simultaneous, a.
(sɪməlˈteɪnɪəs)
[ad. L. type *simultāneus, formed (prob. after mōmentāneus) on L. simul at the same time: cf. F. simultané (1740), Sp., Pg., and It. simultaneo.
Med.L. simultāneus is given by Du Cange only in the sense of ‘simulated’. Blount (Glossogr. 1656), citing simultaneous from L'Estrange, wrongly associates it with L. simultas, and explains it as ‘that is privily displeased or hates with dissembling countenance’. Phillips (1658), as usual, repeats the mistake in different words. Marvell in his Def. Howe (1678) refers to the word as ‘an elegant term of The Discourse's own production’ (Wks., ed. Grosart, IV. 199).]
1. a. Existing, happening, occurring, operating, etc., at the same time; coincident in time.
| a 1660 Hammond Wks. (1683) IV. 570 All that we have need of..is only Gods concurrence, whether previous or simultaneous. 1677 Owen Justific. ix. Wks. 1852 III. 213 There are they [faith and repentance] so frequently conjoined in the Scripture as one Simultaneous duty. 1701 Norris Ideal World i. ii. 45 He [God]..compares both means and ends together in one simple simultaneous view. 1815 Kirby & Sp. Entom. (1818) I. 498 They are not moved to it by a simultaneous but by a successive impulse. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. ii. I. 267 It was proposed that there should be simultaneous insurrections in London..and at Newcastle. 1879 G. C. Harlan Eyesight iii. 42 The simultaneous use of both eyes is called ‘binocular vision’. |
| transf. 1896 Howells Impress. & Exper. 39 The railroad and the telegraph have made the little place simultaneous with New York and London. |
b. simultaneous contrast: the effect of mutual modification of two contiguous areas of colour.
| 1848 M. Chevreul in T. Graham Chem. Rep. & Mem. v. 187, I will designate by the term simultaneous contrast the modification of colour and height of tone experienced by two differently coloured objects when seen simultaneously. 1890 [see border-line 1]. 1961 G. Millerson Technique Television Production iii. 45 The final values of any surface will vary with..simultaneous contrast. 1977 Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXV. 616/2 Equally clear from the painting in the Fitzwilliam is Titian's awareness of what has since become known as the law of simultaneous contrast: the interaction of forms at the edges, so that the tone and colour of each is intensified by reaction with the other. |
c. In
Chess, denoting a number of games played against a number of opponents simultaneously by one player. Also
absol.| 1883 G. A. Macdonnell Chess Life-Pictures ii. 109 One of his strongest opponents in a simultaneous sans voir performance lost his game. 1938 P. W. Sergeant Championship Chess ii. 34 Steinitz..gave a simultaneous display against twenty-two opponents at the New Vienna Chess Club. 1964 Nabokov & Scammell tr. Nabokov's Defence v. 77 An onlooker knowing nothing about simultaneous chess would be utterly baffled at the sight of these elderly men in black sitting gloomily behind boards that bristle thickly with curiously cut manikins, while a nimble..lad..walks lightly from table to table. 1974 Saidy & Lessing World of Chess i. 24/1 The simultaneous exhibition places a premium on quick recognition of tactical threats, strong legs, and sheer physical endurance. |
d. Broadcasting. (See
quots.)
Cf. S.B.
s.v. S 4 a.
| 1923 Radio Times 28 Sept. 2/3 Simultaneous broadcasting is a combination of ordinary and wireless telephony, whereby it becomes possible to broadcast at one or more stations a performance given at any other station in the country. 1971 Gloss. Electrotechnical, Power Terms (B.S.I.) iii. iv. 6 Simultaneous broadcast, broadcast by a number of transmitters of the same programme at the same time. |
e. Denoting a running oral translation of the spoken word or one skilled in this art, as
simultaneous interpreter,
simultaneous translation,
simultaneous translator, etc.
| 1958 R. Glémet in A. H. Smith Aspects of Translation 120 With simultaneous interpretation..your ‘intellection’ of the speech need not be so thorough, but your response to words must be still quicker than before—the speaker speaks, and you are speaking too. 1965 M. Spark Mandelbaum Gate vi. 187 Barbara turned the switch of her earphones to other simultaneous translations—French, Italian, then back to English. 1968 ‘D. Torr’ Treason Line 40 The simultaneous interpreters in their sound-proof boxes adjusting their earphones. 1971 Guardian 24 Mar. 3/5 The theatre, which only performs in Yiddish, has to have earphones with simultaneous translations for the audience. 1974 Spartanburg (S. Carolina) Herald 25 Apr. b 8/9 Simultaneous interpreters returned to their glass booths at the United Nations on Wednesday. 1977 M. T. Bloom 13th Man (1978) ii. 18 She's a simultaneous translator... Does a lot of work for the UN and international conferences. |
2. spec. in
Math., as
simultaneous equation,
simultaneous function,
simultaneous root, etc. (see
quots.).
| 1816 Babbage in Phil. Trans. 183 There may be another second function of ψ (x, y), which..may for the sake of distinction be called the second simultaneous function relative to x and y. 1842 Colenso Elem. Algebra (ed. 3) §72 Simultaneous Equations of one Dimension... Equations of this kind,..to be satisfied by the same pair or pairs of values of x and y, are called simultaneous equations. 1842 G. Peacock Treat. Algebra I. 232 Such pairs or sets of equations in which the same unknown symbols appear, which are assumed to possess the same values throughout, are called simultaneous equations. 1882 Cayley Math. Papers XII. (1897) 124 The summation extends to all the simultaneous roots x{p}, y{p} of the equations U = 0, V = 0. |