regressn.
/ˈriːɡrɛs/, U.S. /ˈriˌɡrɛs/ 1. † a. Law (chiefly Scots Law). The right to return to possession or occupation of land, property, etc.; the action of so returning; an instance of this. Cf. re-entry n. 1. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > transfer of property > entering on possession > [noun] > re-entering on possession
re-entrya1443
regress1444
re-enter1574
1444 in J. Robertson Illustr. Topogr. & Antiq. Aberdeen & Banff (1862) IV. 194 Gyffe..in ony tyme to cum..the kyng..take the forsaide landis..fra the saide Robert..it sale be lefule to the saide Schir Alexander..to have regres and free entra to his landis..bute..ony impedyment.
1483 in G. Neilson & H. Paton Acts Lords of Council Civil Causes (1918) II. Introd. p. cxiv The said Thomas sall..have regress to the malis bigane..and remain thairwith quhil it be redemit.
1544 in D. H. Fleming Registrum Secreti Sigilli Regum Scotorum (1936) III. 153/2 With regres and acces and reservatioun of all frutis [etc.].
1597 J. Skene De Verborum Significatione at Recognition The superiour hes entresse & regresse to the property of the lands, and may recognosce the samin.
1628 E. Coke 1st Pt. Inst. Lawes Eng. 319 Others doe hold it all one in case of a recouery, and a regresse.
1629 Narr. Excambion 14 July in J. Dalrymple Inst. Law Scotl. (1681) 152 These Lands to have been Disponed in Excambion, for the Defenders Lands, and that the Excamber and his Heirs should have regress, without mention of Assignays.
1696 in Rothesay Town Council Rec. (1935) II. 504 Heretably and irredeemably but any maner of reversion redemption or regres quhatsomever.
1700 R. Brady Contin. Hist. Eng. 394 He and his Heirs might Resort and have Regress to the Name, Title, and Right of the Crown and Kingdom of France.
1854 C. Innes Origines Parochiales Scotiae II. i. 205 The former lord of the lands to have regress to them on paying that sum within seven years.
1890 A. H. Millar Bk. of Rec. (Notes) 147 There is..a document written..by Sir William Bruce, in which he protests that the new Earl of Strathmore had no right of regress to the lands of Kinross.
b. Scots Law. In full letter of regress. A document recording the obligation of a feudal superior (superior n. 1) to allow a person to return to occupation of land, property, etc., formerly held. Now historical.
ΚΠ
1481 in J. Robertson Illustr. Topogr. & Antiq. Aberdeen & Banff (1847) II. 331 And als the saide Williame..sall upteyn the lettres of regres of the our lorde quhat sa he be.
1540 Acts Parl. Scotl. (1814) II. 383/1 His grace..reuokis cassis and annullis the saidis lettres of regres.
1597 J. Skene De Verborum Significatione at Reversion Ane regresse is giuen bee the superiour of landes to the annalier thereof, quhairby hee promisis to receiue againe him, or his aires to be his vassalles,..quhen it sall happen onye of them to redeeme the saidis landes.
a1646 T. Hope Minor Practicks (1726) 69 If the king or any other superior give a letter of regress [etc.]..the user of the redemption is immediately seased, upon the sight of the regress.
1684 G. Mackenzie Instit. Law Scotl. ii. viii. 158 If the Wadset be given to be holden of the Superiour; then the Disponer uses to take a Letter of regress, whereby the Superiour obliges him to receive him back to be his Vassal, when he shall redeem his own lands.
a1728 J. Spottiswoode Hope's Minor Practicks (1734) 243 Regress is a Written Obligation by the Superior of the Wadset Lands, granted to his Ancient Vassal.
a1768 J. Erskine Inst. Law Scotl. (1773) I. ii. viii. §18 297 Letters of regress were frequently obtained from the superior, by which he became obliged to give the reverser his former vassal full regress to the property.
1792 W. Ross Lect. Hist. Pract. Law Scotl. II. 334 To supply this palpable inconvenience, a deed was devised, and entitled a letter of regress.
1876 Trans. Royal Hist. Soc. 4 356 He had, on the 30th January 1531, a letter of regress of the lands of Lokarstoun and others.
1914 W. B. Bannerman Miscellanea Genealogica & Heraldica (2001) V. 4th ser. 82 A letter of regress..over the lands of Crukis, half Mabye, Sanctbrydisholm,..and half Macrewin passed the privy seal, 8 July 1526.
1986 M. H. B. Sanderson Cardinal of Scotl. (2001) App. 1, 235 Letters of regress to Ramsay of Clatty.
c. Ecclesiastical Law. The right, retained by a person who resigns a benefice, to return to it should it be vacated under certain circumstances; the action of so returning. Now historical.
ΚΠ
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Regrés, a resignation of a Benefice, vpon condition, that if during the Resignors life it become voyd by the resignation or death of the Resignee, it shall returne..vnto him.]
1620 N. Brent tr. P. Sarpi Hist. Councel of Trent viii. 809 Heereafter no regresse or accesse to any Ecclesiasticall benefice shall bee granted, and those which be granted already, shall neither bee extended nor transferred.
1710 tr. L. E. Du Pin New Eccl. Hist. 16th Cent. (ed. 2) ii. xiii. 75 (note) Regress is a Term in the Canon Law; It is an Action by which the Resignee may enter upon a Benefice upon a Resignation or upon a Change.
1772 W. Pennington Free Inq. Pluralities 62 A person might chuse whether he would make a resignation in favorem..reserving to himself the profits of the benefice, and a power of regress; or whether he would resign absolutely.
1848 J. Waterworth Canons & Decrees Trent (1888) 261 (note) Regress, right of returning to a benefice vacated in case of death &c., of the actual incumbent.
1887 F. Murray Summer in Hebrides 170 In 1554 Sir Donald Macduffie..had resigned the priorate..with right of regress or re-entry on the death of his successor, or upon the occurrence of a vacancy in any other way.
1907 J. P. Whitney Reformation ix. 244 No access or regress (rights of accession after a vacancy and resumption after a term of years) should apply to benefices.
1985 C. L. Stinger Renaissance in Rome iii. 126 The supplicant must be careful to avoid benefices where rights of resignation, regress, or expectatives are involved.
2000 16th Cent. Jrnl. Summer 404 He held a perpetual regress to the diocese of Fano; that is, each time the see was vacated by death or transfer it reverted to Gonzago.
2. Law (originally Scots Law). (The right to claim) compensation or reparation for a loss, wrong, etc.; frequently with against, on, to, upon (the person responsible). Cf. recourse n.1 4, redress n. 1a. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > legal right > rights to do or use something > [noun] > right to pecuniary compensation
recourse1462
regress1467
relief1927
1467 in T. Thomson Acts Lords Auditors (1839) 6/2 And gif the said Johne has pait the said malis of before to ony vther, he to haf regres to tha persouns as law wil.
1479 Act. Audit. (1839) 94 Becauss þe said henry allegeit he had writtinge..quharthrou he vnderstude he myt saufly Intromet wt the said gudis, þt he haf Regress to him Insafer as law will.
1522 Dundee Burgh Court Bks. I. f. 85v, in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at Regres The said Andro protestis that he ma haf regres to the skath sustenit be hym.
1572 Bk. Dunvegan (1938) I. 35 Sen the lawes alwayes permittis the evill handillit innocentis to haif regres.
1641 S. Smith Herring-bvsse Trade 20 The owners shall hold and keep their regresse to the steeres~man,..for to recover the value..of the Herring so forfeited.
1714 A. Bruce Tutor's Guide i. vii. 125 Tho the Pupil's Mother have promised..to indemnify the Tutor,..yet this doth not divest the Pupil of his Right to pursue him for his Intromissions and Omissions;..nor will the Tutor have regress against her.
1755 N. Magens Ess. Insurances II. 99 Which Condition shall preserve to the Owner of the Goods..the Right of having Regress upon the Master.
1854 P. M. de Colquhoun Summ. Rom. Civil Law III. xxii. 11 If this be omitted, the right of regress against such a third party is lost.
1888 in Papers Rel. Foreign Relations U.S. (1889) II. 1494 If such value is not fully realized at the sale by auction, he shall still retain his right of regress upon the debtor for any balance.
1908 W. W. Buckland Rom. Law Slavery i. xvi. 379 The comprehensive liability is due to the right of regress against the others.
2008 H. W. Guggenheimer Jerusalem Talmud 56/1 The word ‘gratis’ is interpreted to mean that the master has no regress on the slave for his medical costs.
3. † b. Astronomy and Astrology. Retrograde motion. Obsolete.
a. The action of going or coming back; return; re-entry; an instance of this. Also figurative and in figurative contexts.Frequently (originally Law) in collocation with egress or ingress.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > aspects of travel > return > [noun]
gaincome?c1225
retourc1330
gaincominga1340
again-cominga1382
returna1393
again-racea1400
returning?c1400
resortc1425
turningc1440
revertence?1457
repairingc1460
again-goinga1475
regress1478
revenuea1500
reversiona1500
back-coming1535
retire?1538
back-return1577
redition1595
regredience1648
reverter1663
epistrophe1814
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > backward movement > [noun] > return towards point of departure
returna1393
returning?c1400
recoursec1405
regress1478
reverture1495
retraira1500
regression1598
reflexa1613
recursion1616
revolture1633
retroition1651
hark back1798
recover1818
1478 Rolls of Parl.: Edward IV (Electronic ed.) Parl. Jan. 1478 §34. m. 2 Afore your moost victorious regresse into this same your reame.
c1480 (a1400) St. Clement 629 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 391 Fra he had to rome regresse [L. venisset], & wyst þe tyme cumyne was [etc.].
c1515 in State Papers Henry VIII (1834) II. 13 The Deputye, in his progresse and regresse, oppresseyth the Kinges poore comyn folke.
1543–4 Act 35 Hen. VIII c. 10 To haue free ingresse egresse and regresse into all suche places.
1584 W. Harborne Let. 1 June in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations (1599) II. i. 177 [The] abouesaid Christians will not quietly suffer their egresse and regresse, into, and out of our dominions.
1612 F. Bacon Ess. (new ed.) 38 The standing is slippery; and the regresse is either a downefall, or..an Eclipse.
1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. x. 482 I remarked a perpetuall current, flowing from the Ocean to the Mediterrene Sea without any regresse.
1656 W. Montagu tr. J. Du Bosc Accomplish'd Woman 17 It is necessary, that after we have surveyed many objects, we should make a regress into our selves.
1696 T. Tryon Misc. i. 2 Where the Air hath not its free egress and regress.
1715 E. Barlow Meteorol. Ess. ii. 68 The whole Progress of the tidal Flux, thro' those Seas and Rivers, requires a continual Regress and Reflux of the like Nature, in all Places.
1747 S. Richardson Clarissa I. xxxv. 233 I have told him, that he may indeed watch her egresses and regresses.
1770 in J. Langhorne & W. Langhorne tr. Plutarch Lives II. 41 The Lacedæmonians would allow free egress and regress in their city.
1814 F. Burney Wanderer V. ix. lxxviii. 47 Seating himself in the middle of the room, he left the door wide open, to watch all egress and regress in the passage.
1856 A. P. Stanley Sinai & Palestine i. i. 38 Early travellers..took one route on their egress and the other on their regress.
1882 Times 22 Mar. 4/3 He is to have the necessary egress and regress from and to the shores and foreshores.
1908 Michigan Law Rev. 6 604 The right of egress and regress over the land for the purpose of cutting, manufacturing, and removing the material.
1966 Isis 57 235 When sunlight falls on individual drops of moisture the rays undergo two refractions (upon ingress and regress).
2007 F. Neuschel Lives & Legends Christmas Tree Ships iv. 50 The water provided an easy means of egress and regress for the earliest inhabitants who established the first toeholds on permanency.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > planet > planetary movement > [noun] > retrograde motion
retrogradation?c1450
retrogration1567
regradation1607
retrograde1613
retrogression1619
retrocession1639
regression1640
regress1642
repedation1646
retrogation1646
antecedence1649
the world > the universe > planet > primary planet > moon > lunar orbit > [noun] > node > backward movement of
regression1640
retrogradation1657
regress1715
1642 H. More Ψυχωδια Platonica sig. L7v In regresse and in progresse different Of the free Planets.
1715 tr. D. Gregory Elements Astron. II. iv. §21. 534 The Regress of the Nodes is the swiftest when they are in Quadrature with the Sun.
1789 G. Adams Astron. & Geogr. Ess. 147 The arc which it [sc. a planet] describes in it's regress, would always be in the same part of the heavens.
1838 Penny Cycl. XI. 383/2 The regress, when the line of apses is perpendicular to the line joining the earth and sun, is about 9°.
4.
a. The action, fact, or process of returning to an earlier state or condition; reversion to or towards a former state. Also: an instance of this. Frequently opposed to progress. Cf. regression n. 3a.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > badness or evil > relapse > [noun]
again-falling1340
regressa1522
retrogration1567
regression1583
retrogradationa1609
reincidency1622
recess1641
retrogation1646
setback1669
retrogress1701
retrogression1757
backwarding1765
fallback1830
throwback1856
regressivity1890
the world > action or operation > amending > restoration > [noun] > return to a previous better state
regressa1522
regression1583
retreat1600
recovery1932
snap-back1949
a1522 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid (1960) xi. viii. 89 For that..forton hes na return ne regres Lat ws beseik for paix at sik distres.
1535 W. Stewart tr. H. Boethius Bk. Cron. Scotl. (1858) II. 73 Rome..may neuir regres haif to sic gloir In to oure tyme as that it had befoir.
1590 T. Lodge Rosalynde: Euphues Golden Legacie 56 Thy progresse in loue is a regress to losse.
1602 W. Watson Decacordon Ten Quodlibeticall Questions 218 It is neither the good beginning, nor progresse, nor regresse,..that notifieth a man to be predestinate, or a reprobate.
1610 J. Healey tr. J. L. Vives in tr. St. Augustine Citie of God x. xxviii. 398 They loue perfect impiety, from which there is no regresse vnto piety.
a1650 D. Calderwood Hist. Kirk Scotl. (1842) I. 541 Place sould be granted to her of regresse to the same honours.
1697 G. Burghope Disc. Relig. Assemblies 138 Let him search into..his progress or regress in piety.
a1775 J. Rutty Spiritual Diary & Soliloquies (1776) I. 242 A sweet evening in a review of..my spiritual state, even the history of my progress, and regress, and restoration through Divine Bounty.
1845 Amer. Penny Mag. 13 Dec. 709/2 He kept a ‘Journal of his Soul’,..in which he recorded his different states of mind, his progress or regress day by day.
1855 Harper's Mag. June 40/1 An oppressive policy..from which flowed facts that rendered a regress to slavery impossible.
1891 Nation (N.Y.) 3 Dec. 423/3 So we will wait and hope, and report progress or regress after our Sicilian tour.
1922 H. E. Fosdick Christianity & Progress i. 38 The plain fact is that human history is a strange blend of progress and regress.
1959 W. Walsh Use of Imagination (1960) vii. 182 Under de la Mare's falling and lapsing rhythms we are aware of another rhythm, a faint and profound harmony, the rhythm of a regress to the womb.
1990 Harper's Mag. Oct. 61/1 Folsom Street offered..an evening's regress to the outlaw sexuality of the Fifties, the Forties, the nineteenth century, and so on.
2000 Econ. Affairs 20 62/3 The doomsayers' proposition that we are at a long-run turning-point in human progress, when in fact it becomes regress owing to a shortage of resources.
b. Medicine. = regression n. 3b. Often contrasted with progress. Now rare.Regression is now the usual term.
ΚΠ
1853 J. Paget Lect. Surg. Pathol. II. 338 I can hardly doubt that..the progress of the one [sc. tuberculosis] had been at first coincident, and then commensurate, with the regress of the other [sc. cancer].
1891 Lancet 6 June 1254/2 A further factor..is the inactivity of the limb while it is idle, during the progress and regress of the lesion.
1900 T. S. Cullen Cancer of Uterus vi. 178 Carcinoma of the cervix uteri in the regress.
1998 F. A. Jolesz et al. in D. C. Brooks Current Rev. Minimally Invasive Surg. 200 By taking multiple images of a subject over time, the physician can effectively track progress or regress of a medical condition.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > narration > [noun] > return to a subject
regression?1520
regress1578
1578 J. Banister Hist. Man iv. f. 46v But to make regresse, it followeth, yet further..to describe the Muscles.
6. Chiefly Philosophy. Originally: the action of working back in thought from one thing to another, esp. from an effect to a cause; an instance of this. In later use: spec. a series of statements in which a logical or analytical procedure is continually reapplied to its own result without approaching a useful conclusion (e.g. defining something in terms of itself). Cf. infinite regress n. at infinite adj. 1d. In later use frequently with modifying word.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > logical reasoning > [noun] > inductive reasoning > regression
regress1620
regression1637
1620 T. Granger Syntagma Logicum 109 From the priuation of the power or facultie there is no regresse to the habite.
1640 E. Reynolds Treat. Passions x. 93 There is another Regresse from the Object to the Appetite.
1671 J. Newton Introd. Art Logick ii. ix. 127 In regress the effect doth first demonstrate, that there is a cause, then after consideration had about the cause, the cause doth demonstrate why there is an effect.
1704 J. Norris Ess. Ideal World II. vii. 332 If so, then a double absurdity will follow; one by way of direct progress from the cause to the effect, and another by way of regress from the effect to the cause.
1825 S. T. Coleridge Aids Refl. 257 The old axiom..applies, with a never-ending regress to each several link, up the whole chain of nature.
1877 E. Caird Crit. Acct. Philos. Kant ii. xv. 554 An endless regress from reason to reason is no explanation of the world which satisfies the intelligence.
1905 Westm. Gaz. 23 Sept. 6/2 There must be some universally valid conception of the humorous for even a denial of it to have any meaning. By a dialectic regress we determine this concept, and define humour as the sudden perception of some similarity or contrast..between two objects not consciously related before.
1942 Mind 51 146 The infinite series of causes to which Ethices I, xxviii [of Spinoza] refers is not a temporal regress to an impossible ‘first’ cause, but the involutionary sequence of eternal causes to a necessary First Cause.
1965 Philos. Rev. 74 267 The first condition for an argument having the above form to be valid is that the regress stated in the premise be a vicious regress, rather than merely an infinite series.
2002 R. Carter Consciousness vi. 186 The ‘homuncular’ idea of the self—that of an observer within the self—has long been unpopular because traditional views of it have led to troublesome paradoxes such as the ‘infinite regress’ of selves-within-selves.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
regressv.
/rᵻˈɡrɛs/, /ˌriːˈɡrɛs/, U.S. /rəˈɡrɛs/, /riˈɡrɛs/ 1. † b. intransitive. gen. To go back; to move in a contrary direction; to withdraw, retreat, return. Obsolete.In quot. 1552 (in extended use): to withdraw from or renege on a contract or agreement.
a. intransitive. Astronomy. Of the moon's nodes (node n. 4a), an orbital point, etc.: to exhibit retrograde motion. Cf. retrograde v. 3a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > backward movement > move backwards [verb (intransitive)]
reversec1450
recoil1483
back1486
regressa1525
retire1542
flinch1578
retrograde1613
recur1616
retrocede1638
ravel1656
backen1748
regrede1800
regrade1811
retrogress1812
the world > the universe > planet > planetary movement > move [verb (intransitive)] > retrograde
regressa1525
retrogradate1599
retrograde1601
a1525 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1923) I. 320/8 The son contrar his courss regressit bakwardis x mylis.
1812 R. Woodhouse Elem. Treat. Astron. xxxi. 301 The node [of the moon] may have regressed through several entire circuits of the heavens.
1870 E. Loomis Treat. Astron. xvii. 253 The disturbing action of one planet upon another causes the line of the apsides sometimes to progress, and at other times to regress.
1917 F. R. Moulton Introd. Astron. (rev. ed.) vii. 223 Since the moon's nodes regress, making a revolution in 18·6 years, eclipses occur, on the average, about 20 days earlier each year.
1972 M. Kline Math. Thought xvii. 369 The points in which the moon's path cuts the plane of the earth's orbit..regress, that is, move slowly in a direction opposite to the motion of the moon itself.
1988 A. E. Roy Orbital Motion (ed. 3) x. 319 The perigee advances in the orbital plane if i < 63° 26′ or regresses within the orbital plane if i > 63° 26′.
1998 A. H. Cook Edmond Halley viii. 218 The gravitational attraction of the equatorial bulge would cause the nodes of orbits of their satellites to regress.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > aspects of travel > return > [verb (intransitive)]
to wend againeOE
i-cherrec1000
again-chareOE
again-comeOE
again-fareOE
again-goOE
eft-sithec1175
to turn againc1175
returna1325
attournec1386
turnc1390
recovera1393
repair?c1400
recourse?a1425
to go backc1425
resortc1425
revertc1475
renew1488
retour?1505
to make return1534
to turn back1538
retend1543
to come short home1548
regress1552
rejourna1556
revolt1567
revolve1587
repeal1596
recur1612
rewend1616
revene1656
to get back1664
to take back1674
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > backward movement > move backwards [verb (intransitive)] > retire, withdraw, or retreat
withdraw1297
recoilc1330
give place1382
arrear1399
to draw backa1400
resortc1425
adrawc1450
recedec1450
retraya1470
returna1470
rebut1481
wyke1481
umbedrawc1485
retreata1500
retract1535
retire1542
to give back1548
regress1552
to fall back?1567
peak1576
flinch1578
to fall offa1586
to draw off1602
to give ground1607
retrograde1613
to train off1796
to beat a retreat1861
to back off1938
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > go away [verb (intransitive)] > go or move away specifically of things
forgoc950
worthOE
atgoc1175
alithec1275
withdraw1297
lenda1350
withgoa1400
to go farewellc1400
voidc1400
startc1405
overdrawa1450
recedec1450
sinkc1450
remove1481
regress1552
to-gang1596
elongate1646
abscede1650
discede1650
to take a walk1871
1552 Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889) I. 428 It redouns to ther owen dishonestie and sham in regressing fro the said order.
1772 J. Entick New Spelling Dict. (new ed.) 300/1 Regress, to go back, to return.
1823 W. Whewell Treat. Dynamics i. iii. 61 If it [sc. a line] revolve in the direction of the body's motion..it is said to move in consequentia, or to progress; if it move in the opposite direction..it is said to move in antecedentia, or to regress.
1829 W. Tudor Gebel Teir iv. 97 Imperial Rome in the days of her magnificence, when her citizens regressed from the provinces of Europe, Asia and Africa, to display their opulence in the capital.
1861 Jrnl. Royal Geogr. Soc. 31 178 This being the point from which the expedition first spoken of regressed in consequence of the Padre's sudden disappearance.
c. intransitive. Geology. Of an ocean, sea, or lake: to withdraw or retreat from the land.
ΚΠ
1920 Bull. Geol. Surv. Alabama No. 22. ii. 171 When the sea had transgressed to its landward limit it was caused to regress rapidly by the elevation of the land area of northern Alabama.
1992 T. Burr & D. R. Currey in J. R. Wilson Field Guide Geol. Excursions Utah 218/1 Evidence suggests that incision of the Zenda threshold then became significant, initially causing the lake to regress about 40 feet..from its all-time high.
2007 M. A. Fedonkin & P. Vickers-Rich in M. A. Fedonkin et al. Rise of Animals ii. vi. 136/2 During the building of mountains, seas can be forced to regress as the lands bordering the seas, along with the mountains, rise.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > narration > narrate or give an account [verb (intransitive)] > return to a subject
regress1570
revert1581
1570 J. Foxe Actes & Monumentes (rev. ed.) I. 51/2 But this by the waye of digression. Now to regresse again to the state of ye first former times.
1593 T. Bilson Perpetual Govt. Christes Church 329 [This] we haue alreadie seene, and may not now regresse thither againe.
1605 H. Broughton Explic. Lordes Soules (ed. 2) 35 But I will now leave both Testaments, & regress to the Creed.
1675 J. Howe Living Temple vi. 240 But to regress a little, fain I would know what is this thing they call nature?
3. intransitive. To return to or towards an earlier state or condition; to revert to an earlier (esp. a less developed) form.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > change > change to something else, transformation > change of direction, reversion > revert [verb (intransitive)]
awendOE
recommence1481
relieve?1510
turn1594
remigrate1601
to cast back1622
recounter1630
regress1650
retrovert1782
to turn round1802
retrogress1860
to turn back1886
U-turn1973
1650 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica (ed. 2) ii. i. 40 All which,..being forced into fluent consistencies, doe naturally regresse into their former solidities.
1834 G. Browning Domest. Financial Condition Great Brit. ii. i. 275 Egypt..after..rising to the highest point of mundane prosperity, regressed into effeminacy and weakness..and returned to the lowest state of primeval barbarity.
1858 J. Zimmermann Grammatical Sketch Akra- or Gã-lang. i. 40 The language is not only progressing and augmenting but also regressing, weakening again.
1864 Canad. Jrnl. Industry, Sci. & Art 9 142 We are moved for a moment to imagine that the art of printing is ‘regressing’.
1931 Times 24 Sept. 7/7 It appears to be a decaying, simplifying universe which attained to its perfection of organization in the far-distant past and is now regressing to simpler forms.
1974 U. K. Le Guin Dispossessed iv. 81 They cut back..to a minimum beneath which they would not go; they would not regress to pre-urban, pre-technological tribalism.
2001 M. Atkins tr. St. Augustine Polit. Writings (Lett. 95) 24 What ought he to avoid, not just in case he doesn't progress, but even in case he regresses?
4. intransitive. Medicine. Of a physiological or pathological process: to reverse or resolve; (of an organ or tissue) to atrophy or degenerate; (of a tumour) to shrink or disappear.
ΚΠ
1853 Med. Times & Gaz. 3 Sept. 249/1 A very interesting case is given in which an ulcerated cancer of the breast regressed and healed.
1908 Lancet 10 Oct. 1089/2 But a few days later it [sc. the erythema] recurred and after some days regressed.
1947 Nature 4 Jan. 15/1 Many mammary cancers would regress when the influence of the female sex hormone was lessened by removal of the ovaries.
1986 J. F. Gracey Meat Hygiene (ed. 8) ii. 41/2 This method assumes that the cotyledons enlarge if the animal is in-calf and regress in the non-pregnant uterus.
1995 Daily Tel. 19 Apr. 16/1 Three samples that did not show telomerase activity were from a type of tumour that often spontaneously regresses.
5. intransitive. Genetics and Statistics. To tend towards the average; to exhibit regression to the mean. Chiefly with towards or to the mean. Cf. regression n. 6.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > evolution > [verb (intransitive)] > processes or types of evolution
specialize1850
regress1885
speciate1964
1885 F. Galton in Nature 24 Sept. 509/2 The type is an ideal form towards which the children of those who deviate from it tend to regress.
1909 Westm. Gaz. 21 Apr. 5/1 There is a tendency for children of exceptional parents to regress towards the average stock.
1953 A. M. Srb & R. D. Owen Gen. Genetics xxiii. 497 Instead of showing the average value of their selected parents, the progeny regress from this value toward the original population mean.
1975 A. Smith Human Pedigree iii. 67 The reason why we have not ended up as uniform as tailor's dummies is that there is only a tendency to regress to the mean.
2003 J. Albert Teaching Statistics using Baseball iv. 107 There is a general tendency for a player's baseball stats from one year to the next to go back, or regress to the mean.
6. intransitive. Chiefly Philosophy. To work back in thought from one thing to another, esp. from an effect to a cause; to present a series of statements in which a logical or analytical procedure is continually reapplied to its own result. Cf. regress n. 6, regression n. 5.
ΚΠ
1896 Contemp. Rev. Aug. 176 Experience itself..constitutes the premise from which we advance (or rather regress) to its implied condition or explaining cause.
1899 J. Ward Naturalism & Agnosticism II. xiii. 89 Such conceptions..explain nothing. In place of explaining they regress ad indefinitum.
1906 G. B. Foster Finality Christian Relig. i. v. 168 The old idea of a concatenated series of causes regressing step by step to a ‘First Cause’.
1955 South Atlantic Bull. 21 2/2 Proceeding from the known to the unknown..regressing always from effect to cause.
1994 T. Pfau tr. F. W. J. von Schelling Idealism & Endgame of Theory ii. 10 Once Kant has established his inherently relational and synthetic paradigm of subjective ‘unity’, any explication of such unity is bound to regress to one concerning the conditions of possibility for ‘relations in general’.
7. Originally Psychiatry.
a. intransitive. To revert to an earlier or less developed psychological state either as a defensive response to circumstances, or as a result of hypnosis, psychoanalysis, or psychotherapy; to return mentally, psychologically, or behaviourally to an earlier stage of life (or to a supposed earlier life or experience). Cf. regression n. 3c.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > degree or type of mental illness > [verb (intransitive)] > regress
regress1915
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > theory of psychoanalysis > libido > sublimation of libido > retreat to earlier period [verb (intransitive)]
regress1915
1915 B. M. Hinkle tr. C. G. Jung Psychol. Unconscious ii. vii. 369 As soon as the libido regresses [Ger. regrediert] to the presexual stage, there we may expect to see the function of nutrition and its symbols put in place of the sexual function.
1920 G. S. Hall tr. S. Freud Gen. Introd. Psychoanal. xiii. 177 Since the dream regresses to this stage [sc. childhood], it seems to have made apparent the evil that lies in us.
1926 J. I. Suttie tr. S. Ferenczi Further Contrib. Psycho-anal. xi. 137 The stage to which these two neurotics regressed seems to be the infantile stage of the first year of life.
1950 Psychoanalytic Q. 19 501 The immutability of a constant, passive environment forces him to adapt, i.e., to regress to infantile levels.
1987 J. Klein Our Need for Others xv. 299 She was willing to let Renée relax and regress to a very infantile way of being.
2004 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 24 Jan. 27 Under hypnosis she spent many a happy hour regressing to her former life, and was able categorically to reveal that she and her sister had been murdered by her half-brother.
b. transitive. To cause (a person) to experience such regression, esp. as a form of psychotherapy. Usually in passive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > psychiatry > treat psychiatrically [verb (transitive)] > treat by specific process
Coué1924
regress1949
primal1971
rebirth1976
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > theory of psychoanalysis > libido > sublimation of libido > sublimate [verb (transitive)] > induce regression
regress1949
1949 Science 2 Dec. 585/2 All members of the test group had previously been regressed to at least the age of 5.
1956 G. Ambrose & G. Newbold Handbk. Med. Hypnosis vii. 146 If a child can be hypnotised and regressed with suitable suggestions, causing him to re-live the actual traumatic episode, much tension can be overcome.
1960 Times Lit. Suppl. 3 June 356/3 Harry was later hypnotized by a friend of Dr. Puharich and ‘regressed’ through his life memories to see if he had any knowledge of Egyptian history, language, or religion.
1970 T. X. Barber LSD, Marihuana, Yoga & Hypnosis vi. 259 When regressed hypnotically to the time of the original conditioning, all subjects again manifested the eye-blink response.
2001 Western Mail (Nexis) 22 May 4 A stage hypnotism act which she claims regressed her to the age of eight and reawakened memories of childhood sexual abuse.
8. transitive. Statistics. To calculate the regression coefficients of (a variable) against or on another variable.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > probability or statistics > collect or employ statistics [verb (transitive)] > regress
regress1954
1954 Rev. Econ. & Statistics 36 88/2 The traditional approach would be to regress c directly on y.
1977 D. M. Smith Human Geogr. vii. 170 Katzman..estimated several education production functions by regressing measures of output against measures of school input and local socio-economic status of residents.
1986 Oxf. Econ. Papers 38 ii. 226 Hufbauer regressed value added per man on firm size measured in terms of employment.
2002 Auk 119 381/2 Five axes of the corresponding principal coordinate analysis were used to regress morphological and behavioral characters on phylogenetic coordinates.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2009; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1444
v.a1525- shoe-case
- shoe-clasp
- shoe-cleaner
- shoe-cleaning
- shoe-clouter
- shoe-deep
- shoe-embossing
- shoe-eyeleting
- shoe-factor
- shoe-factory
- shoe-finder
- shoe-flower
- shoe-hammer
- shoe-hand
- shoe-knife
- shoe-knot
- shoe-lace
- shoe-last
- shoe-latch
- shoe-latchet
- shoe-licker
- shoe-lift
- shoe-lifter
- shoe-lifter-like
- shoe-maker's stocks