pollutionn.
/pəˈl(j)uːʃn/, U.S. /pəˈluʃ(ə)n/ 1. Desecration of that which is sacred; the condition of being desecrated. rare after 17th cent.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > sacrilege > [noun]
sacrilegea1300
sacrilegyc1380
pollutiona1382
violation1461
profanation1536
dishallowing1562
exauguration1600
desecrationa1717
profanement1815
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) Judith iv. 10 Lest weren ȝyuen..þe holi thingis of hem in to pollucioun [a1425 L.V. defoulyng; L. pollutionem].
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) Head. 738 (MED) Appollo..was sore displesid for the polucioun of his temple with the blode of Achilles.
a1500 tr. A. Chartier Traité de l'Esperance (Rawl.) (1974) 49 If polucion or sacrilege be done in the temple, the concience of the dede-doers is furst polute.
1596 J. Dalrymple tr. J. Leslie Hist. Scotl. (1895) II. 1/2 Quhen R. Bruse..be the Pape was absoluet, for pollutioune of the Monaster.
1647 J. Howell New Vol. of Lett. 136 They will make a precedent prayer to their soules to depart from their bodies in the interim, for feare she partake of the same pollution.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost xii. 355 Thir strife pollution brings Upon the Temple. View more context for this quotation
1726 J. Ayliffe Parergon Juris Canonici Anglicani 194 The contrary to Consecration is Pollution, which is said to happen in Churches by Homicide.
1869 ‘M. Twain’ Innocents Abroad liii. 573 The most gallant knights..wasted their lives away in a struggle to seize it [sc. the Church of the Holy Sepulchre] and hold it sacred from infidel pollution.
1996 Arkansas Democrat-Gaz. (Little Rock, Arkansas) (Nexis) 30 Nov. 4 b Leaders then had to cleanse it [sc. the temple] from the pollution of pagan sacrifices.
2. Ejaculation of semen without sexual intercourse, esp. a nocturnal emission (cf. nocturnal pollution n. at nocturnal adj. and n. Compounds). Now archaic.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > secretory organs > action or process of secreting > secreting spec. > [noun] > secretion of semen or sperm
pollutionc1390
semination1658
c1390 Form of Confession (Vernon) in C. Horstmann Yorkshire Writers (1896) II. 341 (MED) I crie God Merci in polucions [v.r.pollucion] of niht or tymes slepyng or wakyng diuersliche.
c1450 Alphabet of Tales (1904) I. 238 He had a pollucion of his sede.
c1475 ( Surg. Treat. in MS Wellcome 564 f. 44v (MED) Þe ȝerde..haþ two holis..But auicen seiþ þat it haþ þe þridde bi þe which passiþ insensible polluciouns.
1565 T. Stapleton tr. Bede Hist. Church Eng. Table Spec. Matters sig. CCC2v Off nightly pollutions how and when they restraine from the blissed sacrament.
1684 tr. S. Blankaart Physical Dict. 233 Pollutio nocturna is an involuntary Pollution in the Night, caused by lecherous Dreams.
1717 D. Turner Syphilis i. 46 The Patient is constantly stimulated in his Sleep to nocturnal Pollutions.
1788 W. Black Compar. View Mortality Human Species 260 Of involuntary pollution we have treated under dorsal tubes.
1851 W. Acton Dis. Urin. & Generative Organs (ed. 2) i. ii. 226 Spermatorrhœa..is known..as nocturnal or diurnal emissions, pollutions, wet-dreams, [etc.].
1878 tr. H. W. von Ziemssen et al. Cycl. Pract. Med. VIII. 828 This kind of loss is called a pollution.
1989 J. Empson Sleep & Dreaming (BNC) 12 Two of the fathers (Tertullian and St Augustine) granted dispensations for these nocturnal pollutions, as they were called.
3.
a. Spiritual or moral impurity or corruption. Sometimes also with an implication of physical impurity conveyed by bodily contact.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > pollution or defilement > [noun]
solwinessa1300
befiling1340
filing1340
sulpinga1350
defouling1382
defoula1387
pollutionc1422
inquination1447
contagya1513
coinquination?1550
defiling1585
dirting1591
tainture1609
impuration1614
conspurcation1616
contamination1620
empoisonment1626
defilement1637
contagion1662
dirtying1674
polluting1897
society > morality > moral evil > moral or spiritual degeneration > [noun] > polluted or defiled condition
pollutionc1422
spottiness1574
defiledness1607
tainture1609
pollutednessa1617
society > morality > moral evil > moral or spiritual degeneration > degrading or impairing morally > [noun] > polluting or defiling
wemming1100
sulpinga1350
defouling1382
pollutionc1422
pollutinga1449
deturpation1490
defiling1585
commaculation1637
defilement1637
sullage1641
infoedation1661
c1422 T. Hoccleve Tale of Jerelaus (Durh.) l. 662 in Minor Poems (1970) i. 163 O god..me keepe now this hour ffrom al pollucion.
c1475 in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1913) 130 300 (MED) By thy passyoun the churche clensyd ys From all pollucioun of orygynall syn.
a1500 tr. A. Chartier Traité de l'Esperance (Rawl.) (1974) 52 (MED) The princes and the people of Fraunce beganne to tourne our hartis to vnclennesse and polucion from their honorable life.
1594 T. Nashe Vnfortunate Traveller sig. C3 His purse was..I thinke verily a puritane, for it kept it selfe from anie pollution of crosses.
1624 F. Bacon New Atlantis in Wks. (1857) III. 152 There is not..a nation..so free from all pollution or foulness.
1658 Sir T. Browne Hydriotaphia: Urne-buriall i. 10 The Jewish Nation..to avoid contagion or pollution, in time of pestilence, burnt the bodies of their friends.
1777 W. Pitt in J. Almon Anecd. Life W. Pitt (1793) II. xliv. 486 Such a mode of warfare was..a contamination, a pollution of our national character.
1813 J. Austen Pride & Prejudice III. xix. 322 She condescended to wait on them at Pemberley, in spite of that pollution which its woods had received. View more context for this quotation
1876 M. E. Braddon Joshua Haggard's Daughter II. 16 It seemed to him that there was pollution in such contact.
1910 Times 29 July 5/6 The pollution of bodily contact with the ‘untouchable’ castes.
2003 N.Y. Mag. 21 Apr. 31/1 First off, Romani women do not have anything to do with gadjé men. To do so would be to risk being declared marimé , in a state of spiritual pollution, which can lead to excommunication from the community.
b. Physical impurity or contamination; (now) esp. the presence in or introduction into the environment (esp. as a result of human activity) of harmful or poisonous substances, or excessive levels of light, noise, organic waste, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > pollution or defilement > environmental pollution > [noun]
infectiona1398
noisomeness1506
poisoning1626
pollution1828
kogai1970
1797 S. T. Coleridge Lett. (1895) 7 His various works, uncut, unthumbed, have been preserved free from all pollution.
1828 Times 25 Jan. 4/2 We submit to the disgrace of drinking the water of that very river, in a state of pollution, and hesitate to move up to a purer source.
1877 H. E. Roscoe & C. Schorlemmer Treat. Chem. I. 255 Some steps are about to be taken to prevent the further pollution of the rivers.
1894 Daily News 25 Apr. 2/2 One of the principal difficulties of freeing the river from pollution was that certain persons had prescriptive rights to pass their sewage into the Thames.
1934 Discovery Mar. 68/2 A report..on fog and atmospheric pollution.
1955 Sci. Amer. May 63/3 As our economy uses more and more organic chemicals, air pollution by volatile organic compounds becomes more and more of a problem.
1975 Physics Bull. June 256/1 Noise pollution from aircraft and motorways and the design of speech and music reinforcement of St. Paul's cathedral are two of the varied aspects of noise and sound which have occupied Mr Allen.
1988 Equinox (Camden East, Ont.) Nov. 66/1 Shellfish harvesting is forbidden because of pollution. To the north are the beaches of Vancouver, which are closed to swimming each summer due to high fecal-coliform counts.
1991 M. Young Inside Job (BNC) 13 A fear of pollution and impurity in the body physical is constantly and easily transposed to create controls in the body social.
2000 N.Y. Times 10 Jan. a18/2 The Environmental Protection Agency..needs to strengthen its regulations governing water pollution originating on factory farms.
4. A thing that contaminates spiritually or physically; a pollutant; (also) a polluted thing.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > pollution or defilement > [noun] > polluted thing
pollution1605
1605 F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning ii. sig. Cc1 The Sunne..passeth through pollutions, and it selfe remaines as pure as before. View more context for this quotation
a1699 I. Abendana Disc. Eccl. & Civil Polity of Jews (1706) v. 163 All those Pollutions incident to Vessels, Utensils, &c. and how they are to be cleaned.
1725 N. Bailey tr. Erasmus All Familiar Colloquies 570 Such as by the Lather of Tears, and Soap of Repentance..have washed away their Pollutions.
1796 S. T. Coleridge To Friend writing no more Poetry 33 In the outskirts, where pollutions grow, Pick the rank henbane.
1819 Times 20 Feb. 3/6 The springs of liberty..would immediately cleanse away..all the pollutions of a corrupted administration.
1870 W. C. Bryant tr. Homer Iliad I. i. 17 The warriors purified the camp, And, casting the pollutions to the waves, They burned to Phœbus chosen hecatombs.
1932 W. Faulkner Light in August vi. 119 A walking pollution in God's own face I made it.
1993 K. Hawkins Environment & Enforcement Regulation & Social Def. (BNC) 75 Pollutions which are high in suspended solids make water appear murky.
Compounds
C1.
pollution-free adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > freedom from impurities > [adjective] > not making impure
unpolluting1783
untainting1813
pollution-free1936
1936 Times 3 Apr. 12/3 The number of pollution-free rivers is negligible.
1991 J. Makower et al. Green Consumer Supermarket Guide ii. 85 Fish..is the least energy and resource-intensive, although it is far from pollution-free.
C2.
pollution control n. the control of levels of pollution entering the environment; an instance of this.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > freedom from impurities > removal of impurities > [noun] > pollution control
pollution control1928
1914 Washington Post 6 May 6/8 So are the laws for river pollution control.]
1928 Ironwood (Mich.) Daily Globe 2/2 The fight for proper disposition of sewage wastes will be carried to 30 cities of Michigan.., the state pollution control committee decided Tuesday.
1973 Physics Bull. Apr. 241/2 The cvcc engine..was designed with pollution control in mind.
2001 N.Y. Times Mag. 22 July 44/4 The country's biggest utility and..the world's biggest coal-mining company would rather go back to rubbing sticks together than embrace pollution controls.
pollution credit n. originally U.S. an allowance granted by a government permitting a company to release no more than a given amount of pollution into the atmosphere in one year, companies which exceed this being fined, and those which do not being allowed to bank any excess credit or sell it to other companies; usually in plural.
ΚΠ
1979 Chem. Week 24 Jan. 16/1 Under the new rule, a proposed plant in a polluted urban area can use most, but not all, the banked pollution credits, including those from companies that have gone out of business, as ‘offsets’ against the new pollution they will create.
1992 Guardian (Nexis) 3 Feb. 10 Buying and selling pollution credits is not like buying and selling sofas. The number of credits owned by a company depends on how much it has reduced its emissions, which has to be certified by the EPA.
2003 N.Y. Times 4 Dec. a22/1 Although trading pollution credits for smog and acid rain would be a major improvement over current practices.., critics say the same trading system for mercury could be more harmful than forcing individual plants to reduce releases.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.a1382