termination
(tɜːmɪˈneɪʃən)
[ad. L. terminatiōn-em, n. of action f. termināre to terminate; in some senses perh. a. OF. termination (13– 14th c.).]
I. The action of terminating or fact of being determined (in various senses).
† 1. The action of determining; determination, decision. Obs.
| c 1450 in Aungier Syon (1840) 359 The abbes..schal make al the terminacions in the chirche. 1455–6 Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889) 290 Wythoute eny contradiccyon aftyr the termynacyon aforesayd. a 1625 Fletcher Love's Pilgr. ii. i, You can consider The want in others of these terminations, And how unfurnish'd they appear. 1660 R. Coke Justice Vind. Pref. 13 If I could not ultimately resolve the dictates of my reason..into plain places of Scripture, so well as any Geometrician would any proposition of Geometry into the principles of Euclid's elements; I would be content to let them wander for ever without any termination. |
† 2. Alleged name of some operation of alchemy.
| 1584 R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. xiv. i, Their..amalgaming..terminations, mollifications and indurations of bodies. |
3. The action of ending. † a. Bounding, limiting, separation by spatial limits (obs.). b. Putting an end to; bringing to a close.
| 1604 R. Cawdrey Table Alph., Termination, an ending,..finishing or bounding. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 55 The water entring the body, begets a division of parts, and a termination of Atoms united before unto continuity. 1658 Phillips, Termination,..a limiting, ending, or bounding. 1910 Expositor Oct. 290 Adultery alone justifies the termination of a marriage union. |
c. Chem. and Biochem. The cessation of the building up of a polymer molecule. Freq. attrib.
| 1951 Jrnl. Amer. Chem. Soc. LXXIII. 5197/1 It is assumed in the case of tetrafluoroethylene polymerization initiated by inorganic free radicals that chain termination occurs by combination of a polymer radical with either another polymer radical or an initiator radical. 1967 Margerison & East Introd. Polymer Chem. v. 246 Termination may be brought about by many types of reagent. 1968 A. White et al. Princ. Biochem. (ed. 4) xxix. 678 The mechanism by which these three codons accomplish chain termination and polypeptide release is not understood. 1978 Hayes & George in C. E. Carraher et al. Organometallic Polymers 16 In vinylferrocene polymerizations, the termination step is monomolecular. 1981 Sci. Amer. Aug. 63/2 Two proteins called termination factors are involved, and it appears that UAG, UAA and UGA all serve as termination codons: triplets on the mRNA that cause the ribosome to release the messenger and the newly synthesized protein. |
d. The ending of a person's employment; dismissal. Chiefly N. Amer.
| 1961 Wall St. Jrnl. 23 Jan. 2/3 They qualify for termination payments and most are eligible for deferred pensions. 1982 Chicago Sun-Times 3 Dec. 89 He and fellow workers were informed of the terminations at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday and told to ‘pack up and leave immediately’. 1983 M. Edwardes Back from Brink iv. 56 In most cases we allowed the manager to ‘resign’ but in truth most of these people were dismissed, and were paid termination payments. |
e. The ending of pregnancy before term by artificial means; an induced abortion.
| 1969 Times 3 July 7/6 Women denied a legal abortion commonly seek termination elsewhere. 1973 Times 26 Nov. 6/1 The pregnant women walking about the hospital ward were all in for abortions. Or terminations, as they called them— a much nicer word. 1978 F. Weldon Praxis xxiv. 256 You can't possibly go through with the pregnancy... If you don't have a termination, you're finished. |
f. Assassination (spec. of an intelligence agent).
| 1975 N. Luard Robespierre Serial v. 28 The escort role..was one Carswell had carried out..before, although this was the first occasion where it involved a termination mission. 1980 [see prejudice n. 1 c]. 1983 G. Markstein Ferret 164 Terminations are no longer as fashionable as they were. Unless the top says so. |
† 4. Direction to something as an object or end; purpose: cf. end n. 14. Obs.
| ? 16.. White (J), It is not an idol ratione termini, in respect of termination; for the religious observation thereof is referred..to the honour of God and Christ. |
II. The point or part in which anything ends.
5. a. End (in time), cessation, close, conclusion.
| c 1500 Melusine xxiii. 156 Ermyne said she wold see first the termynacion of her faders syknes or she shuld procide ony ferther. 1658 Sir T. Browne Hydriot. iv. (1736) 31 Christians have handsomely glossed the Deformity of Death, by..civil Rites, which take off brutal Terminations. 1755 Johnson, Termination..3. End; conclusion. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xliii, She abruptly put a termination to a flirtation which Lieutenant Stubble..had commenced. 1853 J. H. Newman Hist. Sk. (1873) II. i. iv. 160 All human power has its termination sooner or later. |
b. Outcome, issue, result: = end n. 13.
| 1806 V. Knox Serm. Isa. xxviii. 16 Wks. 1824 VI. 393 A good commencement has ever been found..auspicious to a good progress and a happy termination. 1824 Scott St. Ronan's xxix, If they do not indeed drive her to suicide, which I think the most likely termination. 1884 Manch. Exam. 3 May 5/1 Dissensions which could hardly have other than a hostile termination. |
6. The ending of a word; the final syllable, letter, or group of letters; spec. in Gram. a final element affixed to a word or stem to express some relation or modification of sense; an (inflexional or derivative) ending, a suffix.
| 1530 Palsgr. Introd. 27 In these syxe termynations endeth no masculyne adjectyve syngular. 1588 Fraunce Lawiers Log. i. xii. 50 b, The diuers fallinges and terminations of woords. 1614 Selden Titles Hon. Pref., Lar is but the Turkish termination plurall. a 1677 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. 165 Many times the Literati and Scholares coyn new Words, and sometimes..give Terminations and Idiotisms sutable to their Native Language, unto Words newly invented..out of other Languages. 1788 Gibbon Decl. & F. l. (1790) IX. 227 [Mecca] was known to the Greeks under the name of Macoraba;..the termination of the word is expressive of its greatness. 1845 Stoddart in Encycl. Metrop. (1847) I. 108/1 The addition of an adverbial particle, like our prefix, a, or termination, ly. |
7. a. A limit, bound; an end, extremity (of a material object, or of a portion of space).
| 1755 Johnson, Termination..2. Bound; limit. 1828 Webster s.v., The termination of a line. 1830 Booth L'pool & Manch. Railw. 42 To improve the termination of the line at the Liverpool end. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xvii. 120 To trace the glacier to its termination. 1870 F. R. Wilson Ch. Lindisf. 101 At the west end is a bell-cot, with a pyramidal termination. |
b. pl. Used for ‘trousers’ or ‘breeches’.
| 1863 R. F. Burton Wand. W. Africa I. 32 The men are in shirts, and long terminations, or femoralia. |
† 8. ? A term, word, expression. Obs. rare.
| 1599 Shakes. Much Ado ii. i. 255 Shee speakes poynyards, and euery word stabbes: if her breath were as terrible as [her] terminations, there were no liuing neere her. |