conventionn.
/kənˈvɛnʃən/ I. The action of convening.† 1. The action of coming together, meeting, or assembling. Obsolete.† 3. † 6. figurative. Of things: Assemblage, gathering, union. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > association for a common purpose > meeting or assembling for common purpose > [noun]
meetingc1330
convention1490
visaginga1500
conventicle1589
conventinga1625
conjuncture1644
convening1659
congress1675
1490 W. Caxton tr. Eneydos xiv. 50 But Iuno..wolde speke to the goddesse Venus for to doo conuencyon of Eneas wyth the sayd Dydo.
c1572 W. Forrest Theophilus 1129 in Anglia (1884) 7 110 Wee..Haue at this season cawsed this convention.
1631 J. Weever Anc. Funerall Monuments 543 Diuers Princes..haue often made their residence in this Towne..but now for want of that generall conuention, the Castle..is greatly decayed.
1782 V. Knox Ess. (1819) I. xlii. 239 An audience whose convention in a church is a proof that they already believe it.
2. The action of summoning an assembly.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > command > command or bidding > [noun] > summons or summoning > summoning together
callinga1400
convocation1413
vocation?a1505
vocation of the Gentiles1550
convocatinga1649
convention1702
convoking1765
1702 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion I. ii. 104 In this interval, between the sealing the Writs and the convention of a Parliament, the Lord keeper Coventry died.
1861 A. P. Stanley Lect. Eastern Church (1869) v. 181 The settlement of the general controversies which gave occasion to the Council's convention.
1863 H. Cox Inst. Eng. Govt. i. iii. 14 Thenceforth the Convention of Parliament, when the Crown required aids, became frequent.
a. The action of summoning before a judge or other person in authority. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > command > command or bidding > [noun] > summons or summoning > summoning before person in authority
conventiona1600
society > law > administration of justice > process, writ, warrant, or order > [noun] > summons > summoning or issuing of summons
cravinga1300
processing1478
conventing1533
conventiona1600
summonsing1740
citing1787
a1600 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie (1648) vi. 18 Transgressors..were not from the time of their first convention capable of the holy Mysteries.
1609 J. Skene tr. Regiam Majestatem 88 The like proces sould be keiped, and observed in the breive of convention; quhereof this is the forme.
1620 N. Brent tr. P. Sarpi Hist. Councel of Trent iv. 352 Conuention, before the Ordinary, in criminall and mixt causes.
1726 J. Ayliffe Parergon Juris Canonici Anglicani 274 They are demanded or sued for by Convention, that is to say by convening, and commencing a suit against, the Party.
b. In the University of Cambridge, the ‘convening’ of a student before the college authorities. (Not an official term.)
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1811 Ld. Byron Hints from Horace 231 Fines, tutors, tasks, conventions threat in vain.
4. An assembly or gathering of persons for some common object; esp. a formal assembly met for deliberation or legislation on important matters, ecclesiastical, political, or social.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > [noun]
mootOE
councilc1275
mootingc1275
dayc1300
assembly1366
consistoryc1374
house1389
parliamentc1390
convention1554
synodal1573
synod1578
synedrion1581
convenement1603
gemot1643
consessus1646
legislative council1651
national assembly1702
council-general1817
concilium1834
runanga1857
1554 D. Lindsay Dialog Experience & Courteour l. 4471 in Wks. (1931) I For Christ, in his last conuentioun, The day of his Ascentioun, Tyll his Disciplis gaif command.
1588 W. Lambarde Eirenarcha (new ed.) ii. v. 183 All these conuentions [1581 couenaunts] may be without any apparent shew of Assemblie against the Peace.
1628 O. Felltham Resolves: 2nd Cent. viii. sig. Iv Not in the eare of a popular convention.
1649 Bp. J. Taylor Great Exemplar ii. §9 Conventions for prayer.
1651 T. Hobbes Philos. Rudim. vi. §17. 103 If that suffice not, they may call a new convention of estates.
1712 T. Parnell in Spectator No. 460. ⁋10 The Propriety of their [the Mahometans] Demeanour in the Conventions of their erroneous Worship.
1777 R. Watson Hist. Reign Philip II I. vii. 164 The prince of Orange proposed in the council, that..she should summon a convention of the States.
1854 H. H. Milman Hist. Lat. Christianity I. ii. i. 83 Councils were only occasional diets, or general conventions, not a standing representative Senate of Christendom.
1886 J. Morley Expans. Eng. in Crit. Misc. III. 293 When a colonial convention presses the diplomacy of the mother-country and prompts its foreign policy.
5. spec.
a. English History. Applied to certain extraordinary assemblies of the Houses of Parliament, without the summons of the Sovereign; viz. that of 1660, which restored Charles II, and that of 1688, which declared the throne abdicated by James II. Hence convention parliament, a parliament constituted of such a convention.
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1660 Exact Accompt Trial Regicides 52 That none of us do own that Convention, whatsoever it be, to be the Parliament of England.
1688 J. Evelyn Diary (1955) IV. 612 'Til a Convention of Lords & Commons should meete in full body.
1689 J. Evelyn Diary (1955) IV. 616 The greate Convention being assembled the day before..Resolved that K. Jam: 2d,..had by demise, abdicated himselfe.
1689 J. Evelyn Diary (1955) IV. 645 The Convention (or Parliament as some called it) sitting.
1827 H. Hallam Constit. Hist. Eng. II. xi. 184 Charles now dissolved the convention parliament.
1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People ix. viii. 675 In 1689, the Convention declared itself a Parliament.
b. Scottish History. convention of estates: a meeting of the Estates of the kingdom of Scotland (before the Union), upon any special occasion or emergency, without the formal summons which was required for a regular parliament. convention of royal burghs: a yearly meeting of commissioners from the royal burghs held in Edinburgh.
ΚΠ
1572 Sempill Ballates (1872) 149 Becaus I hard of ane Conuention Now to be maid for this dissentioun That is into this land.
1689 Claverhouse in M. Morris Life (1888) ix. 163 While I attended the Convention at Edinburgh.
1689 Balcarres in M. Morris Claverhouse (1888) ix. 158 To leave Edinburgh and to call a Convention of Estates at Stirling.
1759 W. Robertson Hist. Scotl. I. iii. 195 Another convention of estates was held in May.
1827 W. Scott Bonnie Dundee in Lit. Gaz. 8 Dec. 786/3 To the Lords of Convention, 'twas Clavers who spoke.
1873 M. MacArthur Hist. Scotl. vii. 154 A deputation..was sent to him [Will. of Orange], to pray him to call a Convention of the Estates.
1873 M. MacArthur Hist. Scotl. vii. 154 The Convention then turned itself into a Parliament.
1876 J. Grant Hist. Burgh Schools Scotl. ii. xiii. 363 The collective wisdom and learning of Scotland, including Parliament, privy council, convention of royal burghs, and the ministry of Edinburgh.
c. U.S. An assembly of delegates or representatives for some special or occasional purpose.
(a) In a general sense (see 4): applied to several assemblies of historic note, as the Convention of Congregational Ministers of Massachusetts organized early in the 18th cent.; the Albany Convention of 1754, the first movement of the colonies towards concerted action; the American Convention of Abolitionists, founded in 1793; the Hartford Convention of 1814, with a view to the possible division of the Union, etc.; joint convention: the meeting in one body of both branches of Congress or of a State legislature.
ΚΠ
1754 Franklin in Wks. (1887) II. 355 Plan of Union Adopted by the Convention at Albany.
1793 Mem. Pennsylv. Soc. for Abol. Slavery 41 That the Society..will appoint Delegates to the proposed Convention, provided a majority of the Abolition Societies in the United States do agree.
1814 Niles' Reg. 12 Nov. 155 Against the resolution proposing a convention of delegates from the New-England States [at Hartford] and the resolutions connected therewith.
1865 N.Y. Nation 14 Sept. 330 If the Englishman can initiate no public enterprise without a public dinner, the American is equally helpless until he has called a convention.
1881 J. Winsor Mem. Hist. Boston II. 224 The ‘Convention of Congregational Ministers’ was organized. In 1720 they ‘Voted’, etc.
1891 Boston Jrnl. 13 Nov. 9/1 The great national convention of the Women's Christian Temperance Union opened in Tremont Temple this morning.
(b) In Law, A body constituted by statute to represent the people in their primary relations, and in some sense outside of the constitution, as e.g. for the framing or amending of the constitution itself ( Constitutional Convention). In this sense, applied to the body of delegates from the several states which framed the federal constitution in 1787; also, to a body meeting under authority of Congress to frame a constitution for a new state, or convened by a state legislature, in the manner prescribed by law, to revise the constitution of the state.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > types of body or spec. bodies > [noun] > with reference to foreign countries > the U.S. constitutional convention
convention1783
1783 G. Morris in J. Sparks Life G. Morris (1832) I. 256 Have a convention of the states to form a better constitution.
1787 G. Washington To Madison in Wks. (1891) XI. 131 Congress have recommended to the States to appear in the convention proposed to be holden in Philadelphia next May.
1787 J. Barlow Oration July 4th 11 Much is expected from the Foederal Convention now sitting at Philadelphia.
1789 Constit. U.S. vii Done in convention, by the unanimous consent of the States present.
1825 T. Jefferson Autobiogr. in Wks. (1859) I. 18 Within a few days, the convention of New York approved of it.
1888 J. Bryce Amer. Commonw. I. App. 539 It is always by a convention (i.e. a representative body called together for some occasional or temporary purpose) that a constitution is framed.
(c) In party politics, a meeting of delegates of a political party ( National Convention of the Republican or the Democratic Party) to nominate candidates for the presidency of the U.S., or for state or local offices.
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society > authority > office > appointment to office > choosing or fact of being chosen for office > election of representative body by vote > [noun] > selection of candidates > meeting to nominate candidate
convention1817
1817 Niles' Reg. 5 Apr. 96 At a convention of the republican members of the legislature of New York..at Albany on the 25th ult…held for the purpose of nominating a suitable person to be supported for the office of governor of the state.
1831 Niles' Reg. 1 Oct. 74 The anti-masonic convention, to nominate a president and vice-president of the United States, met in this city [Baltimore] on Monday last.
1891 Boston Jrnl. 25 Nov. 3/1 A National Republican Convention of delegated representatives of the Republican party will be held at the city of Minneapolis on..the 7th June, 1892, at 12 o'clock noon, for the purpose of nominating candidates for President and Vice President.
(d) The title of the triennial assembly ( General Convention) of the American Episcopal Church (corresponding in some respects to Convocation in England), and of the annual diocesan assemblies ( Diocesan Conventions) of the same.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > council > American Episcopal > [noun]
convention1785
1785 Constit. of Oct. in Perry Hist. Amer. Episc. Ch. II. 99 There shall be a general Convention of the Protestant Ep1 Church in ye Ud States of America; which shall be held..once in three years.
1890 M. Townsend U.S.: Index to United States Amer. 446 The first Episcopal Convention held in the United States was convened at Philadelphia in 1789.
d. National Convention: (a) the sovereign assembly which governed France from September 21, 1792, to October 26, 1795; (b) the name of an assembly of the English Chartists in 1833.
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society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > governing or legislative body of a nation or community > other national governing or legislative bodies > [noun] > specifically in France
States General1575
national assembly1790
National Convention1792
National Convention1792
Directoire1795
directory1796
tribunate1802
1792 Gentleman's Mag. Aug. 759 The French Nation is invited to form a National Convention.
1793 F. Burney Lett. 22 Feb. The aristocrats..hold the Constitutionalists in greater horror than the Convention itself.
1848 W. E. Forster Diary 16 Apr. in T. W. Reid Life W. E. Forster (1888) I. vii. 224 The delegates of the National Convention talked pikes and armed processions and all manner of horrors.
1880 S. Walpole Hist. Eng. III. xiii. 221 [In 1833] a meeting was summoned in Coldbath Fields to pave the way for the formation of a National Convention.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > state of being gathered together > [noun] > gathering together > gathering or coming together
gatheringc900
convention1592
rendezvous1614
rendezvousing1653
1592 R. Dallington tr. F. Colonna Hypnerotomachia f. 63 Euerie partition and elegant conuention of exquisite Lineaments.
1613 W. Browne Britannia's Pastorals I. i. 14 Within all vertues haue convention.
1651 J. Howell S.P.Q.V. 32 Venice is no other than a Convention of little Ilands peeping up above the Waters.
1686 R. Boyle Free Enq. Notion Nature 65 They..believ'd all things to have been made by the Atoms, considered as their Conventions and Concretions into the Sun, Stars, Earth, and other Bodies.
1698 J. Crowne Caligula iii. 19 'Tis a Convention in his Sacred Frame Of Divine Atoms.
II. Agreement, conventional usage.
7.
a. An agreement or covenant between parties.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > statement > agreement, concurrence, or unanimity > [noun] > an agreement
agreement1427
conventionc1440
agreec1475
agreeance1525
reconcilement1560
c1440 Gesta Romanorum (Harl.) xl. 161 For the trespas that I haue made ayenst youre conuencion.
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. KKKvi Their eares also hath made a conuencion or conande with reason.
1765 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. I. 47 Though society had not it's formal beginning from any convention of individuals.
1875 K. E. Digby Introd. Hist. Law Real Prop. i. 41 There were frequently, especially upon ecclesiastical lands, farmers holding land under conventions or covenants.
b. An agreement creating legal relations.
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society > law > legal obligation > contract > [noun]
covenantc1330
contractc1386
finec1390
agreement1425
obligement1499
convention1513
achate1607
mail contract1843
punctation1855
pay-or-play1949
1513–14 Act 5 Hen. VIII c. i. Preamble Notaries..to..recorde the Knowlege of all contractes bargeyns convencions factes and agrementes..made within the seid Citie.
1614 Bp. J. Hall Contempl. II. O.T. viii. 470 Fraudulent conuentions oblige not.
a1859 J. Austin Lect. Jurispr. (1879) II. 1016 In the language of the English Law ‘convention’ or ‘covenant’ is restricted to..contracts of a subordinate species: namely to a species of that species of contracts which are evidenced by writing under seal.
1875 E. Poste tr. Gaius Institutionum Iuris Civilis (ed. 2) iii. Comm. 360 A Contract is a convention or agreement..enforceable by appeal to a court of judicature.
c. = conventionary n. tenure.
ΚΠ
1828 Ld. Tenterden in G. Concanen Rep. Rowe v. Brenton 322 The conventionary tenant is said to take his tenement in free convention for seven years from Michaelmas.
1829 R. V. Barnewall & C. Cresswell Rep. Cases King's Bench 8 746 (Rowe v. Brenton) To hold their tenements by the foresaid servile services in native convention, at the will of the lord, during the term aforesaid.
8. spec.
a. Diplomatic. An agreement between sovereigns or states: formerly = treaty n.; now applied to an agreement of less formality or importance than a treaty.Such are international arrangements about postage, telegraphs, or literary rights; monetary conventions for an international coinage; the Geneva Conventions of 1864 and 1865, providing for the neutralization of ambulances and hospitals, and for the protection of civilians rendering help to the sick and wounded, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > agreement > [noun] > an agreement
forewardOE
accordc1275
covenant1297
end1297
form1297
frettec1330
conjurationc1374
treatc1380
bargainc1386
contractc1386
comenaunt1389
compositionc1405
treaty1427
pact1429
paction1440
reconventionc1449
treatisea1464
hostage1470
packa1475
trystc1480
bond (also band) of manrent1482
covenance1484
concordance1490
patisement1529
capitulation1535
conventmenta1547
convenience1551
compact1555
negotiation1563
sacrament1563
match1569
consortship1592
after-agreementa1600
combourgeoisie1602
convention1603
comburghership1606
transaction1611
end-makingc1613
obligement1627
bare contract1641
stipulation1649
accompackmentc1650
rue-bargaina1657
concordat1683
minute1720
tacka1758
understanding1803
meet1804
it's a go1821
deal1863
whizz1869
stand-in1870
gentlemen's agreement1880
meeting of minds1883
society > authority > rule or government > politics > international politics or relations > international agreements > [noun] > treaty
composition1387
treaty1430
treatisea1464
tract1501
convention1603
a1464 J. Capgrave Abbreuiacion of Cron. (Cambr. Gg.4.12) (1983) 123 In þe ȝere of Herri 46 was conuencion mad betwix þe kyng of Frauns and him.
a.c1425 Wyntoun Cron. vi. xvii. 71 Or gyve any Conuentyoun Wes trettyd of successyoune..Betwene hym and Edmund Irnesyde.]
1603 R. Knolles Gen. Hist. Turkes 195 In which wings were also placed the Christian souldiors sent by Lazarus out of Servia, according to the late conuention of peace.
1875 W. S. Jevons Money (1878) 166 Postal conventions.
1888 Act 51 & 52 Vict. An Act to carry into effect an International Convention respecting the Liquor traffic in the North Sea.
1888 T. E. Holland in Encycl. Brit. at Treaties In the language of modern diplomacy the term ‘treaty’ is restricted to the more important international agreements..while agreements dealing with subordinate questions are described by the more general term ‘convention’.
b. Military. An agreement made between the commanders of opposing armies for the evacuation of some post or country, the suspension of hostilities, or the exchange of prisoners.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > peace > pacification > peace treaty > [noun]
accordc1275
peacec1325
concordc1425
treaty1430
corda1500
composition1523
pacification1548
assurance1577
accommodation1624
convention1780
b.
1780 T. Jefferson in J. Sparks Corr. Amer. Revol. (1853) III. 155 I believe the Convention of Saratoga entitles them to keep the horses they then had.
1812 Ld. Byron Childe Harold: Cantos I & II Notes 115 The Convention of Cintra was signed in the palace of the Marchese Marialva.
1814 Duke of Wellington Dispatches (1838) 27 May XII. 29 The conventions for suspending hostilities agreed upon by me with Marshals Soult and Suchet.
9.
a. General agreement or consent, deliberate or implicit, as constituting the origin and foundation of any custom, institution, opinion, etc., or as embodied in any accepted usage, standard of behaviour, method of artistic treatment, or the like.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > a standard of conduct > [noun] > a convention
convention1778
society > society and the community > customs, values, and civilization > customs, values, or beliefs of a society or group > [noun] > convention
convention1778
1778 W. Robertson Hist. Amer. (ed. 2) II. vii. 289 They had invented artificial marks, or signs of convention, for this purpose.
1818 J. Lawrence in Monthly Mag. Sept. 112/1 Moral truth is co-essential with universal nature, independent of all authority and convention.
1841 G. Catlin Lett. N. Amer. Indians II. lviii. 235 One family, by nature or by convention.
1872 F. Hall Rec. Exempl. False Philol. 58 As all are alike legitimate formations, it is for convention to decide which we are to prefer.
1874 A. H. Sayce Princ. Compar. Philol. vi. 218 The Greeks contented themselves with discussing whether language had originated by convention or by nature.
b. In a bad sense: Accepted usage become artificial and formal, and felt to be repressive of the natural in conduct or art; conventionalism.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > customs, values, and civilization > customs, values, or beliefs of a society or group > [noun] > convention > a convention > artificial or repressive
convention1847
1847 Ld. Tennyson Princess Prol. 7 There are thousands now Such women, but convention beats them down.
1870 R. W. Emerson Society & Solitude 119 He who shall bravely..subdue this Gorgon of Convention and Fashion.
10.
a. A rule or practice based upon general consent, or accepted and upheld by society at large; an arbitrary rule or practice recognised as valid in any particular art or study; a conventionalism.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > customs, values, and civilization > customs, values, or beliefs of a society or group > [noun] > convention > a convention
convention1791
convenances1831
conventionalism1833
conventionalitya1834
society > authority > rule or government > politics > international politics or relations > international agreements > [noun] > convention
convention1791
1791 H. More Estimate Relig. Fashionable World 104 Every convention of artificial manners was invented not to cure, but to conceal, deformity.
a1832 J. Bentham Deontol. in Wks. (1843) II. 146 He who goes one step beyond the line which the world's poor conventions have drawn around moral and political questions.
1841 J. R. Young Math Diss. Introd. 10 The ordinary convention..as to the disposal of the plus sign.
1856 E. B. Browning Aurora Leigh i. 7 My father, who through love had suddenly Thrown off the old conventions.
1879 M. Arnold Mixed Ess. 284 The Germans..were bent..on throwing off literary conventions, imitations of all sorts, and on being original.
1881 J. C. Maxwell Treat. Electr. & Magnetism (ed. 2) I. 68 When the charge is positive, that is, according to the usual convention, vitreous.
b. Cards. A method of play or bidding which does not have its natural meaning but is used solely to convey prearranged information.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > [noun] > actions or tactics > specific
discarding1592
facing1635
pull1715
lead1742
return1742
discard1778
solo1814
underplay1850
convention1862
force1862
showdown1870
unblocking1885
false-carding1923
passed hand1924
exit1934
reverse1936
loser-on-loser1947
1862 ‘Cavendish’ Princ. Whist Pref. The principles of play are..laid down as so many isolated and arbitrary conventions.
1908 Daily Chron. 14 Sept. 7/3 Gray rose in disgust when she ignored the heart-convention and led him an unlovely spade.
1929 Observer 24 Nov. The introduction of conventions makes Contract an artificial game rather than an intellectual one.
c. A conventional style or treatment.
ΚΠ
1926 F. V. P. Rutter Evol. Mod. Art 132 Henry Lamb had shown in a picture..that a flat, decorative convention could be combined with an unsurpassable intensity of emotion.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
convention hall n.
ΚΠ
1817 Monthly Mag. Sept. 109 The scene of the third act continues in the Convention-hall.
1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 3 Feb. 31/3 A convention hall that seats 3,000.
C2.
convention city n. North American a city in which conventions are commonly held.
ΚΠ
1887 C. B. George 40 Years on Rail v. 92 Chicago..is the greatest railroad center on the globe, [and] is the chief convention city in America.
1908 Westm. Gaz. 29 May 12/1 The total cost of ‘transportation’ will be about 100 dols. a head, and, according to the more moderate estimate, another 50 dols. per man will be needed for expenses in the convention city.
convention-coin n.
Categories »
convention-dollar n. coins struck according to monetary conventions between different German states.
convention parliament n. (see 5a).
Derivatives
conventioˈneer n. a member of a convention, one present at a convention (see also quot. 1934). North American.
ΚΠ
1934 M. H. Weseen Dict. Amer. Slang 322 Conventioneer, a person who attends many conventions.
1940 Bull. Amer. Assoc. Univ. Professors Dec. 643 Professional Conventioneers.
1960 I. Wallach Absence of Cello (1961) 64 A conventioneer with a large self-identifying badge.
1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 3 Feb. 31/4 Crowded with tourists and conventioneers.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1893; most recently modified version published online March 2021).
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