multiplicity
(mʌltɪˈplɪsɪtɪ)
[ad. L. multiplicitās, f. multiplic-, multiplex.]
1. a. The quality or condition of being multiplex or manifold; manifold variety.
| 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. Annot. *4, By this, which in dupla and tripla is spoken, may all other things concerning proportions of multiplicity be easily vnderstoode. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 113 Cerberus himself with his three heads signified the multiplicity of Devils. 1659 Pearson Creed 641 The infinity of the devine essence is incapable of multiplicity. 1701 Grew Cosmol. Sacra i. v. 25 As the manifold Variation of the Parts, so the Multiplicity of the Use of each Part, is very wonderful. 1825 Macaulay Ess., Milton, With the greatest precision and multiplicity in its details. 1873 Symonds Grk. Poets ix. 297 The Greek Drama owed its power to the qualities of regularity and simplicity: the strength of the modern lies in subtlety and multiplicity. 1884 J. R. Seeley in Contemp. Rev. Nov. 654 In Nature..the unity is much less obvious than the multiplicity. |
b. An instance of this.
| 1587 Golding De Mornay ii. (1592) 14 Of vnitie or one in nombering, proceedeth..all the multiplicities..we see. 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. xiii. lxxviii. (1612) 323 Of one all Multiplicities, Formes, Harmonies,..Be..produced and begot. 1646 Gaule Cases Consc. 11 Haply..at some purer Times of the Church, a Witch may not then and there be found..at least wise.., not in those Multitudes, or Multiplicities. 1878 Stubbs Const. Hist. III. xxi. 567 The diversities and multiplicities of legal usages. |
c. In the Kantian philosophy = manifold n. 2 a.
| 1839 Penny Cycl. XIII. 176/1 The consciousness of the individual in this multiplicity is effected by the imagination, which combines them into a whole. |
d. In technical use (cf. multiple a. 3).
| 1841 J. J. Sylvester in Lond. Phil. Mag. XVIII. 136, I use the word multiplicity to denote a number, and distinguish between the total and partial multiplicities of the roots of an algebraic equation. 1851 Paget Lect. Tumours vi. 70 Multiplicity is sufficiently marked in the cases of the hands and feet. 1872 T. Bryant Pract. Surg. 735 These black cancers have..one peculiarity, and that is in their tendency to multiplicity. 1887 Cayley Math. Papers (1897) XII. 463 We might..have symbols of indefinite multiplicity (x, y, z, w,..), including within them all finite multiplicities, viz. (x, y) meaning (x, y, O, O,..). |
e. Physics. The number of components (whether one or several) in a multiplet; spec. (a) the quantity 2S + 1, where S is the spin quantum number of a term; (b) the quantity 2I + 1, where I is the isospin of a charge multiplet.
| 1923 H. L. Brose tr. Sommerfeld's Atomic Struct. & Spectral Lines vi. 385 Those terms are defined as similar which have the same multiplicity and the same azimuthal quantum number. 1929 [see multiplet a]. 1934 H. E. White Introd. Atomic Spectra xiv. 248 It is found experimentally that the multiplicities of the levels belonging to a given spectrum will either be all even or all odd. Ibid. 249 Spectral terms arising from successive elements in the periodic table alternate between even and odd multiplicities. 1948 G. R. Harrison et al. Pract. Spectroscopy x. 241 For two electrons, S = 0 or 1, depending on whether the two spins are antiparallel or parallel. Hence atomic spectra that arise from two electrons (helium and the alkaline-earth metals Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, and Ba) can have multiplicities of 1 (that is, no splitting of levels because of spin) or 3 (splitting of each level into three). 1964 Sci. Amer. Feb. 82/2 The number of different charge states in a multiplet, or its ‘multiplicity’ (M), is directly related to the isotopic-spin quantum number I by the equation M = 2I + 1. 1972 Physics Bull. Feb. 92/1 A further interesting feature which these multiplets illustrate is the greater bonding of the states of lower multiplicity. 1973 [see multiplet b]. |
f. Biol. The ratio of the number of infective particles to the number of susceptible cells; usu. in phr. multiplicity of infection.
| 1947 Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. XXXIII. 259 (heading) Dependence of the probability of reactivation on the multiplicity of infection. 1957 Virology III. 286 Luria (1947) found that cells of Escherichia coli B which had been infected with more than one inactivated particle of phage T2, or other members of the T group of coliphages, yielded active phage. He called this ‘multiplicity reactivation’. 1964 W. Hayes Genetics of Bacteria & their Viruses xvi. 367 If a suspension of virulent phage is added to a growing culture of sensitive bacteria in broth, so that the number of phage particles exceeds the number of bacteria (multiplicity of infection = >1),..the culture becomes clear, as a result of the infection and lysis of virtually all the bacteria. 1974 Nature 11 Oct. 542/1 Chang cells in suspension were infected at an input multiplicity of 10. Ibid. 543/2 Addition of VSV or EMC virus at a multiplicity of infection of 1. |
2. a. the multiplicity of: the great number of, the very many or numerous. Similarly a, such (a), this, etc., multiplicity of.
| 1598 Dallington Meth. Trav. X 3 Such multiplicity of words he hath. 1627 Drayton Moone-Calfe Poems 162 That on the Stationers Stall, who passing lookes, To see the multiplicity of Bookes, That pester it. 1659 Sir H. Slingsby Diary (1836) 356 T'was all the night as bright as day with the multiplisity of bone fires. 1659 Pearson Creed 384 The coronary thorns..did..pierce his..temples to a multiplicity of pains, by their numerous acuminations. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 176 ¶8, I..am distracted with such a Multiplicity of entertaining Objects, that I am lost in the Variety. 1847 C. Brontë J. Eyre v, Like one who had always a multiplicity of tasks on hand. 1860 G. B. Prescott Electr. Telegr. 243 A few large bells would be preferable to this multiplicity of smaller ones. 1885 J. Payn Talk of Town II. 138 It was not the least like a dressing-room except that it had a multiplicity of mirrors. |
b. with collective sing. n.
| 1601 Holland Pliny I. 504 In that one significant word (Cariosa) hee said more than could be expressed possibly by any multiplicity of language whatsoeuer. a 1656 Hales Gold. Rem. (1673) 5 These places that are so fertile..of interpretation, and yeild a multiplicity of sense. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xii. x, I was so hurried, and drove and tore with the multiplicity of business. 1876 F. Harrison Choice of Bks. iv. (1886) 90 Since which date, let us trust, the multiplicity of print and the habits of desultory reading have considerably abated. |
† c. Without article or qualifying word. Obs.
| 1629 Sir R. Le Grys tr. Barclay's Argenis 188 Argenis being confounded with multiplicity of griefs. a 1734 North Life Dr. J. North (1744) 240 After he was grown old and much worn by Multiplicity of Business. 1769 E. Bancroft Guiana 378 Multiplicity of law-suits are universally allowed to be detrimental to new countries. |
† 3. the multiplicity of: the majority of. Obs.
| 1639 in Nalson Coll. Gt. Aff. State (1682) I. 279 The Multiplicity of the People are mean conditioned. |