competency
(ˈkɒmpɪtənsɪ)
[ad. L. competentia: see -ency. For the sense-history see competence.]
I. In sense of compete v.2
† 1. Rivalry, competition. Obs.
| 1594 Carew Huarte's Exam. Wits xiii. (1596) 233 If differences of wits, so far distant as these, do enter into competencie, the one..getteth learning in a trice, and the other..can small skill in the matter. 1599 Sandys Europæ Spec. (1632) 67 The Dominicans strive in competencie with the Franciscans in all things. 1600 E. Blount Uniting Port. to Castile 92 This competencie seruing as a spurre. 1604 Edmonds Observ. Cæsar's Comm. 20 Things of greater condition are alwayes iniurious to lesser natures, and cannot endure any competencie. 1638 N. Ferrers tr. Valdes' Consid. 194 The men of the world..have no competency with them. |
II. In sense of compete v.1
† 2. A sufficient supply; a sufficiency of. Obs.
| 1616 Bullokar, Competencie, sufficiency. 1619 Dalton Country Just. xl. (1630) 91 Having competencie of wealth, wisdome, and a good conscience. 1639 Fuller Holy War i. ii. (1647) 3 The countrey recovered not a competencie of inhabitants for some hundred years after. 1670 Clarendon Contempl. Ps., Tracts (1727) 576 A competency of discretion and foresight. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 91 ¶1 He has a Competency of Fortune without Superfluity. a 1734 North Lives (1826) II. 365 Commissions to return with, of which he had a competency. |
3. a. A sufficiency, without superfluity, of the means of life, a competent estate or income.
| 1598 R. Barckley Felic. Man (1631) 67 A Competencie sufficient preferred before surfeit. 1623 Burges Pers. Tithes 8. 1645 E. Pagitt Heresiogr. (ed. 4) 163 He would have them to have competencies. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones (1775) II. 329 There is no happiness in this world without a competency. 1859 Smiles Self Help viii. 206 To retire upon a competency to his native town. 1872 E. Peacock Mabel H. II. i. 7 John..might leave his daughter a competency. |
b. The condition of having a sufficient income; easy circumstances; = competence 3 b.
| 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. i. ii. 9 Superfluitie comes sooner by white haires, but competencie liues longer. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 46 Their general competency is greatly owing to contempt of tyrannic fashions. 1803 Wellesley Disp. 365 A state of dignity, competency, and comfort. 1836 Hor. Smith Tin Trump. (1876) 98 Competency—a financial horizon, which recedes as we advance. |
4. a. Sufficiency of qualification; capacity; = competence 4.
| 1797 Burke Regic. Peace iii. VIII. 351 The loan demonstrates, in regard to instrumental resources, the competency of this kingdom to the assertion of the common cause. 1836 J. Gilbert Chr. Atonem. ix. (1852) 288 It is not within our competency to imagine. 1848 C. Brontë J. Eyre x, To give satisfactory references as to character and competency. 1858 J. Martineau Studies Chr. 304 To deny the ethical competency of the mind for this office. |
b. esp. Law. The quality or position of being legally competent: legal capacity.
| 1597 Daniel Civ. Wares iv. xxii, Whose competencie was of tender touch: although his might was small, his right was much. 1650 Exerc. conc. Usurp. Power 81 They that teach..the competency, yea duty, of any that have force to play the Magistrate. 1767 Blackstone Comm. II. 377 The judges were extremely strict in regard to the credibility, or rather the competency, of the witnesses. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. v. 445 She refused..to acknowledge the competency of the tribunal before which she was called. |
c. Geol. The condition of being competent (see next, 5 d).
| 1893 B. Willis in U.S. Geol. Surv. Ann. Rep. ii. 251 The size of a competent anticline is directly as the competency of the effective stratum and inversely as the load. 1940 E. S. Hills Outl. Struct. Geol. iv. 78 A small degree of competency is sufficient to ensure that some slipping will go along the bedding planes. |
d. = competence 4 d.
| 1909 in Cent. Dict. Suppl. 1939 W. H. Twenhofel Princ. Sedimentation vi. 191 Competency is defined as the ability of currents to transport in terms of dimensions of particles. Competency depends upon velocity and turbulence. |