legitimacy
(lɪˈdʒɪtɪməsɪ)
[f. legitimate: see -acy.]
The fact of being legitimate.
1. a. The fact of being a legitimate child.
| 1691 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) II. 207 A virulent libell..endeavouring to prove the legitimacy of the prince of Wales, is printed. 1754–62 Hume Hist. Eng., Hen. III, II. 54 It had been formerly usual for the civil courts to issue writs to the spiritual, directing them to inquire into the legitimacy of the person. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. ii. 107 The innumerable refinements of the Romish canon law, which affected the legitimacy of children. |
† b. transf. Genuineness. Obs.
| 1695 Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth i. (1723) 36 The Legitimacy and Reality of these Marine bodies vindicated..I now re-assume my original design. |
2. Of a government or the title of a sovereign: The condition of being in accordance with law or principle. Now often, with respect to a sovereign's title, in a narrower sense: The fact of being derived by regular descent; occas. the principle of lineal succession to the throne, as a political doctrine.
| 1812 Niles' Reg. I. 404/1, I never hear an American citizen speak of the ‘legitimacy’ of princes without indignation or pity. 1817 J. Scott Paris Revisit. (ed. 4) 233 No one..will be found in this country to maintain that mere birth alone constitutes royal legitimacy. 1818 Lady Morgan Autobiog. (1859) 215 We were seated near the princesses..in the very foyer of ultra legitimacy. 1825 Macaulay Milton Ess. (1880) 16 The doctrine of Divine Right, which has now come back to us, like a thief from transportation, under the alias of Legitimacy. 1872 J. L. Sanford Estim. Eng. Kings 368 His [Oliver's] rule only wanted the stamp of legitimacy to entitle it to nearly unmixed praise. 1884 A. R. Pennington Wiclif vi. 180 We may differ in opinion as to the legitimacy of Urban or Clement. |
3. gen. Conformity to rule or principle; lawfulness. In Logic, conformity to sound reasoning.
| 1836 J. Gilbert Chr. Atonem. vi. (1852) 158 It has, however, been objected, that the difference in circumstances forbids the legitimacy of our assumption. 1864 Bowen Logic vii. 175 It seems better to test the legitimacy of each step. 1874 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 28 It is easy to see the causes which have led to this large advance, and impossible not to recognize their legitimacy. 1885 J. Rae in Contemp. Rev. June 904 An argument..in favour of the legitimacy of such philanthropic labours. |
† 4. Austral. slang. (See quot.) Obs.
| 1827 P. Cunningham 2 Yrs. N.S. Wales I. i. 16 The suspicion each entertains of legitimacy being the cause of the other's appearance. Note, Legitimacy, a colonial term for designating the cause of the emigration of a certain portion of our population; i.e. having legal reasons for making the voyage. |