efficiencyn.
/ᵻˈfɪʃnsi/, U.S. /əˈfɪʃənsi/, /iˈfɪʃənsi/ 1. † b. The action of an operative agent or efficient cause; production, causation, creation. Obsolete.
a. The fact of being an operative agent or efficient cause. Now only in philosophical use.
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the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > scholasticism > [noun] > causes > fact of being
efficiency1593
1593 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie i. iii. 54 The manner of this diuine efficiencie being farre aboue vs.
1628 T. Spencer Art of Logick 31 God is sayd to be the Efficient Cause of man: the office of this efficiency, is placed in ioyning the forme vnto the matter.
1676 M. Hale Contempl. Moral & Divine i. 365 The Efficiency..of the Principal Cause is that which gives efficacy to the Means and makes it effectual.
1695 J. Woodward Ess. Nat. Hist. Earth 53 [Gravity of Bodies] does not proceed from the Efficiency of any such contingent and unstable Agents.
1870 F. C. Bowen Logic xii. 417 Constancy of sequence is no certain indication of causal efficiency.
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the world > existence and causation > creation > [noun] > fashioning, shaping, or forming
shapinga1350
forming1401
formationc1450
fashion1463
plasmation?a1475
framing1551
frame1558
fashioning1574
plasmating1585
fiction1607
effection1623
formature1659
efficiency1665
formativeness1849
styling1928
1665 J. Spencer Disc. Prodigies (ed. 2) 221 These Prodigies are of Diabolical efficiency.
a1676 M. Hale Primitive Originat. Mankind (1677) iv. vii. 350 That Power and Wisdom..were equal to the formation and efficiency of the Sun.
1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. iv. 576 These Ancient Pagans..used it [sc. creare] generally, for all manner of Production or Efficiency.
2.
a. Fitness or power to accomplish, or success in accomplishing, the purpose intended; adequate power, effectiveness, efficacy.
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the world > action or operation > advantage > efficacy > [noun]
mainOE
mightOE
strengthOE
efficace?c1225
bootingc1300
effectc1390
powera1393
boota1400
efficacity1430
operationc1450
valure1483
feck1495
efficacy1527
effectualness1545
effectuousnessa1576
validity1593
effectiveness1607
workingness1611
efficaciousnessa1628
operativeness1627
efficiency1633
effectualitya1641
energy1668
availablenessa1676
availment1699
potentialness1727
affectingnessa1774
effectivity1838
efficience1865
well working1879
1633 W. Ames Fresh Suit against Human Ceremonies i. 49 The very frame of it..had an efficiency..to cary up the heart to God.
1818–60 R. Whately Misc. Remains (1864) 76 The penalty annexed to any law is an instance, not of its efficiency, but..of its failure.
1858 H. T. Buckle Hist. Civilisation Eng. (1873) II. viii. 556 The navy was..more than doubled in efficiency.
1859 J. S. Mill On Liberty v. 204 The greatest dissemination of power consistent with efficiency.
1863 H. Fawcett Man. Polit. Econ. ii. v. 193 Nothing more powerfully promotes the efficiency of labour than an abundance of fertile land.
b. plural. Efficient powers or capacities.
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1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica 46 The production of effects beyond their created efficiencies . View more context for this quotation
c. spec. in Economics, as economic efficiency, marginal efficiency, technical efficiency (see quots.).
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1906 A. Shadwell (title) Industrial efficiency. A comparative study of industrial life in England, Germany and America.
1916 A. Marshall Princ. Econ. (ed. 7) iv. v. 193 Health and strength, physical, mental and moral..are the basis of industrial efficiency, on which the production of material wealth depends.
1926 Industrial Management Jan. 4/1 The choice is restricted to a definitely established range of sizes and types, outside of which the designer of the average car would venture with considerable trepidation, and at the sacrifice of manufacturing efficiency.
1926 Industrial Management 34 (advt.) Sure and efficient power drives make for higher overall plant efficiency.
1936 J. M. Keynes Gen. Theory Employment iv. ii. 135 The relation between the prospective yield of a capital-asset and its supply price or replacement cost, i.e. the relation between the prospective yield of one more unit of that type of capital and the cost of producing that unit, furnishes us with the marginal efficiency of capital of that type.
1953 G. Hutton We too can Prosper i. 13 Productivity is the efficiency..of production.
1965 J. L. Hanson Dict. Econ. 133/1 Economic efficiency, the maximum average output per employee.
1965 J. L. Hanson Dict. Econ. 133/1 Economic efficiency is a much wider term than technical efficiency, which applies only to the efficiency of one factor of production, namely capital.
1965 A. Seldon & F. G. Pennance Everyman's Dict. Econ. 137 Economic efficiency, relates to output per unit cost of the resources employed; contrasted with technical efficiency, which measures output of energy per unit of energy applied.
1966 A. Gilpin Dict. Econ. Terms 57 Economic efficiency, the efficiency with which scarce resources are used and organised to achieve stipulated economic ends. In competitive conditions, the lower the cost per unit of output, without sacrifice of quality, in relation to the value or price of the finished article, the greater the economic efficiency of the productive organisation.
3. Mechanics and Physics.† a. The work done by a force in operating a machine or engine; the total energy expended by a machine. Obsolete.
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1827 D. Gilbert in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 117 27 Since therefore a machine is efficient in producing duty, or effect, in proportion to the force applied, multiplied into the space through which it acts, I propose to denominate this function (f × s) efficiency; retaining the word duty for a similar function indicative of the work performed... By a comparison of these two quantities, the efficiency expended on any machine, and the duty performed by it, an exact measure will be ascertained of its intrinsic worth.
1827 D. Gilbert in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 117 31 The received efficiency of a water wheel being represented by the pounds of water passing over it × by the fall in feet, less the height due to the velocity with which the periphery moves in its rotation.
1832 W. Whewell First Princ. Mech. iv. 54 It has been proposed by Mr Davies Gilbert..to call the product f × s the Efficiency of the force f.
1832 W. Whewell First Princ. Mech. iv. 55 The work done by any machine is always equal to the Efficiency of the moving force... But machinery may very much increase the convenience of application of the force.
1832 W. Whewell First Princ. Mech. iv. 64 To find the theoretical Efficiency of a Steam Engine working for one minute.
b. The ratio of useful work performed to the total energy expended or heat taken in. radiant efficiency or luminous efficiency, the ratio of the total luminous flux produced to the total power consumed.
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1855 W. J. M. Rankine in Proc. Philos. Soc. Glasgow III. vi. 398 Efficiency of engines. An engine is a contrivance for transforming energy by means of the periodical repetition of a cycle of variations of the accidents of a substance. The efficiency of an engine is the proportion which the energy permanently transformed to a useful form by it bears to the whole energy communicated to the working substance.
1858 W. J. M. Rankine Man. Appl. Mech. vi. 610 The object of improvements in machines is to bring their efficiency as near to unity as possible.
1879 G. B. Prescott Speaking Telephone (new ed.) xiv. 465 The true comparative measure of the efficiency of dynamo-electric machines.
1887 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 496/1 The efficiency of furnace and boiler is the ratio which the amount of heat taken up by the water bears to the whole potential energy of the fuel. In good boilers this efficiency is about 0·7.
1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXIII. 418/1 The ratio between the power given out by a transformer and the power taken up by it is called its efficiency.
1929 Encycl. Brit. VIII. 290/1 The ‘efficiency’ of a lamp is measured in lumens per watt.
1958 Van Nostrand's Sci. Encycl. (ed. 3) 561/1 Usually there is a load for which the efficiency is a maximum.
1960 R. W. Marks Dymaxion World Buckminster Fuller 51/1 In engineering, the term ‘efficiency’ means the ratio of foot-pounds of work realized to the foot-pounds of energy consumed by a given mechanical system.
1967 E. U. Condon & H. Odishaw Handbk. Physics (ed. 2) v. 6/1 Of all engines working between two heat reservoirs of temperature τ1 and τ2 (τ2 > τ1), the reversible engine is the one of maximum efficiency.
4. An efficiency apartment; a room with limited facilities for washing and cooking. North American.
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1952 Times-Picayune (New Orleans) 11 May v. 8 (advt.) Modern, furnished efficiency. Living room, bedroom combined, kitchen and bath.
1959 H. Gardner So what else is New? 70 Irving Hoffman..spotted this room-for-rent sign down in Greenwich Village: ‘One room efficiency, no bath, suitable for artist.’
1959 Times Lit. Suppl. 6 Nov. p. xiii/2 Even in..the motel, you will find..a curiously abrupt sign labelled ‘Efficiencies’, by which token you will learn that your expensive quarters are furnished with..an up-to-date kitchenette.
1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. 34 (advt.) Efficiencies 67.50 per week.
Compounds
efficiency apartment n. North American one with limited facilities for washing and cooking.
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1930 San Antonio (Texas) Light 31 Jan. 14/8 (advt.) 641 N. Flores..Efficiency Apts.
1965 L. H. Whitten Progeny of Adder (1966) 25 The efficiency apartment he really couldn't afford in southwest Washington.
efficiency audit n. an examination of a business organization, etc., for the purpose of establishing the efficiency of its procedures.
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1952 Public Administration XXX. 77/2 Accountancy is developing the technique of standard costs; and the new science of business management is devising techniques of ‘efficiency audit’.
1965 J. L. Hanson Dict. Econ. 133/1 If a nationalised industry is to be run deliberately at a loss ‘as a service’ it loses the economic test of its efficiency. In such a case the profit test would have to be replaced by some kind of ‘efficiency audit’.
efficiency bar n. a restriction of salary to a maximum figure which may be increased only when satisfactory evidence of efficiency has been produced.
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1897 Daily News 16 Mar. 2/2 (heading) An efficiency bar. No officer whose salary had reached 112 l. is to be allowed to pass that figure without a satisfactory certificate of the excellence of his conduct and of his ability to perform the highest duties of his class.
1964 New Statesman 10 Apr. 580/1 (advt.) Lecturer £1,250..–£2,150 with an efficiency bar at £1,750.
efficiency engineer n. U.S. = efficiency expert n.
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1913 Engin. Mag. Aug. 715/1 Whenever an efficiency engineer is engaged to study a business or a manufactory, he must of necessity deal to a great extent with the rank and file in obtaining the vital data upon which to base his recommendations.
1954 J. A. C. Brown Social Psychol. of Industry x. 276 The efficiency engineers Taylor and Gilbreth and the early industrial psychologists.
efficiency expert n. one who examines the efficiency of industrial or commercial organization or production.
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1913 Engin. Mag. Aug. 717/2 So important is the work of this latest class of engineers, the efficiency experts, that no factor should be passed lightly over that has a bearing on their success.
1924 E. Shephard Paul Bunyan 184 Paul hired a kind of efficiency expert..and Gerber used to walk around..and keep tab on the men and count up how they spent their time.
1959 D. Ewen Compl. Bk. Amer. Mus. Theater 295 This musical spoofs an efficiency expert.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1891; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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