preventiveadj.n.

1641 J. Milton Reason Church-govt. 36 A preventive fear least the omitting of this duty should be against me when I would store up to my self the good provision of peacefull hours.

1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. ii. 73 Atoms..were not then directed by any previous Counsel or preventive Understanding.

1698 J. Norris Pract. Disc. Divine Subj. IV. 147 The First is previous to our Repentance, and indeed wholely preventive of any thing we can do.

1831 J. Holland Treat. Manuf. Metal I. 110 When the blocks were made secure to the chain, two capstans and also two preventive capstans commenced working.

1846 Times 22 Jan. 8/3 The evidence led him to believe that the order for cutting away the preventive stay of the launch had been given.

c1860 H. Stuart Novices or Young Seaman's Catech. (rev. ed.) 19 What is the use of yard tackles? For hoisting in and out boats and spars,..and for preventive braces.

1872 Daily News 12 Aug. 2/4 A seaman, told to ‘stand by’ the preventive back stay in readiness for gybing, had let it go.

a1639 H. Wotton Let. in Reliquiæ Wottonianæ (1651) 487 Though it be a natural preventive to some evils.

1667 G. Digby Elvira ii. 18 Let us apply our thoughts to best preventives.

1769 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. IV. i. 10 Where the evil to be prevented is not adequate to the violence of the preventive, a sovereign that thinks seriously can never justify such a law.

1788 W. Marshall Provincialisms E. Yorks. in Rural Econ. Yorks. II. 351 To Sidelong, to fetter, as a preventive from straying.

1820 C. R. Maturin Melmoth Wanderer IV. xxvii. 199 That..was an equal preventive against his feeling any deep or bitter grief on his dissolution.

1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VII. 747 These [beverages]..are in most people powerful preventives of sleep.

1945 C. E. Balleisen Princ. Firearms x. 102 The use of Cosmolene or Rust Preventive No. 2 by the U.S. Army in this connection is well known.

1994 Harrowsmith Country Life Dec. 12/4 These [high frequency whistles] are also available at some truck stops in northern Ontario, but most observers agree that slowing down is the best preventive.

1666 G. Harvey Morbus Anglicus 213 [The Ancients] thought it a great preventive to drink strong Wine once a month to that excess, as should force nature to return it both wayes.

1674 R. Godfrey Var. Injuries in Physick 203 Yet would I not have you think there are no Preventives, or means to preserve Health for the future.

1769 W. Buchan Domest. Med. ii. 533 When used as a preventive, it will be sufficient to rub daily a dram of the ointment into the parts about the wound.

c1780 Rep. Committee Ho. Comm. (1802) 14 178 It was in the month of May 1780 that Dr. Jenner first informed him of the particular nature of the cow pox as a sure preventive of small pox.

1871 G. H. Napheys Prevention & Cure Dis. i. viii. 237 A more potent preventive has been found.

1925 E. A. Powell Map that is Half Unrolled xiii. 253 Whether quinine should be taken as a preventive of fever is one of those controversial questions.

1967 Times 28 Dec. 7/3 When I first started spraying my pastures with magnesium sulphate as a preventive against grass tetany.

1992 Sci. News 25 Jan. 60/2 EGF ‘may prove useful’ as a topical preventive for hair loss among cancer patients.

1822 F. Place Illustr. & Proofs Princ. Population v. 150 The proposals of Mr. Malthus, to persuade the poor that they have no right to eat.., as well as Mr. Godwin's infanticide, are..proposals to commence at the wrong end. The remedy alone can be found in preventives.

1901 E. B. Foote Home Cycl. iv. vii. 1137 To lessen the ‘vicious employment of preventives’ outside of marriage.

1943 R. Malkin Marriage, Morals & War 159 Lieutenant Colonel Gardner..gave happy birth to the idea of a pamphlet explaining venereal diseases, which..would be sold together with a set of preventives and prophylactics.

1961 A. H. Nethercot First Five Lives A. Besant vii. 117 Before marriage, pure will power and moral determination were to be the only preventives. Physical preventives were..against the will of God.

1990 Toronto Star (Nexis) 11 Feb. b2 ‘Lots of people change their behavior when they go on vacation,’ was the rationale given for this handout of preventives.

1897 Middleton (N.Y.) Daily Argus 6 Feb. The court..sentenced the prisoner to nine months' imprisonment, the seven months in which Kneebs has been in preventive custody to be considered as part of the sentence.

1931 Times 25 Feb. 15/7 The offender shall be detained for a period not exceeding 10 years in preventive custody.

1998 Hindu (Nexis) 6 Dec. Mr. Karunanidhi said that only those suspected to be indulging in militant activities were being taken into preventive custody.

1858 Times 18 Feb. 9/4 The Government has the right to throw them into prison, and to leave them there whole months under preventive detention.

1959 Listener 16 Apr. 674/1 Southern Rhodesian Government publishes a new preventive detention bill.

1989 B. Head Tales Tenderness & Power (1990) 112 Two days later university students demonstrated outside the palatial mansion of the President for the release of Professor Okola from preventive detention.

1903 J. Morley Life Gladstone II. vi. ix. 413 The treaty of Washington and the Geneva arbitration stand out as the most notable victory of the nineteenth century of the noble art of preventive diplomacy.

1938 Times 23 Sept. 13/3 Mr. Churchill preaches the preventive war, while the Prime Minister practises preventive diplomacy.

2004 Burlington (Vermont) Free Press (Nexis) 7 June 5 a Questioning of why we can't learn preventive diplomacy and solve problems peacefully, without killing innocent people.

1937 Times 16 Jan. 6/6 The booklet outlines a scheme of preventive maintenance, by which Morris owners may obtain periodical inspection and adjustment services.

1953 B. V. Bowden Faster than Thought iv. 86 The technique of preventive maintenance..has considerably reduced the number of valve failures which occur while the machines are running.

1991 Mech. Engin. Sept. 49/2 The new control..is designed to accept future developments such as improved diagnostics, expert systems, and preventive maintenance packages.

1683 S. Pordage tr. T. Willis Two Disc. Soul of Brutes ii. viii. 156 Thus much concerning the causes of the accidental and sudden Apoplexy, which falls indifferently upon all men, though not at all predisposed: for which also there can be no preventive Medicines [L. prophylaxis] instituted, and it is rarely that it is cured.

1769 W. Buchan Domest. Med. ii. 531 Dr Mead recommends a preventive medicine.

1819 Times 25 Aug. 2/1 The King early yesterday morning took a preventive medicine.

1870 Food Jrnl. Feb. 22 Preventive medicine received a great impulse by the labours of Coleman in relation to ventilation.

1990 Internat. Jrnl. Epidemiol. 19 780/1 The first rule in preventive medicine must be to do more good than harm.

2003 Washington Post 1 July (Home ed.) f6/3 My daughter..has been stabilized on topiramate (Topamax) as a preventive medicine.

a1626 F. Bacon Cert. Misc. Wks. (1629) 21 A iust Feare will be a iust Cause of a Preuentiue War.

1702 Reasons for War with France & Spain 19 A War which is Necessary, is Just; and if a Preventive War be Necessary..it is also Just.

1887 Times 7 Feb. 5/3 At the end of the 19th century a preventive war cannot be justified on the ground that the other nation might later on think itself able to fight and do so.

1948 H. Nicolson Diary 29 Nov. (1968) 155 A preventive war is always evil.

1995 Jerusalem Post (Nexis) 30 May 6 Any tension or Syrian concentration of forces would require an immediate decision on whether to launch a preventive war.

1890 Cent. Dict. Preventiveness, the quality of being preventive; capability of preventing or hindering.

1921 Port Arthur (Texas) Daily News 22 Oct. 4/2 Vaccination is a form of health insurance that pays many thousands of dividends in preventiveness.

1993 Chem. Week (Nexis) 15 Dec. 6 We understand the benefits in terms of efficiency, preventiveness, and predictability that come from adherence to a national standard.