colonization
(ˌkɒlənaɪˈzeɪʃən)
[f. colonize + -ation.]
1. a. The action of colonizing or fact of being colonized; establishment of a colony or colonies.
| 1770 Burke Pres. Discont. Wks. 1852 III. 113 Our growth by colonization, and by conquest. 1849 Grote Greece ii. xxii. (ed. 2) III. 465 The stream of Grecian colonisation to the westward..begins from the 11th Olympiad. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 59 Colonization is in some ways easier when the colony is drawn from one country. |
b. with of.
| 1776 Adam Smith W.N. iv. vii. §3 init., The discovery and colonisation of America. 1861 Goldw. Smith Irish Hist. 99 James carried on the colonization of Ireland. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. iv. 191 Some real Danish colonization of the peninsula. |
c. attrib. colonization scheme: see colonizationist.
| 1837 H. Martineau Soc. Amer. II. 111 The chief officers of the Colonisation Society. Ibid., The Colonisation scheme..and the abolition scheme. |
d. transf. The establishment of a colony of animals or plants (cf. colonize v. 3).
| 1903 M. C. Stopes in New Phytologist II. 186 (heading) The colonisation of a dried river-bed. 1905 F. E. Clements Res. Methods Ecol. iv. 210 By invasion is understood the movement of plants from an area..into one of a different character, and their colonization in the latter. 1939 Jrnl. Animal Ecol. VIII. 37 Two years' observation on the colonization of this piece of shore. 1969 Gloss. Landscape Work (B.S.I.) v. 23 Colonization, the occupation of ground by plants adventitiously introduced, which thereafter establish themselves. |
2. The action of placing political supporters where their votes will be important. U.S. politics.
| 1839 New Yorker 13 Apr. 2/1 ‘Colonization’ or the removal of voters from the certain to the doubtful wards. 1842 Congress. Globe 31 May, App. 471/1 Among these [sc. modern phrases describing political knavery] ‘colonization’ and ‘pipe-laying’ were the most significant. 1914 Cycl. Amer. Govt. III. 629 In crowded city wards colonization of voters is sometimes attempted. |