† elench Obs.
(ɪˈlɛŋk)
Also 6 elenke, -cke, 6–7 elenche.
[ad. (either directly or through OF. elenche) L. elench-us, a. Gr. ἔλεγχος elenchus.]
1. Logic. A syllogism in refutation of a proposition that has been syllogistically defended (see quot. 1860 in elenchus 1); hence, in wider sense, a logical refutation. ignorance of the elenche: = ignoratio elenchi (rare).
| a 1529 Skelton Col. Cloute 820 Nor knoweth his elenkes Nor his predicamens. 1597 Bacon Coulers Good & Evill 139 Their seuerall fallaxes and the elenches of them. 1610 J. Dove Advt. Seminaries 47 A fallacy called the ignorance of the Elenche. 1614 Jackson Creed iii. Pref., The second..contains..an elench of those vulgar fallacies. 1631 Massinger Emp. of East ii. i, She will have her elenchs To cut off any fallacy I can hope To put upon her. |
b. Aristotle's Elenchs: his treatise περὶ σοϕιστικῶν ἐλέγχων ‘concerning sophistical elenchs’ or sophisms. (The title does not mean, as is implied in quot. 1837, ‘concerning the refutation of sophisms’.) Hence elench was often used for: A sophistical argument, a fallacy.
| 1565 Jewel Repl. Harding (1611) 5 Your Elenchs, your Fallacies, your sillie Syllogismes. 1571 R. Ascham Scholem. (Arb.) 132 Aristotle..in his..Elenches, should be..fruitfull. 1588 Fraunce Lawiers Log. i. vi. 36 A double Elench lurketh in this place, one of composition, an other of division. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. 54 This part concerning Elenches is excellently handled by Aristotle. 1667 Decay Chr. Piety ix. §20. 308 Our common adversary, that old sophister..puts the most abusive elenchs on us. 1689 Selden Table T. 59 All your Elenchs in Logick come within the compass of Juggling. [1837 Hallam Hist. Lit. iii. iii. §55 A similar doubt might be suggested with respect to the elenchs, or refutations, of rhetorical sophisms.] |
2. An index, analytical table of contents. [So Gr. ἔλεγχος; cf. It., Sp. elenco in same sense.]
| 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1596) 195/1 Certeine notes or elenchs upon this epistle. 1715 in Kersey. 1721–1800 in Bailey. 1775 in Ash. |