distantadj.n.
/ˈdɪst(ə)nt/, U.S. /ˈdɪst(ə)nt/ A. adj.† 5. Measuring or covering a great distance; long. Obsolete.
1.
a. Separate or apart in space by a specified distance. Usually in predicative use, often followed by from.The specification can be precise (e.g. quots. 1546, 2009), relational (e.g. quots. c1392, 1611), or more vague or general (e.g. quots. 1548, 1965).
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > distance > distance or farness > [adjective] > remote, apart, or separate > by a specific interval
distantc1392
c1392 Equatorie of Planetis 18 (MED) Mak..a narwere cercle som what ferther distaunt fro the laste seid cercle.
c1400 ( G. Chaucer Treat. Astrolabe (Cambr. Dd.3.53) (1872) i. §17. 10 It departeth the furste Moeuable..in 2 ilike parties, euene distantz fro the poles of this world.
1546 in J. T. Fowler Memorials Church SS. Peter & Wilfrid, Ripon (1888) III. 26 The same is distaunt from the paroch Church cccc Foote.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry V f. xxxiiiiv All other nacions were astonnied to se suche an honorable compaignie come from a countree so farre distant.
1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 1284 The armies..not distaunt by estimation aboue two myles.
1611 Bible (King James) Exod. xxxvi. 22 One board had two tenons, equally distant one from another. View more context for this quotation
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost x. 362 I felt Though distant from thee Worlds between, yet felt That I must after thee with this thy Son. View more context for this quotation
1684 R. Howlett School Recreat. 46 Hold it even with the Muzzle of the Musket..about an Inch distant.
1760 S. Niles in Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc. (1837) 3rd Ser. VI. 161 They were upon the constant look-out and had two forts not far distant from thence.
1778 F. Burney Evelina I. iv. 17 This retired place, to which Dorchester, the nearest town, is seven miles distant.
1832 Act 2 & 3 William IV c. 64 Sched. O. 38 A straight line drawn due east to a point one hundred yards distant.
1841 E. Forbes Hist. Brit. Starfishes 103 The tubercules are more distant from each other.
1932 E. Waugh Black Mischief (1977) iii. 91 Quarter of a mile distant lay the low sea-front of Matodi.
1965 Nursing Times 5 Feb. 182/1 The siting of a nursery far distant from the wards added to the difficulties of the staff.
1973 Field & Stream Nov. 66/1 The sounds of the mile-distant town came to me clearly.
2009 I. Thomson Dead Yard xvi. 211 Isaac Bernard..lived in Castle Comfort village three miles distant from Moore Town.
b. figurative, indicating that a desired or expected state or condition has at present not been attained or reached. Cf. sense A. 6a.
ΚΠ
a1538 T. Starkey Dial. Pole & Lupset (1989) 73 A grete faute in our pollycy & much dystant from al cyvyle ordur.
1686 N. Cox Gentleman's Recreation (ed. 3) v. vii. 76 He may be far distant from that perfect state of Body.
1799 E. Helme tr. J. H. Campe Columbus II. xv. 73 You see notwithstanding that the land is very narrow, and that Columbus was not far distant from the truth.
1887 H. H. Bancroft et al. Hist. Central Amer. III. xxiv. 494 Panamá was more distant than ever from gaining her independence.
1999 S. Brumfitt Social Psychol. Communication Impairm. i. 4 The individual feels so distant from how he or she would like to be that depression results.
2. † b. figurative. Different in character or quality; diverse, distinct. Obsolete.
a. Separated by a considerable distance or a conspicuous gap; not situated close together.In the 19th and early 20th centuries often in zoological or botanical descriptions, with reference to teeth, spines, leaves, spots, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > distance > distance or farness > [adjective] > remote, apart, or separate
distant?a1425
removed?a1425
discrepant1592
unclosing1640
world-divided1899
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 65v (MED) Bi sich suture þe distant lippez [of the wound] ar gadered togider.
c1475 ( in Eng. Hist. Rev. (1911) 26 519 Your lordys that were sogregat [probably read segregat] and distaunt in dyverse places of this reyaume..came to geders.
1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry iii. f. 154v His [sc. a dog's] shoulder poyntes well distant.
c1595 Countess of Pembroke Psalme lxxii. 63 in Coll. Wks. (1998) II. 91 The woods, where enterlaced trees..Ioyne at the head, though distant at the knees.
1764 W. Falconer Shipwreck (new ed.) i. 9 In distant souls congenial passions glow.
1828 J. Stark Elements Nat. Hist. I. 465 Jaws armed with pointed and distant teeth.
1871 Trans. Connecticut Acad. Arts & Sci. 1 368 Upon the sides and back of the rays there are four or five less regular rows of similar large, sharp, distant spines.
1924 Jrnl. Washington Acad. Sci. 14 91 Sori large, numerous, nonindusiate, mostly borne in distant groups of 2 or 3.
2018 New Scientist 13 Oct. 44/1 Fibre optics have become the go-to approach for moving large volumes of data between distant clusters of processors within supercomputers.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > difference > [adjective]
othereOE
otherkinseOE
unilicheOE
elseOE
otherways?c1225
diversc1250
diverse1297
unlikea1300
likelessa1325
sundrya1325
contrariousc1340
nothera1375
strangec1380
anothera1382
otherwisea1393
diversed1393
differenta1400
differing?c1400
deparayll1413
disparable1413
disparail1413
dissemblable1413
party?a1439
unlikeningc1450
indifferent1513
distinct1523
repugnant1528
far1531
heterogene?1541
discrepant1556
mislike1570
contrary1576
distincted1577
another-gainesa1586
dispar1587
another gate1594
dislike1596
unresembling1598
heterogeneana1601
anothergates1604
heterogeneal1605
unmatched1606
disparate1608
disparent?1611
differential1618
dissimilar1621
disparated1624
dissimilary1624
heterogeneous1624
unparallel1624
otherguess1632
anotherguise1635
incongenerous1646
anotherguess1650
otherguise1653
distant1654
unresemblant1655
distantial1656
allogeneous1666
distinguished1736
otherguised1768
unsimilar1768
insimilar1801
anotherkins1855
diff1861
distinctive1867
othergate1903
unalike1934
1654 H. Hammond Of Fund. in Notion i. 2 The distant fates of those two sorts of houses, which is there set down, together with the character of the Architects, the foolish and the wise, will assure us that this which we now insist on, is no nicety.
1694 G. Stanhope tr. Simplicius Comm. Epictetus' Morals vii. 69 Thus far Men of all Persuasions, and the most distant Tempers and Conversations agree.
1695 A. Boyer Char. Virtues & Vices 156 'Tis past the Power of Imagination it self, to invent so many distant Contrarieties, as there are naturally in the Heart of every Man.
1710 R. Steele Tatler No. 26. ⁋1 Enrolling all Men in their distant classes, before they presume to drink Tea or Chocolate in those Places.
3.
a. Situated or occurring far away from the person or people concerned; far removed, remote.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > distance > distance or farness > [adjective]
sideOE
fara1000
ferrenc1160
lungeteync1330
on dreicha1400
yondera1413
widec1425
roomc1443
lontaignec1450
remote1533
distant1549
remotedc1580
disloigned1596
discoasted1598
dissite1600
far-off1600
aloof1608
longinque1614
distantial1648
Atlantic1790
far-distant1793
far-away1816
far-apart1865
way off1871
1549 Proclam. Edward VI for Tale Tellers 29 Apr. in All Proclam. sette Furthe (1551) f. xliv Thei haue geuen to straungers occasion to write into distaunt Countries, suche tales for newes, to the great dishonor of his highnes, thesame beyng moste false and vntrue.
1599 J. Hayward 1st Pt. Henrie IIII 59 The earle returned answere, that it was vnnecessary in respect of that seruice, to draw men from such distant places.
1664 T. Philipot Orig. & Growth Spanish Monarchy 134 It is ennobled with an Air so sweet and salubrious, that Diseased people repair thither from distant Countries to retrive their Health.
1758 E. Kimber Life Capt. Neville Frowde ii. 59 A Longing to view distant Climes so predominantly reigned in my Thoughts.
1815 W. Scott Guy Mannering III. i. 15 The more distant hills..retained their snowy mantle, but all the open country was cleared.
1850 C. Kingsley Alton Locke I. i. 1 Even the Surrey hills..are to me a distant fairy-land.
1923 J. Conrad Let. 10 Mar. (1956) 290 I may die of funk before I put foot on that distant shore.
1977 H. Innes Big Footprints ii. iii. 179 Her eyes, shaded by the safari hat, were gazing towards the distant mountains.
2015 New Scientist 24 Oct. 32/1 A colossal group of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs)—highly energetic, short-lived flashes of energy erupting from distant galaxies.
b. Of a view of something: seen from far off or at a distance; afforded by a remote vantage point.
ΚΠ
1655 F. Teate Scripture-map Wildernesse of Sin iv. xv. 363 I may perhaps, if you please me, give you some distant view of Canaan, from the top of some Pisgah.
1693 T. Yalden in J. Dryden Examen Poeticum 205 We're charm'd with distant views of happiness, But near approaches make the prospect less.
1747 T. Gray (title) Ode on a distant prospect of Eton College.
1865 Murray's Handbk. Surrey, Hants., & Isle of Wight (ed. 2) 114/1 Beautiful views of the Thames are commanded at intervals, with a distant prospect of the towers of Windsor.
1896 A. Cahan Yekl iv. 71 On entering the big shed he had caught a distant glimpse of Gitl and Yosselé through the railing separating the detained immigrants from their visitors.
1989 T. Clancy Clear & Present Danger vii. 115 Often in the evening they'd catch the distant sight of the double-deck cars of an Amtrak train heading east to Denver.
2013 Hobart Mercury (Nexis) 27 July 24 Recently, an amazingly distant view of Earth was taken by the Cassini spacecraft.
c. Of a sound: coming from far away and hence faint or indistinct.
ΚΠ
1659 W. Chamberlayne Pharonnida iv. v. sig. F8v The usefull trumpet sounds No distant summons.
1701 N. Grew Cosmol. Sacra i. v. §6 A Hare, which is very quick of hearing..is supplied with a Bony Tube; which, as a natural Otocoustick; is so directed backward, as to receive the smallest, and most distant Sound that comes behind her.
1817 C. Wolfe Burial Sir J. Moore in Edinb. Monthly Mag. June 278/1 We heard by the distant and random gun, That the foe was sullenly firing.
1823 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto XIII lxiii. 86 The distant echo..harmonized by the old choral wall.
1934 R. Graves I, Claudius xxxiii Just then I heard distant shouting and screams, then more shouting.
1978 P. Weller Down in Tube Station at Midnight (transcribed from song, perf. ‘The Jam’) The distant echo of far away voices boarding far away trains.
2021 Guardian (Nexis) 9 Feb. (Travel section) There was no sound except the distant murmur of surf.
4. Far away or remote in time; occurring a long time ago or far into the future.In later use (esp. colloquially) often in fixed expressions, e.g. in the dim and distant past, in the not too distant future.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > duration > [adjective] > distant or remote
longc1405
remote1596
distanta1616
far1646
far-off1850
far-away1851
a1616 W. Shakespeare Measure for Measure (1623) ii. i. 90 We had but two in the house, which at that very distant time stood, as it were in a fruit dish. View more context for this quotation
1685 J. Locke Let. 1 Jan. in J. Locke & E. Clarke Corr. (1927) 120 You would then have received a great part of my thoughts much better than in the straggling pieces writ at distant times which you have received.
1732 G. Berkeley Alciphron II. vi. viii. 30 The books of Holy Scripture were written..at distant times.
1757 R. Glynn Day of Judgem. 7 Whom distant ages to each others sight Had long denied.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 148 The Parliament was again prorogued to a distant day.
1894 Irish Eccl. Rec. May 429 The origin of the elder ballad appears to be lost in the dim and distant past.
1944 E. Culbertson Total Peace 228 Let us now assume a situation in the not too distant future..when both Britain and the United States are threatened by a Trotskyite Russia.
1997 Modelling Railways Illustr. June 327/2 In the dim and distant past, when I was an apprentice in the electronics manufacturing industry.., tinned copper wire was much used.
2021 Scotsman (Nexis) 4 Aug. By last August, all this was a distant memory, when the city emerged from its first lockdown and experienced life without any festivals.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > longitudinal extent > [adjective] > long
longsomeeOE
fara1000
longOE
prolixa1500
of length1597
prolixious1599
lengthful?1611
tediousa1616
distanta1645
longinquous1670
long-drawn1726
lengthy1760
prolongated1776
a1645 W. Strode Floating Island (1655) iii. iii. sig. D In some deep pit, deep as the way is distant.
1705 tr. W. Bosman New Descr. Coast of Guinea xiv. 250 If the Trees be high, or the way any thing distant.
6.
a. Having only a remote, uncertain, or unclear connection to someone or something; faint, vague. Cf. sense A. 1b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > [adjective] > immediate or direct > not immediate
remote1586
distant1654
unimmediate1827
1654 R. Baxter Reduction of Digressor 39 There is somewhat in Him which mans Knowledge, Will, Goodness, Justice, &c. have some exceeding, low, distant resemblance of.
1694 G. Stanhope tr. Simplicius Comm. Epictetus' Morals xxiv. 199 All they can pretend to, is to affect something that belongs, or bears some distant Relation to you.
1722 J. Ozell tr. F. de S. de La Mothe-Fénelon Fables & Dialogues of Dead xviii. 89 Your hideous Face is indeed an ugly distant Likeness of his.
1780 R. B. Sheridan School for Scandal iv. ii. 52 I hav'n't the most distant idea.
1866 Duke of Argyll Reign of Law vi. 296 Is it only by a distant analogy?
1891 Leeds Mercury 27 Apr. 4/7 Not even the most distant allusion was made to it.
1981 Antiquaries Jrnl. 61 i. 66 Both these scholars had an even more distant acquaintance with the object itself than did Stukeley.
2014 Wire May 67/2 Preset flutes with a distant resemblance to those of Chinese classical music.
b. With reference to kinship: not closely related.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > [adjective] > distantly
removed1502
great1549
distant1671
far-away1817
far-off1828
far1859
shirttail1875
1671 J. Ogilby tr. O. Dapper et al. Atlas Chinensis 384 As the time of Mourning for a Wife, Brother, more distant Relations or Friends is much shorter, so is also their Apparel and Meat better.
1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey II. 57 Unlook'd for bequests from distant branches of his house.
1833 E. Bulwer-Lytton Godolphin I. ii. 16 A distant connexion of the deceased.
1868 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest (1876) II. App. 671 Not a sister, but a more distant kinswoman of the Emperor.
1919 J. Conrad Arrow of Gold v. iv I ought to know because we are distant relations.
1960 C. Day Lewis Buried Day i. 18 I seldom asked my father about our relations near or distant.
2001 R. Nicoll White Male Heart (2002) 313 Hugh spoke to one of the men at the bar, a high-country farmer who was married to a distant cousin.
7.
a. Cool, reserved, or unfriendly in manner; aloof, remote.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > bad behaviour > discourtesy > [adjective] > not affable
strange1338
estrangec1374
formal?1518
cold1557
squeamish1561
icy1567
buckrama1589
repulsive1598
starched1600
unaffable1603
stiff1608
withdrawing1611
reserved1612
aloof1639
cool1641
uncordial1643
inaffable1656
staunch1659
standfra1683
distant1710
starcha1716
distancing1749
pokerish1779
buckramed1793
angular1808
easeless1811
touch-me-not1817
starchy1824
standoffish1826
offish1827
poker-backed1830
standoff1837
stiffish1840
chilly1841
unapproachable1848
hedgehoggy1866
sticky1882
hard-to-get1899
stand-away1938
princesse lointaine1957
1710 R. Steele Tatler No. 126. The distant Behaviour of the Prude.
1766 O. Goldsmith Vicar of Wakefield II. xii. 198 He made Miss Wilmot a modest and distant bow.
1828 Marly: Planter's Life in Jamaica 209 [He] obtained a very distant and stately reception.
1866 Mrs. H. Wood St. Martin's Eve I. x. 185 She desired Eleanor to be very distant with him.
1904 N. Walsh Woman (ed. 2) 50 Dark or distant ways, particularly between parents, are as a black cloud which shuts out the sun.
1976 I. M. Lewis Social Anthropol. in Perspective (1985) ii. 58 My father's sister is a real dragon—a cold, formally distant aunt with whom no liberties are possible at all.
2017 D. Virtue & A. Karpenko Father Therapy ii. 19 If your father was cold and distant, then you may find that you seek out partners who are similarly unable to express their emotions.
b. Of a person's eyes, look, etc.: showing no emotion; (now typically) suggesting a lack of attention, concern, or interest.
ΚΠ
1723 F. Hawling Impertinent Lovers ii. 20 Prithee, dont trifle with the Man that loves thee. Nor look with distant Eyes on one so near.
1808 Ld. Byron Poems, Orig. & Translated 68 We hence may meet, and pass each other by With faint regard, or cold and distant eye.
1847 A. Nicholson Ireland's Welcome to Stranger Pref. p. viii Those who have felt called to give the distant look or the cool rebuke.
1873 W. Black Princess of Thule xxi. 335 Her companion's pale face and troubled and distant eyes.
1903 G. Brooks Romances of Colonial Days 93 She regarded the bridegroom with that cool, distant stare.
1947 J. Pagano Condemned i. 15 Earnestly the old man gazes at you out of those light blue eyes..: they are melancholy, distant eyes.
2021 Daily Nation (Kenya) (Nexis) 11 Feb. He had a distant look in his eyes, seemingly thinking about what might have been.
B. n.
Railways. Short for distant signal n.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > rail travel > railway system or organization > [noun] > types of signal system > types of signal
switch-signal1838
semaphore signal1845
distance signal1848
home signal1857
block signal1864
dwarf signal1870
distant signal1874
switch-lantern1875
distant1881
spectacle1881
switch-lamp1898
banjo1902
peg1911
1881 Railway Engineer Mar. 76/1 Semaphore are now variously designated according to the situation or functions they fulfil e.g. ‘starters’, ‘distants’, ‘stops’, ‘homes’.
1900 Daily News 15 Sept. 6/4 A ‘distant’ at danger compelled the driver to close the regulator with an exclamation of patience and disgust.
1991 Mod. Railways Apr. 206/2 In steam days, drivers usually had the benefit of splitting distants at running junctions, but the rot really set in when the LMS in the 1930s started to provide three-aspect colour-light distants in semaphore areas.
2005 S. Hall Mod. Signalling Handbk. (rev. ed.) 25/1 Directing Distant Signals (Commonly known as Splitting Distants).
Compounds
C1.
a. Chiefly poetic. Modifying participles, with the sense ‘at a distance, into the distance’, as in distant-dwelling, distant-shining, etc. (adjectives).
ΚΠ
1666 W. Austin Ἐπιλοίμια Ἔπη: Anat. Pestilence 11 Like distant spreading trees, some sinking wretch Reaching out to, does onely shadow catch.
1777 R. Potter tr. Æschylus Tragedies 43 Train'd to bear The distant-wounding bow [Gk. ἑκηβόλοις τόξοισιν].
1788 A. Seward Lett. (1811) II. 181 The visits of distant-dwelling friends.
1888 H. L. Koopman Orestes 39 A cold and distant-shining star.
1909 W. L. Dawson Birds of Washington I. 99 A distant-faring, feathered stranger had tempted me across a bleak pasture.
1952 J. A. Ramsay Physiol. Approach Lower Animals viii. 146 The waggle dance is a message to the distant-foraging workers.
2013 Science 25 Oct. 440 We identified distant-acting transcriptional enhancers active in the developing craniofacial complex.
b. With present participles, forming adjectives in which distant expresses the complement of the underlying verb, as in distant-looking, distant-sounding, etc.
ΚΠ
1802 J. Finlay Wallace 43 When Autumn's distant-sounding blast Sweeps hollow thro' the rip'ning corn.
1867 C. G. Leland Union Pacific Railway, Eastern Div. 49 We went forth determined to scale a distant-seeming summit.
1894 J. J. Astor Journey in Other Worlds iii. iii. 331 The cold, distant-looking sun, apparently about the size of an orange, was near the horizon.
1965 C. McCarthy Orchard Keeper (1993) 182 The rainwater blown from the trees pattered across the tin roof of the store, muffled and distant-sounding through the wallboard ceiling.
2006 N.Y. Observer (Nexis) 6 Mar. 23 The main drum tracks are augmented by isolated, distant-sounding snare volleys.
C2.
Distant Early Warning n. now historical (as a modifier) designating a system of radar stations installed by the United States and Canada in the 1950s, chiefly in the Arctic, for the advance detection of a missile or airborne attack from the Soviet Union; relating to or forming part of this system; = DEW n. at D n. Initialisms 3a; chiefly in Distant Early Warning Line.The D.E.W. system had been superseded by other warning systems by 1993.
ΚΠ
1952 Position Dept. of Def. Early Warning Continental U. S. (U.S. National Res. & Development Board RDB 236/6) 13 Oct. i. 2 There is still technical work to be accomplished to such an extent that a crash program for the implementation of the entire distant early warning line would be unwise at this time.
1958 Times 21 July 9/6 The Distant Early Warning line in the far north is similarly run by civilians on private contract.
2001 J. Waterman Arctic Crossing i. 75 The cow drops dead in the doorway of an abandoned distant early warning (DEW) station, shot through the heart.
2015 Amer. Geophysical Union Fall Meeting Abstr. No. EP23A 0937 Highly exposed legacy Cold War Distant Early Warning Line sites are of particular concern with impacts ranging from financial risk to contamination of sensitive coastal marine environments.
distant signal n. Railways a signal preceding the home signal giving warning of the latter's setting; also called distance signal; cf. home signal n.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > rail travel > railway system or organization > [noun] > types of signal system > types of signal
switch-signal1838
semaphore signal1845
distance signal1848
home signal1857
block signal1864
dwarf signal1870
distant signal1874
switch-lantern1875
distant1881
spectacle1881
switch-lamp1898
banjo1902
peg1911
1874 R. C. Rapier On Fixed Signals Railways 15 The Great Northern railway was, at its construction in 1852, completely fitted with distant signals of the semaphore type.
1921 E. Wallace Bones in London x. 262 It was a toss-up whether the special had not already passed the distant signal, but he had to take that risk.
2010 Times of India (Nexis) 29 July The cabin staff tries to turn the home signal yellow (they have no control over the distant signal).
distant water adj. designating fishing vessels operating outside their own territorial waters; of, relating to, or caught by such vessels.
ΚΠ
1936 Aberdeen Press & Jrnl. 31 Mar. (2nd ed.) 8/1 On page five of the report it states, ‘Distant water fish have brought prejudice upon all classes of fish.’
1958 Listener 3 July 6/1 The total catch of the distant-water fleet.
1960 Times 5 Feb. 5/1 The British distant-water fishermen are as vitally involved as anyone in the fishery limits dispute.
2008 Financial Times 26 Feb. 4/8 More than £42m has been paid out to 4.400 former trawlermen..to compensate them for the collapse of Britain's distant water fishing industry.
2021 telegraph.co.uk (Nexis) 2 June The Chinese fishery authorities introduced hard-hitting punishments for overfishing and illegal fishing by the distant water fishing fleet.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2022).
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adj.n.c1392