▪ I. creature
(ˈkriːtjʊə(r), ˈkriːtʃə(r))
Forms: 3–5 creatur, -our(e, 3– creature, (4–5 creater, crature, cryatur(e, 7 creture); (also dial. or colloq. 7 crytur, 8 creeter, cretur, 9 creatur, crater, critter, -ur (see critter; see also sense 1 d).
[a. F. créature (11th c.), ad. L. creātūra thing created, f. ppl. stem of creāre to create: see -ure.]
1. a. Anything created; a created being, animate or inanimate; a product of creative action; a creation.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 417 (Cott.) He fordestend tuin creature [Fairf. creatours] to serue him in þat hali ture. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 5472 Godes creatures sere..Als þe son and þe mone and þe sterns. 1393 Gower Conf. III. 87 Of which [sc. God] that every creature Hath his being and his nature. a 1400 Leg. Rood (1871) 148 Þe Cros is a cold creatour. 1534 Tindale 2 Cor. v. 17 Yf eny man be in Christ, he is a newe creature. 1548–9 (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer 128 b, These thy gyftes and creatures of bread and wyne. 1595 Shakes. John iv. i. 121 Fierce fire and iron..Creatures of note for mercy-lacking vses. 1641 R. Brooke Eng. Episc. ii. vii. 121 Light was one of the first Creatures. 1683 Brit. Spec. Pref. 3 Affirming the most High and Sacred Order of Kings..to be a meer human Creature. 1783 Cowper Let. to J. Newton, The first boat or canoe that was ever formed..was a more perfect creature in its kind than a balloon at present. 1856 S. Winkworth Tauler's Life & Serm. xxvii. (1857) 395 Dress, jewels..a pleasant abode, and other transitory creatures. 1878 Hooker & Ball Marocco 274 The gentian and saxifrage..and the other bright creatures that haunt the mountain tops. |
† b. The created universe; creation. Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 328 (Cott.) For-þi es godd, als sais scripture, Nan elder þan his creature. 1382 Wyclif 2 Pet. iii. 4 So alle thinges lasten fro the bigynnynge of creature. c 1449 Pecock Repr. 480 Sithen the Fadris dieden alle thinges lasten fro the begynnyng of Creature. 1533 Coverdale 2 Pet. iii. 4 Euery thinge contynueth as it was from the begynninge of y⊇ creature. 1611 Bible Rom. viii. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sonnes of God. |
c. Applied, after 1 Tim. iv 4 (‘every creature of God is good’), to food and other things which minister to the material comfort of man; usually in phr. good creature.
| 1614 Bp. Hall Recoll. Treat. 197 Those that come to their meate as to a medicine..shall be sure not to joy too much in the creature. 1658 Whole Duty Man viii. §12. 72 Waste..of the good creatures of God. 1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters I. 170 Tea, snuff, and many other useful creatures. 1765 T. Hutchinson Hist. Col. Mass. Bay I. 107 The good creature tobacco. 1821 Lamb Elia, Grace before Meat, We were put to it to reconcile the phrase ‘good creatures’, upon which the blessing rested, with the fare set before us. |
d. humorous. Intoxicating liquor; esp. whisky.
The ‘Irish’ pronunciation is represented by the spellings cratur, crater, crathur, etc.
| [c 1570 Pride & Lowl., The creature [wine] of the proper kinde Was good, though use offenden therewithall. 1604 Shakes. Oth. ii. iii. 313 Come, come, good wine is a good familiar creature, if it be well vs'd.] 1638 Penkethman Artachthos, K iij, The moderate use of the Creature, and sparing Dyet, which is very little practised. 1690 Dryden Amphitryon iii. i, My Master took too much of the creature last night. a 1695 Wood Life (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) I. 298 They would..tiple and smoake till they were over⁓taken with the creature. 1758 Smollett Ct. Fathom (1784) 32/2 The German..never went to bed without a full dose of the creature. 1772 R. Graves Spir. Quix. vii. ii. (D.), He seems to like a bit of the good cretur as well as other folks. 1827 Hone Every-day Bk. II. 386 His..followers..take a little ‘crathur’. 1888 Standard 14 Aug. 2 Says he, ‘Maggie, have a drop of the Cratur’. |
2. a. A living ‘creature’ or created being, an animate being; an animal; often as distinct from ‘man’.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 1839 (Cott.) Þat was na creatur in liue þat moght to grund or reche or riue. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 2164 Ariadne, There dwellede cryatur non Save wilde bestes. a 1400–50 Alexander 5534 How many kind of creatours þat in þe cole duellis. 1503 Hawes Examp. Virt. ii. 23 Euery beest and lyuynge creature. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. iii. 15 Commeth drowsie night, When every creature shrowded is in sleepe. 1667 Milton P.L. vii. 506 A Creature..not prone And Brute as other Creatures. 1721 Bailey, Cat, a Creature well known. 1733 Pope Ess. Man iii. 172 ‘Go, from the Creatures thy instructions take.’ 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 79 On introducing a living animal into the air, the creature was suffocated. |
b. In U.S., esp. applied in rural use to cattle.
| 1698 Prov. Laws Mass. Act 10 Will. III (Bartlett), The owners or claimers of any such creatures [i.e. swine, neat cattle, horses, or sheep], impounded as aforesaid, shall pay the fees, etc. 1822 J. Flint Lett. Amer. 94 She told us further, that travellers commonly hire a creature (a horse) at her house. 1860 Bartlett Dict. Amer. s.v., ‘The creatures will be put into the pasture to-day.’ 1870 Lowell Among my Bks. 1st Ser. (1873) 285 He used the word ‘creatures’ for kine, and the like, precisely as our farmers do now. |
3. a. A human being; a person or individual (as in ‘every creature in the room’). Common in the phrase ‘our fellow-creatures’. [So F. créature.]
| c 1300 K. Alis. 6948 Creature with him non nas Bote the treowe Perdicas. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. x. 364 Euery cristene creature shulde be kynde til other. 1495 Act 11 Hen. VII, c. 57 Preamb., Your seid Suppliaunt is as..repentant as any creature may be. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon xxxii. 99 He was sore abasshed when he coulde fynde no creature. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, v. iii. 200, I shall dispaire, there is no Creature loues me. 1752 Johnson Rambler No. 191 ¶4 Scarcely a creature would come near them. 1796 Jane Austen Pride & Prej. iii, She was the only creature in the room that he asked a second time. 1837 Newman Par. Serm. (ed. 3) I. i. 1 To make sinful creatures holy. |
b. With qualifications expressing (a) admiration, approbation, affection, or tenderness (sometimes playfully); (b) compassion or commiseration (sometimes with a shade of patronage).
| c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 50/134 Swuch a creature ase he [St. Edward] was. c 1300 St. Margarete 170 Eni so holi creatoure. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xviii. 119 A ful comely creature, treuth she hiȝte. 1604 Shakes. Oth. iv. i. 194 The world hath not a sweeter Creature. 1610 ― Temp. iii. i. 25 No, precious Creature, I had rather cracke my sinewes. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 113 ¶3 A beautiful Creature in a Widow's Habit sat in Court. 1846 W. E. Forster in T. W. Reid Life (1888) I. vi. 186 However, the dear creatures did what I asked them. 1883 G. Lloyd Ebb & Flow II. 39 The best creature in the world. |
| 1530 Palsgr. 210/2 Creature, a povre soule, creature. 1586 R. Langdale Will in Yorksh. Archæol. Jrnl. XI. 417 To Barbarey her doughter..beinge a lame creatur. 1641 Brome Joviall Crew iii. Wks. 1873 III. 398 Your Worships Charity to a poor Crytur welly starv'd. 1719 De Foe Crusoe (1840) II. viii. 191, I was the most disconsolate Creature alive. 1870 E. Peacock Ralf Skirl. I. 107 ‘Can you tell me which of the poor old creatures it is?’ |
c. Expressing reprobation or contempt.
(Originally with qualifications as in b, but at length used alone = creature of a kind which one forbears to specify.)
| a 1400–50 Alexander 1707 Þe caitifeste creatour [v.r. creatur] þat cried was euire. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon xxxiii. 103 A more fouler and hydeous creature was neuer sene. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, v. iii. 17 And from the common'st creature plucke a Gloue. 1601 ― Jul. C. i. i. 1 Hence home, you idle Creatures. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 410 ¶1 Decent Dresses being often affected by the Creatures of the Town. 1735 Pope Prol. Sat. 92 The creature's at his dirty work again. 1752 Johnson Rambler No. 194 ¶5 To lose his time in attending to the creatures on the stage. 1813 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. X. 475 The creatures who govern at Cadiz appear to feel no such interest. 1888 M. Morris Claverhouse ix. 154 Though the Duke was a weak creature, his position was strong. |
4. fig. That which is produced by, or owes its being solely to, another thing; a result, product, or offspring of anything.
| 1651 Hobbes Leviath. i. xii. 53 Nothing else but creatures of the Fancy. 1662 Petty Taxes 31 Both ships and garments were the creatures of lands and mens labours there⁓upon. 1746–7 Hervey Medit. (1818) 203 Nor are these miseries imaginary only, or the creatures of a groundless panic. 1854 Brewster More Worlds xvi. 247 In support of these theories he adduces the zodiacal light, itself a creature of theory. 1855 Sir J. Pearson in Law Times Rep. LIII. 382/2 The railway and the rights of the railway are the creatures of the Act of Parliament. |
5. One who owes his fortune and position to a patron; one who is actuated by the will of another, or is ready to do his bidding; an instrument or puppet. [So F. créature, said in this sense to be from It.] creature of circumstance: see circumstance n. 4 a.
| 1587 Golding De Mornay x. 139 When they [kings, etc.] giue any man a qualitie which he had not afore they terme him their Creature, as hauing made somewhat of nothing, in respect of the qualitie wherewith he was indued. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 246 In their roomes [he] placed other his owne creatures. 1607 Shakes. Timon i. i. 116 This Fellow heere, Lord Timon, this thy Creature, By night frequents my house. 1699 Burnet 39 Art. xxiv. (1700) 265 The See of Rome did..dispose of the best Benefices to their own Creatures and Servants. 1762 Hume Hist. Eng. (1806) IV. liv. 168 Sir Francis Windebank..was a creature of Laud's. 1874 Green Short Hist. vi. 317 He [Wolsey] regarded himself and proclaimed himself simply as the creature of the King. |
| fig. a 1704 T. Brown Praise of Wealth (1730) I. 84 To be the creature or servant of Justice and Nature. 1862 Sir B. Brodie Psychol. Inq. II. iii. 83 We are but the creatures of circumstances. |
6. Comb. a. appositive, as creature-delights, creature-god, creature-good; b. attributive (‘of, pertaining to, connected with creatures’), as creature competitions, creature attraction; c. objective genitive, as creature-worship, creature-love.
| 1648 Boyle Seraph. Love xi. (1700) 56 All creature-competitions would then be..impossible. 1665 T. Mall Offer of F. Help 96 O mortifie self-love and creature-love. 1671 J. Flavel Fount. of Life ii. 4 The best Creature-delights..are mixed. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. 472 Injoyning Creature-worship..with the Worship of the Creator. Ibid. 551 The γεννητοὶ θεοὶ, that is, the Creature-Gods. 1689 P. Henry Diaries & Lett. (1882) 364 He is both Jachin and Boaz too; our creature-props are neither. 1738 Wesley Psalms (1765) li. 17 No Creature-Good dost thou desire. 1826 Jay Christian Contempl. ii. 56 Another prevention is to be found in creature attraction, and worldly cares. |
d. creature-comforts, material comforts (such as food and clothing). Also sing.
| 1659 [see comfort n. 7]. 1670 Brooks Wks. (1867) VI. 161 With plentiful store of all creature-comforts. 1850 T. A. Trollope Impress. of Wand. xviii. 281 Toulouse..[is] abundantly supplied with all the creature-comforts of life. 1885 Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 681/1 Pietro..resolutely denied himself every creature-comfort. 1959 Camb. Rev. 24 Oct. 58/1 With ingenuity and goodwill the creature-comfort problems of increasing the numbers of our societies quite considerably could be solved. |
▪ II. creature
obs. f. creator.