assignment
(əˈsaɪnmənt)
Also 4–7 -ement, 5 -ament, assygnement.
[a. OF. assignement, ad. late or med.L. assignāmentum (whence assignament), f. assignāre: see assign v. and -ment.]
1. The action of appointing as a share, allotment.
| 1460 J. Capgrave Chron. 198 Was assigned to the qween his modir a dowary, that men had no mende of swech assignament. 1628 Coke On Litt. 36 a, An assignement of Dower..may be made of more then a third part. 1850 Merivale Rom. Emp. II. xx. 394 Assignment of lands to the veterans. |
2. Legal transference of a right or property (cf. assign v. 2); the document that effects or authorizes the transference.
| 1592 West Symbol. A iiij. §104 To avoid or frustrate the foresaid grants and assignements. 1668 Child Disc. Trade (1698) 137 No Debts, after Assignment, to be liable to any Attachments. 1768 [see assignee 2]. 1861 Goschen For. Exch. 35 A will not be able to pay B by giving him an assignment on C. |
† 3. a. = assignation 3. Obs.
| c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. (1714) 34 The poor Man had rather have a 100 Marks in hand, than a 100 Pound by any Assignement. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. I. ii. 15 [He] had drawn assignments and anticipations upon the Revenue. 1678 Trans. Crt. Spain 121 To accept the pensions and assignments which he injoys. |
† b. = assignation 4. Obs.
| 1622 Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 335 Paiments by assignement in Banke without handling of moneys. 1708 Lond. Gaz. No. 4496/4 Lost.., one Order of the Bankers Assignments, No. 1783, for 4l. 7s. 8d. per Ann. |
4. The allotting of convicts as unpaid servants to colonists; the condition of such service.
| 1843 Penny Cycl. XXV. 139/2 The operation of assignment in respect to female convicts is even worse. 1845 Darwin Voy. Nat. xix. (1879) 445 The years of assignment are passed away with discontent and unhappiness. |
† 5. Appointment to office, nomination, designation; setting apart for a purpose. Obs.
| 1447 O. Bokenham Lyvys of Seyntys 56, I am the aungel the whiche at assignement Of God am comaundyde thy kepre to be. 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 632/2 By gouernours of hys assignement. a 1600 Hooker (J.) The only thing which maketh any place publick, is the publick assignment. |
† 6. Appointment, command, bidding. Obs.
| 1393 Gower Conf. III. 15 Went..By his faders assignement To make a wer. 1494 Fabyan vii. 346 By his assygnement, the erle of Glowcetyr was than lodgyd within the cytie. 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. Concl., Nations fulfilling their times by Heauens asignement. 1744 Life Boyle in Penny Cycl. V. 297/2 Had he been permitted an election, his choice would scarce have altered God's assignment. |
† 7. Appointment or arrangement of day and place for a meeting; an assignation. Obs.
| 1670 Cotton Espernon ii. v. 213 In expectation..of an assignment from you, of a day, and place. |
8. Attribution as belonging or due to.
| a 1704 Locke (J.) This institution, which assigns it to a person, whom we have no rule to know, is just as good as an assignment to no body at all. 1847 Lewes Hist. Philos. (1867) II. 398 By his assignment of definite functions to definite organs. |
9. Allegement, statement (of a reason).
| 1651 Jer. Taylor Clerus Dom. 5 An assignment..must be made of certain reasons. 1817 Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. iv. 426 The assignment of these reasons. |
10. A pointing out, specification.
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 44 The Philosophical assignment of the cause. 1868 Skeat Mœso-Goth. Gloss. Pref. 4 The assignment of the passage in which they occur. |
† 11. An assigned measure, a definite amount. Obs.
| 1519 W. Horman Vulg. 29 All bestz be withyn a certaine assignement of theyr quantite. 1533 Elyot Cast. Helth (1541) 8 Increase..in quantitie or qualitie over..their natural assignement. |
12. [Cf. assign v. 16.] The act of signing, signature.
| 1598 Wills & Inv. N.C. ii. (1860) 332 Upon the assignment of a generall acquittance. |
13. A task assigned to one; a commission or appointment. orig. U.S.
| c 1848 Garland in W. C. Church Ulysses Grant (1897) iii. 45 Lt. Grant can best serve his country..under this assignment. 1897 Scribner's Mag. Aug. 232/2 The reporters..were waiting to be sent off on their first assignments before getting breakfast. 1898 Daily News 4 Jan. 3/1 Here a man goes out on an assignment and if the person sought does not wish to express his views, he comes back empty-handed. 1910 C. E. Mulford Hopalong Cassidy xvii. 99 At first his assignment had pleased, but as hour after hour passed with growing weariness, he chafed more and more. 1949 F. Maclean Eastern Approaches iii. vi. 373 His next assignment [as an officer helping partisans] was in enemy-occupied Albania. 1964 G. L. Cohen What's Wrong with Hospitals? i. 17 The nursing profession has therefore perfected its own technique of fragmentation: ‘task assignment’. This enables one patient's needs to be split up among many nurses. 1967 Oxford Mag. 10 Feb. 205/2, I set them [sc. Canadian students] an exercise and they bring me an assignment. |