detailn.
/ˈdiːteɪl/, /dɪˈteɪl/, U.S. /dəˈteɪl/, /ˈdiˌteɪl/ 1.
a. The dealing with matters item by item; detailed treatment; attention to particulars. Esp. in phrase in (†the) detail, item by item; part by part; minutely; circumstantially. So to go into detail, i.e. to deal with or treat a thing in its individual particulars.
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the world > relative properties > kind or sort > individual character or quality > the quality of being specific > specifically [phrase] > in detail
from point to pointa1393
in speciala1398
specialityc1485
in particularity1559
in piecemeal1561
in (the) detail1603
the world > action or operation > manner of action > care, carefulness, or attention > [noun] > scrupulous care or attention to detail
chariness1571
minuteness1640
exactness1645
particularity1669
nicety1711
exactitude1735
narrowness1817
particularness1859
scrupulousness1863
detail1868
scrupulosity1879
meticulosity1887
meticulousness1909
1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 372 As if a man would say, that necessary it is for him to offer wrong in detaile, who mindeth to do right in the gross.
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) (at cited word) The particular Circumstances of an Affair; as These advantages need not be offered in Detail to your View.
1734 A. Pope Ess. Man (rev. ed.) Design sig. *v I was unable to treat this part of my subject more in detail.
1769 O. Goldsmith Rom. Hist. I. 320 They..perhaps..condemned them in the gross for defects, which they thought not worth while to mention in the detail.
1785 W. Cowper Wks. (1837) XV. 163 The consequences need not, to use the fashionable phrase, be given in detail.
1840 W. E. Gladstone Church Princ. 69 The fear of punishment in the gross or in the detail.
1847 R. W. Emerson Swedenborg in Wks. (1906) I. 332 His revelations destroy their credit by running into detail.
1868 M. Pattison Suggestions Acad. Organisation iv. 110 Relieved from the drudgery of detail.
1870 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest (ed. 2) I. App. 558 The tale, which is told in great detail, is doubtless mythical in its details.
1884 Law Times Rep. 16 Feb. 773/2 We had to go into detail, so as to make the case clear.
b. Military. in detail: by the engagement of small portions of an army or force one after another. war of detail, a war carried on after this fashion, instead of by general engagements. (Often figurative.)
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1841 E. Miall in Nonconformist 1 1 Their war has been one of detail, not of principle.
1842 H. Rogers Introd. Burke's Wks. 85 Pursuing a war of detail instead of acting on some uniform scheme.
1845 R. Ford Hand-bk. Travellers in Spain I. i. 2 Being without union, [it] is also without strength, and has been beaten in detail.
1858 J. A. Froude Hist. Eng. (ed. 2) III. xiii. 116 Without concert..without a leader they would be destroyed in detail.
1886 G. T. Stokes Ireland & Celtic Church 293 He [Brian Boru] defeated his enemies in detail.
2. A minute or circumstantial account; a detailed narrative or description of particulars.
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the mind > language > speech > narration > description or act of describing > [noun] > complete, exact, or detailed > a detailed description
icon1579
particularc1600
character1651
detail1695
1695 J. Woodward Ess. Nat. Hist. Earth 216 But I must be forced wholly to wave and supersede the Detail of these.
1726 W. R. Chetwood Voy. & Adventures Capt. R. Boyle Pref. sig. A iv The following Sheets are a Detail of Fortunes I have run through.
1810 (title) A Chronological detail of events in which Oliver Cromwell was engaged, from 1642 to 1658.
1815 T. I. M. Forster Res. Atmosph. Phænom. (ed. 2) Pref. p. ix Aristotle..appears to have given a more minute detail of the various appearances of clouds..and other phænomena.
1825 E. Bulwer-Lytton Falkland 9 But my detail must be rather of thought than of action.
3.
a. An item, a particular (of an account, a process, etc.); a minute or subordinate portion of any (esp. a large or complex) whole. (See also 4a)‘But that is a detail!’ was (c1897) a current phrase humorously making light of what was perhaps really an important element in the matter in question.
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the world > relative properties > wholeness > incompleteness > part of whole > [noun] > one of the parts into which anything is divided > of a subject or action
joint1303
particularity1528
article1577
particular1601
detail1786
1786 T. Jefferson Writings (1859) I. 560 It has given me details..which are very entertaining.
1832 H. Martineau Demerara ii. 16 The details of the management of a plantation.
1834 J. S. Macaulay Treat. Field Fortification 251 Hedges..skirted by details of ground that may render them obstacles.
1853 J. H. Newman Hist. Sketches (1873) I. i. iv. 194 In the details of dress, carriage, and general manners, the Turks are very different from Europeans.
1863 F. A. Kemble Jrnl. Resid. Georgian Plantation 17 I shall furnish you with no details.
1868 C. Dickens Let. 15 Oct. (2002) XII. 202 Be particular in the minutest detail.
b. collective singular. The particulars or items of any whole considered collectively.
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1863 J. S. Mill Utilitarianism v. 70 Nobody desires that laws should interfere with the whole detail of private life.
1886 Law Times 80 193/2 Legal questions..full of dry and uninteresting detail.
4. Fine Arts.
Categories »
a. A minute or subordinate part of a building, sculpture, or painting, as distinct from the larger portions or the general conception.
b. collective singular. Such minute parts collectively, or the manner of treatment of them. (Also transferred in reference to natural objects.)
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society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > work of art > [noun] > detailed parts of
detail1823
detail work1907
detailing1931
1823 P. Nicholson New Pract. Builder 309 The detail of both sculpture and masonry on the building.
1843 J. Ruskin Mod. Painters I. 176 The detail of a single weedy bank laughs the carving of ages to scorn.
1865 J. Fergusson Hist. Archit. I. i. iii. ii. 232 The Assyrian honeysuckle..forms as elegant an architectural detail as is anywhere to be found.
1870 F. R. Wilson Archit. Surv. Churches Lindisfarne 85 There are no architectural details of interest.
1882 P. G. Hamerton Graphic Arts iv. 29 The most careful study of antiquarian detail is united to an artist's vivid recollection of the colour and sunshine of the South.
c. Architecture. Short for detail drawing(s, working drawings.
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society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > [noun] > plans of buildings or structures
ground-plot1563
model1570
ichnography1598
skiagraphy1636
plane1639
skiagraph1648
plain1659
plan1664
planography?1668
scheme1703
ground plan1731
working plan1767
working drawing1785
detail1819
floor-plan1867
Z-plan1887
block plan1909
master plan1914
1819 P. Nicholson Archit. Dict. I. 383 Detail, the delineation of all the parts of an edifice, so as to be sufficiently intelligible for the execution of the work. The detail is otherwise denominated the working drawings.
1842 J. Gwilt Encycl. Archit. Gloss. 963 Details, a term usually applied to the drawings on a larger scale for the use of builders, and generally called working drawings.
1892 Dict. Archit. (Archit. Publ. Soc.) Working Drawings, Working drawings..consist of plans, elevations, sections, details of construction..many being to the full size.
5. Military.
a. The distribution in detail, to the different officers concerned, of the Daily Orders first given in general, with apportionment to each division and subdivision of the force (and finally to individual officers and men) of the share of duty falling upon them in their order; hence, the list or table showing the general distribution of duty for the whole force ( general detail or † grand detail), or the particular distribution of that falling upon any division or subdivision of it ( particular detail). office of detail (in U.S. Navy Dept.), the office where the roster of officers is kept, and from which orders as to duty are issued.
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society > armed hostility > military organization > orders > [noun] > detailed orders
detail1703
1703–8 Order Dk. Marlborough in R. Kane Camp Discipline (1757) 4 The Adjutant-General is to keep all the Details and an account of all things that happen in the Army.
1708 Order Dk. Marlborough in R. Kane Camp Discipline (1757) 4 Of Details, Whereas great Inconveniences have happened in changing the Details after made, it is agreed..by all the Generals of the Army, that all Details made at orderly Time should stand, though several other Details came afterwards; and that they should march accordingly, though the others made before did not march.
a1711 Order Dk. Marlborough in R. Kane Camp Discipline (1757) 3 The Brigadier of the Day is to distribute the Orders he received immediately to the Majors of Brigade; and see that all the Details are made upon the Spot.
1727 H. Bland Treat. Mil. Discipline xix. 281 (title) Of the Method in Flanders for the Receiving and Distributing of the Daily Orders; General Detail of the Army (by which is meant the General Duty to be perform'd by the Officers and Soldiers) with the Form of a Roster, or Table, by which the Duty of Entire Battalions, and the Officers, is regulated.
1727 H. Bland Treat. Mil. Discipline xix. 115 Our late Monarch, the Glorious King William..was perfectly knowing in the Small, as well as the Grand Detail of an Army.
c1745 R. Kane Camp Discipline (1757) 16 Whenever the Quarter-master General demands a Detachment, to go along with him to reconnoitre, they are to be furnished immediately from the nearest Troops, and it will be allowed them in the next Detail.
1778 Orderly book, Maryland Loyalists 28 Aug. Detale for outline pickett this evening.
1779 U.S. Army Regulation [The adjutant] must assemble the first serjeants of the companies, make them copy the orders, and give them their details for the next day.
1779 G. Smith Universal Mil. Dict. (at cited word) Detail of Duty is a roster or table for the regular..performance of duty, either in the field, garrison, or cantonments. The general detail of duty is the proper care of the majors of brigade, who are guided by the roster for the officers, and by the tables for the men to be occasionally furnished. The adjutant of a regiment keeps the detail of duty for the officers of his regiment.
1781 T. Simes Mil. Guide (ed. 3) 9 The Major of Brigade is charged with the particular detail in his own brigade in much the same way as the Adjutant-general is charged with the general detail of the army.
1853 J. H. Stocqueler Mil. Encycl. 83/2.
1894 Brigade Orders, Aldershot (MS.) 1. Detail, 14.10.94. Brigade Captain, Adjutant and Picquet: 2nd Worc. R. Special Picquet Hospital Hill: 2nd Lein. R. Brigade Quartermaster: 2nd Ches. R. Drums: 2 Lein. R. Company for Fire Screen Drill: none. Duties No. 1 Canteen: 2nd Ches. R. Duties No. 2 Canteen: 2nd Lein. R. Visitor to Bde. Schools (a Captn.): 2nd Ches. R.
b. The detailing or telling off a small party for a special duty.
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1708 [see sense 5a].
1780 Gen. Washington Order 14 Mar. The fatigue party for finishing the new orderly room is to be furnished by detail from the line of the army.
1828 N. Webster Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang. Detail 2, A selecting of officers or soldiers from the rosters.
c. concrete. A small body detached for a particular service or duty; a small detachment. Originally military, but extended to the police, etc.
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society > armed hostility > armed forces > the Army > group with special function or duty > [noun]
conreyc1330
partyc1330
stalec1350
stuff1412
crew1455
working party1744
draft1756
draught1780
commando1791
detail1862
otriad1916
taskforce1927
stick1953
1862 H. Beveridge Comprehensive Hist. India II. v. vii. 458 A small body of cavalry, and a detail of European artillery.
1884 Daily News 3 Mar. The ground..was explored..by the Mounted Infantry and by details from the regular Cavalry.
1885 U. S. Grant Pers. Mem. I. xx. 278 Details that had gone to the front after the wounded.
1888 Troy Daily Times 6 Feb. An extra detail of police is always made..and the crowd is not allowed to block the exit.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
detail work n.
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society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > work of art > [noun] > detailed parts of
detail1823
detail work1907
detailing1931
1907 Daily Chron. 8 June 3/4 The parish councils would..be competent to relieve the controlling authorities of much detail work.
1922 H. Crane Lett. (1965) 97 The infinite and distasteful detail work I have been doing at the office.
1937 Burlington Mag. May 251/2 Inscription and detail-work are examples of the best Netherlandish engraving.
C2.
detail man n. U.S. (see quot. 1961).
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1928 Proc. 17th Ann. Meeting Amer. Drug Mfrs. Assoc. i. 96 With the detail man, we tell our message through the human ambassador.
1961 Webster's 3rd New Internat. Dict. Eng. Lang. Detail man, a representative of a drug manufacturer who introduces new drugs to professional users (as physicians or pharmacists).
1964 New Statesman 12 June 906/3 I..became a drug pedlar, or more politely a medical representative. The American-owned company I joined preferred the term ‘detailman’, because it indicated the essential purpose of the work: to persuade the General Practitioner to prescribe the company's drugs by serving him with suitably tempting details.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1895; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
detailv.1
/dɪˈteɪl//ˈdiːteɪl/ 1. transitive. To deal with, give, relate, or describe minutely or circumstantially; to give particulars of; to enumerate, mention, or relate in detail.
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the world > relative properties > kind or sort > individual character or quality > the quality of being specific > make specific [verb (transitive)] > deal with or relate in detail
detail1650
circumstantiate1658
to run out1839
the mind > language > speech > narration > description or act of describing > describe [verb (transitive)] > in detail or graphically
descrive?c1225
depaint1382
painta1387
portraya1387
huea1525
portrait1581
imagea1586
picture1586
pencil1610
detail1650
depict1713
depicture1798
daguerreotype1839
word-paint1839
photograph1849
Kodak1892
1650 J. Row & J. Row Hist. Kirk Scotl. (1842) p. xliii The proceedings..are too long to be here detailed.
1751 S. Johnson Rambler No. 177. ⁋3 When I delivered my opinion, or detailed my knowledge.
1802 E. Parsons Myst. Visit I. 1 He was too modest to..detail news and scandal from house to house.
1875 C. Lyell & L. Lyell Princ. Geol. (ed. 12) II. ii. xxvii. 62 From the whole of the facts above detailed, it appears [etc.].
1875 F. H. A. Scrivener 6 Lect. Text New Test. 10 Certain peculiarities to be detailed hereafter.
1879 Cassell's Techn. Educator (new ed.) IV. 90/1 We have now detailed all the various coverings ordinarily put upon books.
2.
a. Military. To appoint or tell off for a particular duty. (See detail n. 5.)
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society > armed hostility > military organization > orders > order [verb (transitive)] > appoint particular duty to
detail1793
society > armed hostility > military organization > organize military affairs [verb (transitive)] > punish > reprimand
detail1861
1793 Laws of Mass. c. 1 §32 Whenever a detachment is made, the officers, non-commissioned officers and privates, being able of body, shall be detailed from the rosters or rolls for the purpose.
1810 Laws of Mass. c. 107 §31 The officers, ordered to be detailed to serve on courts martial shall be detailed in the following manner.
1828 N. Webster Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang. Detail, to select, as an officer or soldier from a division, brigade, regiment, or battalion.
1861 R. Swinhoe Narr. N. China Campaign 1860 329 The First Division, under General Michel, was detailed for this work of destruction.
1861 W. H. Russell in Times 14 May 10/3 His cartridges were out, and he was compelled to detail some of his few men to make them out of shirts, stockings and jackets.
1868 Sir R. Napier in Morning Star 30 June I trust she is now recovering under the care of the medical officer..who has been detailed by me to provide for her comfort.
1885 U. S. Grant Pers. Mem. I. xxi. 293 Soldiers who had been detailed to act with the navy.
1886 Manch. Examiner 19 Jan. 5/6 The field officers of the Royal Horse Guards detailed for the escort of Her Majesty.
b. transferred.
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society > authority > delegated authority > investing with delegated authority > vest authority in a person [verb (transitive)] > commission to do something
assign1297
chargec1300
ordainc1330
commita1402
limitc1405
commisea1470
task1530
taska1592
consign1705
detail1837
betask1857
1837–40 T. C. Haliburton Clockmaker (1862) 248 We propose detailing you to Italy to purchase some originals for our gallery.
1868 Daily News 2 Sept. The dry dock..will start on its..voyage across the Atlantic, being towed by five vessels to be detailed for the purpose.
1874 M. Collins Transmigr. III. xviii. 269 A trim little waiting-maid..whom I detailed to wait upon Grace.
3. Architecture. to detail on the plane: to be exhibited in profile by abutting against the plane; said of a moulding. (Ogilvie.)
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1875 Encycl. Brit. II. 403/2 At the base they detail on the pavement or floor of the stylobate.
1875 Encycl. Brit. II. 404/1 The glyphs detail on the tænia of the architrave, but are variously finished above.
4. ? Confused with entail v.2 4.
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1838 W. Godwin Caleb Williams 289 Who..had..sworn to detail upon me misery without end.
Draft additions September 2008
transitive. North American. To clean (a motor vehicle) thoroughly.
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1981 Los Angeles Times 21 May ix. 9/2 The proposed auto center..would be used for detailing cars imported through the port before trucking them to dealer showrooms.
1988 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 17 Oct. When we get through detailing your car..it's cleaner than the day you bought it.
1995 R. Newton How to Restore & Modify Your Corvette 237/2 Detailing the Corvette is enjoyable. Driving the car is fun.
2007 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 2 Sept. iv. 9/4 It's not different than what a used-car dealer does—they detail it, they wax it, steam clean the carpet, those kinds of things.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1895; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
> see also
also refers to : de-tailv.2
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n.1603
v.11650see also