dignity
(ˈdɪgnɪtɪ)
Forms: 3–4 dignete, 3–6 -ite, 4 dyng-, dingnete, 4–5 dignitee, -ytee, 4–6 dy-, dignyte, 6–7 dignitie, 7– dignity.
[a. OF. digneté, F. dignité (12th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), ad. L. dignitāt-em merit, worth, f. dignus worthy: see -ity. Cf. also dainty, a. OF. deintié, the inherited form of dignitātem.]
1. The quality of being worthy or honourable; worthiness, worth, nobleness, excellence.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 140 Nis nout eðcene of hwuche dignite heo [the soul] is, ne hu heih is hire cunde. c 1230 Hali Meid. 5 Of se muche dignete, and swuch wurðschipe. c 1393 Chaucer Gentilesse 5 For vn-to vertue longeth dignytee. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) vi. 18 A name of grete dignitee and of grete worschepe. 1552 Abp. Hamilton Catech. (1884) 20 Of the preeminens and excellent dignitiee of the Pater noster. 1602 Shakes. Ham. i. v. 48 From me, whose loue was of that dignity, That it went hand in hand even with the Vow I made to her in Marriage. 1657 Austen Fruit Trees i. 11 The dignity and value of Fruit-trees. 1787 T. Jefferson Writ. (1859) II. 95, I recollect no work of any dignity which has been lately published. 1795 Wordsw. Yew-tree Seat, True dignity abides with him alone Who, in the silent hour of inward thought, Can still suspect, and still revere himself, In lowliness of heart. 1836 Sir H. Taylor Statesman xv. 107 It is of the essence of real dignity to be self-sustained, and no man's dignity can be asserted without being impaired. 1874 Blackie Self-Cult. 75 The real dignity of a man lies not in what he has, but in what he is. |
† b. The quality of being worthy of something; desert, merit.
Obs. rare.
| 1548 R. Hutten Sum of diuinitie E 5 a, Fayth leaneth onelye vpon mercy, not of our dygnytye. 1677 Gale Crt. Gentiles iv. 154 To suppose that God should fetch the commun rule of his giving or not giving grace, from mans dignitie or indignitie. |
2. Honourable or high estate, position, or estimation; honour; degree of estimation, rank.
| c 1230 Hali Meid. 15 Eadie meiden, understond in hu heh dignete þe mihte of meidenhad halt te. 1340 Ayenb. 215 Þere ssolle þe greate lhordes and þe greate lheuedyes uoryete..hare dingnete, and hare heȝnesse. 1399 Rolls Parl. III. 424/1 Ye renounsed and cessed of the State of Kyng, and of Lordeshipp and of all the Dignite and Wirsshipp that longed therto. c 1400 Rom. Rose 7682 I..have pouste To shryve folk of most dignyte. 1538 Starkey England i. iv. 139 Gyuyng somewhat to the dygnyte of presthode. 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. i. vi. (1611) 12 Stones, though in dignitie of nature inferior to plants. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. v. i. 183 His Sonne, who ha's (His Dignitie, and Dutie both cast off) Fled from his Father, from his Hopes, and with A Shepheards Daughter. 1711 Swift Lett. (1767) III. 177, I fear I shall be sometimes forced to stoop beneath my dignity, and send to the ale-house for a dinner. 1751 Harris Hermes (1841) 119 There is no kind of subject, having its foundation in nature, that is below the dignity of a philosophical inquiry. 1786 H. More Florio 78 Small habits well pursued betimes, May reach the dignity of crimes. 1891 Law Times XCII. 124/1 The post of Irish Chancellor has increased rather than diminished in dignity since the Union. |
| fig. 1541 Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg. H j b, May the herte..sustayne dysease longe? Answere. No, for his great dygnyte. 1656 Ridgley Pract. Physick 215 Consider the dignity of the part affected, so that the heart must not be tryed by vehement remedies. |
b. collect. Persons of high estate or rank (
cf. the quality).
| 1548 W. Patten Exped. Scotl. Pref. in Arb. Garner III. 73 My Lord's Grace, my Lord of Warwick, the other estates of the Council there, with the rest of the dignity of the army did..tarry.. at Berwick. 1793 Burke Corr. (1844) IV. 149, I cannot see the dignity of a great kingdom, and, with its dignity, all its virtue, imprisoned or exiled, without great pain. |
| attrib. 1833 Marryat P. Simple xxxi, A dignity ball is a ball given by the most consequential of their coloured people [in Barbadoes]. |
3. An honourable office, rank, or title; a high official or titular position.
| c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 72/54 Bischop him made..seint Edward þe king, And a-feng him in his dignete. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 15112 Seint Gregore tok þe dignete, And was pope þrytty ȝer. 1520 Caxton's Chron. Eng. ccxxxvi. 258 Tho that were chose to bisshoppes sees and dignytees. 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV, 208 Edward duke of Yorke, whiche..had untrewly usurped the Croune and Imperial dignitie of this realme. 1659 B. Harris Parival's Iron Age 123 He procured the Dignity of General to be taken away from the duke of Frithland. 1726 Ayliffe Parergon 98 By a Dignity, we understand that Promotion or Preferment, to which any Jurisdiction is annex'd. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. III. 231 He..distributed the civil and military dignities among his favourites and followers. 1844 Lingard Anglo-Sax. Ch. (1858) I. i. 18 The dignity of Roman prefect. 1884 L'pool Mercury 3 Mar. 5/1 Her Majesty has conferred the dignity of a viscountcy upon Sir Henry B. W. Brand. |
b. transf. A person holding a high office or position; a dignitary.
| c 1450 Holland Howlat 690 Denys and digniteis. 1598 Florio Ep. Ded., That I..may..entertaine so high, if not deities yet dignities. 1611 Bible Jude 8 These filthy dreamers..speake euill of dignities. 1656 Heylin Surv. France 93 There is..in this Church a Dean 7 Dignities and 50 Canons. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 359 Godlike shapes and forms..Princely Dignities, And Powers that earst in Heaven sat on Thrones. 1865 Kingsley Herew. i, Thou art very like to lose thy tongue by talking such ribaldry of dignities. |
4. Nobility or befitting elevation of aspect, manner, or style; becoming or fit stateliness, gravity. (
Cf. dignified 2.)
| 1667 Milton P.L. viii. 489 Grace was in all her steps..In every gesture dignitie and love. 1725 Pope Odyss. vi. 73 A dignity of dress adorns the Great. 1752 Fielding Amelia i. viii, He uttered this..with great majesty, or, as he called it, dignity. 1811 Syd. Smith Wks. (1859) I. 205/1 All establishments die of dignity. They are too proud to think themselves ill, and to take a little physic. 1853 J. H. Newman Hist. Sk. (1873) II. ii. i. 248 He preserved in his domestic arrangements the dignity of a literary and public man. 1854 J. S. C. Abbott Napoleon (1855) II. xxx. 557 He opposed the effect of these instructions with such silent dignity as to command general respect. 1878 B. Taylor Deukalion ii. iv. 77 So much of dignity in ruin lives. |
b. Rhet.| 1828 Webster, Dignity, in oratory, one of the three parts of elocution, consisting in the right use of tropes and figures. |
5. Astrol. A situation of a planet in which its influence is heightened, either by its position in the zodiac, or by its aspects with other planets.
| c 1391 Chaucer Astrol. Table of Contents, Tables of dignetes of planetes. Ibid. ii. §4 The lord of the assendent..whereas he is in his dignite and conforted with frendly aspectys of planetes. 1632 Massinger City Madam ii. ii, Saturn out of all dignities..and Venus in the south angle elevated above him. 1647 Lilly Chr. Astrol. vi. 49 Almuten, of any house is that Planet who hath most dignities in the Signe ascending or descending upon the Cusp of any house. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey) s.v., In Astrology, Dignities are the Advantages a Planet has upon account of its being in a particular place of the Zodiack, or in such a Station with other Planets, etc. by which means its Influences and Virtue are encreas'd. 1839 Bailey Festus (1872) 121 Ye planetary sons of light! Your aspects, dignities, ascendances. |
† 6. The term for a ‘company’ of canons.
Obs.| 1486 Bk. St. Albans F vij a, A Dignyte of chanonys. |
† 7. Alg. = power.
Obs.| 1715 Phil. Trans. XXIX. 211 Mr. Newton introduced..the Fract, Surd, Negative and Indefinitive Indices of Dignities. |
¶ 8. [Erroneous or fantastic rendering of
Gr. ἀξίωµα ‘honour, worth, dignity’, also ‘first principle, axiom’.] A self-evident theorem, an axiom.
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. i. vii. 25 These Sciences [mathematics], concluding from dignities and principles knowne by themselves, they receive not satisfaction from probable reasons, much lesse from bare and peremptory asseverations. |