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QUANTITY.
1668 WILKINS Real Char. in. i. 306 Another, A certain
one, Some one, are for their Quantities, Singulars or Particulars
indeterminate. 1697 tr. Burgendicius' Logic i.
xxix 115 In Respect to Quantity, an Enunciation la diviiMd
into Universal, Particular, Indefinite, and Singular. 1725
WATTS Logic (1726) 160 Both particular and universal Propositions
which agree in Quality but not in Quantity are
call'd Subaltern. 183*-* [see INTENSION 5, EXTENSIVE 5].
1843 MILL Logic I. n. ii. i According to what are called the
quantity and quality of propositions. 1864 BOWEN Logic
v. 120 We may inquire concerning the number of objects
about which we judge, and thus determine the Quantity,
or Extension, of the Judgment. [See also EXTENSION 8 b.]
f 6. Relative or proportional size or amount,
proportion.
Obs. rare.
1551 RECORDE Cast. Ktiowl. (1556) 146 Euery darke body
giueth shadowe accordinge to the quantitie that it beareth
to that shyning body, which giueth the light. 1602 SHAKS.
Ham. 111. ii. 177 For womens Feare and Loue, holds
quantitie. In neither ought, or in extremity : .. And as my
Loue is siz'd, my Feare is so.
7. Great or considerable amount or bulk.
'753 HOGARTH Anal. Beauty vi. 29 Windsor castle is
a noble instance of the effect of quantity. 1877 RAYMOND
Statist. Mines $ Mining 175 Only the smelting-ores have
been extracted in quantity.
11. 8. A (specified) portion or amount of
an article or commodity. Also transf. of imma-
terial things. (Cf.
2 above.)
c 1325 Poem times Edw. //(Percy) xlii, Give the goodman
to drink A gode quantite. c 1400 MAUNDEV. (Roxb.) viii. 31
Of J>is liquour bai giffe a lytill quantitee til pilgrimes. 1484
CAXTON Fables ofAlfonce xi, A grete dele or quantite of
mostard. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 64 A lytell
quantite of sande in an other lytell bagge. 1602 SHAKS.
Ham. v. i.
203
Fortie thousand Brothers Could not (with all
there quantitie of Loue) Make up my summe. 1696 LUT-
TRELL KriefRel. (1857) IV. 4 Having received great quantities
of broad money from Exeter in to it.
ord_er clip 1752 JOHN-
SON Rambler No. 203 f 10 A certain quantity or measure of
renown. 1793 BEDDOES Calculus 223 A small quantity of
azotic air. 1825 LAMB Elia Ser. n. Stage Illusion, A sufficient
quantity of illusion for the purposes of dramatic
of snow.
interest. 1863 Q Rev. July 78 A certain quantity
b. An indefinite (usually a fair or considerable)
portion or amount ; ) a small piece, fragment.
1:1325 Song of Yesterday in E. E. P. (1862) 134 Of his
strengje he feost a quantite. c 1400 Song Roland &$ Offred
them every chon a quantite of gold. 1486 Bk. St. Albans
C vij, Take a quantyte of poorke . . and butter. 1535 COVER-
DALE i Sam. xxx. 12 They..gaue him a quantite of fygges,
& two quantities of rasyns. 1596 SHAKS. Tarn. Shr, iv.
iii. 112 Away thou Ragge, thou quantitie, thou remnant.
1597 2 Hen. IV, v. i. 77 If I were saw'de into Quantities
I should make foure dozen of such bearded Hermites staues.
1731 ARBUTHNOT Aliments vi. vii. 2 182 Warm anti-
(1735)
scorbutical Plants taken in Quantities will occasion stinking
Breath. 1852 MRS. STOWE Uncle Tom's C. xxxiii. 2t>9
Taking a quantity of cotton from her basket, she placed it
in his. 1883 Manch. Guard. 18 Oct. 4/7 Yesterday ..a
quantity of wreckage was cast up at Southport.
c. With def. article : The portion or amount
(of something) present in a particular thing or
instance.
1611 BIBLE 2 Esdras iv. 50 As the fire is greater then the
smoke . . so the quantity which is past, did more exceede.
1719 DE FOE Crusoe \. ix, I resolv'd to sow just the same
Quantity every Year. 1780 BENTHAM Princ. Legisl. xviii.
I 44 The quantity of sensible heat in a human body. 1837
Penny Cycl. IX. 343 The total quantity of electricity in the
charge of an electrised body. 1876 PREECE & SIVEWRIGHT
Telegraphy 2 We can speak of the quantity of sound caused
by the explosion of a cannon. Ibid., The force of attraction
is found to increase with the quantity of electricity present.
9. A specified, or indefinite (= fair, considerable),
number of persons or things.
'375 BARBOUR Srucevi. 235 [He] slew of thame a quantite.
14.. Pol. Rcl. tf L. Poems 36 Gadyr a good quantyte of
snayles. '4s6SiRG. H AVE Law Arms (S. T. 8.157 Almaist
mycht nane persave that ony quantitee of peple eschapit fra
the bataill. 1485 CAXTON Chas. Gt. 3 The moost quantyte of
the people vnderstonde not latyn. 1611 CORYAT Crudities
169 There is a farre greater quantity of buildings in this [the
Rialto] then in ours. 1750 BEAWES Lex Mercat. (1752) 8
A quantity of small marshy isles. 1852 MRS. CARLYLE Lett.
II. 198 Four chairs and a of
quantity pillows. 1897 MAKY
KINCSLEY W. Africa 241, I .. find in it a quantity of pools.
10. A certain space or surface ; a portion of
something having superficial
extent. Now rare.
1391 CHAUCER Astrol. n. 30 Swych a quantite of latitude
as [sheweth] by thyn Almykanteras. 1464 Rolls Parlt.
V. 519/2 A Graunte . . of a pece or a quantite of Lande. 161 1
COTCR., Quartellee, a certaine quantitie of, or measure for,
ground. 1758 S. HAYWARD Serm. xiv. 408 In a race there is
a quantity of ground laid out. 1792 BURKE Let. to R. Burke
Corr. IV. 26 You would make them a grant of a sufficient
quantity of your land. 1812-6 PLAYFAIR Nat. Phil. (1819)
1 1. 214 A fixed star . . occupies exactly the same . place .within
a quantity so small as to be hardly measurable.
1 11. In adverbial : phrases Great quantity, by or
to a large amount or extent ; to a great distance.
A quantity, to some extent, considerably. A little
quantity, a little way. Obs.
a 1300 Cursor M. 8816 Vp bai lifted oft-sith |>e tre, It was
to scort gret quantite. 1375 BARBOUR Bruce VI. 76 Endlang
the vattir than 3eid he On aithir syde gret quantite. 1377
LANGL. P. PI, B. xix. 372 pere nas no crystene creature pat
kynde witte hadde, ..That he ne
halpe
a quantite holynesse
to wexe. c 1400 MAUNDEV. (1839) xxiii. 253 Thei leyn upon
the hors gold and silver gret quantylee. c 1420 Pallad. on
Husb. XI. 157 Ek lyfte her plaunte a litel quantite.
12. Math. A thing having quantity (see 4
above) ; a figure or symbol standing for such a
I c.
thing. Imaginary quantity : see the adj.
21
157 HII.LINGSLEY Euclid xi. def. i. 312 A superficies is a
quanlitie of greater perfection then is a line. 1581 SIDNKY
Apol. Poctric(AA.\ 24 So doe the Geometrician, and Arith-
metician, in their diverse sorts of quantities. 1700 MOXON
Math. Diet. 133 Those Quantities are said to be commensurable,
which have one Aliquot part.. but Incommensurable
Quantities have no Aliquot parts. 1806 HUTTON Course
Math. I. 201 Range the quantities according to the dimensions
of some letter. 1831 BREWSTER Newton (1855) II. xiv.
1 1 He considered quantities not as composed of indivisibles,
but as generated by motion. 1881 MAXWELL Electr.^ ty
Afagn. L n There are certain cases in which a quantity
may be measured with reference to a line as well as with
reference to an area.
transf. 1864 CARLYLE Fredk. Gt. xn. xi. (1872) IV. 245
This Holy Romish Reich .. has been more and ever more
becoming an imaginary quantity. 1870 ROGERS Hist. Gleanings
Ser. n. 9 Such a monarchy was a mere geographical
quantity. 1883 STEVENSON Silverado Squatters 134 Her
husband was an unknown quantity.
III. 13. attrib. and Comb., chiefly in terms
relating to quantity of electricity, as quantity
armature, battery, effect, fuse, galvanometer, inductor;
also quantity-mark, a mark indicating
the quantity of a vowel or syllable ; quantity-
surveyor, a surveyor who estimates the quantities
of the materials required for any work.
1838 Morn. Chron. in Noad's Electricity (18491 401 The
decomposing power of the quantity inductor. 1849 NOAD
Electricity 397 One . . is used for quantity effects, such as
armature is
igniting platinum wire. Ibid. 399 The quantity
constructed of stout iron. 1883 JENKIN Electr. * Magn.
(ed. 7) 190 The term . .
'quantity galvanometer
'
[is used to
signify] an instrument with few turns of thick wire [in its
coil). 1884 H. SWEET 13** Pres. Adiir. Philol. Soc. 93
When . . quantity and accent-marks are neglected. 1896
Daily News 5 Aug. 9/5 The plans
of the buildings., will be
now submitted to the quantity surveyor, with a view to the
quantities being taken out.
Quantivalence (kwgntrvalens) . [f. L. quanticomb.
form of quantum how much + -valence
after equi-valence.]
1. Of a chemical element : The extent to which
one of its atoms can hold other atoms in combination
; valence ; atomicity.
1871 ROSCOE./H. Chem. 172 This difference of combining
power is termed Quantivalence
of the elements. 1882 STALLO
Concepts Mod. Phys. 36 Dyads, .and other elements of still
higher quantivalence.
2. Mechanical equivalence.
1890 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 9 Aug. 319/2 It shows that the
quantivalence of nerve force is exceedingly small.
So Quanti -valency = prec. ; Qnanti'valent a.
pertaining or relating to quantivalence.
Quantong, variant of QUANDONG.
Quant, suff., abbrev. of QUANTUM SUFFICIT.
t Qna'ntnlate, v. Obs. rare 1 ,
[f. L. quanlus
how great (? after calculate).'] trans. To calculate
the magnitude of.
1610 W. FOLKINGHAM Art of Survey n. iv. 53 Quantulate
the angle betwixt the marke and second station.
II Quantulum (kwj-ntirfli'm). [L., neut. of
quantulus how small.] A small quantum.
1824 SOUTHEY Sir T. More (1831) II. 260 The quantulum
at which Oxenstern admired would be a large allowance
now.
II Quantum (kwg-ntAn). PI. quanta (rare).
[L., neut. of quantus how much, how great.]
1. Sum, amount. = QUANTITY 2.
1619 PURCHAS Microcosmus xxxii. 302 To set The true
t
Quantum, the true poize and price vpon himselfe. 1738
Hist. Crt. Excheq. iii. 43 To vote in the first Place, that the
King should be supplied ; in the next Place, the Quantum
of the Supply. 1701 NEWTE Tour Eng. ft Scot. 179 The
momentum of bodies depends on the quantum of their
velocity multiplied into that of their matter. 1818 CRUISE
Digest (ed. 2) I. 427 If the union and accession of the two
estates were the cause of the merger, the quantum of the
thing granted would be the measure of that merger.
b. = QUANTITY 7.
1815 W. H. IRELAND Scribblcomania 33 His has not
study
been for quantum to strive, But with beauties to keep the
attention alive.
2. = QUANTITY 12.
1647 H. MORE Song of Soul ii.Lu.lv, Each quantum's
infinite, straight will be said. 1678 CUDWORTH Intell. Syst.
i . v. 783 Though it be an Absolute Contradiction, for a Body,
or Quantum, to be. .All of it in every Part of that Space,
which the Whole is in.
1877 E ' CAIRD Philos. Kant n. xi.
442 All phenomena, as perceived, are extensive quanta.
3. One's share or portion.
1649 JER. TAYLOR Gt. Exemp. n. xii. 94 Poverty is her
portion, and her quantum is but food and raiment. 1724
SWIFT Drapier's Lett. Wl