▪ I. implement, n.
(ˈɪmplɪmənt)
Forms: 6 yn-, ymple-, (imply-, empell-, hympyll-), 6–8 impliment, (7 impell-, emploi-, imploye-), 5– implement.
[app. ad. L. implēmentum a filling up (f. implēre to fill; see implete) taken in the sense of ‘that which serves to fill up or stock (a house, etc.)’; in which sense implementa occurs in an Anglo-L. letter of 1541 (see sense 1 below) and may have been in considerably earlier use. Of OF. emplement, from empler to fill, fill up, Godefroy cites only one example, in sense ‘filling up, fulfilling, completing’. The word was evidently sometimes referred to employ v., and so confused with employment, as if = ‘thing employed or used’.]
I. 1. pl. Things that serve as equipment or outfit, as household furniture or utensils, ecclesiastical vessels or vestments, wearing apparel or ornaments, etc. In sing. An article of furniture, dress, etc.
[Cf. Letter of 1541, Rymer, XIV. 723 Cum omnibus et omnimodis vasibus, jocalibus, ornamentis, bonis, catallis, et Implementis.]
| 1454 E.E. Wills (1882) 132 Reparacions and implementis dwe to the..Cathedral Chirche of seynt powle. 1496–7 Act 12 Hen. VII, C. 13 §12 All other goodes and implementis of Houshold to be used in their Houses. 1505 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 327 Here ffolwyth the ymplementes of the Taylourys halle. 1532 G. Hervet Xenophon's Househ. (1768) 36, I considered, howe great aboundaunce of implimentes was in that smalle vessele. 1566 in Peacock Eng. Ch. Furniture (1866) 77 Item one pax one cruitt one vall with all other empellmentes of supersticion. 1610 F. Godwin Bps. of Eng. 218 He left for an implement of his house at Ely a woonderfull sumptuous and costly table. 1641 Margate Par. Register in Macm. Mag. XLIII. 196 A note of such goods and imployements as are belonginge to the parishe church of St. John's y⊇ Baptist, in the Isle of Thanett. a 1656 Ussher Ann. vi. (1658) 522 To defray this, they were forced to..make their women club their attyring implements, to make up the sum. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 110 All the Sea-men have Capots, and it seems to me to be so necessary an Implement, not only for Sea-men, but for all that travel by Sea. a 1779 Warburton Div. Legat. ii. iv. Wks. 1788 I. 253 A golden bough, we see, was an important implement, and of very complicated intention in the shews of the Mysteries. 1848 A. Jameson Sacr. & Leg. Art (1850) 36 They wear the stole and alba as deacons, and bear the implements of the mass. 1851 D. Wilson Preh. Ann. (1863) II. iv. ix. 465 The use of the consecrated bell as one of the most essential ecclesiastical implements. |
| fig. a 1621 J. King in Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. xxxix. 4 Dispose of your bodies and souls, and all the implements of them both. |
† b. In more general sense: Requisites. Obs.
| 1601 R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 38 More implements then a spacious sea coast are incident to this busines: he must have plenty of timber and cordage; he must be furnished with a people practised in sea affaires [etc.]. 1752 Fielding Amelia Wks. 1775 X. 132 Water, cordials, and all necessary implements being brought, Miss Bath was at length recovered and placed in her chair. |
2. pl. The apparatus, or set of utensils, instruments, etc. employed in any trade or in executing any piece of work; now chiefly in agricultural implements or as a synonym of ‘tools’; frequent as a generic term for the tools, weapons, etc. used by primitive peoples, as flint implements. In sing. A tool, instrument.
| 1538 Leland Itin. III. 114 King Henry the vij..erectid..3 great Bruing Houses with the Implementes to serve his Shippes. 1567 Richmond. Wills (Surtees) 202 In the same garner..vj gaddes of yron..Other implements in the sayme garner. 1612 Chapman Widdowes T. Wks. 1873 III. 76 My stay hath been prolonged With hunting obscure nooks for these emploiments [a crowbar and a halter]. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 533 Thus you see the diuersitie of plowes..now it is meet to know the implements belonging to their draught. 1641 Termes de la Ley, Implements,..it is used for things of necessary use in any trade or mystery, which are implyed in the practice of the said trade. 1724 Swift Drapier's Lett. Wks. 1755 VI. ii. 49 Wood hath..his tools and implements prepared to coin six times as much more. 1767 A. Young Farm. Lett. to People 310 He should make drawings of every machine and implement of husbandry that differs from those of his own country. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 204 An artisan, who had all the implements necessary for his work. 1879 Lubbock Sci. Lect. v. 152 It is a great mistake to suppose that implements of stone were abandoned directly metal was discovered. |
| fig. 1645 Milton Tetrach. Wks. (1847) 187/1 Those Sciential rules, which are the implements of instruction. 1862 Goulburn Pers. Relig. v. iv. (1873) 288 The implements with which Christianity works. 1867 Mill Inaug. Addr. 7 The necessary mental implements for the work they have to perform. |
b. Applied to a person; cf. instrument, tool.
| 1628 Ford Lover's Mel. ii. ii, I am Trollio, Your honest implement. 1719 De Foe Crusoe ii. xiii, This..man was a most useful implement to us everywhere. 1741 Richardson Pamela I. 115 The Messenger..was an Implement in his Master's Hands. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iv. I. 511 That meanness which marked them out as fit implements of tyranny. |
II. † 3. Something necessary to make a thing complete; an essential or important constituent part. Obs. rare.
| 1632 Lithgow Trav. i. 14 The Clergy, which are the two parts of the inhabitants, (besides the Jewes and Curtezans, which are the greatest implements of the other third part). 1650 Fuller Pisgah iv. vi. 101 Because they have utterly lost the mystery of making the blew ribband..an essentiall implement of the fringes. |
4. Sc. Law. Fulfilment, full performance (cf. implement v. 1).
| 1754 Erskine Princ. Sc. Law (1809) 334 Obligations may be dissolved by performance or implement. 1862 Shirley Nugæ Crit. iv. 195 Such conditions are clearly inconsistent with the duties..and it may fairly be doubted..whether implement of them could be enforced. 1868 Act 31 & 32 Vict. c. 100 §54 Such note shall not have the effect..of excusing obedience to or implement of the interlocutor reclaimed against. |
III. 5. attrib. and Comb. implement-bearing = implementiferous.
| 1862 Illustr. Lond. News 5 July 22/1 The implement and cattle departments were laid out with a masterly hand. 1872 Sir J. Evans Anc. Stone Implements xxii. 426 The deposition of the implement-bearing beds..extended over a very considerable space of time. 1891 Duke of Argyll in 19th Cent. Jan. 26 Vigorous attempts have been made to treat all implement-bearing gravels as fluviatile. |
▪ II. implement, v.
(ˈɪmplɪmənt)
[f. implement n.]
1. a. trans. To complete, perform, carry into effect (a contract, agreement, etc.); to fulfil (an engagement or promise).
| 1806 Petit. T. Gillies of Balmakewan 23 (Jam.) This was an obligation incumbent upon him, which the petitioners were entitled to insist that he should implement. 1833 Act 3 & 4 Will. IV, c. 46 §90 The decree or order of court has not been duly implemented. 1865 Alex. Smith Summ. Skye II. 138 He had seen the boatmen, and fully implemented his promise. 1879 Times 22 Nov. (Mr. Gladstone in Scotland), On that day..Mr. Gladstone is expected to implement no fewer than three engagements. 1909 Westm. Gaz. 30 Aug. 4/3 [The] council has been prepared to implement that agreement. 1950 C. Morris Social Case-Work Gt. Brit. 7 With the post-war flood of social legislation, social workers are required..to help to implement the laws. 1964 Ann. Reg. 1963 102 Henceforward the bargaining..continued until late in the year, with some decisions being announced and implemented piecemeal. 1969 Times 3 Sept. 11/6 Three years later Armageddon found him [sc. Churchill] ready at the Admiralty with plans and authority to implement that policy. 1972 Daily Tel. 27 June 2/7 The provision of the Act of which they are most apprehensive..has yet to be implemented by the Government. |
b. To carry out, execute (a piece of work).
| 1837 Whittock, etc. Bk. Trades, Optician (1842) 354 Any similar invention which he may be employed to implement for the contrivers. |
c. To fulfil, satisfy (a condition).
| 1857 Nichol Cycl. Phys. Sci. 63/1 The chief mechanical requisites of the barometer are implemented in such an instrument as the following. 1870 R. M. Ferguson Electr. 38 How are the conditions of thermo-electricity implemented by the materials of the earth? |
2. To complete, fill up, supplement.
| 1843 Burton Benthamiana 166 Projects for implementing wages by pauper relief. 1855 Bain Senses & Int. iii. iv. §15 (1864) 604 The hearer must implement the process, by the force of his own mind. |
3. To provide or fit with implements.
| 1886 Edin. Rev. Oct. 362 Whether armed for defence, or implemented for industry. |