consistency
(kənˈsɪstənsɪ)
[f. L. consistent-em: see consistent, and -ency: cf. prec.]
† 1. A settled condition. (Cf. consistence 3.)
| 1677 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. ii. ix. 219 Aristotle..supposeth it [the world] Eternal, and an eternal consistency in the state it now stands. a 1705 J. Howe in Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. xvii. 14 After some appearing discomposure, his spirit returns to a consistency. |
2. The condition in which matter coheres so as to ‘stand together’ or retain its form; viscous or firm condition; thickness, stiffness, firmness; = consistence 4.
| 1594 Plat Jewell-ho. ii. 13 Boile the same..vnto a stifnesse, or consistency (as they terme it). 1681 tr. Willis' Rem. Med. Wks. Voc., Consistency, thickness or substance, as a jelly. 1751 C. Labelye Westm. Br. 49 Earth of a sufficient Consistency to hold Water. 1852 Blackie Stud. Lang. 36 Sacrifice not the fleshy consistency of an arm or a leg..to the enormous growth of a brain. |
b. fig. Firm condition so as to hang well together; solidity; substance.
| 1709 Strype Ann. Ref. I. lvii. 631 By which time it arrived to a good consistency and establishment. 1734 tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) IX. 221 By this means..Mithridates established the empire..upon solid foundations and gave it a firm consistency. 1845 S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. I. 481 A vague rumour..daily acquiring consistency and strength. 1856 Ruskin Mod. Paint. II. iii. ii. iv. §4 It..gives to their abstract being consistency and reality. |
3. Degree of density, viscosity, etc.: = consistence 5.
| a 1661 Fuller Worthies (1840) III. 393 Before the alum could be brought to its true consistency. 1794 Sullivan View Nat. I. 487 The soft consistency of some of these animals. 1875 Warne's Model Cookery 143 Boil.. pearl barley..till it becomes the consistency of good cream. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 202 Eruptions of mud, varying considerably in consistency and temperature. |
b. fig. Condition, degree, quality.
| 1694 Child Disc. Trade (ed. 4) 62 [It] brought their people to that consistency of wealth, that..there are more lenders now than borrowers. a 1716 South Serm. (J.), His friendship is of a noble make, and a lasting consistency. |
† c. concr. A cohering body of matter of more or less density. Obs. (Cf. consistence 4 b.)
| 1677 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. iv. ii. 297 The more subtil..particles..constituted that Consistency that is called the Air. 1696 J. Edwards Demonstr. Exist. God i. 141 They are liquid consistencies or drops condens'd in the earth. |
4. The quality, state, or fact of being consistent; agreement, harmony, compatibility (with something, of things, or of one thing with another).
| 1658–9 Burton's Diary (1828) III. 313 Whether you are in a good consistency and right understanding between you and the Chief Magistrate, or not. 1691 Case of Exeter Coll. 52 The consistency or inconsistency of a Fellowship and a Benefice. 1720 Wodrow Corr. (1843) II. 518 In a consistency with our principles. 1790 Paley Horæ Paul. i. 8 To produce or preserve an appearance of consistency amongst them. Ibid. ii. 9 [It] might induce us perhaps to question the consistency of the two records. 1846 Trench Mirac. xxxii. (1862) 449 It is in entire consistency with all else which we read. |
b. (with a and pl.) An instance of consistency.
| 1771–2 Batchelor (1773) II. 203 The patriotic consistencies, and pious labours of Brutus Pl—k—t. 1874 tr. Lange's Comm. Nahum Introd. 12 An accord of so many consistencies. |
5. The quality of being self-consistent; agreement of the parts or elements of a thing with each other.
| 1787 Bentham Def. Usury xi. 111 If consistency were to be found in the common law, compound interest never could have been denied. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 126 He [Plato] never troubles himself about the political consistency of his scheme. |
b. esp. as a personal quality: Agreement or harmony of the elements of a person's life or conduct (e.g. of his profession and practice, of his statements at one time and at another); constant adherence to the same principles of thought or action.
| 1716 Addison Freeholder (J.), That consistency of behaviour, whereby he inflexibly pursues those measures, which appear the most just and equitable. 1789 Bentham Princ. Legisl. i. §12 The rarest of all human qualities is consistency. 1841–4 Emerson Ess., Self-reliance Wks. (Bohn) I. 24 A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. 1864 Maine Anc. Law iii. (1876) 71 The doubtful virtue of consistency. |
† 6. Eccl. The state of being a ‘consistent’; or, the company of ‘consistents’: see consistent.
| 1647 Form Ch. Govt. prop. 12 The penitents..of the fourth degree, or οἱ ἐν συστασεῖ, that is, which were in the consistency, were suspended from the Lords Supper. |