flow'd In civil pomp their venerable robes. 1741 Middleton Cicero (1742) II. vii. 278 As long as it was carried on by civil methods, one ought to take the honester side; but when it came to arms the stronger. 1826 Cooper Mohicans i, A large civil cocked hat, like those worn by clergymen. 1875 Bryce Holy Rom. Emp. ii. (ed. 5) 6 His sovereignty was civil as well as military. 1922 Encycl. Brit. XXXI. 1147/2 He [sc. Northcliffe] did..accept the chairmanship of the Civil Aerial Transport Committee, on the establishment of that body in 1917. 1930 Lady Troubridge & A. Marshall Ld. Montagu 234 The enormous natural strides made by civil aviation the moment that the brake of war-time conditions was released. |
b. civil defence: the organization and training of civilians for the preservation of lives and property during and after air raids or other enemy action; also attrib. Hence civil defender, one taking an active part in civil defence.
| 1939 Times Weekly 6 Sept. 17/4 It is impossible now to say where air raid precautions end and where civil defence begins. 1940 Ann. Reg. 1939 62 Some 20,000 men and women, representing every branch of Civil Defence. 1940 Economist 17 Feb. 285/1 These civil defenders should be sufficient in numbers and adequate in training and organisation to furnish protection for the civilian population. 1942 Ann. Reg. 1941 290 A.R.P. services would henceforth be known as Civil Defence Services. 1962 Guardian 18 July 5/6 Our Civil Defenders are once again in trouble. Ibid. 5/7 The Civil Defence movement is nothing more than a jolly social organisation. |
15. a. Distinguished from ecclesiastical: non-ecclesiastical; and, with extended application, non-religious, non-sacred, secular.
| 1592 tr. Junius on Rev. xiii. 1 One is of the civill Roman Empire..another of the Ecclesiastical or Propheticall. 1644 Milton Areop. (Arb.) 34 Both in religious and civill Wisdome. 1667 Waterhouse Fire Lond. 67 To inundate things sacred and civil. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) III. 288 Civil and canon law, civil and ecclesiastical history. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. Wks. V. 106 Talents and virtues, civil, military, or religious. 1830 Mackintosh Eth. Philos. Wks. 1846 I. 37 Civil and ecclesiastical oppressors. |
† b. Theol. Naturally good or virtuous, but unregenerate; moral; good as a citizen, but not as a saint. Hence civil righteousness. Obs.
| 1619 W. Sclater Expos. 1 Thess. (1630) 40 A ciuill Christian obseruing these duties without knowledge of their iniunction in the Word of God, is as farre from Sanctification as were Heathen Moralists. 1655 Gouge Comm. Heb. ii. 470 Meere civill men are such as suppose all religion to consist in the externall duties of the second Table. 1663 Blair Autobiog. i. (1848) 4 Being then only civil, till many years thereafter the Lord showed her mercy. 1676 W. Row Suppl. Blair's Autobiog. x. (1848) 166 Many that were civil before having become exceedingly loose. |
c. civil magistrate: the temporal authority as distinguished from the ecclesiastical.
| 1651 C. Cartwright Cert. Relig. ii. 16 Luther admonishing to obey the Civil Magistrate. 1769 Blackstone Comm. iv. 108 An entire exemption of it's clergy from any intercourse with the civil magistrate. |
16. Law. Distinguished from criminal: Pertaining to the private relations between members of a community, and to the legal proceedings employed in settling them. Also distinguished from political (as in ‘political offence, trial’, etc.).
| 1611 Cotgr., Civilizer vn criminel, to change his Indictment into an action; to turne a criminall, into a ciuill, cause. 1764 Burn Poor Laws 289 Civil, implies an offence of a private nature, betwixt party and party, and not where the king is party. 1858 Ld. St. Leonards Handy Bk. Property Law xxii. 170 No person who shall have taken such civil proceeding can commence any prosecution under the Act. 1887 Fowler Princ. Morals ii. iii. 145 A Civil Injury (as distinct from a Crime) is a wrong for which the law awards reparation to the injured individual. |
17. Legal as distinguished from natural; in the eye of the law and in all that respects legal rights or standing; ‘as a person banished or outlawed, is said to suffer civil, though not natural death’ (J.).
| 1656 Jeanes Mixt. Schol. Div. 161 Buried in a civill grave of captivity, and most miserable servitude. a 1667 Jer. Taylor (J.), Break not your promise, unless it be unlawful or impossible; either out of your natural, or out of your civil power. c 1680 Beveridge Serm. (1729) I. 71 When he hath given it to us, we have a civil right to it. 1767 Blackstone Comm. II. 121 It may also determine by his civil death; as if he enters into a monastery, whereby he is dead in law. |
18. Of divisions of time: Distinguished from natural, astronomical, solar, etc. Legally recognized for the purposes of ordinary life and social organization.
Thus the civil day in modern times consists of 24 hours and begins at midnight; the civil year contains 365 days, and in leap year 366, beginning on the 1st of Jan., etc.
| 1601 Holland Pliny I. 36 Those that have defined and set out a civil day. 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. i. vi. §1 The ordinary or civill year did want intercalation. 1812 Woodhouse Astron. ix. 66 The common civil year..of 365 days. |
19. Of, pertaining or according to the Roman civil law. (See below.)
| 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1684) II. 316 Unless I should use that civil remedy called in law Acceptilation. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. v. i. 210 No Woman had it, but a ciuill Doctor. |
20. See civil law, † right, Civil List, Civil Service, servant, in their alphabetical places; civil engineer, see engineer. B. as n.
† 1. = civilian 1; civil law personified. Obs.
| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. ii. 57 Now Simonye and Siuyle stondeþ forþ boþe. Ibid. B. ii. 113 Þis dede I assele Bi siȝte of Sire Symonye and cyuyles [A. ii. 82 Notaries] leue. Ibid. B. xx. 136 To þe arches in haste he ȝede anone after, And torned Ciuile in-to Symonye. 1393 Ibid. C. iii. 71 Preyþ cyuyle it to see and symonye it to rede. |
† 2. pl. Civil matters, concerns, or affairs; τὰ πολιτικὰ. Obs.
| 1646 J. Saltmarsh Some Drops ii. 74. 1654 G. Goddard in Burton's Diary (1828) I. Introd. 19 [Neither] from the Levellers, who would introduce a party in civils, nor from the Sectaries, who would cry down all order and government in spirituals. 1676 Marvell Gen. Councils Wks. 1875 IV. 152 Oppression and persecution in civils and spirituals. 1717 Wodrow Corr. (1843) II. 319 Arbitrary Government in civils, and persecution for matters of conscience. |
† 3. pl. Civil standing or position. Obs.
| 1650 B. Discolliminium 48 For my Civills, some say I am a Gentleman, some say an Esquire. |
† 4. pl. Citizens, commons. Obs.
| 1658 Sir A. Haslerigge in Burton's Diary (1828) III. 99 As glorious a work for our civils, to put an end to the King and Lords. The right is..without all doubt, in the people. |
5. to do the civil: to do the civil thing (see quot. 1840 in sense A. 12); to act politely to (a person). colloq.
| 1838 Dickens O. Twist II. xxii. 33 There's Bill Sikes in the passage with nobody to do the civil to him. 1854 Rossetti Let. 19 Nov. (1965) I. 233, I should like her to do the civil by sending them. 1858 Trollope Dr. Thorne xxviii, I haven't exactly popped to her yet; but I have been doing the civil. 1877 Reade Woman-Hater ii. xix. 150 He would go to the station and telegraph him; and by that means would do the civil and meet Miss Gale. |
C. as adv. = civilly. Obs.
| 1642 J. Eaton Honey-combe 229 If he were meerely civill honest, it leaves him still meerely civill honest. 1767 Babler No. 12, I never heard of a man who behaved commonly civil to a woman, who, etc. |
D. in combination (parasynthetic), as civil-mannered, civil-spoke(n) (see spoken ppl. a. note), civil-tongued, etc. See also civil-wealth.
| 1621 Fletcher Island Princess i. iii, The people they show brave too, civil-manner'd. 1632 Milton Penseroso 122 Till civil-suited Morn appear. 1842 S. Lover Handy Andy xiv, He was a very ‘close’ man, as well as a ‘civil-spoken’. 1880 E. H. Dering Freville Chase xi, There never was a kinder or civiller spoken gentleman nowhere. 1910 J. Farnol Broad Highway ii. ii. 202 ‘What might you be wanting with a peaceable, civil-spoke cove like me?’ he inquired. |
▸ civil marriage n. a secular marriage; a marriage performed by an officer of the state, as distinguished from one which is a religious ceremony.
| a 1602 W. Perkins Comm. Epist. Gal. (1604) iv. 275 It may be called a politicke, or *ciuill marriage, because it is ratified in the courts of men, according to humane laws... Neuerthelesse it is not a diuine or spirituall coniunction, or marriage. 1701 E. Godwin Two Serm. i. 33 As upon civil Marriage there ensues a mutual propriety between man and Wife, so here Faith doth unquestionably precede the Testimony or Assurance. 1880 Daily News 1 Oct. 6/1 The Church would..refuse to sanction..any civil marriage between divorcees and co-respondents. 1999 Independent 20 Dec. i. 3/8 Officials from the London Eye..are to meet with registrars..to discuss a licence for civil marriages. |
▸ civil partnership n. (a) a legal (business) partnership, spec. one established under civil law, as opposed to one established under commercial law; (b) a legally recognized relationship similar to but distinct from marriage, available in certain jurisdictions to homosexual couples who are prohibited from marrying, and sometimes also to heterosexual couples who do not wish to marry.
Partnerships offering same-sex couples the same rights and responsibilities provided by civil marriage were instituted under this name in the United Kingdom by an Act of Parliament in 2004.
| 1840 H. Reeve tr. A. de Tocqueville Democracy in Amer. III. vii. 240 Men can embark in few *civil partnerships without risking a portion of their possessions; this is the case with all manufacturing and trading companies. 1910 Jrnl. Soc. Compar. Legislation 10 240 The artificial distinction between..‘commercial’ partnerships and ‘civil’ partnerships [in the Philippines]..is confusing. 1993K. Waaldijk in K. Waaldijk & A. Clapham Homosexuality iii. 97 In 1990 a member of the French Senate proposed the introduction of a ‘contract of civil partnership’,..which would also be open to heterosexual couples. 1999 Arab Law Q. 14 235 Equity partnership agreements are undertaken within the context of the Iranian Commercial Code,..whereas civil partnerships..are formed within the context of the Iranian Civil Code. 1999 Africa News (Nexis) 23 Apr. The right of same-sex couples to form civil partnerships entailing the same rights and responsibilities as civil marriage. 2006 Guardian 3 June (Weekend section) 7/1 What about ‘ante-consortial contracts’ between same-sex couples about to register a civil partnership? |
▸ civil union n. (a) = civil marriage n. at Additions; (b) chiefly U.S. = civil partnership n. (b) at Additions.
| 1837 Times 2 June 5/1 The company repaired to the hall of Henry II., where the *civil union was performed... Baron Pasquier..drew up the civil act of marriage. 1934 I. Brown Master Sanguine 337 An immediate civil union before a Registrar and a quiet, unmolested honeymoon. 1992 Economist 2 May 49/2 Three French Socialist deputies have put forward proposals for a new ‘contract of civil union’. This would give an unmarried couple, of whatever sexual tendency, the same right as a married couple in regard to death duties, [etc.]. 2000 N.Y. Times 1 May a14/3 [Vermont] recently passed a bill creating civil unions that give gay couples the rights of marriage. 2004 Philadelphia Inquirer 13 June a11/1 Gay activists are urging a boycott of Virginia because of a new ban on civil unions and other marriagelike arrangements for same-sex couples. |
▪ II. † civil, v. Obs. rare—1.
[f. the adj.]
trans. To make civil, civilize.
| 1591 G. Fletcher Russe Commw. (1857) 151 If they were once civilled and brought to more understanding. |