creation
(kriːˈeɪʃən)
[a. F. création (14th c. in Littré) or ad. L. creātiōn-em, n. of action f. creāre to create.]
1. a. The action or process of creating; the action of bringing into existence by divine power or its equivalent; the fact of being so created.
| 1393 Gower Conf. III. 91 To-fore the creacion Of any worldes stacion. 1413 Lydg. Pilgr. Sowle iv. xvi. (1483) 63, I was present at his first creacion. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 15 b, From the creacyon of the worlde vnto this tyme. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. ii. xxvi. §2 As when a new Particle of Matter doth begin to exist..which had before no Being; and this we call Creation. 1736 Butler Anal. i. v. Wks. 1874 I. 92 That mature state of life, which was the end of his [man's] creation. 1830 Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 399 The creation of a new lake, the engulphing of a city, or the raising of a new island. 1858 Mansel Bampton Lect. ii. (ed. 4) 35 We can think of creation only as a change in the condition of that which already exists. |
b. absol. The calling into existence of the world; the beginning, as a date.
| 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 924 From the creation to the general doom. 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. ii. ii. §9 Could Noah then be ignorant of the Creation, and the fall of man? 1665 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 370 As if all India was theirs by title from the Creation. 1831 Brewster Newton (1855) II. xvi. 100 The account of the creation in Genesis. |
2. a. gen. The action of making, forming, producing, or bringing into existence.
| 1602 Shakes. Ham. iii. iv. 138 This is the very coynage of your Braine: This bodilesse Creation extasie Is very cunning in. 1769 Blackstone Comm. iv. 420 The creation of estates tail. 1841–4 Emerson Ess., Art Wks. (Bohn) I. 145 In our fine arts, not imitation, but creation, is the aim. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xxvii. 216 Down these we swept..usually accompanied by an avalanche of our own creation. 1867 Bright Sp. Amer. 29 June, The creation of that opinion which has made slavery hateful. |
b. The formation or flotation of a business company.
| 1898 Westm. Gaz. 15 Mar. 6/1 An Australian Brewery Creation. Ibid. 6/3 Engineering creations are becoming quite plentiful. This week end will witness the flotation of the old-established business of Jesse Ellis and Co. |
3. a. The investing with a title, dignity or function.
| 1460 J. Capgrave Chron. 297 This Alisaunder graunted..plener remission in the first day of his creacion. 1491 Act 7 Hen. VII, c. 16 §7 The creacion of your seid subgiet into the Erle of Surrey. 1621 H. Elsing Debates Ho. Lords (Camden) 93 That the LL. of the newe creacion may be brought into the House, eache by 2 other LL. 1720 Ozell Vertot's Rom. Rep. I. vi. 325 This restless..People..required Decemvirs, and we consented to their Creation. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 520 The Tory party had always been strong among the peers. It..had been reinforced..by several fresh creations. |
b. At Cambridge University before 16 Oct. 1926, the ceremony on Commencement Day in which the professors in the various faculties (or other officials for some degrees) recited the names of those who had been admitted doctors (doctors designate) during the past year and the senior proctor the names of those who had been admitted masters (inceptors).
| 1832 J. Romilly Diary 3 July (1967) 18 Com[mencemen]t Tuesday. Went at 8 to see the Creation of M.A.s. 1839 Ibid. 2 July 173 The greatest batch of D{supr}{sups} time immemorial for Creation. 1860 Univ. Cambr., Method Proceed. Arts 26 The Inceptors in every year become complete Masters of Arts by creation on the commencement day. 1902 Student's Handbk. Cambridge 341 The day appointed for the..process known as ‘creation’ in the case of Masters and Doctors in the various faculties. 1928 Camb. Univ. Cal. 102 The new Statutes have abolished the practice by which (i) Bachelors in Arts, Law, [etc.]..remained ‘Bachelors designate’ until the last week-day of December... (ii) Masters and Doctors only attained the full degree by ‘Creation’. |
4. concr. a. That which God has created; the created world; creatures collectively.
Lord of Creation = man: see lord.
| 1611 Bible Rom. viii. 22 For wee know that the whole creation groaneth. 1658 Sir T. Browne Hydriot. i, Which in fourty dayes swallowed almost mankinde and the living creation. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 722 A Plague did on the dumb Creation rise. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 280 This vast tract of land..is a fruitful..part of the creation. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 175 ¶13 A race with whom..the whole creation seems to be at war. 1783–94 Blake Songs Innoc., Cradle Song 18 All creation slept and smiled. |
b. Used in various phrases with all (see quots.), or as an exclamation; also to beat creation, lick creation, or whip creation, to surpass everything. U.S. colloq.
| 1825 J. Neal Brother Jonathan I. 257 Giving out his challenge..in a loud voice, for ‘Indian hug’..or ‘close hug’, to all creation. 1830–33 S. Smith Sel. Lett. Downing (1834) 14 But when in all creation any of 'em will be finished I guess it would puzzle a Philadelphy lawyer to tell. 1839 F. Trollope Dom. Manners Amer. xxix. 271 Well! if that don't beat creation! 1839 Yale Lit. Mag. IV. 363 (Th.), He pulls like all creation, as the woman remarked when the horse ran away with her. 1843 T. C. Haliburton Attaché II. ix. 159 ‘Creation, man,’ said Mr. Slick, ‘I have done it.. and you didn't know it.’ Ibid. xii. 230 Creation! how he looked. 1862 ‘E. Kirke’ Among Pines xiii. 237 Go to Wilmington and telegraph all creation. 1873 C. M. Yonge Pillars of House I. vi. 127 An English gentleman, who, Mr. Travis [an American] says, if he has money to spend, does whip creation. 1899 R. Whiteing No. 5 John St. xiv. 148 Our luncheon tent's goin' to beat creation. 1917 H. T. Comstock Man thou Gavest 347 This out-of-door stuff costs like all creation. |
5. a. An original production of human intelligence or power; esp. of imagination or imaginative art.
| 1605 Shakes. Macb. ii. i. 38 Or art thou but A Dagger of the Minde, a false Creation, Proceeding from the heat-oppressed Braine? 1709 Pope Ess. Crit. 493 The treach'rous colours the fair art betray, And all the bright creation fades away! 1813 Shelley Q. Mab vii. 62 Fancy's thin creations. 1862 Merivale Rom. Emp. (1865) IV. xxxiv. 130 Lugdunum was a new creation of the Roman power. 1888 Child Eng. & Sc. Pop. Ball. III. v. cxvii. 42/2 Robin Hood is absolutely a creation of the ballad-muse. |
b. spec. The first representation on the stage of a dramatic character or role; a dramatic character ‘made’ by a particular artist. (Cf. create v. 2 c and F. création.)
| 1872 Gentl. Mag. Feb. 195 One of Mr. Irving's latest successes has been the ‘creation’ of Jingle in the version of ‘Pickwick’. 1881 Punch 17 Dec. 288/1 The character of Maximilian..was doubtless written expressly for Robson, and, therefore, as one of that actor's ‘creations’ carries with it a Robsonian tradition. |
c. A costume, etc., designed by an expert modiste. Also applied to other kinds of ‘confection’.
| [1864 Englishwoman's Domestic Mag. May 45/2 We will now give you..the last creation, as they say here [sc. in France]—invention would be thought sufficiently grand in England.] 1873 Young Englishwoman June 284/1 Gagelin has just launched out into the world of fashion his new creations for the season of travelling. 1878 Cassell's Farm Mag. IV. 107/2 The ‘Empress’ is another of this season's creations. 1884 Pharmaceutical Jrnl. 22 Nov. 407/1 A fresh, clear healthful complexion..comforts the mind and eye far more than all the pearl-white and rose-pink ‘creations’. 1886 Kipling Plain Tales from Hills (1888) 10 It was what The Queen calls ‘a creation’. 1898 Daily News 17 Sept. 6/2 A recent ‘creation’—to use the curious technical word—consists of dark blue repp with heliotrope velvet let in. 1921 13th Ann. Drapery etc. Exhib. (Advt.), Our creations are bought throughout the world, where the demand exists for furs which are correct. 1929 ‘J. Dashwood’ Three Daughters (1930) xvi, Judy, radiant in a tiara and a creation of Rosalie's. |
6. Comb., as creation-day; creation money, an annual payment by the Crown to a newly created peer; creation science chiefly U.S., science teaching based on a fundamentalist interpretation of the Book of Genesis, incorporating a creation of the universe, the individual creation of plant and animal species, and a catastrophic theory of geology.
| 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 556 Beasts, whom God on their Creation-Day Created mute to all articulat sound. 1671 F. Phillips Reg. Necess. 454 The Dukes and Marquesses a greater yearly annuity or Creation money. 1878 Stubbs Const. Hist. III. 436 The earl's creation money, twenty pounds, was a substitute for the third penny of the county..and the retention of this payment probably suggested the bestowal of creation money on those who were raised to the newer ranks of peerage. Ibid. III. 526. 1979 Los Angeles Times 10 Nov. i–a. 1/1 A law suit seeking to include ‘scientific creation’ as part of biological science classes has been filed by the Creation Science Research Center, a non-profit, San Diego-based group that publishes creation textbooks. 1981 Gen. Acts 73rd Gen. Assembly Arkansas II. ii. 1231 An act to require balanced treatment of creation-science and evolution-science in public schools. 1981 Nature 3 Dec. 389/1 By requiring equal time for what is called ‘creation-science’ with Darwinism, is the state of Arkansas violating the provision of the United States that ensures the separation of religion and the state? 1986 N.Y. Times 12 Jan. vii. 11/2 The ‘creation science’ movement, Mr. Shapiro notes, has been quick to seize on this state of affairs as evidence for a divine Creator. 1987 Washington Post 20 June a1/5 The Supreme Court, in a major defeat for religious fundamentalists, voted 7 to 2 yesterday to strike down as unconstitutional state laws that require public schools to teach ‘creation science’ if they teach the theory of evolution. |