pollution
(pəˈl(j)uːʃən)
Forms: 4 pollusyone, 4–5 pol(l)ucio(u)n, 5 polucyon, 7 pollusion, 6– pollution.
[ad. L. pollūtiōn-em defilement, noun of action from polluĕre to pollute. So F. pollution (12th c. in Hatz.-Darm.).]
1. a. The action of polluting, or condition of being polluted; defilement; uncleanness or impurity caused by contamination (physical or moral). spec. The presence in the environment, or the introduction into it, of products of human activity which have harmful or objectionable effects.
| c 1420 Lydg. Assembly of Gods 1301 Safe I wold desyre yow spare Pollucion. c 1485 Digby Myst. (1882) iii. 1988 Hys pryde owt of my love xall have polucyon. 1594 Nashe Unfort. Trav. 13 His purse was..I think verily a puritane, for it kept it selfe from any pollution of crosses. a 1684 Leighton Wks. (1835) I. 114 The soul and body of all mankind are stained by the pollution of sin. 1792 Anecd. W. Pitt III. xliv. 195 Such a mode of warfare was a contamination, a pollution of our national character. 1876 M. E. Braddon J. Haggard's Dau. II. 16 It seemed to him that there was pollution in such contact. 1877 Roscoe & Schorlemmer Treat. Chem. I. 255 The running water seldom reaches the sea in its natural or pure state, but is largely contaminated with the sewage of towns, or the refuse from manufactures or mines. So serious..is this state of things becoming that some steps are about to be taken to prevent the further pollution of the rivers. 1894 Daily News 25 Apr. 2/2 One of the principal difficulties of freeing the river from pollution was that certain persons had prescriptive rights to pass their sewage into the Thames at Staines and some other places. 1934, 1947 [see atmospheric a. 2]. 1955 Sci. Amer. May 63/3 As our economy uses more and more organic chemicals, air pollution by volatile organic compounds becomes more and more of a problem. 1969 Financial Times 9 Jan. 4/6 The danger of ‘thermal pollution’ is greatest where electric and other power plants return to rivers and streams water that has been heated by between six and 16 degrees Centigrade. This often proves deadly to fish. 1970 New Society 5 Feb. 209/3 At American universities, pollution has been a student rallying cry for some months now. 1970, etc. [see noise pollution s.v. noise n. 8]. 1975 Physics Bull. June 256/1 Noise pollution from aircraft and motorways and the design of speech and music reinforcement of St. Paul's cathedral are two of the varied aspects of noise and sound which have occupied Mr Allen. |
b. concr. Anything polluted.
| 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. fol. 9 The Sunne..passeth through pollutions, and it selfe remaines as pure as before. 1870 Bryant Iliad i. I. 17 The warriors purified the camp, And, casting the pollutions to the waves, They burned to Phœbus chosen hecatombs. |
2. Ceremonial impurity or defilement; profanation of that which is sacred.
| 1382 Wyclif Judith iv. 10 Lest weren ȝyuen ther childer in to prei,..and the holi thingus of hem in to pollucioun. c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) II. lv. 72 They will make a precedent prayer to their soules to depart from their bodies in the interim, for fear she partake of the same pollution. 1667 Milton P.L. xii. 355 Thir strife pollution brings Upon the Temple. 1726 Ayliffe Parergon 194 The contrary to Consecration is Pollution, which is said to happen in Churches by Homicide. |
3. Seminal emission apart from coition; self-pollution.
| c 1340 Hampole Prose Tr. 11 Alswa here es forbodene all maner of wilfull pollusyone procurede..agaynes kyndly oys. c 1440 Alphabet of Tales 238 He had a pollucion of his sede. 1693 tr. Blancard's Phys. Dict. (ed. 2), Pollutio nocturna, an involuntary Pollution in the Night, caused by lecherous Dreams. 1878 tr. von Ziemssen's Cycl. Med. VIII. 828 This kind of loss is called a pollution. |
4. attrib. and
Comb., as
pollution control;
pollution-free adj.| 1961 San Francisco Chron. 27 Mar. 32 Stronger water pollution control programs. 1969 New Scientist 9 Oct. 90/1 Pollution-control measures are only an extra charge on the expenses of a company and have little direct return. 1978 N.Y. Times 30 Mar. d14/4 A $150 million pollution-control program in that state. |
| 1974 Spartanburg (S. Carolina) Herald 25 Apr. c2/3 Engineers for Japan's Honda and Mazda car makers have developed some of the world's most pollution-free auto engines which are getting wide attention in the United States. |
Hence
† poˈllutionate a. [
cf. affectionate,
compassionate, etc.], charged with pollution, foul; whence
† poˈllutionately adv., foully.
| 1593 Nashe Christ's T. (1613) 57 No Hog-sty is now so pollutionate as the earth of Palestine. Ibid. 146 Their transplendent iuyce so pollutionately employd. |