1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. AA^v The iniciall feare, that is to saye, the feare of good begynners.

1534 R. Whittington tr. Cicero Thre Bks. Tullyes Offyces i. sig. A.5 There is..a meane offyce or inytiall, also a perfyte offyce.

1661 J. Glanvill Vanity of Dogmatizing xiv. 128 Our initial age is..capable of any impression from the documents of our Teachers.

1665 J. Evelyn Let. 4 Apr. in Diary & Corr. (1859) III. 154 He is past many initial difficulties.

1789 W. Belsham Ess. I. xii. 227 The initial paragraph of Dryden's well-known poem.

1812 J. Playfair Outl. Nat. Philos. I. 52 The square of the initial velocity.

1833 J. F. W. Herschel Astronomy iv. 169 The vernal equinox being the initial point of longitudes.

1880 L. Stephen Alexander Pope ii. 58 Pope would seem to have been almost in the initial stage of mental disease.

1844 Hymers Integral Calc. (ed. 3) 195 θ the angle made by ρ with the initial line.

1884 F. O. Bower & D. H. Scott tr. H. A. de Bary Compar. Anat. Phanerogams & Ferns 40 The Initial cell is not the Mother-cell of the stoma, but divides further, once or several times in succession.

1884 F. O. Bower & D. H. Scott tr. H. A. de Bary Compar. Anat. Phanerogams & Ferns 108 This layer of cells, which relatively to the cork-formation may be called the initial layer, is the epidermis itself in certain cases of normal development of Dicotyledons.

1885 G. L. Goodale in A. Gray & G. L. Goodale Bot. Text-bk. (ed. 6) II. i. ii. 105 The cells from which these primordial layers or masses of nascent tissues arise are known as initial cells.

1834 W. Hamilton in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 124 250 No general solution has been obtained assigning (as a complete solution ought to do) 3n relations between the n masses.., the 3n varying coordinates.., the varying time t, and the 6n initial data of the problem, namely, the initial coordinates.., and their initial rates of increase..; the quantities called here initial being those which correspond to the arbitrary origin of time.]

1834 W. Hamilton in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 124 273 The problem of integrating these [differential] equations consists in proposing to assign, by their means, six relations between the time t, the masses m₁m₂, the six varying coordinates..and their initial values and initial rates of increase.

1890 A. R. Forsyth Theory Differential Equations I. iii. 82 He [sc. Jacobi] shewed that the introduction of ‘initial values’ of the variables..renders it possible to take the integrals of the first subsidiary system in a form, which leads immediately to the transformation of the equation.

1902 A. R. Forsyth Theory Differential Equations IV. i. 4 The conditions, as to the arbitrarily assigned values to be acquired at ζ by w and its derivatives, are called the initial conditions; the values are called the initial values.

1920 H. T. H. Piaggio Elem. Treat. Differential Equations iv. 53 As t usually denotes time and x and y rectangular coordinates, a condition such as z = 0 when t = 0 is called an initial condition, while one such as z = 0 if x = 0, or if x = l, or if y = x, is called a boundary condition.

1957 L. Fox Numerical Solution Two-point Boundary Probl. i. 5 Boundary-value problems can always be solved in theory, and often in practice, by a combination of initial-value problems, the extra initial conditions being chosen more or less arbitrarily but finally adjusted to satisfy the prescribed boundary conditions.

1968 L. Fox & D. F. Mayers Computing Methods for Scientists & Engineers iii. 30 We need two conditions, and here there are two main possibilities. In the first, giving the so-called initial-value problem, we are provided with two adjacent values y_s and y_{s + 1} for some s, or possibly y_s and some linear combination of y_{s − 1}, y_s, and y_{s + 1}... The second possibility, giving the so-called boundary-value problem, is the specification say of y₀ and y_n, the values at the two ends of some range.

1622 S. Ward Christ All in All (1627) 9 The Α and Ω..two Letters..the principall, initiall, and finall of the Alphabet.

a1714 Bp G. Burnet Hist. Reformation anno 1559 (R.) At the end of every section, the initial letters of his name that had translated it, were printed, as W. E...for Will. Exon.

1762 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Painting II. i. 19 In the initial letter are the portraits of the King sitting on the throne delivering the patent to the Earl, [etc.].

1845 J. T. Graves Rom. Law in Encycl. Metrop. 781/1 The work has been usually cited by numbers, not by initial words.

1859 T. J. Gullick & J. Timbs Painting 101 Vasari intimates that the initial or large-letter writing was a distinct occupation about 1350.

1962 J. A. Downing I.T.A. Reading Exper. (1964) 14 Sir James Pitman's new Initial Teaching Alphabet..has been evolved from his grandfather's ‘Phonotypy’ and from the ‘Nue Spelling’ of the Simplified Spelling Society.

1964 Daily Tel. 20 Mar. 19/1 The initial teaching alphabet scheme, in use experimentally for three years to make children read more easily, is to get a Government grant.

1656 R. Vines Treat. Inst. Lords-Supper xxiii. 281 Unregenerate man..having no initials of true Repentance.

1669 W. Simpson Hydrologia Chymica 81 A seminal or ideal disease, inserted into the very initials of life.

1681 J. Flavell Method of Grace ix. 206 Now it feels the very initials of eternal rest in it self.

1845 P. J. Bailey Festus (ed. 2) 120 The initial and conclusion of the world.

1716 M. Davies Crit. Hist. 2 in Athenæ Britannicæ III Which..however pretended..to be the easiest and most adapted Initials, yet 'tis certain they are far surpass'd by our Oxford Grammar.

1627 J. Ussher Let. in R. Parr Life J. Usher (1686) Coll. cxxii. 383 There being but 22 of them [letters]..without any difference of Initials and Finals.

1735 E. Curll in Pope's Lett. I. Suppl. 24 P. T. are not, I dare say, the true Initials of your Name.

1829 E. Bulwer-Lytton Disowned I. v. 79 Honest Folk..don't travel with their initials only.

1858 D. Masson Life Milton I. 610 It has not his full name appended to it, but only the initials ‘J. M.’

1735 E. Curll in Pope's Lett. I. Suppl. 24 An Initial Correspondence betwixt E. C. and P. T., and betwixt A. P. and E. C.

1939 Jrnl. Inst. Journalists Jan. 19/3 For one man who says ‘London County Council’ a thousand say ‘Ellceecee’, and euphony demands..that this curious initial-word, and L.M.S. and F.J.I., should all be preceded by ‘an’.