▪ I. comparison, n.
(kəmˈpærɪsən)
Forms: 4–5 comparisoun, -ysoun(e, 4–6 -yson, -isone, (5 comparrison, -parsoun, -paricon), 6 compareson(e, comparason, 5– comparison.
[a. OF. comparaison, compareson = Pr. comparasó, Sp. comparacion, It. comparazione:—L. comparātiōn-em, n. of action f. comparāre. For the form cf. orison:—ōrātiōnem, venison:—vēnātiōnem, etc. See also comparation, a later adaptation of the L.]
1. The action, or an act, of comparing, likening, or representing as similar: see compare v.1 1. † to make comparison of: to compare.
| 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 8890 Þe bryght cete of heven..Of whilk may na comparyson be made Tille na cete þat on erth may stand. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 122 Prol., Of swiche swetenesse..That for to speke of gomme or herb or tree Comparison may noon ymaked be. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxiii. 108 Ne nan oþer may be made comparisoun off till hem. 1509 Fisher Fun. Serm. C'tess Richmond Wks. 290 The comparyson of them two may be made in iiij. thynges. 1576 Fleming Panop. Epist. 255 A comparison betweene waxe..and the witt of man. 1729 Butler Serm. Wks. 1874 II. 3 There is scarce any ground for comparison between society and the mere material body. 1814 Scott Wav. lxiv, Good King David, or..our valiant Sir William Wallace,—not that I bring myself into comparison with either. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 20 The comparison of philosophy to a yelping she-dog. |
2. a. Capacity of being likened or compared; relation between things such as admits of their being compared; comparable condition or character. (Always with negative expressed or implied.)
| 1340 Ayenb. 92 Of zuyche blisse and of zuyche loste no liknesse ne non comparisoun ne may by yuounde ine yoyes and ine lostes of þe wordle. 1481 Caxton Myrr. iii. xxi. 181 So moche a debonayer lorde..that ther is no comparison to hym. 1592 R. D. tr. Hypnerotomachia 56 b, To all which..there could no more bee deuised of equall comparison. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. i. ii. 65 Troylus is the better man of the two. Cre. Oh Iupiter: there's no comparison. 1662 Gerbier Princ. 12 A Pallace without comparison to any other. a 1820 Shelley (Ogilvie), The tints are such As may not find comparison on earth. Mod. Is there any comparison between them? |
b. esp. in the phrases
without comparison,
out of all c.,
beyond all c.| 1340 Ayenb. 81 Þe ymage of his sseppere, þet is uayr wyþoute comparysoun. 1490 Caxton Eneydos xv. 55 Eneas appyered aboue all the other wythout ony comparyson the most fayre. 1578 T. N. tr. Conq. W. India 165 When Cortez saw that beautifull thing, his joy was without comparison. 1818 Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. ix. 712 Out of all comparison, the stronger and more dangerous operation of the two. 1871 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xvii. 95 The claims of one man stood forth beyond all comparison. |
† c. concr. One that can be compared.
Obs. rare.
| c 1500 Lancelot 3338 The knycht in to the armys Red..may to this be no comparysoune. |
3. a. ‘A simile in writing or speaking; an illustration by similitude’ (J.).
| 1382 Wyclif Ecclus. xlvii. 18 In songus, and in prouerbis and comparisouns. c 1400 Rom. Rose 7127 And many such comparisoun..Might menne in that booke find. 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl. (1675) 37 Good Comparisons serve equally to illustrate, and to persuade. a 1698 Temple Ess. Pop. Discontents Wks. 1731 I. 270 The Comparison between a State and a Ship. 1771 Junius Lett. lxiv. 325 Comparisons may sometimes illustrate, but prove nothing. 1858 O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf.-t. vi. 37 A comparison which..suggests itself. |
† b. A satirical or scoffing similitude.
Obs.| 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 854 A man repleate with mockes, Full of comparisons, and wounding floutes. 1599 ― Much Ado ii. i. 152 Hee'l but breake a comparison or two on me, which.. not laugh'd at, strikes him into melancholly. |
4. a. The action, or an act, of comparing, or noting the similarities and differences of two or more things: see
compare v.
1 2.
| 1393 Gower Conf. III. 10 In making of comparison There may no difference be Betwen a drunken man and me. 1526 Tindale 1 Cor. ii. 13 Makynge spretuall comparesons of spretuall thynges. 1529 More Heresyes i. Wks. 140/1 Thei will make comparisons betwene our Lady of Ippiswitch and our Ladie of Walsingham. 1640 Wilkins New Planet vi. (1707) 208 The Words Great and Little, are relative Terms, and do import a Comparison to something else. 1773 Ld. Monboddo Language (1774) I. i. vi. 68 The faculty of Comparison is that which produces ideas. 1860 Abp. Thomson Laws Th. 75 Comparison is the act of putting together two or more single objects with a view to ascertain how far they resemble each other. 1866 Liddon Bampt. Lect. vi. (1875) 320 A comparison is instituted between Christianity and Judaism. |
b. to bear or stand comparison with.
| 1845 Ford Handbk. Spain i. 11 The high road to La Coruña..will stand comparison with any in Europe. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xxiii. 166 In point of grandeur it [the view] will bear comparison with any in the Alps. |
5. Phraseological
const. a. in comparison of (
arch.);
† as to the c. of,
† to the c. of (
obs. rare);
b. in comparison to;
c. in (by) comparison with: as compared with; considered with reference to; also
d. ellipt. in comparison,
by comparison.
| a. 1382 Wyclif Wisd. vii. 8 Richesses I seide no thing to ben in comparisoun of it. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccliii. 325 Lo what a mariage was this as to the comparison of that other. 1483 ― Cato F v, Yf many been dampned to the comparyson and regard of them that are saued. 1535 Coverdale Ps. lxxii[i]. 25 There is nothinge vpon earth, that I desyre in comparison of the. 1780 Sir J. Reynolds Disc. x. (1876) 9 The Sculptor's art is limited in comparison of others. 1873 R. Broughton Nancy III. 118 A bear is an amiable and affable beast in comparison of him. |
| b. c 1380 Wyclif Wicket 8 A sterre in clerenes [is] nothinge in comparyson to the sonne. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 2 b, They despysed all worldly rychesse in comparyson to y⊇ knowlege. 1715 Desaguliers Fires Impr. 28 The warm Air..is but in a small quantity, in comparison to that which fills the whole Room. 1843 F. Paget Pageant 60 My dress costs nothing, in comparison to what the expense of many people's will be. |
| c. 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. 108 What a boie art thou in comparison with this fellow. 1646 H. Lawrence Comm. Angells 163 Not onely simply, but in comparison with other things. 1833 De Quincey Autob. Sk. Wks. 1863 XIV. 149 Throwing in their teeth the brilliancy of my verses at eleven or twelve, by comparison with theirs at..nineteen. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. iii. 243 These things were as nothing in comparison with the powers claimed for convocation. |
| d. 1470–85 Malory Arthur xx. viii, There were but fewe in comparyson that wold bere ony armour. 1532 Thynne Chaucer's Wks. Ded., Whiche..seemeth..in comparison as a pure and fyne tryed precious..jewell. 1590 Sir J. Smyth Disc. Weapons A, Before..there were verie few theeves and roges in England, in comparison that there are now. 1807 Southey Espriella's Lett. (1814) II. 144 Penrith..seems here, by comparison, like a metropolis. |
6. Proverb.
comparisons are odious.
| c 1430 Lydg. Hors Shepe & G. 204 Odyous of olde been comparisonis, And of comparisonis engendyrd is haterede. 1579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 68 Least [= lest] comparisons should seeme odious. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado iii. v. 18. 1635 Sanderson Serm. 36 Though Comparisons bee ever harsh, and most times odious. 1725 Swift Drapier Lett. v. 1822 Hazlitt Table-t. i. xi. 247 Comparisons are odious, because they are impertinent..making one thing the standard of another which has no relation to it. |
† 7. ? Rivalry, contention.
Obs.| 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (1858) I. 25 Malice, discord, pryde and comparesone. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 149 Drink initiates quarrels and comparisons. |
8. Gram. The action of comparing an adjective or adverb.
degrees of comparison: the positive, comparative, and superlative degrees of an adjective or adverb. See
comparative A. 2,
compare v.
1 3.
| 1530 Palsgr. 69 Adjectyves..maye have with us er and est added to their endes, whan we make comparyson in our tong. 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 409/2 Nowe wyll he..come forth wyth his thre degrees of comparison, olde, elder, and eldest. c 1620 A. Hume Brit. Tongue (1865) 30 Of comparison ther be thre degrees: if the first may be called a degre. 1876 Mason Eng. Gram. §116. 40 Combinations like more learned, most virtuous, may be called ‘Degrees of Comparison’ on the same principle as that on which ‘I shall go’ is called the ‘Future Tense’ of the verb go. |
¶ ? A corruption of
caparison.
| 1540 Ld. Treas. Acc. Scotl. in Pitcairn Crim. Trials I. 300*, iij Comparisonis to the Kingis Grace, xx elnis blak Armosing Taffitese. Ibid. I. 301* For brodering of ane Comparissoune of his graces. |
9. attrib. and
Comb., as
comparison eyepiece, an eyepiece designed for use with two similar microscopes so that the images from both can be viewed simultaneously;
comparison microscope, a microscope that enables images formed by two objectives to be viewed simultaneously;
comparison plate, each of the photographic plates of a planet, etc., taken at different stations or times and used for comparison in astronomical research;
comparison spectrum, a spectrum formed for comparison, wave-length by wave-length, with the spectrum under observation.
| 1940 R. M. Allen Microscope vi. 162 The comparison eyepiece..receives images from two different microscopes and combines them into a single eye lens. |
| 1940 R. Morrish Police & Crime-Detection viii. 74 An indispensable intrument for all laboratories is the Comparison Microscope. By means of this microscope two objects can be viewed in the same field of vision. 1958 G. H. Needham Pract. Use Microscope vi. 87 The comparison microscope with separate microscopes and attachable comparison eyepieces to unite them is the one usually preferred. |
| 1905 Westm. Gaz. 12 Oct. 12/1 The probable absence of good comparison plates from other places—whereby the planet could be identified..—is very disappointing. |
| 1877 G. F. Chambers Descriptive Astron. (ed. 3) x. ii. 843 The light from the terrestrial substance which gives the comparison spectrum. 1897 Daily News 18 June 8/3 When the problem had to be solved of a satisfactory introduction of light for the comparison spectrum. |
▪ II. † comˈparison, v. Obs. [f. prec. n.] 1. trans. To liken;
= compare v.
1 1.
| c 1325 E. E. Allit. P. B. 161 Thus comparisunez kryst þe kyndom of heuenne, To þis frelych feste. 1340 Ayenb. 81 Al þet me may..þenche of uayr hit ne may naȝt by ycomparisoned to him. 1382 Wyclif Mark iv. 30 To what parable shulen we comparisoune it? c 1400 Test. Love Prol., Reasonable that woll not is comparisoned to unreasonable. |
2. To place together so as to note the similarities and differences of;
= compare v.
1 2.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. ii. vii. 58 Þilke self noumbre of ȝeres..ne may nat certys be comparisound to þe perdurablete þat is eendeles. 1626 W. Sclater Expos. 2 Thess. (1629) 51 His art of comparisoning our present sufferings with our future glory: how would it silence our murmurings! |
¶ 3. In Wyclif as rendering of L.
comparare:
a. trans. To make like, fashion after the likeness of (
const. to).
b. intr. To vie, contend;
= compare v.
1 4.
c. trans. To place in rivalry
with.
| 1382 Wyclif Wisd. xiii. 14 That he..licne it to an ymage of man, or to sum of bestes it he comparisoune. ― 1 Macc. x. 71 Come doun to vs in to the feeld; and there comparysoun we to gidre. ― Gen. xxx. 8 The Lord hath comparisound me with my sister, and I have recovered. |