continence
(ˈkɒntɪnəns)
[a. 14th c. F. continence, or ad. L. continēntia, a holding back, repression (of passions, desires, etc.), also in late L. ‘tenor or contents (of a work)’, f. continēnt-, pr. pple. of continēre to contain: see -ence. A doublet of countenance, OF. contenance, which represents a development of branch II.]
I. Self-restraint.
1. Self-restraint, in regard to impulse, appetite, or desire.
| c 1340 Hampole Prose Tr. (1866) 15 A saule þat..es clede in vertus, as..in contynence, in wysdome, in trouthe, hope, and charyte. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 195 Þis Pictagoras usede so grete contynence and abstinence þat he ete noþer fische ne flesche. 1531 Elyot Gov. (1580) 179 Continence is a vertue which keepeth the plesaunt appetite of man under the yoke of reason. 1694 Crowne Married Beau ii. 12 No woman has much continence in her tongue. 1700 Dryden Fables Pref. (Globe) 499 He knows when to leave off, a continence which is practised by few writers. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Manners Wks. (Bohn) II. 47 They have as much energy, as much continence of character as they ever had. |
2. spec. Self-restraint in the matter of sexual appetite, displayed either by due moderation or (as more frequently taken) by entire abstinence. (Sometimes identified with, sometimes distinguished from, chastity.)
| c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 109 Vowis of contynense. c 1386 Chaucer Wife's Prol. 106 Virginitee is greet perfeccioun, And continens eek with deuocioun. 1450–1530 Myrr. our Ladye p. li, Seint Birget induced hir husbande to lyfe in contynens many yeres. 1531 Elyot Gov. i. xxi, Continence, which is a meane betwene Chastitie and inordinate luste. a 1667 Jer. Taylor Holy Living i. iii, Chastity is either abstinence or continence: abstinence is that of virgins or widows; continence, of married persons. 1701 Grew Cosm. Sacra ii. vii. 28 Contentment..without the pleasure..of Lawful Venery, Continence: of Unlawful, Chastity. 1844 Lingard Anglo-Sax. Ch. (1858) II. xii. 230 To the first of these marriage was always allowed; the latter were bound to a life of the strictest continence. 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. vii. 48 Not one thought it any part of his duty to observe continence towards his own wife. |
3. Med. The possession of normal voluntary control over excretory functions. Opp. incontinence 2.
| 1915 Q. Jrnl. Exper. Physiol. VIII. 56 There are long periods of complete continence, and the cats very deliberately select places for passing urine. 1943 New England Jrnl. Med. 11 Nov. 744/2, 90 per cent of these patients would secure continence from simple cystocele repair. 1980 W. K. Yeates in G. D. Chisholm Urol. xix. 300 The factors maintaining continence are the shape and anatomical situation of the bladder outlet..and..the activity of its own surrounding muscles. |
† II. 4. Tenor, contents; content, capacity.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. de P.R. xix. cxxviii. (1495) 933 Batus is a mesure of fletinge thynges ordenyd by the continence of the lawe [secundum legis continentiam deputata]. |
5. Continuity: cf. continent a. 7 b. Obs.
| 1726 Ayliffe Parerg. 67 Lest the Continence of the Cause should be divided, or in other Terms, lest there should be a discontinuance of the Cause. |