localityn.
/lə(ʊ)ˈkalᵻti/, U.S. /loʊˈkælədi/ 1. Frequently in theological contexts: the fact or quality of occupying or taking up space, or of having a definite spatial position. Cf. local adj. 2. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > place > position or situation > [noun] > quality of having
localitya1538
placeness1674
a1538 J. Lambert tr. St. Augustine in Treat. vnto Henry VIII (?1548) f. 19 Take awaye localyte or sytuacyon in place [L. spatia locorum] from bodyes, and they shall be no where. And for bycause they shall be no where they shall haue no beynge.
1628 Bp. J. Hall Olde Relig. vii. iii. 69 It destroyes the truth of Christs humane bodie, in that it ascribes quantitie to it, without extension, without localitie.
1661 J. Glanvill Vanity of Dogmatizing xi. 100 That the Soul and Angels..they have nothing to do with grosser locality, is generally opinion'd.
1786 W. Mason Eng. Garden (new ed.) i. 9 Come then, thou Sister Muse, from whom the mind Wins for her airy visions colour, form, And fixt locality, sweet Painting, come.
1791 H. More Estimate Relig. Fashionable World 34 The locality of Hell, and the existence of an Evil Spirit, are annihilated.
1855 H. Spencer Princ. Psychol. ii. xii. 226 Imagine a solitary point A, in infinite space; and suppose it possible for that point to be known by a being having no locality.
1933 E. C. Hoskyns in tr. K. Barth Epist. Rom. iii. 92 But now directs our attention to time which is beyond time, to space which has no locality, to impossible possibility.
2008 P. Wilberg Heidegger, Phenomenol. & Indian Thought iii. 76 We..cannot say ‘where’ language as such exists—it has no locality in the same way that a physical ‘object’ seems to have.
2. Scots Law.† b. An assessment, tax, or levy, esp. one for the support of soldiers or other war expenses. Obsolete.† c. A right to revenue or produce from land which is assigned to a person as part of his or her income; esp. that which is given in liferent to a widow; (also) such revenue or land. Obsolete.
a. The apportioning of the cost of an increase in a parish minister's stipend among landholders under the teind system; (also) the cost of this increase. Also: (more fully decree of locality) a judgement or decree concerning this. Cf. local v. Now historical.
ΚΠ
1621 in A. I. Ritchie Churches St. Baldred (1880) 23 The Old Localitie, payable to the minister of Tyninghame, by way of minute.
1633 in J. Hunter Diocese & Presbytery Dunkeld (1918) II. 370 The gentlemen heretoures..thinkis thameselffis hardly dealt with be me give I sould burding thame with the localitie of the stipend dew to me.
1635 in J. Robertson Illustr. Topogr. & Antiq. Aberdeen & Banff (1862) IV. 515 To..grant localitie of the forsaid stipend siluer and victuall therupon [sc. kirkis].
1663 in J. Gilmour & D. Falconer Coll. Decisions Lords of Council (1701) i. 48 Mr Andrew Kinneir..obtains a decreet of locality against his parochioners and namely against the Earl of Roxburgh for his lands.
1705 W. Forbes Treat. Church-lands & Tithes 392 That where a ministers stipend is cast by a locality upon the teind of any parish.
a1768 J. Erskine Inst. Law Scotl. (1773) I. ii. x. §47 359 Where a determinate quantity of stipend..is modified to a minister out of the tithes of the parish..the decree is called of modification: but where that quantum is also localled or proportioned among the different landholders liable in the stipend, it is styled a decree of modification and locality.
1806 W. M. Morison Decisions Court of Session XXXIII. 14789 There being but a decreet of modification, and no locality, the Earl alleged locality should be first made.
1871 Cases Court of Session 3rd Ser. 9 59 This was a process of augmentation, modification, and locality of the stipend of the parish of Cameron. In the locality..one of the heritors..objected to the interim scheme of locality prepared by the common agent, on the ground that [etc.].
1930 A. A. Cormack Teinds & Agric. 117 The process of locality of teinds often proved difficult; that is, within a parish, it was difficult to distribute the amount of teind payable by each heritor.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > impost, due, or tax > tax > [noun] > levied for specific object
locality1641
cess1817
mutton1881
1641 in J. Nicholson Minute Bk. War Comm. Covenanters Kirkcudbright 1 Jan. (1855) 157 Desyering the said Committie to allot and allocate to thame..ane competent localitie, furthe of the redrest of thair said husbands' rentes, goodes and geir, for aliment of thame and thair said childrene.
1654 in J. D. Marwick Extracts Rec. Burgh Glasgow (1881) II. 299 Adame Ritchie to pay out of the localitie money £12 5s. 8d. sterling to pay for twa horses of the Inglisch that wer stolne out of the towne.
1659 in C. H. Firth Clarke Papers (1901) IV. 161 We are in greate want of monies, to carry on our Locality, for coales and candle, all the six Companies beinge draune into the Cittadell.
a1688 J. Renwick Choice Coll. (1776) xii. 151 Then..shall cess-payers and locality-payers be paid home.
a1699 M. Shields in J. Howie Faithful Contendings Displayed (1780) 301 Paying any of their wicked impositions, as Militia-money, Cess, Locality, or Fines.
1714 Cloud of Witnesses 135 I likewise leave my Testimony against Bonders, Cess and Locality payers, for Strengthening the Hands of these wicked Ruffians.
1732 in P. Walker Six Saints (1901) II. 82 Our backslidings and complying courses, particularly of paying cess and locality to dragoons and soldiers.
1816 W. Scott Old Mortality viii, in Tales of my Landlord 1st Ser. II. 198 Them that in this contumacious and backsliding generation pays localities and fees, and cess and fines.
1893 M. Hutchison Reformed Presbyterian Church Scotl. iii. 57 No one could be recognized as a member..who paid cess, locality or militia-money to the civil authorities.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > management of money > income, revenue, or profit > [noun] > income derived from land or property > types of
extent1303
commodities1396
freehold1433
candle-rent1611
farmage1611
localityc1701
c1701 in J. Maidment Analecta Scotica (1837) II. 163 The Doctors Wife had possessed a Localitie of the bygone Rents and before Arriestment also uplifted part of them.
1760 Caledonian Mercury 16 Aug. As the lands are presently life-rented by the widow of the said deceased John Stenhouse, who has a total locality over them, she by a writing in process, has become bound to cede her locality to the purchaser.
1795 Statist. Acct. Scotl. XIV. 536 He has presently no accommodation of moss; the moss on which he had a locality being exhausted, and no new one yet settled for him.
1808 R. Bell Dict. Law Scotl. II. 492 The term locality is also applied to such lands as a widow has secured to her by her contract in liferent. These are said to be her locality lands.
1872 Bell's Princ. Law Scotl. (ed. 6) §1947 831 In the stipulations of a marriage contract these points are important—1. A provision by jointure, locality, etc., if accepted, discharges the claim of terce... Locality is an appropriation of certain lands to the wife in liferent; her security depending on the completion of her right by infeftment duly recorded.
3.
a. The precise situation or position of something or someone; esp. the geographical location of a plant, mineral, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > place > position or situation > [noun]
stallc1000
logh11..
settlea1340
placea1375
steada1387
sitea1398
assizec1400
position?a1425
estal1480
stound1557
planting1585
location1592
positure1600
posture1605
seat1607
situs1629
ubi1630
ubiety1645
locus1648
locality1656
topography1658
whereness1674
lie1697
spot1769
locus standi1809
possie1916
ubicity1922
1656 H. L'Estrange Observator Observed 21 Now I come to my two errours in Locality. The first is my misplacing of the Earl of Newcastles entertainment of the King. Which he will have at Belsover Castle in Darby-shire, not at Welbech.
1697 J. Evelyn Numismata vii. 251 Taking them [sc. medals] out of their respective Nests and Localities.
1773 D. Henry Hist. Acct. Voy. Eng. Navigators IV. 287 Languages..and customs, which he could never, from the locality of his situation, have an opportunity of learning.
1796 Monthly Rev. 20 App. 494 We cannot therefore consent that much stress should be laid on the locality of the yellow fever.
1836 W. Buckland Geol. & Mineral. II. Index 120 Lignite, tertiary, localities of.
1838 N. Hawthorne Amer. Note-bks. (1883) 202 A blind man..feeling all around him with his cane, so as to find out his locality.
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps ii. xiv. 303 He insists upon the power of the glaciers to mould themselves to their localities.
1910 Carnegie Instit. Washington Year Bk. 1909 151 The noddy [tern]..recognizes the locality of its nest and returns to the old locality if the nest be moved.
1955 R. M. Pearl How to know Minerals & Rocks 154 Pierrepont [sic] Manor, N.Y., is a renowned locality for black tourmaline.
2002 Daily Tel. 1 Nov. 7/5 There are only 46 mature plants left at the two known localities.
b. A region or district (of undefined extent) considered as the site occupied by a particular person or thing, or as the scene of certain activities; a neighbourhood.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > place > [noun] > a locality
list?1614
ubiquitya1637
headquarters1647
region1726
locale1761
locality1770
ubity1964
1770 M. Wheelock Refl. Moral & Polit. in B. Franklin Papers (1973) XVII. 395 In slave-holding colonies the whites dare not leave their localities.
1830 C. Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 321 Pallas mentions that, in the same locality, opposite old Temruk, a submarine eruption took place in 1799.
1859 Lancet 24 Dec. 651/2 It would be highly advantageous could we, for all localities, ascertain..the rapidity of evaporation, range, and intensity of solar radiation.
1880 S. Haughton Six Lect. Physical Geogr. iv. 185 The tremendous rainfall of the Khasi Hills, amounting in some localities..to 559 inches of annual rainfall.
1922 J. Galsworthy Forsyte Saga i. iii. 407 Each branch of the family tenaciously held to a particular locality—old Jolyon swearing by Dartmoor, James by Welsh, Swithin by Southdown.
1958 J. K. Galbraith Affluent Society xx. 222 If a locality is declining..one should encourage the people to leave.
2001 J. Hamilton-Paterson Loving Monsters (2002) xv. 300 Jayjay..was well loved in the locality.
ΚΠ
1768 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. iii. xxiii. 384 The locality of trial required by the common law seems a consequence of the antient locality of jurisdiction. All over the world, actions transitory follow the person of the defendant, territorial suits must be discussed in the territorial tribunal.
1791 Lawyer's & Magistrate's Mag. Dec. 559 It is a clear proposition..that personal property has no locality.
1839 J. Bouvier Law Dict. U.S.A. I. 52/2 A local action is one in which the venue must still be laid in the county, in which the cause of action actually arose. The present locality of actions is founded in some cases, on common law principles, and in others on positive enactments of statute law.
5. The fact or quality of belonging to, or being restricted to, a particular place or region; the fact or quality of being local, localness. Also: †an instance of this; a local characteristic (obsolete). Sometimes contrasted with universality.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > place > [noun] > fact of belonging to a particular place
locality1771
the world > existence and causation > existence > intrinsicality or inherence > [noun] > a characteristic > of a particular area
locality1802
localism1823
provincialism1845
speciality1854
1771 E. Griffith Hist. Lady Barton I. 33 And now I talk of coaches, I have never set my foot in ours, since you left London: I begin to think that this is carrying the idea of locality too far, and will therefore order it to set me down at the play-house, this evening.
1797 E. Burke Three Mem. French Affairs Pref. 7 These factions..weakened and distracted the locality of patriotism.
1802 A. Hamilton in N.-Y. Evening Post 18 Jan. 3/1 The vast variety of humours, prepossessions and localities, which in the much diversified composition of these states, militate against the weight and authority of the general Government.
1836 R. Owen Bk. New Moral World iv. ix. 138 That mere locality of feeling and acting, whether sectarian or national, be abandoned for universality of mind, spirit, interest, and conduct.
1901 H. T. Mark Individuality & Moral Aim Amer. Educ. 248 The principle of locality; the use, that is, which is made of local influences and local interest as a force for making excellence in the school work of a city or district.
1965 P. Mcnair in U. Limentani Mind Dante ii. 44 Surely there never was any poet so universal yet local in his outlook, and it is just this sense of locality in universality, of universality in locality, which lends enchantment to his poem.
2006 T. Vadén in T. Botz-Bornstien & J. Hengelbrock Re-ethnicizing Minds? xii. 222 Those cultures..that claim to be universal are, in fact, local, but aspire to hide their locality.
6. In phrenology: the faculty of recognizing and remembering places. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > faculty psychology > psychological study of the skull > [noun] > faculty of place recognition
locality1803
1803 Jrnl. Nat. Philos., Chem., & Arts Apr. 229 The organ of the sense of locality occupies the fore part of the os frontis.
1815 J. G. Spurzheim Physiognom. Syst. (ed. 2) 368 This faculty measures distance, and gives notions of perspective... Hence it seems to me that it is the faculty of locality in general.
1875 E. C. Stedman Victorian Poets (ed. 13) 187 To use the lingo of the phrenologists, his locality is better than his individuality.
1926 Pop. Sci. Monthly Aug. 22/2 I'm sure that his forehead is quite prominent at the place where phrenologists say locality lives.
1994 Hist. Educ. Q. 34 318 Laura's academic routine was designed to give exercise to each part of the brain... Geography was particularly suited to exercise the child's organ of ‘Locality’.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > place > [noun] > features of a place
localities1828
1828 W. Scott Fair Maid of Perth x, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. I. 253 A lofty vaulted entrance led through this eastern front into the quadrangle, and was precisely opposite to the window at which Prior Anselm stood... Owing to the height to which he was raised, and the depth of the vaulted archway, his eye could but indistinctly reach the opposite and external portal. It is necessary to notice these localities.
1832 G. Downes Lett. from Continental Countries I. 61 After nightfall we walked over to Sallenches. The localities about the bridge reminded me of Milltown in the County of Dublin.
8. sense of locality n. [probably after German Raumsinn (1852 or earlier)] Psychology the ability to identify the site of a tactile stimulus.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > touch and feeling > [noun] > power of perceiving by > sense of locality
sense of locality1864
1864 H. Power Carpenter's Princ. Human Physiol. (ed. 6) xii. 611 Czermak..has drawn attention to many curious facts in relation to the ‘sense of space’, or ‘locality’ possessed by the skin.
1916 A. F. Beifeld tr. L. Krehl Basis Symptoms xii. 471 In certain nervous lesions, especially in those about the optic thalami, the cutaneous sensations are perceived, but the ability to localize them is more or less lost. Curiously enough, this sense of locality is well preserved in cortical lesions.
2008 M. Grunwald & M. John in M. Grunwald Human Haptic Perception ii. 16/2 He [sc. E. H. Weber] postulated a ‘sense of locality’ (or ‘feel for locality’) which appears to be all the more differentiated the more numerously nerve fibres are present.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2015; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.a1538