damnation
(dæmˈneɪʃən)
Also 3–6 dampnacion, -oun, etc.
[a. F. damnation, in 12th c. dampnation, -acion, ad. L. dam(p)nātiōn-em, n. of action f. damnāre: see damn v.]
† 1. The action of condemning, or fact of being condemned (by judicial sentence, etc.); condemnation. Obs. exc. as in b.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 15472 (Cott.) Þis traitur..þat þus his suete lauerd soght vn-to dampnacion. 1382 Wyclif Luke xxiii. 40 Nethir thou dredist God, that thou art in the same dampnacioun? 1534 More On the Passion Wks 1276/1 Her offspring..had not..fallen in dampnacion of death. 1639 Laud Wks. (1849) II. 297 In a council..Pope Alexander III condemned Peter Lombard of heresy, and he lay under that damnation for thirty and six years. |
b. The damning of a play, etc. by publicly expressed disapproval.
| 1742 Fielding J. Andrews iii x, Don't lay the damnation of your play to my account. 1880 Lamb Let. to Manning 16 Dec., I met him in the lobby immediately after the damnation of the Professor's play. 1806 H. Siddons Maid, Wife, etc. II. 147 The fatal cough, well known to authors as the sure forerunner of dramatic damnation. |
2. Theol. Condemnation to eternal punishment in the world to come; the fact of being damned, or doomed to hell; spiritual ruin; perdition. (Opposed to salvation.)
| a 1300 Cursor M. 16455 (Cott.) Þai ches þaim-self dampnacion..And brocht vs til saluacion. c 1340 Hampole Prose Tr. (1866) 7 Sentence of dampnacyone ffelle one me. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 193 Þat his sowle was sauyed from dampnacyon. 1541 Barnes Wks. (1573) 241/2 Hee woulde haue hell or euerlasting dampnation to hys rewarde. 1616 R. C. Times Whistle vi. 2481 Whose concupiscence, Like thine, deservde black helles damnation. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 215 That with reiterated crimes he might Heap on himself damnation. 1719 Young Revenge v. ii, So Lucifer broke into Paradise, And soon damnation follow'd. 1869 W. P. Mackay Grace & Truth (1875) 243 You are, O sinner, on the edge of eternal damnation. |
b. Cause or occasion of damnation or ruin; sin incurring or deserving damnation.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xii. 89 Goddes body..is..deth and dampnacioun to hem þat dyeth yuel. c 1386 Chaucer Wife's T. 211 ‘My love?’ quod he, ‘nay, nay, my dampnacioun’. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. ii. vii. 49 'Twere damnation To thinke so base a thought. 1605 ― Macb. i. vii. 20 His Vertues Will pleade like Angels, Trumpet-tongu'd against The deepe damnation of his taking off. 1712 Swift To Dr. Sheridan, Tell me..What name for a maid, was the first man's damnation? |
3. In profane use: a. as an imprecation, or exclamation of emphatic objurgation.
| 1604 Shakes. Oth. iii. iii. 396 Death, and damnation, Oh! 1709 Steele Tatler No. 137 ¶2 [He] invokes Hell and Damnation at the Breaking of a Glass. 1747 Gentl. Mag. XVII. 46 The ensign more than once drank ‘Damnation to all Scotchmen!’ 1836 Marryat Midsh. Easy xii. 39 ‘Damnation!’ cried the master, who was mad with rage. |
b. as adj. or adv. = ‘Damned’.
| 1757 Lloyd Satyr & Pedlar Poet. Wks. I. 57 The wit with metaphors makes bold, And tell's you he's damnation cold; Perhaps, that metaphor forgot, the self-same wit's damnation hot. 1772 Ann. Reg. 236 Hail hopeful Cambridge! once did all thy sons O'er tea damnation hot, make damn'd odd puns. 1843 Marryat M. Violet xxxvi, He would have the lives of the damned Frenchman and his damnation horse. |
‖ 4. Roman Law. [tr. L. damnātio, with reference to damnas condemned, sentenced, bound to make a gift or contribution.] (See quot.)
| 1880 Muirhead Ulpian xxiv. §11 a, The most advantageous form of legacy is that by damnation. 1880 ― Gaius Digest 528 A legacy by damnation..was one in which the testator imposed an obligation on his heir to give to the legatee the thing bequeathed, and which afforded the latter a personal claim against the heir, but no real right in the object of bequest. |
Hence † damˈnationly adv. = prec. 3 b.
| 1762 Goldsm. Nash (Globe ed.) 549/1, I knew him when he and I were students at Oxford, where we both studied damnationly hard. |