correction
(kəˈrɛkʃən)
Also 4 co(r)reccioun, 4–6 correccion, -cyon, -tioun(e, -one, (5 coreccion, correxyon).
[a. Anglo-F. correccioun = F. correction, ad. L. correctiōn-em, n. of action f. corrigĕre (ppl. stem correct-) to correct.]
1. The action of correcting or setting right; substitution of what is right for what is erroneous in (a book, etc.); amendment. Hence, loosely, pointing out or marking of errors (in order to their removal). correction of the press: i.e. of printers' errors.
| 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 9594 If any defaut in þis tretice be..I wil stand til þe correccion of ilka rightwyse lered man. 1485 Caxton Chas. Gt. iii. ii. 251 Yf in al thys book I haue mesprised..I demaunde correxyon and amendement. a 1535 G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 1053 Submyttyng me to the correction of your grace. 1599 Thynne Animadv. (1865) 19 Chaucer dothe submytte the Correctione of his woorkes to Gower. 1611 Bible Transl. Pref. 4 That Translation was not so..perfect but that it needed in many places correction. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 144 ¶9 The accuracy..of the style was produced by the successive correction of the chief criticks of the age. 1850 Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. vi. 80 All experience is a correction of life's delusions. 1857 Whewell Hist. Induct. Sc. I. 367 The correction of the calendar. 1877 Blackie's Pop. Encycl. II. 565/2 In the early times of the art of printing more attention was paid..to the correction of the press. 1879 Geo. Eliot Theo. Such xi, To admit that he has made a blunder or to appear conscious of correction. |
b. phr. under correction: subject to correction; a formula expressing deference to superior information, or critical authority. So † saving correction.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iii. 1282 For myne wordes here and euery part I speke hem alle vnder correccioun Of yow. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon i. 21 It semeth me (spekynge vnder correction) that my lorde..hath enterprised a great foly. 1599 Thynne Animadv. 57 Sauing correctione, the former sence is good. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iii. ii. 130 Captaine Mackmorrice, I thinke, looke you, vnder your correction, there is not many of your Nation. 1662 Dryden Wild Gall. iii. i, I do not conceive myself, under correction, so inconsiderable a person. 1867 Stubbs Med. & Mod. Hist. (1886) 17, I speak under correction; for I do not pretend to look at the subject as a question of psychology. |
2. (with a and pl.) An act or instance of emendation; concr. that which is substituted for what is wrong or faulty, esp. in a literary work; an emendation.
| 1528 Gardiner in Pocock Rec. Ref. I. li. 130 Wherein when we saw the additions, detractions, and corrections. 1599 Thynne Animadv. (1865) 2 The annotacions and corrections delivered by master Speghte upon the last editione of Chaucers Workes. 1738 Birch Life Milton Wks. 1738 I. 7 To see the first Thoughts and subsequent Corrections of so great a Poet as Milton. 1832 Babbage Econ. Manuf. xxi. (ed. 3) 207 He should make the whole of his corrections in the manuscript, and should copy it out fairly. 1875 Ure Dict. Arts III. 648 The compositor..makes the corrections in the types, by lifting out the wrong letters..and putting in right ones in their places. |
† 3. The correcting (of a person) for faults of character or conduct; reprehension, rebuke, reproof. Obs.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter ix. 24 Grete ire is of god when coreccioun is away & flaterynge comes. 1382 Wyclif Hos. v. 9 In the day of correction [1388 amendyng; Vulg. correptionis]. ― Tit. iii. 10 Schonye thou a man heretyk, aftir oon and the secunde coreccioun, or correpcioun, or reprouyng. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 40 Fervent in the correction of other mennes vices. 1611 Bible 2 Tim. iii. 16 All Scripture..is profitable for doctrine, for reproofe, for correction. 1794 Paley Evid. (1797) 34 His repeated correction of the ambition of his disciples. 1814 D'Israeli Quarrels Auth. (1867) 384 Wotton, in a dignified reproof, administered a spirited correction to the party-spirit. |
4. The correcting (of a person) by disciplinary punishment; chastisement, properly with a view to amendment; but frequently in later use (now somewhat arch.) of corporal punishment, flogging.
| c 1386 Chaucer Friar's T. 22 Thanne hadde he thurgh his Iurisdiccion Power to doon on hem correccion. c 1400 Three Kings Cologne xxxiii. (1886) 123 [They] myȝt not reuoke þe pepil from her eresyes by no spirituel correccioun ne temporel correccioun. 1526 Pilgr. Pref. (W. de W. 1531) 3 b, In the lawe of Moyses there was almoost no correcyon for notable and great crymes but deth. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia ii. 38 Their ordinary correction is to beate them with cudgels. 1662 Bk. Com. Prayer, Visit. Sick, Sanctify..this thy fatherly correction to him. 1779–81 Johnson L.P., Blackmore Wks. III. 179 Correction seldom effects more than the suppression of faults. 1780 J. Comyns Digest Laws Eng. V. 588 Other Instruments of Punishment or Correction are..The Pillory and Stocks. 1836 Sir J. Elley in Ho. Com. 26 Feb., Corporal punishment—a mode of correction we all deplore. 1844 Thackeray Barry Lyndon xviii, I..administered such a correction across the young caitiff's head and shoulders with my horsewhip. |
† b. An exercise of correcting discipline. c. Correcting control. Obs.
| 1465 Paston Lett. No. 502 II. 186 Desyryng hys Lordshyp that..a correccyon myȝt be hadde, in as moch as he was.. hys ordynare, and..he was a prest and under hys correccyon. |
d. house of correction: a building for the confinement and punishment of offenders, esp. with a view to their reformation; a bridewell.
| 1575–6 Act 18 Eliz. c. 3 §5 In everye Countye..one Two or more Abyding Howses..shalbe provided, and called the Howse or Howses of Correction for setting on worcke and punishinge..of suche as..shalbee taken as Roges. 1611 in N. Riding Rec. I. 225 Ordered That a House of Correction be erected in the Towne of Richmond for the whole North Riding and Richmond Towne. 1670 Marvell Corr. Wks. 1872–5 II. 354 The Bill for Conventicles..orders that who cannot pay his 5s...shall worke it out in the House of Correction. 1766 Entick London IV. 386 A bridewell or house of correction. 1838 Dickens O. Twist xiii, A miserable shoeless criminal, who had been..committed..to the House of Correction for one month. 1890 Home Office Order, To The Keeper of the House of Correction, at Preston, in the County of Lancaster. |
† 5. Control, regulation, governance. Obs.
| 1657 Howell Londinop. 17 They have had the conservation and correction of the River of Thames. |
6. The counteracting or neutralizing of the ill effect of (something hurtful or unpleasant).
| 1477 Norton Ord. Alch. vi. in Ashm. (1652) 97 Another Furnace..serving..for Correction called Ablution. 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. cv, This strong medicine..ought not to be giuen inwardly unto delicate bodies without great correction. 1747 Wesley Prim. Physic (1762) p. xv, Other Medecines which need no such Correction. |
7. a. Math. and Physics. The addition or subtraction of some quantity to or from the result of an observation or calculation, to bring it into accordance with certain standard conditions; the quantity so added or subtracted. † correction of a fluent (in Fluxions): the determination of what is now called the constant of integration; the constant itself.
| 1743 W. Emerson Fluxions, And finding the Fluent, z = sx2 / 2tt , which needs no Correction (because when z = o, x = o). 1796 Hutton Math. Dict. I. 482 s.v. Fluent, The Fluent of a given fluxion, found as above, sometimes..wants a correction. 1839 Penny Cycl. XIII. 422/2 The correction for the thickness [of the lens], to be subtracted from F [the focal distance]. 1890 C. A. Young Elem. Astron. xiv. §492 The correction for parallax always has to be added to the observed altitude. |
b. Optics. The counteraction of the aberration or dispersion of the rays in a lens or other optical instrument.
| 1856 Carpenter Microscope (1875) 45 If the lenses be so adjusted that their correction is perfect for an uncovered object. 1890 C. A. Young Elem. Astron. xvi. §533 To give the most perfect possible correction of the spherical aberration as well as of the chromatic. Ibid. §534 It is not possible with the kinds of glass hitherto available to obtain a perfect correction of color. |
† 8. The condition of being corrected or correct (in style). Obs. rare. [A Gallicism.]
| 1759 Johnson in Mrs. Lennox tr. Brumoy's Gr. Theatre III. 154 No poetry lasts long that is not very correct; the ballance therefore seems to incline in favour of correction... So certain is it that correction is the touch-stone of poetry. |
9. attrib. and Comb., as correction-house = house of correction (see 4 d); correction-proof a., proof against correction; correction-table, a table of corrections (see 7).
| c 1625 R. Harris Hezekiah's Recov. (1630) 28 There be, in the countrey..correction-houses to be builded. 1630 in Sir F. M. Eden Hist. Poor I. 159 That the Correction-Houses in all Counties may be made adjoining to the Common prisons and the gaoler to be made Governor of them. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. ii. xvi. 111 A stubborn youth, correction-proof. 1815 Scott Guy M. xlviii, A..fierce attack..upon the outer gate of the Correction-House. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. ix. (1856) 67 Language as exact and mathematical as their own correction tables. |
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Add: [9.] correction officer U.S. = prison officer s.v. prison n. 3 a.
| 1940 Ann. Rep. N.Y. State Commission of Correction 1939 xiii. 141 The custodial staff consists of two Captains, three Acting Captains, and 97 *Correction Officers. 1986 N.Y. Times 13 Nov. b3/1 A car driven by an off-duty correction officer slammed into the scene of an earlier, minor accident on a Queens highway. |