cadency
(ˈkeɪdənsɪ)
[ad. L. *cadentia: see -ency. In earlier use not distinguished from cadence; the sense of quality more proper to -ency comes out only in sense 3.]
† 1. A falling out, happening, hap; = cadence 8.
| 1647 J. Sprigge Angl. Rediv. i. xi. (1854) 10 How delightfully remarkable is it (as most apt cadency of Providence). |
2. = cadence 1; cadent quality.
| 1627 Feltham Resolves i. lxx. Wks. (1677) 106 Poetry..is but a Play, which makes Words dance, in the evenness of a Cadency. 1642 Howell For. Trav. (Arb.) 48 The old Italian tunes and rithmes both in conceipt and cadency, have much affinity with the Welsh. 1719 Swift To Yng. Clergyman Wks. 1755 II. ii. 6 Rounded into periods and cadencies. |
3. Descent of a younger branch from the main line of a family; the state of a cadet.
| 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Cadency, in heraldry, the state, or quality of a cadet. 1858 R. Chambers Dom. Ann. Scotl. I. 211 Not..a male descendant..in existence, of cadency later than the fifteenth century. 1866 ― Ess. Fam. & Hum. Ser. i. 18 He is recognised by a title of cadency from his wife, as Mrs. Thompson's husband. 1885 S. Salter in N. & Q. vi. XII. 514/2 It might be thought that the label was for cadency of birth; but it was not so. |
b. mark of cadency (Her.): a variation in the same coat of arms intended to show the descent of a younger branch from the main stock.
| 1702 A. Nisbet (title) An Essay on additional Figures and Marks of Cadency. 1830 T. Robson Hist. Heraldry Lj/2 These marks of cadency..have crept into the general blazon of many coats of arms. 1882 W. A. Wells in N. & Q. 25 Mar. 231 James..would in vita patris have borne as his mark of cadency the original crescent charged with a label. |