Here - Norm's Book Club

VISION. 249 VISIONABY.
personage, of that sangre azul which marked high Visigothic
desgent. 1884 EncycL Brit. XVII. 655, 2 The money
of the Iberian Peninsula begins with the Visigolhic series,
which consists of gold pieces.
Visinage, obs. form of Vicinage.
Vision (vi'53n), sb. Forms: 3-6 visioun^ 4
-iun, -iowne, -eoun, vysyoun, 5 vysyoune, 5-6
Sc. wisioun ; 4-5 vysione,vy8yon, 5 vyssyon,
5-6 vysion ; 4- vision (5 uision, visionne), 4-6
viiJyon (6 Sc. vesyne. [a. AF. visiun, visiourty
OF. vision (-^ Sp. visiouy It. visione)^ or ad. L.
vision-^ vtsio sight, seeing, thing seen, f. vts-, ppl.
stem of videre to see.]
1. Something which is apparently seen otherwise
than by ordinary sight ; esp. an appearance of a
prophetic or mystical character, or having the
nature of a revelation, supernaturally presented to
the mind either in sleep or in an abnormal state.
Beatific vision : see Beatific a. b.
In early texts a vision cannot always be clearly separated
from avision,
c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 52 Scint Edward cam al-so anight
ase in a visioun To an holi man l>at J>ere was nei?. a 1300
Cursor M, 4454 AIs bat lai in hat prisun, A-naght J»am mete
a visiun. 1338 R. Brunne Chron. (i8io) 65 Who so lokes
his life, & redis his vision. What vengeance ordeyned was
on Inglond to be don. c 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 4369 pis
was t»at lohan saw in a vision Of hym t>at semed be virgyn
son. 1387 T vt.E.\ iSK Higden {KoWs) III. iispat^erebyfel )>e
secounde sijt and visioun of Daniel, of be aungel bat delyuerede
)pe children out of be oucne. ^1430 Lydg. Afin.
Poems (Percy Soc.) 98 This prophetc.Be a visioune so
hevenly atid divjTie, Toke a chalice, c 1450 Mirk's FesHal
17 When he had told b« Jtyng of bys vysion. b* kyng made
prechc hit ouer all be reme. i5a6 PUgr. Per/. (W. de W.
1531) 3 The seruaunt of god Moyses had moost hye reuelacyons
& visyons. 1560 Daus tr. SUidane's Contm. 65
Secrete teachers that fayned themselves to see visions, and
to have talke with God. 158^ Ltlv Sappho iv. iii. 56, I
haue had many phantastical vi^ons, for euen now slumb*
ring by your bcddes side, mee thought I wasshadowed with
a cTowd. 1615 G. Sandys Trot'. 227 But behold an accident,
which I rather thought at the first to haue bene a
vision, then (as I f mnd it) reall. 1669 Dkydf.n Tyrannick
Love I. i, Char. Wliat did the Vision shew? Pletcitf...K
Town besieg'd ; and on the neighboring Plain Lay heaps of
visionary Souldiers slain. 171 1 Addison Sped. No. 159 p 8,
I then turned again to the Vision which I had been so long
contemplating. 1757 Gray Hard 107 Visions of glory,
spare my achmg sight. i8os Levoen Mermaid xxvi, Like
one that from a fearful dream Awakes,.. Yet fears to find
the vision true, a 1859 Dr Quiscey Dream Fugue V/\cs.
1897 XIII. 319 On the ocean,. .the unknown lady from the
dreadful vision, and I myself are floating. i8i6o Pusey
Min. Propk. 80 In the vision. God is understood to have
represented things to come, as a picture to the prophet's
mmd.
b. Without article, (Cf. Avision 2.)
13. . Seuyn Sages (W.) 3809 AIs he lay opon a nyght In a
drcme, than thoght him right That he was warned in vistowne
[ctc-J. a 1340 Hampole Psalter Ixxxvtii. 19 When
l>ou saji'd bat» bou -spak in visyon, bat is, in pryue reueiacioun
tit prophetis. c 1410 Lydg. Assembly o/GoJs 1621 To
vndyrstand. .the mater of Morpheus hys shewyng .As he
hath tlic ledde aboute in vysyon. 1508 Kenneoie Flyiing
IV. D>tnhar2t)Z "^xt of new tressone I can tell the tailis, That
cuinis on nycht in visioun in my sleip. x&jt Milton P. R.
I. 256 JuNt Simeon and Prophetic Anna, warn'd By Vision,
found tliee in the Temple. 17*3 Pope Let. to Mrs. Co>vper
26 Sept., Wits. 176^ IX. 431, I could wish you tried something
in the descriptive way on any subject you please,
mixed with vision and m;jral. 173a WATEitu\ND Script,
I'imi. III. 52 Upon the Foot of this Construction, it is sup*
posed, that Haiah in prophetic Dream or Vision, heard God
speaking to him. 1813 Scott Rokehy m. xix. Nor do I
boast the art renown'd, Vision and omen to expound. 1856
Stanley Sinai ff Pal. ii.{i858) 132 Such, not in vision, but
in the most certain reality, was tliat double view of Jeru*
salem from Mount Olivet.
C. A mental concept of a distinct or vivid kind ;
an object of mental contemplation, csp. of an
attractive or fantastic character; a highly imaginative
scheme or anticipation.
159a TiMME Ten Eng, Lepers E iv, In the sayde hypocriticall
Pharisei tlien, we see a certaine phaniasticall visiori,
shewing that in forme which it hath not in trueth. 1668
Temple Wks. {1720) IL 60, I wish .some of his Visions may
not give it another Face than what it ought.. to receive
from the true present State of the Spanish Affairs. 1784
CowpER Task I. 451 Upon the ship's tall side he stands,
po^sess'd With visions prompted by intense desire. 1809
Campbell Gert. Wyom, iii. 5 And, in the visions of romantic
youth, What years of endless bliss are yet to flow. 1855
Poultry Chron. II. 582/2 Visions of success floated before
me all day. 187a Yeats Gro7vth Comm. aia The Dutch
were not excited by those visions of American gold and
silver which had inflamed the imagination of the Spaniards.
1876 Gladstone Glean. (1879) II. 314 The splendid visions
which his fancy shaped had taken possession of his mind.
d. A person seen in a dream or trance.
i6zi Bible IVisd* xviL 4 Sadde visions api>eared vnto
them with heauie countenances. 1667 Mii-ton P. L. viii.
367 The virion l>right, As with a smile more brtghtn'd, thus
repli'd. 1697 Dhvden ^neid \\\. 139 ,\ more tnan mortal
sound Invades his ears; and thus the vision spoke. 17*7
De ¥ozSyst.Mngic\.\y. (1840) 105 Ali.. failed not to ask the
vision how he should obtain his promised assistance in the
like cases of difficulty. 1817 Scott //araldvi. xi, And thou,
for so the Vision said. Must in tliy Lord's repentance aid.
e. tratuf. A person, scene, etc., of unusnal
beaaty. (Cf. Dbeam sb.'^ 3 b.)
1823 Scott Qnentin D. xii, Dost thou think it makes thee
fit to be the husband of that beautiful vision ? 1896 Westm.
Gns. 30 Apr. 2/1 'I he big dining room is., a vision of walnut
Vol. X.
and mahogany. 1901 Daily Chron. 29 June 8/3 One girl (
was a remarkable vision in a creamy white cloth Empire |
coat. I
2. The action or fact of seeing or contemplating
something not actually present to the eye ; mysti-
cal or supernatural insight or foresight.
138a Wyclif 1 Sam. iii. i In tho dais was noon opyn visioun.
c 14x0 Chron. Vilod. 2512 pe same ny^t ^2X seynt
Dunstone to Salesbury come, He saw by vysione alle
bat he saw here, & myche more. 0491 Chast. Goddes
Chyld. Diva, The seconde kynde of vysion is callid
Spyrytual vysion or Imagynatyf. Ibid. Divb, In y« thirde
vision y' is callid Intellectual. 1560 Bible (Genev.) Isaiah
xxviii. 7 Thei faile in vision : the! stomble in iudgement.
1594 Hooker Eccles. 'Pol. i. xi. 82 The first ., beginning
here with a weake apprehension of things not sene, endetii
with the intuitiue vision of God in-the world to come. 1604
E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies vii. xxiii. 567 It
may be, that what the laborer reported, had happened vnto
him by imaginary vision. 1657 J. Watt Vind. Ch. Eng.
153 Ministers.. neither have vision to foretell, nor power to
confer, blessing. (676 Dryden Aurengzebe i. i, If Love be
Vision, mine has all the Fire Which in first Dreams, young
Prophets does inspire, a 1745 Swift Th, on Var. Subj. Wks.
1745 VIII. 273 Vision is the art of seeing things invisible.
1836 Macgillivkay Trav. Humboldt 1, 18 That truths
faithfully extracted from the book of nature are alone calculated
toenlargethe sphere of mental vision. 1871 Farbar
Witn. Hist. iii. 97 It needed, let us say, the divine vision of
a Peter, and the inspired eloquence of a Paul, to burst the
intolerable yoke. 18^ W. R. Inge Ckr. Mysticism i. 14
Ecstasy or vision begins when* thought ceases, to our consciousness,
to proceed from ourselves.
3. The action of seeing with the bodily eye ; the
exercise of the ordinary faculty of sight, or the
faculty itself. Also transfix (quot, 1854).
c 1491 Chast. Goddes Chyld. D iv a. The fyrst is callyd a
corporal vision be cause it is seen outwarde hi bodely eye
wittes. C1510 More Picus Wks. 20/2 Because that our
felicitte is fulfilled in the vision and fruicion of the humanitie
of Christ, c 1600 Shaks. Sonn. cxiii. For it \sc. my eyel
no forme deliuers to the heart . . Nor his owne vision houlds
what it doth catch. 1644 Hammond Pract. Catech. i. iii.
(1646) 14 Faith here is turned into Vision there. 1676 Hale
Contempi. t. 71 A means whereby he might be restored . . to
blessedness and the vision of his Creator. 1704 Norbis
Ideal IVorld II. iii. 201 Vision in Itself is the having or perceiving
an idea representatively material in consequence of
a certain impression made by light upon that expansion of
the optick nerve which is at the bottom of the eye. 1718
I. Chamberlavne Relig. Philos. (1730) I. xii. § 25 Whether
he ever considered the manner how Vision is performed.
1774 M. Mackenzie Maritime Surv. 58 The Distance of
the Eye and the Thickness of the Lines should, by previous
Trial, be suited to distinct Vision, x83a Brewster Nat.
Magic iii. 48 Even the vision of natural objects presents to
us msurmountable difficulties. 1854 ~ jVor^ Worlds' xi.
180. The globular nebulx of Sir W. Herschel have disappeared
as globes under the sharp vision of Lord Rosse's
telescope. 1879 Harlan Eyesight jii. 31 To underst.and
anything of the physiology of vision, it is necessary to have
a general idea of the way in which images of objects are
formed by refracting surfaces.
b- An instance of seeing ; a look.
1855 Bain Senses ^ Int. 11. ii. 1 1 1 With the blind the case
is different;.. their visions of the surfaces of all things are
visions of touch, a x86i T. Woolner My^ Beauiifnl Lady^
Tolling Bellxx^ Our visions met, when pityingly she flung
Her passionate arms about me.
t4. A visage or vizard. Obs, rare.
In both instances perh. a misprint for visor.
1563 Homilies \\. Excess 0/Apparel Ggg iiij b. As thoughc
a wyse, and a christian husband, should delyte to see his
wife in such paynied, and florished visions [1623 visagesj,
which common harlots mostly do vse. a 1701 Sedley Tyrant
o/Crete v. ii, Methinks, till this day the times had
Likewise a vision on, and look'd not with A true face before.
5. A thing actually seen ; an object of sight.
i6ti Shaks. IVint. T. i. ii. 270 Ha' not you seene Camillo?
(But that's past doubt: you haue,.. For toaVisionsoapparant,
Rumor Cannot be mute.)
6. atirib, and Comb.^ as vision-field^ machinery,
•monger •, vision-haunted^ -seeingy 'Struck a.