relevancy
(ˈrɛlɪvənsɪ)
Also 6 Sc. reliv-.
[ad. L. type *relevantia: see next and -ancy.]
1. The quality or fact of being relevant: a. in Law, esp. Sc. Law.
| 1561 Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 173 Of the law it is requirit to the relevancie thairof that ather of the partis..be relevant in the self, utherwyise the haill to be nocht relevant. 1575–6 Ibid. II. 487 The relivancy of the said allegeance. 1693 Stair Instit. iv. xxxix. §12 (ed. 2) 665 The meaning of Relevancy (which is more accustomed with us, than else⁓where) imports the Justice of the point, that is alledged to be Relevant. a 1715 Burnet Own Time vii. (1734) II. 521 Then the Matter of the Charge, which is there called the Relevancy of the Libel, was to be argued by Lawyers. 1746–7 Act 20 Geo. II, c. 43 §41 After the debate of the relevancy is ended, the..procurators..shall give in to the clerk informations in writing. 1786 Burke Art. agst. W. Hastings Wks. 1842 II. 107/1 The competence, or credibility, or relevancy of any of the said affidavits, or other attestations. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xxii, The presiding Judge next directed the counsel to plead to the relevancy. 1838 W. Bell Dict. Law Scot. 844 The relevancy of the libel is the justice and sufficiency of the matters therein stated to warrant a decree in the terms asked. 1883 Law Rep. 11 Q.B. Div. 594 He failed to satisfy me that in a case in which this strict relevancy could not be proved the advocate would not be protected. |
b. in general use.
Now less common than relevance.
| 1826 Sheridaniana 49 His answer..would thus come with more relevancy and effect. 1839 Hallam Hist. Lit. ii. vii. §3 note, It is of no relevancy to the history of literature. 1878 Simpson Sch. Shaks. I. 95 His Irish enterprise had lost its appositeness and relevancy. 1961 Jrnl. Physical Chem. LXV 317/1 We are reporting these investigations..because of their relevancy to problems of the study of apparently simple exchange reactions of chlorine. 1980 Times Lit. Suppl. 30 May 609/2 A tendency to confuse relevancy with recency. |
2. A relevant remark. (Nonce use influenced by irrelevancy.)
| 1895 ‘Mark Twain’ in N. Amer. Rev. July 10 Conversations consisted mainly of irrelevancies, with here and there a relevancy, a relevancy with an embarrassed look, as not being able to explain how it got there. |