quantity
(ˈkwɒntɪtɪ)
Forms: 4–6 quantite, -yte, (4 -itee, -ytee, 5 whantite), 6 quauntit, 6–7 quantitie, (6 -etie), 6– quantity.
[a. OF. quantité, ad. L. quantitās, -ātem, f. quant-us how much, how great: see -ity.]
I. 1. a. Size, magnitude, dimensions. In widest sense implying magnitude in three dimensions, but sometimes contextually limited to (a) thickness or stoutness, (b) extent of surface, area, (c) linear extension, length, height. Obs. exc. Math.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 49 Asia is most in quantite, Europa is lasse. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxi. 96 Þare er oþer also of less quantitee, as it ware of þe mykill of a mannes thee. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 5845 Sawh thow euere..Off manhys herte the quantyte? 1470–85 Malory Arthur v. viii, A grete gyaunt..whiche was a man of an huge quantyte and heyghte. 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. lxix. 102 The roote is long, of the quantite of one's fingar. Ibid. ii. v. 153 White huskes..of the quantitie of a groote, or Testerne. 1632 Lithgow Trav. vi. 298 A Dromidore, and Camel differ..not in quantity, being of one height, bredth, and length. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. 17 How to find the just Quantity or Content of any Piece of Ground. 1682 R. Burton Admir. Curios. (1684) 30 Diamonds are found in many places,..their quantity is from a Pease to a Walnut. 1830 Kater & Lardner Mech. i. 4 The quantity of a surface is called its area; and the quantity of a line..its length. |
† b. A dimension. Obs. rare—1.
| 1590 J. Stockwood Rules Constr. 48 Whether the word of measure do signifie the depth, height, length, thicknes, or any such quantitie of a thing. |
† c. An amount equal to the volume of. Obs.
| 1610 B. Jonson Alch. ii. i, Taking..on a knife's point, The quantity of a grain of mustard. 1694 Salmon Bate's Dispens. (1713) 151/1 Of this Balsam..the Patient may take the Quantity of a pretty large Chestnut. |
d. In surveying, bill of quantity (or quantities) (see quot. 1964).
| 1877 B. Fletcher Quantities i. 5 The operations necessary to produce the schedule, or bills of quantities, from which builders make up their tenders, are: [etc.]. 1964 J. S. Scott Dict. Building 32 Bill of quantities, a list of numbered items, each of which describes the work to be done in a civil engineering or building contract. Each item shows the quantity of work involved... Those contractors who wish to do the work return the bill, with an extended price opposite each item. 1972 Guardian 20 June 10/6 When the architect and engineer have produced drawings, the quantity surveyor can begin ‘taking off’ (which really means reading the drawings) and ‘working up’ (which means determining the total quantities of the materials and labour requirements)... He can then produce his ‘Bills of Quantity’. |
2. Amount, sum. a. Of material things not subject to, or not usually estimated by, spatial measurement.
| c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxxi. 142 Of þaim þai gader boumbe in grete quantitee. 1533 Elyot Cast. Helthe (1539) 36 a, Ale and bere..do ingender more grosse vapours, and corrupt humors, than wine doth, beinge drunke in lyke excesse of quantitie. 1683 Tryon Way to Health (1697) 205 Of the Quantity of Children's Food. 1769 De Foe's Tour Gt. Brit. (ed. 7) II. 64 Fern, which formerly grew in great Quantity there. 1849 Noad Electricity 188 The quantity of the Electric current bears a relation to the size of the plates. |
b. Of immaterial things.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints x. (Matthew) 576 Nothire for þe ennormyte of þe syne, na þe quantyte. c 1400 tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. 106 Chese a sotell man..to shewe þe quantyte of þy hynes. 1432 Rolls of Parlt. IV. 403/1 There should no man ben amerced bote after the quantite of his trespas. c 1485 Digby Myst. iv. 621 After the whantite of sorofull remembrance. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. iv. ii. 17, I loue thee..How much the quantity, the waight as much, As I do loue my Father. 1647 N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. liii. (1739) 94 Fine and Pledges shall be according to the quantity of the offence. 1780 Bentham Princ. Legisl. xvii. §15 Any punishment is subservient to reformation in proportion to its quantity. 1827 Pollok Course T. viii, He prayed by quantity. |
† c. Of money, payment, etc. Obs.
| c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. vi. (1885) 121 The iiij{supt}{suph} or the v{supt}{suph} parte of the quantite of his expenses. 1528 Galway Arch. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 403 That some or quauntit of such monye as they playe for. a 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV 223 b, The fees of canonizyng of a kyng, wer of so great a quantitie at Rome [etc.]. 1600 Hamilton in Cath. Tract. (S.T.S.) 219 The qualitie and quantitie of the oblation. 1714 J. Fortescue-Aland Pref. Fortescue's Abs. & Lim. Mon. 48 The Lord was to forfeit 30s. which was then near as much in Quantity as 5l. now. 1775 Johnson Tax. no Tyr. 15 The quantity of this payment. |
† d. Number, numbers. (Cf. 9.) Obs. rare.
| 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 10 The cristin men..war all persewit and put to dede in grete quantitee. 1581 N. Burne in Cath. Tract. (S.T.S.) 135 To mak Chalices of gold and siluer in mair quantitie and aboundance nor befoir. |
3. a. Length or duration in time. Now only in the legal phrase quantity of estate, the length of time during which the right of enjoyment of an estate is to continue.
| c 1391 Chaucer Astrol. ii. §7 Rekne thanne the quantite of tyme in the bordure by-twixe bothe prikkes. Ibid. §9 To knowe the quantite of the day vulgare. 1588 A. King tr. Canisius G vij, According to the quantitie of the yere, obserueit in that age to contene 304 dayes. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) II. 354 The alteration in the particular estate..must amount to an alteration in its quantity. 1841 Penny Cycl. XIX. 46/1 Where the word Estate is used in its technical sense, it..[means] the quantity and quality of enjoyment of the thing. |
b. Pros. Length or shortness of sounds or syllables, determined by the time required to pronounce them. Chiefly used with reference to Greek and Latin verse, in which the metres are based on quantity. false quantity: see false a. 2.
| 1563–7 Buchanan Reform. St. Andros Wks. (1892) 9 Thys classe sal reid..sum buik of Ouide, and the quantiteis of syllabes. 1586 W. Webbe Eng. Poetrie (Arb.) 69 As for the quantity of our wordes, therein lyeth great difficultye. a 1637 B. Jonson Eng. Gram. iii, All our vowels are..In quantity (which is time) long or short. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v., The quantity of the syllables is but little fixed in the modern tongues. 1774 Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry (1840) I. Diss. ii. 108 King Chilperic..wrote two books of Latin verses..without any idea of the common quantities. 1859 Thackeray Virgin. v, George knew much more Latin..than his master, and caught him in perpetual..false quantities. 1887 Ruskin Præterita II. 275 A rightly bred scholar who knew his grammar and his quantities. |
c. Mus. Length or duration of notes.
| 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. 9 The quantitie of euery note and rest in the song. 1674 Playford Skill Mus. i. vii. 24 Measure in this Science is a Quantity of the length and shortness of Time. 1811 Busby Dict. Mus. s.v., Quantity, in music..does not signify the number of notes, or syllables, but their relative duration. |
4. In the most abstract sense, esp. as the subject of mathematics: That property of things which is involved in the questions ‘how great?’ or ‘how much?’ and is determinable, or regarded as being so, by measurement of some kind.
In this sense continuous quantity and discrete quantity are distinguished: see discrete 2. ‘Quantity’ is the second of the ten Aristotelian categories.
| 1530 Palsgr. Introd. 144 Some [adverbs] betoken quantite. 1570, 1687, etc. [see discrete]. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. iv. iii. (1695) 314 The Ideas of Quantity are not those alone that are capable of Demonstration and Knowledge. 1756 Burke Subl. & B. iii. ii, All proportions, every arrangement of quantity, is alike to the understanding. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XV. 741/1 Mathematics is..employed in discovering and stating many relations of quantity. 1864 Bowen Logic vii. 185 Mathematics is the science of pure quantity. |
5. Logic. a. The extension or intension of a term, distinguished as extensive quantity and intensive quantity (see the adjs.). b. The degree of extension which a proposition gives to the term forming its subject, and according to which it is said to be universal, particular, singular, and indefinite or indeterminate (see these words).
| 1668 Wilkins Real Char. iii. i. 306 Another, A certain one, Some one, are for their Quantities, Singulars or Particulars indeterminate. 1697 tr. Burgersdicius' Logic i. xxix. 115 In Respect to Quantity, an Enunciation is divided into Universal, Particular, Indefinite, and Singular. 1725 Watts Logic (1726) 160 Both particular and universal Propositions which agree in Quality but not in Quantity are call'd Subaltern. 1836–8 [see intension 5, extensive 5]. 1843 Mill Logic I. ii. ii. §1 According to what are called the quantity and quality of propositions. 1864 Bowen Logic v. 120 We may inquire concerning the number of objects about which we judge, and thus determine the Quantity, or Extension, of the Judgment. [See also extension 8 b.] |
† 6. Relative or proportional size or amount, proportion. Obs. rare.
| 1551 Recorde Cast. Knowl. (1556) 146 Euery darke body giueth shadowe accordinge to the quantitie that it beareth to that shyning body, which giueth the light. 1602 Shakes. Ham. iii. ii. 177 For womens Feare and Loue, holds quantitie, In neither ought, or in extremity:..And as my Loue is siz'd, my Feare is so. |
7. Great or considerable amount or bulk.
| 1753 Hogarth Anal. Beauty vi. 29 Windsor castle is a noble instance of the effect of quantity. 1877 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 175 Only the smelting-ores have been extracted in quantity. |
II. 8. a. A (specified) portion or amount of an article or commodity. Also transf. of immaterial things. (Cf. 2 above.)
| c 1325 Poem times Edw. II (Percy) xlii, Give the goodman to drink A gode quantite. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) viii. 31 Of þis liquour þai giffe a lytill quantitee til pilgrimes. 1484 Caxton Fables of Alfonce xi, A grete dele or quantite of mostard. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 64 A lytell quantite of sande in an other lytell bagge. 1602 Shakes. Ham. v. i. 293 Fortie thousand Brothers Could not (with all there quantitie of Loue) Make up my summe. 1696 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) IV. 4 Having received great quantities of broad money from Exeter in order to clip it. 1752 Johnson Rambler No. 203 ¶10 A certain quantity or measure of renown. 1793 Beddoes Calculus 223 A small quantity of azotic air. 1825 Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Stage Illusion, A sufficient quantity of illusion for the purposes of dramatic interest. 1863 Q. Rev. July 78 A certain quantity of snow. |
b. An indefinite (usually a fair or considerable) portion or amount; † a small piece, fragment.
| c 1325 Song of Yesterday in E.E.P. (1862) 134 Of his strengþe he leost a quantite. c 1400 Song Roland 585 Offred them every chon a quantite of gold. 1486 Bk. St. Albans C vij, Take a quantyte of poorke..and butter. 1535 Coverdale 1 Sam. xxx. 12 They..gaue him a quantite of fygges, & two quantities of rasyns. 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. iv. iii. 112 Away thou Ragge, thou quantitie, thou remnant. 1597 ― 2 Hen. IV, v. i. 77 If I were saw'de into Quantities I should make foure dozen of such bearded Hermites staues. 1731 Arbuthnot Aliments vi. vii. §2 (1735) 182 Warm antiscorbutical Plants taken in Quantities will occasion stinking Breath. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xxxiii. 299 Taking a quantity of cotton from her basket, she placed it in his. 1883 Manch. Guard. 18 Oct. 4/7 Yesterday..a quantity of wreckage was cast up at Southport. |
c. With def. article: The portion or amount (of something) present in a particular thing or instance.
| 1611 Bible 2 Esdras iv. 50 As the fire is greater then the smoke..so the quantity which is past, did more exceede. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. ix, I resolv'd to sow just the same Quantity every Year. 1780 Bentham Princ. Legisl. xviii. §44 The quantity of sensible heat in a human body. 1837 Penny Cycl. IX. 343 The total quantity of electricity in the charge of an electrised body. 1876 Preece & Sivewright Telegraphy 2 We can speak of the quantity of sound caused by the explosion of a cannon. Ibid., The force of attraction is found to increase with the quantity of electricity present. |
9. A specified, or indefinite (= fair, considerable), number of persons or things.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce vi. 235 [He] slew of thame a quantite. 14.. Pol. Rel. & L. Poems 36 Gadyr a good quantyte of snayles. 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 57 Almaist mycht nane persave that ony quantitee of peple eschapit fra the bataill. 1485 Caxton Chas. Gt. 3 The moost quantyte of the people vnderstonde not latyn. 1611 Coryat Crudities 169 There is a farre greater quantity of buildings in this [the Rialto] then in ours. 1750 Beawes Lex Mercat. (1752) 8 A quantity of small marshy isles. 1852 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 198 Four chairs and a quantity of pillows. 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 241, I..find in it a quantity of pools. |
10. A certain space or surface; a portion of something having superficial extent. Now rare.
| c 1391 Chaucer Astrol. ii. §30 Swych a quantite of latitude as [sheweth] by thyn Almykanteras. 1464 Rolls Parlt. V. 519/2 A Graunte..of a pece or a quantite of Lande. 1611 Cotgr., Quartellée, a certaine quantitie of, or measure for, ground. 1758 S. Hayward Serm. xiv. 408 In a race there is a quantity of ground laid out. 1792 Burke Let. to R. Burke Corr. IV. 26 You would make them a grant of a sufficient quantity of your land. 1812–6 Playfair Nat. Phil. (1819) II. 214 A fixed star..occupies exactly the same place..within a quantity so small as to be hardly measurable. |
† 11. In adverbial phrases: great quantity, by or to a large amount or extent; to a great distance. a quantity, to some extent, considerably. a little quantity, a little way. Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 8816 Vp þai lifted oft-sith þe tre, It was to scort gret quantite. 1375 Barbour Bruce vi. 76 Endlang the vattir than ȝeid he On aithir syde gret quantite. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xix. 372 Þere nas no crystene creature þat kynde witte hadde,..That he ne halpe a quantite holynesse to wexe. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xxiii. 253 Thei leyn upon the hors gold and silver gret quantytee. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. xi. 157 Ek lyfte her plaunte a litel quantite. |
12. Math. A thing having quantity (see 4 above); a figure or symbol standing for such a thing. imaginary quantity: see the adj. 1 c.
| 1570 Billingsley Euclid xi. def. i. 312 A superficies is a quantitie of greater perfection then is a line. 1581 Sidney Apol. Poetrie (Arb.) 24 So doe the Geometrician, and Arithmetician, in their diverse sorts of quantities. 1700 Moxon Math. Dict. 133 Those Quantities are said to be commensurable, which have one Aliquot part..but Incommensurable Quantities have no Aliquot parts. 1806 Hutton Course Math. I. 201 Range the quantities according to the dimensions of some letter. 1831 Brewster Newton (1855) II. xiv. 11 He considered quantities not as composed of indivisibles, but as generated by motion. 1881 Maxwell Electr. & Magn. I. 11 There are certain cases in which a quantity may be measured with reference to a line as well as with reference to an area. |
| transf. 1864 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xii. xi. (1872) IV. 245 This Holy Romish Reich..has been more and ever more becoming an imaginary quantity. 1870 Rogers Hist. Gleanings Ser. ii. 9 Such a monarchy was a mere geographical quantity. 1883 Stevenson Silverado Squatters 134 Her husband was an unknown quantity. |
III. 13. attrib. and Comb., chiefly in terms relating to quantity of electricity, as quantity armature, quantity battery, quantity effect, quantity fuse, quantity galvanometer, quantity inductor; (sense 8) quantity output, quantity production; also quantity-mark, a mark indicating the quantity of a vowel or syllable; quantity surveyor, a surveyor who estimates the quantities of labour and materials required for building and engineering work; quantity theory (of money) the hypothesis that prices correspond to changes in the monetary supply; so quantity theorist.
| 1838 Morn. Chron. in Noad Electricity (1849) 401 The decomposing power of the quantity inductor. 1849 Noad Electricity 397 One..is used for quantity effects, such as igniting platinum wire. Ibid. 399 The quantity armature is constructed of stout iron. 1883 F. Jenkin Electr. & Magn. (ed. 7) 190 The term..‘quantity galvanometer’ [is used to signify] an instrument with few turns of thick wire [in its coil]. 1884 H. Sweet 13th Pres. Addr. Philol. Soc. 93 When..quantity and accent-marks are neglected. 1888 M. Frewen Econ. Crisis i. 5 More emphatic still is John Stuart Mill's statement of the ‘quantity theory’. ‘That an increase of the quantity of money’, wrote Mill, ‘raises prices, and a diminution lowers them, is the most elementary proposition in the theory of currency.’ 1895 Econ. Jrnl. V. 103 So far as concerns the possible causes on the side of money for the fall in prices, Lex denies that the ‘quantity theory’ affords any ground for speaking of an appreciation of gold. 1896 Daily News 5 Aug. 9/5 The plans of the buildings..will be now submitted to the quantity surveyor, with a view to the quantities being taken out. 1903 J. L. Laughlin Princ. Money vii. 225 (heading) History and literature of the quantity theory of money. 1908 Westm. Gaz. 8 May 8/3 Bills which had been through the hands of the quantity surveyor and architect. 1912 I. Fisher Purchasing Power of Money p. vii, The main contentions of this book are at bottom simply a restatement and complification of the old ‘quantity theory’ of money. 1919 Brit. Manufacturer Nov. 42/1 Quantity output may mean cheap production, but the manufacture of more modest quantities need not be much inferior in this aspect. Ibid., An immense home market..has encouraged him to undertake big quantity production. 1928 E. O'Neill Strange Interlude v. 159 The room is a typical sitting room of the quantity-production bungalow type. 1931 Times Lit. Suppl. 19 Feb. 124/2 The quantity theorists have always been baffled by variations in the public's habits and other factors. 1968 Internat. Encycl. Social Sci. X. 433 In its most rigid and unqualified form the quantity theory asserts strict proportionality between the quantity of what is regarded as money and the level of prices. 1972 Quantity surveyor [see 1 d above]. 1979 Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts. CXXVII. 445/1 The quantity surveyor's functions in the construction process may be described as cost planning, cost control, and the attainment of value for money expended. |