societyn.
/səˈsʌɪəti/, U.S. /səˈsaɪədi/ 1. The fact or condition of being connected; a connection.
a. With with or between. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > [noun] > affinity or closeness
cousinagea1398
alliancea1475
affinityc1485
propinquitya1500
societya1513
kindred1528
cognationa1555
affinitive1579
sympathya1586
vicinity1594
affiance1597
contingence1612
contingency1612
congeniality1620
umbilicality1646
consanguinity1651
congeneracy1664
gossipred1674
congenerousness1677
closeness1692
intimacy1720
proximity1762
liaison1809
cousinship1848
affiliation1870
kinship1876
a1513 J. Irland Meroure of Wyssdome (1990) III. 26 Gif it [sc. the soul] suld be deliuerit fra all this euill..it mone haue vnioun and societe that is fallouschip with the haly body and flesch of Jhesu.
1583 P. Barrough Methode of Phisicke iii. xxv. 113 The veyne in the right arme..hauing societie with the veyne which is called Vena caua.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. 5 There is not..so great societie [L. societas] betweene heauen and vs, as [etc.].
1620 T. Venner Via Recta 110 There is so great societie betwixt it and the heart.
1707 tr. P. Le Lorrain de Vallemont Curiosities in Husbandry & Gardening 231 The universal Spirit is Water,..the Society of the Water with the Sun produces Animals, Vegetables and Minerals.
b. With of or in. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > [noun]
yokeOE
relationa1398
respecta1398
report1523
society?1545
habitude1561
conjugation1605
necessitudea1626
attinency1632
dependencea1634
belonginga1648
respectiveness1650
nexure1652
synapsis1655
relative1657
rapport1660
proportion1664
schesis1678
relationship1724
appurtenance1846
relationality1866
interosculation1883
tie-up1927
tie-in1934
?1545 C. Langton Introd. Phisycke iii. ii. f. lxxxii I se not a suffycyent cause, why so moche heate shoulde be called in, except this same societie of the powers were ordeyned of God.
1562 T. Cooper Answere Def. Truth f. 58, in Apol. Priuate Masse You alledge a perpetuall societie of the body and bloud, whiche ye call Concomitantiam.
1610 P. Holland tr. W. Camden Brit. i. 16 If no writer had recorded, that we Englishmen are descended from Germanes,..the society of their tongues would easily confirme the same.
1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica ii. i. 56 This is a fallacy of Æquivocation, from a society in name inferring an Identity in nature.
1668 N. Culpeper & A. Cole tr. T. Bartholin Anat. (new ed.) ii. iii. 90 The Consent of Vicinity makes nothing to the purpose,..nor society in the same Office.
1738 H. Brooke tr. T. Tasso Jerusalem ii. 17 I want not such Society in Pain: Whate'er he dares inflict, I dare sustain.
1772 Ann. Reg. 1771 ii. 25/2 By long society in party, the sentiments of these men in politics had come to be the same.
2.
a. The state or condition of being politically confederated or allied; confederation. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > politics > international politics or relations > international agreements > [noun] > alliance or confederacy
friendshipOE
alliance?a1400
alliage1450
allyc1450
confedereya1513
society1533
federacy1598
political union1676
confederateship1715
systasis1790
consortion1803
allyship1849
1533 J. Bellenden tr. Livy Hist. Rome (1901) I. 27 Romulus..send legatis to his nychtbouris desiring to haue societe [L. societatem] & mariage of thame to his new pepill.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VII f. xxvv To exhorte and requyre the kyng of England, to entre hys company and societee in armes.
1579 J. Stubbs Discouerie Gaping Gulf sig. Bvijv Absoluing our neyghbour kinges of any auncient leage or late oth of societie.
1623 J. Bingham tr. Xenophon Hist. 87 You haue now an opportunitie presented vnto you..by entring into societie of war with vs, to be reuenged.
1665 T. Manley tr. H. Grotius De Rebus Belgicis 974 Many Kings, Princes, and Nations, began to respect the Society and Alliance of Holland.
b. A political alliance, league, or contract. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > politics > international politics or relations > international agreements > [noun] > alliance or confederacy > an alliance
confederacya1387
fellowshipa1400
band1452
league1452
societyc1540
federacy1598
confederation1621
c1540 J. Bellenden tr. H. Boece Hyst. & Cron. Scotl. x. ii. f. cxxxiii Throw this societe and alliance ye Scottis sall rise of gret fame & reuerence in all partis of ye warld.
?1560 T. Norton Orations of Arsanes iii. sig. K.iiij The danger of leagues and societies with infideles.
1600 P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. xxiii. 472 A league and societie was concluded betweene Philip the King of the Macedonians and Anniball.
1655 R. Turner tr. H. C. Agrippa Fourth Bk. Occult Philos. 205 If you desire to make a society or alliance..see if there be good Planets in the seventh and the first.
3.
a. The fact or condition of participating in some action, event, etc.; participation. Also with of. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > association, fellowship, or companionship > [noun] > participation in common interest
fellowshipa1250
communiona1382
participation?a1475
society1534
intercommoning1573
communication1574
concernment1676
participancy1856
participance1869
opting-in1969
1534 T. More Treat. Passion in Wks. 1333/1 The societie of al saintes in the mistical body of Christ.
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. cxxvj For the kynges societie and coniunction..they yelde him harty thankes.
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. ccxviij Who hath perswaded the bisshop of Rome & the French king to the Societie of this war.
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage I. iv. iii. 298 Pacorus being received into Societie of the Kingdome with his father.
1759 Ann. Reg. 1758 16 The Prussians,..inspired by a society of danger with their King,..totally defeated the Austrians.
b. A system of sharing within a group. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > sharing > [noun] > an instance of
intercommon1449
society1695
1695 W. Temple Introd. Hist. Eng. 14 One Custom there was among the Britains which seems peculiar to themselves,..which was a Society of Wives among certain numbers, and by common consent.
4.
a. Chiefly Scottish. Usually as a mass noun: partnership in business or some commercial transaction; a contract of partnership. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > business affairs > a business or company > [noun] > association as partners
participation?a1475
society1555
1555 in J. D. Marwick Rec. Convent. Royal Burghs Scotl. (1870) I. 11 That na fremen..tak vpoun hand to keip sociatie in merchandice or ressaif ony geir to trauffique thairwith fra ony vnfremen.
1569 in J. H. Burton Reg. Privy Council Scotl. (1877) 1st Ser. I. 681 The said Johnne enterit in societie with the said abbot.
1592 W. West Symbolæogr.: 1st Pt. §26 Societie is a contract by consent about a thing to be had and used in common on both sides.
1607 State Papers Earl of Melrose (1837) I. 34 To assotiat thame in the sotietie of thair tak.
1649 A. Ascham Bounds Publique Obed. 10 Partner-ship or Society (as the Civill Law calls it).
1681 J. Dalrymple Inst. Law Scotl. ixvi §1 Society is..a commutative contract, whereby the contractors communicate each to other some stock, work or profit.
b. Cooperation; assistance. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > easiness > aid, help, or assistance > [noun]
fultumeOE
help971
succour?c1225
abetc1330
succouringc1330
speedc1340
subsidya1387
rescousc1390
chevisancea1400
juvamentc1400
supply1420
aid1430
favour1434
supplying1436
suffrage1445
availa1450
boteningc1450
succurrancec1450
adjuvancea1460
assistance1495
meeda1500
subventiona1500
suppliancea1500
adjutory?a1513
sistancea1513
adminiculation1531
abetment1533
assisting1553
adjument1576
society1586
aidance1593
opitulation1598
secourse1598
second1605
suppeditation1605
assistency1642
auxiliation1657
adjutancy1665
adjuvancy1677
abettal1834
sustenance1839
constructiveness1882
1586 W. Webbe Disc. Eng. Poetrie sig. C.iiii As for him which..is addicted without society, by his continuall laboure, to profit this nation.
II. Senses relating to the state or condition of living or associating with others.
5. † d. An instance of association or companionship with others. Obsolete.
a. With possessive adjective or genitive: companionship, fellowship, or company.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > association, fellowship, or companionship > [noun]
ymonec888
i-mennessec1050
meanc1175
ferredc1200
fellowshipa1225
fellowredc1230
sameningc1230
companyc1275
monec1300
conversationc1340
meanness1340
affinity?c1400
companyingc1443
compernagea1500
frequentation?1520
society1529
convoying1543
companionship1548
companyship1548
combining1552
haunt1552
community1570
unition1584
consociation1593
companionry1595
sodality1602
conversinga1610
converse1610
consorting1611
consociety1624
consociating1625
togetherness1656
association1659
consortiona1682
sociality1758
mixture1764
junction1783
consortation1796
conversancy1798
mingling1819
companionage1838
boon companionship1844
mateship1849
1529 T. More Supplyc. Soulys ii. f. xxviii The blessyd creaturis in heuen geue honour to Criste for mannys redempcyon for that ioy and pleasure that theyre charyte taketh in the socyete and felyshyp of saued soules.
1560 J. Knox et al. Buke Discipline in J. Knox Wks. (1848) II. 232 Desiring God..and his congregatioun that it will please thame to accept him in thair societie.
1576 A. Fleming tr. Cicero in Panoplie Epist. 2 One dayes space, spent in your societie, ministreth to my minde larger delightsomnesse.
1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost iv. ii. 157 I do dine to day at the fathers of a certaine pupill of mine... I beseech your societie . View more context for this quotation
1665 S. Patrick Parable of Pilgrim viii. 35 It is a thousand to one but they will find the means..to insinuate themselves into their society again.
1779 Mirror No. 64 I had fancied that..the want of their society had deprived us of the ease and gaiety of discourse.
1828 W. Scott Fair Maid of Perth ix, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. III. 215 Forced on each other's society, the two desolate women became companions, if not friends.
1868 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest (1877) II. 473 A holy anchorite, who had been for forty years cut off from the society of men.
1926 People's Home Jrnl. Feb. 26/4 The oftener you spend a little time in his [sc. a dentist's] society the less painful work will confront you when there is real need for his services.
1930 P. G. Wodehouse Very Good, Jeeves vii. 192 A chummy lion-tamer—a tamer who, after tucking the lions in for the night, relaxes in the society of the boys.
2001 S. Walton Out of It (2002) iv. 85 The society of others was most definitely unwelcome.
b. Association or friendly interaction with other people; the company of others. Also in extended use with reference to animals or (occasionally) plants.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > [noun]
conversationc1340
dolea1400
repairc1425
fellowshipc1450
frequentation?1520
communion1529
society1531
commerce1537
commercement1537
society1538
trade1555
intercourse1557
company1576
intercommunication1586
interdeal1591
entertain1602
consort1607
entregent1607
quarter1608
commercing1610
converse1610
trucka1625
congress1628
socialty1638
frequency1642
socialitya1649
socialness1727
intercommuniona1761
social life1812
dialogue1890
discourse1963
1531 T. Elyot Bk. named Gouernour iii. iii. sig. yivv Societie (without which mannes lyfe is vnpleasaunt and full of anguishe).
1566 I. A. tr. Pliny Summarie Antiq. x. sig. Fvv Beastes haue societie, and knowe when the female will haue the Male.
1581 W. Stafford Compend. Exam. Complaints (1876) ii. 49 To the intent men may knowe that they haue neede one of anothers helpe, and thereby loue and societie to growe among all men the more.
1621 in W. Foster Eng. Factories India 1618–21 (1906) 305 Till now wee have not had to doe with them in matter of moment, but in frendly sosiety.
1657 T. Wall Comment on Times 59 It is separation..that makes them void of Christian society, and common Morality.
1736 Bp. J. Butler Analogy of Relig. i. v. 86 Want of every thing of this Kind..would render a Man as uncapable of Society, as Want of Language would.
1759 J. Mills tr. H. L. Duhamel du Monceau Pract. Treat. Husbandry ii. ii. 264 Wheat and other plants love society.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth V. 153 As Nature has formed the rapacious class for war, so she seems equally to have fitted these for peace, rest, and society.
1807 Monthly Anthol. Oct. 534/1 Gentlemen enjoy society very extensively; besides their intercourse in the way of business, they frequently meet together to dine.
1850 L. Hunt Autobiogr. I. i. 35 She was the only female of her acquaintance that continued to visit her; alleging that she wanted society and comfort so much the more.
1905 F. H. Smith At Close Range 211 This little episode..was but another step to a foregone intimacy—so far as Dalny was concerned. Not that he was curious, or lacked society or advice.
1995 J. Klock Like Klockwork 46 The faithful of different sects can enjoy an evening of inspiration and pleasant society.
c. Association or interaction with or between people. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > [noun]
conversationc1340
dolea1400
repairc1425
fellowshipc1450
frequentation?1520
communion1529
society1531
commerce1537
commercement1537
society1538
trade1555
intercourse1557
company1576
intercommunication1586
interdeal1591
entertain1602
consort1607
entregent1607
quarter1608
commercing1610
converse1610
trucka1625
congress1628
socialty1638
frequency1642
socialitya1649
socialness1727
intercommuniona1761
social life1812
dialogue1890
discourse1963
1538 tr. Erasmus Prepar. to Deathe sig. Fviiiv The more to lyfte vp him selfe with the hope of goddis mercy & mysticall societie with Christ.
1563 J. Foxe Actes & Monuments 973/2 The societie betwixt Christ & vs, is promised to them that take bread and wyne.
c1610–15 Some Notes before Liues in C. Horstmann Lives Women Saints (1886) 11 There was such friendship, societie, and familiarity betweene the Religious of that contrie and England, that [etc.].
1662 E. Stillingfleet Origines Sacræ iii. ii. §5 An Island, where he may have no society with mankind.
1690 J. Locke Two Treat. Govt. ii. ii. 229 A Lion or a Tiger, one of those wild Savage Beasts, with whom Men can have no Society nor Security.
a1785 R. Glover Athenaid (1787) I. vii. 171 Fortune more benign Preserv'd those husbands for the happiest lot, Society with you.
1792 J. Richardson Fugitive ii. iv. 25 Honour holds no society with injustice.
1803 M. Cutler Let. 3 Jan. in W. P. Cutler & J. P. Cutler Life, Jrnls. & Corr. M. Cutler (1888) II. 119 The members who are there are not willing to acknowledge they have any society with him.
1831 W. Scott Castle Dangerous x, in Tales of my Landlord 4th Ser. IV. 237 You will..best fulfil the intentions of those by whose orders you act, by holding no society with me whatever, otherwise than is necessary.
1977 Past & Present May 134 Religion itself is what creates social relations,..people must have the same ‘religion’..if they are to maintain society with each other.
2004 A. E. Brodsky With All our Strength iv. 146 The rules of conduct for maintaining a more civil and dignified society between men and women.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > [noun] > instance of
society1559
1559 T. Paynell tr. Erasmus Complaint of Peace sig. E.iiv They muste be coupled and confederated not with affynytes, nor with factious socyetes, but with pure and syncere amytie.
1565 N. Sanders Supper of Our Lord v. 270 For although the dead ydoll be no true God, nor any thing at all, wherewith they may communicate: yet a societie is ioyned thereby with the deuils, who reigne in those ydols.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) iii. iv. 8 Other barres he layes before me, My Riots past, my wilde Societies . View more context for this quotation
1682 T. D'Urfey Injured Princess ii. ii. 18 He is a man of that clear equal temper, That he inchants Societies unto him.
1780 Mirror No. 71. Renouncing a society in which the secret admonitions of his heart frequently told him he could not continue.
e. concrete. Originally: a group of people with whom one has companionship or association. In later use as a mass noun: company.In some quots. also with implication of sense 5b.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > [noun] > circles or sources of acquaintance
society1579
neighbourhood1596
conversation1620
connection1767
1579 G. Fenton tr. F. Guicciardini Hist. Guicciardin viii. 411 The french king standing abandoned of his society and succors, would beare no more stomack to inuade them then he had done in times past.
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 411 None are so readie to blame men therein as their Societie.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Macbeth (1623) iii. iv. 3 Our selfe will mingle with Society, And play the humble Host. View more context for this quotation
1696 in W. Mure Select. Family Papers Caldwell (1854) I. 171 I lodged..att the 2 pigeons, where I had a most desyreable societie.
1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 292 Having now Society enough, and our Number being sufficient to put us out of Fear of the Savages.
1853 C. Reade Christie Johnstone 256 They have plenty of society, real society.
1872 J. Ruskin Fors Clavigera II. 14 For all society he had two friends.
1928 H. T. Lowe-Porter tr. T. Mann Death in Venice iii. 28 The society at the hotel was provincial Austrian, and limited.
1998 D. Ellis D. H. Lawrence: Dying Game viii. 194 There was..a reasonable amount of congenial society on the mountain.
6.
a. The state or condition of living in company with other people; the system of customs and organization adopted by a group of people for harmonious coexistence or mutual benefit.
ΘΚΠ
society > [noun]
worlda1453
communitya1475
society1533
symbiosis1622
societism1874
1533 T. Elyot Of Knowl. Wise Man iv. f. 78v Hunger, thurste, colde, werynes after labour, annoyaunce, displeasures, whiche do happen in the societie or lyuinge of men together.
1598 tr. G. de La Perrière Mirrour Policie sig. Pivv Societie is an assemblie and consent of many in one.
1642 King Charles I Declar. 12 Aug. 23 Against the Laws of Society and civill Conversation.
1650 J. Bulwer Anthropometamorphosis 172 A due reverence in the first place towards God.., then towards Society wherein we live.
1744 J. Harris Three Treat. iii. i. 157 We are fitted with Powers and Dispositions, which have only Relation to Society, and which, out of Society, can nowhere else be exercised.
1782 V. Knox Ess. (new ed.) I. xvi. 77 Is not this system [sc. Christianity], whether well or ill founded, friendly to society?
1835 I. Taylor Spiritual Despotism ii. 58 The inestimable advantages of living in society are unavoidably burdened with some partial evils.
a1862 H. T. Buckle Misc. Wks. (1872) I. 5 In the earliest stages of society there are many arts, but no sciences.
1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 815/2 Bandelier declares that in Mexico existed neither state nor nation, nor political society of any kind.
1930 M. R. Dobie tr. J. Toutain Econ. Life of Anc. World iii. i. 175 There is no doubt that society developed in the Neolithic Age, that men became more and more accustomed to come together.
2004 Times Lit. Suppl. 7 May 8/3 In the general philosophy of experience as well as the more practically minded philosophy of society, we must strive to think systematically.
b. Zoology. The social organization of a group of animals of the same species; the state or condition of living in a social group. Cf. sense 9c.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > animals collectively > [noun] > group (of same species)
herdc1275
kennel1641
gang1657
colony1712
society1752
society1772
mores1911
1752 Philos. Trans. 1749–50 (Royal Soc.) 46 536 I have been contemplating..that most useful and industrious Society of Bees.
1794 S. Williams Nat. & Civil Hist. Vermont 114 The society of beavers seems to be regulated and governed, altogether by natural dispositions, and laws.
1826 G. Samouelle Gen. Direct. collecting Exotic Insects & Crustacea 39 Wasps, like bees, live in society.
1834 H. McMurtrie tr. G. Cuvier Animal Kingdom (abridged ed.) 390 Its larva lives on the same trees, and frequently in society.
1922 Sci. Monthly Nov. 449 Bee society maintains its own aristocracy.
1949 K. Davis Human Society ii. 35 There is a marked contrast between mammalian and insect society in the amount of learning exhibited.
2000 J. Hunter tr. M. Morishima Collaborative Devel. Northeast Asia iv. 160 If we look at the society of animals..there are no schools, but the mother teaches a number of offspring at the same time.
7.
a. The aggregate of persons living together in a community, esp. one having shared customs, laws, and institutions. Cf. sense 9a.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > [noun]
commonaltyc1300
commonweal?a1400
commonality?c1400
commonwealth1445
weal-public1495
weal1513
society1566
public1621
leviathan1651
community1737
general public1854
collectivity1881
(le) tout Paris1894
John Q.1922
Joe Citizen1932
1566 Briefe Exam. Certaine Declar. sig. ***3 That holsome lawes of godly magistrates, whiche seruing God..they make not onlye for humayne societie, but also for Gods religion.
1573 R. Lever Arte of Reason iv. xxii. 199 Respecting termes may well bee named yokefelowes, for that they are knit, and coupled together with a certain band of societie.
1639 N. N. tr. J. Du Bosc Compl. Woman i. 17 Where as then was no other sinne in society then lying, a genuine playnesse..were enough.
1678 R. Cudworth tr. Marcus Antoninus in True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. iv. 431 In doing one action after another, tending to a Common Good, or the good of Humane Society.
1749 Lady Luxborough Let. 24 June in Lett. to W. Shenstone (1775) 106 You may be busied to the benefit of society without stirring from your seat.
1782 J. Priestley Hist. Corruptions Christianity I. i. 5 In few cases has the peace of society been so much disturbed.
1841 Nonconformist 1 281 The principles by which the aristocracy have gained..their Sindbad seat on the shoulders of society.
1873 P. G. Hamerton Intellect. Life vi. i. 195 Society has only one law, and that is custom.
1910 C. Hamilton Theory of Theatre 50 The trouble with French tragedy..is that it was written only for the finest caste of society.
1950 Lowell (Mass.) Sun 18 Feb. 4/1 Under our form of living in America, the individual is an important part of the whole. He is a part of society and of government.
1988 T. Blair in Times (Nexis) 5 Jan. ‘There is no such thing as society,’ she [sc. Margaret Thatcher] said recently, ‘only individuals and families.’ In fact, society will exist wherever individuals perceive a shared community of interest.
1995 R. Wood in C. K. Creekmur & A. Doty Out in Culture 14 Acceptance of the homosexual by society has its obvious corollary and condition: acceptance of society by the homosexual.
b. With qualifying adjective indicating a particular section of society.
ΚΠ
1615 J. Stephens Satyrical Ess. 120 They keepe a strong possession against our vertue & all good society.
1779 Mirror No. 13 The varied objects which present themselves in cultivated society.
1815 J. Scott Visit to Paris x. 189 The wars of the period..repressed, to a most deplorable degree, what is properly understood by good society.
1893 K. Sanborn Truthful Woman S. Calif. 40 In regard to society, I find that the ‘best society’ is much the same all over the civilized world.
1910 Internat. Jrnl. Ethics 20 293 The principle..of preserving young persons from the moral contagion of criminal society into which imprisonment inevitably plunges them.
1943 Times 3 May 2 (advt.) Chanel..has been the perfume of the élite—used throughout fashionable society.
2001 B. J. Gibbons Spirituality & Occult ix. 144 From nineteenth-century bohemians..to twentieth-century beatniks and hippies, middle-class society has produced movements of cultural protest against itself.
c. Also with capital initial. The aggregate of fashionable, wealthy, or otherwise prominent people regarded as forming a distinct class or body in a community. Cf. high society n. at high adj. and n.2 Compounds 4.Recorded earliest in society man.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social class > the common people > specific classes of common people > fashionable society > [noun]
higheOE
high life?a1518
towna1616
world1618
grand monde1673
society1693
beau monde1712
fine world1740
monde1765
tonc1770
high society1782
fashion1807
all the world1808
society1840
smart set1851
swelldom1854
Fifth Avenue1858
fashionabledom1859
haut monde1864
the big cheesea1910
higlif1911
haute Bohème1925
café society1937
jet set1949
beautiful people1950
1693 A. Wood Life & Times (1894) III. 424 Peter Wood,..put aside, as 'twas then said, because he was too precise and religious and therefore not fit to make a societie man.
1723 D. Defoe Hist. Col. Jack (ed. 2) 19 He began to have Cloths on his Back to leave the Ash-hole, having gotten a Society Lodging.
1801 L. Chester Federalism Triumphant i. i. 12 We now see commercial men, East-India merchants, and heavy pursed members of Society.
1856 C. Merivale Hist. Romans under Empire IV. xli. 602 Ovid is eminently the poet of society.
1893 G. Allen Scallywag I. 6 Who is Mr. Gascoyne, and who is Mr. Thistleton?.. Are they in society?
1910 D. Schwann Bk. Bachelor 47 Mason..received the guests, who were the fine flower of dramatic and critical Bohemia, with a sprinkling of the jeunesse dorée of Society and high finance.
1963 W. L. Guttsman Brit. Polit. Elite vi. 159 Goschen and Asquith and Chamberlain, later such prominent members of London Society, had at first no access to it.
2007 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 18 Aug. b1 Brooke Astor, the grande dame of society and philanthropy who died on Monday at 105.
d. to go into society: (of a person) to go and mix in society (as opposed to remaining in one's own home or domestic circle); to appear regularly at private or public entertainments, parties, etc. Now chiefly historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > social event > [verb (intransitive)] > participate in social events
show1631
racket1650
to go into society1788
to get around1798
socialize1841
butterfly1855
circulate1856
1788 Convivial Songster p. i If we go into society, it is our duty to be comfortable and good-humoured.
1799 H. More Strictures Mod. Syst. Female Educ. II. xiv. 90 True good nature is the soul, of which politeness is only the garb. It is not that artificial quality which is taken up by many when they go into society, in order to charm those whom it is not their particular business to please.
1856 C. Dickens Little Dorrit (1857) ii. v. 360 She had become the victim of an insatiate mania for what she called ‘going into society’.
1888 J. McCarthy & R. C. Praed Ladies' Gallery II. iii. 34 I don't go into society much.
1939 W. L. Phelps Autobiogr. with Lett. 268 He was a recluse; he..never went into society, and stayed up nearly all night with his books.
1994 L. Gordon Charlotte Brontë (1995) vi. 165 She knew that to go into society would unsettle the central action of her life, which was to stay at home and write.
8. Society personified.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social class > the common people > specific classes of common people > fashionable society > [noun] > personified
society?1760
?1760 J. Langhorne Poems Several Occasions 61 Far from these, I fly to Thee, Blithe-eyed Nymph, Society; In whose Dwelling, free, and fair, Converse smooths the brow of Care.
1785 W. Cowper Task iv. 498 Till at last Society..Shakes her encumber'd lap, and casts them out.
1834 T. Carlyle Sartor Resartus i. vi. 15/2 A huge..Apron, wherein Society works (uneasily enough).
1879 Daily Tel. 15 May He sinks, smiling, into the arms of Society, and Society..eats him up.
1905 E. Wharton House of Mirth ii. viii. 422 Society did not turn away from her, it simply drifted by, preoccupied and inattentive.
1998 S. L. Mizruchi Sci. of Sacrifice i. 54 Society is a great yelping beast, moaning pathetically, craving blood.
III. A community, association, or group.† 13. A meeting or gathering. Obsolete.
9. † d. A group of fashionable, wealthy, or otherwise prominent people. Cf. sense 7c. Obsolete.
a. A community of people living in a particular country or region and having shared customs, laws, or institutions. Cf. sense 7a.closed, cashless, market, open, permissive society, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > [noun] > a community
commoninga1400
society1535
weal-public1541
communialty?1574
family1794
communitas1841
1535 W. Marshall tr. Marsilius of Padua Def. of Peace i. xii. f. 28v A cytie is a commune societie of fre men.
1583 Sir T. Smith's De Republica Anglorum i. x. 10 A common wealth is called a society or common doing of a multitude of free men.
1639 T. Heywood Londini Status Pacatus Ep. Ded. sig. A2v Greeneland, Muscovy, and Turkey, of which three noble societies you are at this present Governour.
1690 J. Locke Two Treat. Govt. ii. vii, in Wks. (1727) II. 182 No Political Society can be, nor subsist without having in itself the Power to preserve the Property..of all those of that Society.
1762 O. Goldsmith Citizen of World I. xxxiii. 142 The title of connoisseur in that art [sc. painting] is at present the safest passport into every fashionable society.
1770 J. Langhorne & W. Langhorne tr. Plutarch Lives II. 496 Every society has more to apprehend from its needy members, than from the rich.
a1807 W. Wordsworth Prelude (1959) x. 422 There is One great Society alone on earth, The noble Living and the noble Dead.
1872 J. Morley Voltaire i. 3 The Calvinism which in so many important societies displaced it [sc. Catholicism].
1928 Jrnl. Philos. 25 681 An ideal society, a paradisial citizenship in which all the members of a given group can in imaginative anticipation live.
1974 in A. Béteille Ess. in Compar. Sociol. (1987) 22 They study other societies and cultures, particularly in Africa, Asia and Latin America (or marginal groups in their own society).
1989 A. Taylor Acquainted with Night i. 11 We live in a society where control of the emotions is highly prized.
2007 Belfast Tel. (Nexis) 27 July 18 Northern Ireland..is still a conservative society and..people are not yet ready for abortion on demand.
b. A small group of people; a company. Also figurative. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > association, fellowship, or companionship > a company or body of persons > [noun]
ferec975
flockOE
gingc1175
rout?c1225
companyc1300
fellowshipc1300
covinc1330
eschelec1330
tripc1330
fellowred1340
choira1382
head1381
glub1382
partya1387
peoplec1390
conventc1426
an abominable of monksa1450
body1453
carol1483
band1490
compernagea1500
consorce1512
congregationa1530
corporationa1535
corpse1534
chore1572
society1572
crew1578
string1579
consort1584
troop1584
tribe1609
squadron1617
bunch1622
core1622
lag1624
studa1625
brigadea1649
platoon1711
cohort1719
lot1725
corps1754
loo1764
squad1786
brotherhood1820
companionhood1825
troupe1825
crowd1840
companionship1842
group1845
that ilk1845
set-out1854
layout1869
confraternity1872
show1901
crush1904
we1927
familia1933
shower1936
1572 J. Sadler tr. Vegetius Foure Bks. Martiall Policye ii. xxi. f. 22v Tenne bandes are so sette in order and ioyned together, that of all those is made as it were one bodye and one societie.
1590 J. Smythe Certain Disc. Weapons 16 b Harquebuziers..being..aduanced and retired with some societies, or Cameradas of loose shot, are of good effect.
1594 Selimus (Temple Club) 1984 We will have hog's cheek, and a dish of tripes, and a society of puddings..: a society of puddings? did you mark that well-used metaphor?
a1616 W. Shakespeare Timon of Athens (1623) iv. iii. 21 Therefore be abhorr'd, All Feasts, Societies, and Throngs of men. View more context for this quotation
1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 203 We..entred into a little society among our selves, and..went all together in a Company.
1725 D. Defoe New Voy. round World i. 50 This was not a Business that admitted giving them [sc. mutineers] Time to club and Cabal together, and form other Societies or Combinations.
1777 W. Dalrymple Trav. Spain & Portugal ii. 15 The company..making little societies of conversation till towards eleven o'clock.
1852 Graham's Mag. Sept. 297/2 A society of young men and women of rank, who have shut themselves up..in order to escape the infection of the terrible plague then ravaging Florence.
1905 A. Lang Adventures among Bks. 228 I also met a society of gentlemen, in Greek costume, of various ages.
c. Zoology. A group of animals of the same species in which social behaviour is exhibited; esp. an organized group or colony of social insects.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > animals collectively > [noun] > group (of same species)
herdc1275
kennel1641
gang1657
colony1712
society1752
society1772
mores1911
1772 W. Curtis tr. A. Blad Fundamenta Entomologiæ 58 This kind of sex is only found among those insects which form themselves into societies, as Bees, Wasps, and Ants.
1794 E. Darwin Zoonomia I. xvi. 154 Rabbits..are formed into societies, that live under ground.
1837 Abstr. Papers Royal Soc. 1830–37 3 481 The author considers the temperature of those insects which live in societies.
1845 L. Leichhardt Jrnl. Overland Exped. Austral. 16 June (1847) 291 The green-tree ant..seemed to live in small societies in rude nests between the green leaves of shady trees.
1902 Encycl. Brit. XXIX. 503/2 Perhaps the most remarkable fact as regards the higher societies of insects is that though the individuals composing a community are the offspring of one mother..yet they do not resemble their parents.
1971 E. O. Wilson Insect Societies ii. 6/2 Bird flocks, wolf packs, locust swarms, and groups of communally nesting bees are good examples of elementary societies.
2005 Animal Behaviour 69 20/1 Although punishment is probably a common means of enforcing cooperative behaviour in animal societies..it has only rarely been demonstrated.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social class > the common people > specific classes of common people > fashionable society > [noun]
higheOE
high life?a1518
towna1616
world1618
grand monde1673
society1693
beau monde1712
fine world1740
monde1765
tonc1770
high society1782
fashion1807
all the world1808
society1840
smart set1851
swelldom1854
Fifth Avenue1858
fashionabledom1859
haut monde1864
the big cheesea1910
higlif1911
haute Bohème1925
café society1937
jet set1949
beautiful people1950
1840 W. M. Thackeray Barber Cox in Comic Almanack 8 The paragraphs in the papers about Mr. Coxe Coxe..had an effect in a wonderfully short space of time, and we began to get a very pretty society about us.
1842 S. Lover Handy Andy xxi Intelligence and courtesy in the one sex, and gentleness and natural grace in the other, making a society not to be ridiculed in the mass.
1848 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair lxii. 565 The performance over, the young fellows lounged about the lobbies, and we saw the society take its departure.
e. Ecology. A community of plants; esp. (in later use) one within a mature consociation characterized by one or more subdominant species.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > by habitat or distribution > [noun] > community or association
society1896
formation1898
association1900
associes1916
socies1916
alliance1930
phytocoenosis1930
sociation1930
1896 Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 23 285 It also seems evident that the author [sc. Warming] was strongly influenced by the numerous comparatively recent investigations on symbiosis, which no doubt suggested many of his ideas in regard to plant societies.
1899 Bot. Gaz. 27 111 A plant society is defined as a group of plants living together in a common habitat and subjected to similar life conditions. The term is taken to be the English equivalent of Warming's Plantesamfund, translated into the German as Pflanzenverein.
1905 F. E. Clements Res. Methods Ecol. 296 For these areas controlled by principal species, but changing from aspect to aspect, the term society is proposed.
1932 G. D. Fuller & H. S. Conard tr. J. Braun-Blanquet Plant Sociol. xiii. 306 The..‘societies’ of Clements and Weaver are based entirely upon the dominance of certain species; they are, thus, quite incapable of replacing our association in any system of classification.
1932 Ecology 13 118 A single pair of terms, society and socies (developmental), has been quite generally applied to subordinate assemblages within associes and associations.
1952 P. W. Richards Trop. Rain Forest xi. 259 Shorea curtesii..dominates small societies on steep slopes in the hill rain forests of the Malay Peninsula.
2004 Stud. Hist. & Philos. Biol. & Biomed. Sci. 35 796 Inspired by Warming's book on plant societies, he [sc. Tansley] set out to build the status of ecology as a distinct discipline.
10.
a. An association or body of people united by a common aim, interest, or profession.Fabian, Humane, rescue, secret, visiting society, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > an association, society, or organization > [noun]
fellowshipa1400
society1548
borrow1581
combination1597
guild1630
sodality1633
associationa1658
band-society1742
organization1793
Assn.1859
soc.1890
teleocracy1921
org1936
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VII f. xxviijv The societe of saynct George, vulgarely called the order of the garter.
1637 Decree Starre-Chamber conc. Printing ix. sig. Dv The Company or Society of Stationers.
1639 J. Woodall Surgeons Mate (rev. ed.) Pref. sig. B4v It hath divers wayes brought advantage and good to the whole Society of Surgeons.
1760 G. A. Stevens Hist. Tom Fool I. xiv. 72 That Society of Men, who are nick-named Ideots by their Wives, their Brothers, their Friends, their Partners, Masters, and kept Mistresses.
1786 in R. Beatson Polit. Index ii. 322 A Society or Brotherhood, to be called Knights of the illustrious Order of St Patrick.
1848 T. Wright New Gen. Biogr. Dict. X. 34/1 [Cotton Mather] planned and promoted several excellent societies, particularly a society for suppressing disorders; a society for reforming manners; and a society of peace-makers.
1867 J. Ruskin Time & Tide i. §3 All bankers should be members of a great national body, answerable as a society for all deposits.
1949 Rev. Politics 11 445 This society [sc. the Irish Republican Brotherhood] was a secret one whereas the cause was an open and declared one.
1961 W. W. Newcomb Indians of Texas viii. 205 The Kiowa Apaches had four ceremonial groups—a children's society known as the Rabbits, two adult warrior or military societies, and a society for old women.
1990 I. Bernstein N.Y. City Draft Riots (1991) iii. 84 The Coach Painters required that all subcontractors who joined their society employ fully trained journeymen.
2006 L. D. Szucs & S. H. Luebking Source (ed. 3) 912/1 This society was founded..for men and women who are lineal descendants of anyone who conducted a tavern, inn, ordinary, or other type of hostelry on or before 4 July 1776.
b. A corporate body of people having a definite place of residence, as a college, monastery, or similar institution.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > an association, society, or organization > types of association, society, or organization > [noun] > corporation or body corporate > having place of residence
society1548
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VII v. f. xx Adryan..was promoted successiuely by all the degrees of spiritual dignitees into the Colledge and societee of Cardinalles.
1588–9 Act 31 Eliz. c. 6 §1 Colledges, Churches Collegiat, Churches Cathedrall, Scoles, Hospitalls, Halles, and other like Societies.
1695 J. Sage Cyprianic Age 78 Being all of them..First in their own Churches; and all standing Collateral to one another; they were most properly called Collegues, and their Society, a College.
1702 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion I. i. 36 In the Society of the Inner Temple, his Son made a notable progress.
1733 Deed of Conveyance in A. C. Fraser Life Berkeley (1871) vi. 193 (note) The Corporation or incorporate Society of Yale College in New Haven in the Province of Connecticut.
1847 J. H. Parker Hand-bk. Visitors to Oxf. 194 The present society very nobly determined to restore as far as they could to its primitive state this interesting feature of their college.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. vi. 98 A society of Benedictine monks was lodged in Saint James's Palace.
1929 Times 6 Apr. 13/4 He left..the residue of the property to the Society of the College of St. Mary and St. John in connexion with the Woodard Schools, for the general purposes of the society.
2001 S. Feirstein Naming N.Y. 162 The Society of the Sacred Heart was located approximately where the south campus of City College is now. The society consisted of 10 academic buildings including Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart.
11.
a. A group associating for the purpose of worship and religious practice or service; a religious body or order. Society of Jesus n. (also Society of the Name of Jesus) a Roman Catholic order founded by St Ignatius Loyola and others in 1534 (see Jesuit n. 1). Society of Friends n. a Christian religious movement founded by George Fox in 1648–50 (see Quaker n. 3b).
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > monasticism > religious order > [noun]
order?c1225
religion?c1225
sectc1380
professiona1393
congregation1493
society1581
religious society1610
community1728
1581 W. Allen Apol. Two Eng. Colleges f. 29v The Seminarie of the Romane Clergie, and other Colleges of the most famous Societie of the name of Iesus.
1659 R. Baxter Key for Catholicks Pref. 3 The Protestant Churches are Societies professing the Protestants Religion.
1679 in R. Wodrow Hist. Sufferings Church of Scotl. (1829) III. 202 They began to meet in societies, and had a general meeting quarterly..They term themselves ‘The societies united in correspondence’..those names, wherewith they distinguish themselves from other presbyterians.
a1720 W. Sewel Hist. Quakers (1795) I. p. xii Others of the same Society have not looked upon this as a pattern to imitate.
1741 J. Wesley Wks. (1872) I. 301 I read over the names of the United Society.
1832 W. Scott Redgauntlet (new ed.) I. vii. 125 (note) An old lady of the Society of Friends.
1877 J. B. Mozley Univ. Serm. (ed. 3) iv. 77 The Church is undoubtedly in its design a spiritual society, but it is also a society of this world as well.
1898 Westm. Gaz. 4 Nov. 4/2 The unit of the sect [sc. the Methodists] is ‘the Society’—composed practically of the communicants attending a particular church.
1947 Hispanic Amer. Hist. Rev. 27 67 He was a novice of the Society of Jesus... The two years of religious training..completed, Méndez was allowed to pronounce the first vows of the Society.
2006 J. A. Conforti Saints & Strangers v. 147 A group of young women asked her to help them form a praying society.
b. spec. (U.S.) = congregation n. 7c. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > laity > congregation > [noun]
lathingc897
church folka1200
parishc1300
congregation1526
meeting1593
assemblya1616
society1738
pew1882
1738 in Documentary Hist. of Suffield (1879) 273 It was proposed to the Town whether they would sett off the West part of the Town into a Seperate and Distinct Society.
1809 E. A. Kendall Trav. Northern Parts U.S. I. 521 A society is a community or corporation established, for the most part, for the twofold object of religious worship and common schooling; but in some instances, for religious worship only.
1864 C. Allen Rep. Supreme Court Mass. 7 90 By the present usages of the Baptist denomination, a minister can only be settled by the concurrent act of the church and society.
1889 M. E. Wilkins Far-away Melody (1891) 257 More people went into the Baptist Church, whose Society was much the larger of the two.
1915 Michigan Law Rev. 13 575 The trustees..whether they were members of the church or society or both or neither, were the corporation, created for the express purpose of holding the property of the society.
2005 E. Clarke Dwelling Place vi. 64 Midway church had two coordinate branches: the church and the society.
12.
a. A group or club which meets together, esp. for the purpose of discussion, debate, or socializing.debating, film society, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > an association, society, or organization > types of association, society, or organization > [noun] > club
society1603
club1670
collegea1703
coterie1764
hui1898
1603 P. Holland in tr. Plutarch Morals (Gloss.) sig. Zzzzzv Andria, A societie of men, meeting together in some publicke hall for to eat and drinke: Instituted first among the Thebans.
1673 Humours Town 52 You take a wrong notion of our Societies from them; here we have always a numerous Club.
1759 S. Johnson Idler 17 Mar. 81 He always runs to a disputing society.
1777 W. Cowper Let. 20 Apr. (1979) I. 268 He did not belong to our Thursday Society.
1848 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair xlvi. 410 He never would sit down before Sedley at the club even, nor would he have that gentleman's character abused by any member of the society.
1898 Daily Tel. 6 Jan. 9/6 The association for debating all unforbidden subjects which..was known as ‘The Society’.
1902 Encycl. Brit. XXVIII. 733/2 He [sc. Gladstone at Eton] was seen to the greatest advantage..in the debates of the Eton Society, learnedly called ‘The Literati’ and vulgarly ‘Pop’.
1960 L. Woolf Sowing 129 It is necessary here to say something about the Society—The Apostles—because of the immense importance it had for us.
2007 Guardian (Nexis) 19 Sept. ii. 3 I am a member of an informal luncheon society that meets irregularly to eat fine English pork products.
b. A commercial company or association, esp. a mutual or cooperative company.building, cooperative, loan, mutual, provident society, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > business affairs > a business or company > [noun]
company1532
society1623
office1647
Co1679
concern1681
business1728
establishment1832
outfit1833
business administration1852
customer relations1920
enterprise1930
label1968
MNC1971
1623 G. Malynes Center of Circle of Commerce iv. 78 I will not scatter any society or corporations, in that which proueth preiuditiall to the Common-wealth.
1701 G. Farquhar Sir Harry Wildair iii. 26 That most ingenious Society, call'd the Bank of England.
1792 Abstr. Acct. Westm. Soc. for Insurance on Life Survivorships 13 Every Person must sign an Agreement, which will be the basis of the Contract between him and the Society, prior to the granting any Insurance, or Annuity.
1826 Ann. Reg. 1825 2*/1 Certain persons had associated themselves to form a society or company to be called ‘The Equitable Loan Bank Company’.
1890 Daily News 13 Nov. 7/1 The Investors Protection Society... The society was formed to protect investors and others by advising generally free of charge.
1955 Welt des Islams 4 75 The Haidarābād government instituted the co-operative lending societies..; yet it allowed interest-free lending societies also to be registered with the department of state.
1994 P. J. Ambrose Urban Process & Power v. 84 The societies began to offer loans based on a higher proportion of the valuation and repayable over a twenty-five- rather than a fifteen-year period.
c. A group or organization formed for the purpose of promoting some branch of study or research by means of meetings, publications, etc.Royal, learned, Theosophical Society, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
society > education > [noun] > societies promoting
academy1581
society1625
Royal Academy1768
National Society1812
Workers' Educational Association1905
W.E.A.1910
1625 tr. N. Longobard Let. in S. Purchas Pilgrimes III. v. 344 I made a Booke, and exhibited it to the Society of learned men.
1665 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 1 16 Printed with Licence, By John Martyn, and James Allestry, Printers to the Royal Society.
1763 Museum Rusticum (1764) 1 71 A Letter..from a Member of the Society for encouraging Arts, &c.
1796 H. Hunter tr. J.-H. B. de Saint-Pierre Stud. Nature (1799) III. 731 A Society of intelligent Englishmen was formed at London.., the object of which was to prosecute scientific research.
1827 W. Scott Chron. Canongate ii An edition, limited according to the rules of that erudite Society [sc. the Bannatyne Club].
1844 S. R. Maitland Dark Ages 386 At the time when this suggestion was made, the English Historical Society was just being formed.
1900 L. Huxley Life T. H. Huxley (1903) II. i. 4 He became President of the Geological Society in 1872.
1948 Times 12 Feb. 2/5 Members of the British-Italian Society met in the rooms of the Royal Asiatic Society..to hear Mr. Neville Rogers give an account of the Keats-Shelley Memorial.
2002 M. Feldberg Blessings of Freedom x/2 The most frequently used source..has been the American Jewish Historical Society's own scholarly journal. For 108 years, the Society has published American Jewish History.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > association for a common purpose > meeting or assembling for common purpose > [noun] > a meeting
synagoguea1300
councilc1340
collect1382
convent1382
convocation1387
samingc1400
advocationa1425
meetingc1425
steven1481
congress1528
concion1533
conference1575
collection1609
congression1611
divan1619
rendezvous1628
comitia1631
society1712
majlis1821
get-up1826
agora1886
1712 in W. S. Perry Hist. Coll. Amer. Colonial Church: Virginia (1870) I. 192 I can't attend the Society as I would very gladly do.
1741 J. Wesley Jrnl. 31 Dec. in Extract of Jrnl. (1749) 18 At the society which follow'd, many cried after God.
Compounds
C1.
a. General attributive.
(a) In sense 11, as society meeting, society man, society room, etc.
ΚΠ
1657 in Eng. Hist. Rev. (1910) 25 737 He did on saboth day last apply himself to a society meeting..with a desire to be received into Church Fellowship with them.
a1681 W. Smith in P. Walker Some Remarkable Passages Life & Death D. Cargill (1732) 88 They would..rejoice with all such as are joined in this Society-communion.
1721 R. Wodrow Hist. Sufferings Church of Scotl. (1831) IV. 462/2 This year [1688], I find..that the society people made a large collection of money for the relief of several of their number.
1727 P. Walker Some Remarkable Passages Semple, Welwood & Cameron 28 The..keeping up of Society-meetings for Prayer and Conference.
1744 J. Wesley Wks. (1872) VIII. 38 The enlarging the society-room to near thrice its first bigness.
1828 E. Irving Last Days 37 These texts of Scripture..will enable you to confute a whole platform of society orators.
1870 J. H. Burton Hist. Scotl. to 1688 VII. lxxix. 529 The Sanquharians took also the name of ‘Society men’, as being distributed in ‘select societies united in general correspondence’.
2003 J. W. Sweet Bodies Politic iii. 113 Anglicans considered all children in the kingdom eligible for baptism into the Church of England, and they did not distinguish between church and society members.
(b) In sense 7c, as society beauty, society journal, society photographer, society woman, etc.
ΚΠ
1693Societie man [see sense 7c].
1825 C. M. Westmacott Eng. Spy I. 106 Society Whigs and society Tories.
1848 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair li. 451 ‘The best’ foreigners (as the phrase is in our noble and admirable society slang).
1875 H. B. Stowe We & our Neighbors 205 My sisters..are society girls in the best sense.
1882 J. D. McCabe New York 228 An engagement..is promptly announced in one of the ‘Society journals’.
1910 E. M. Forster Howards End iii. 19 She did not..pretend that nothing had happened, as a competent society hostess would have done.
1947 ‘N. Blake’ Minute for Murder ii. 32 He had been a society photographer before the war.
1956 C. Cockburn In Time of Trouble xvii. 228 The secretary was away attending some society wedding.
1976 C. Storr Unnatural Fathers iii. 36 He had had a long liaison with a society beauty.
2007 Guardian 29 Sept. (Review section) 4/4 Young society women such as the morphine addict Brenda Dean Paul and Elizabeth Ponsonby.
(c) In senses 10 and 12, as society membership, society room, society secretary, etc.
ΚΠ
1711 J. Swift Let. 11 Aug. in Wks. (1768) XVI. xxviii. 14 I dined at Mr. Masham's; we had none but our society members, six in all, and I supped with lord treasurer.
1765–8 J. Erskine Inst. Law Scotl. iii. iii. §27 He is..intitled, upon the division of the society-goods, to..a share.
1861 H. Mayhew London Labour (new ed.) III. 221/1 The Cabinet-makers..consist, like all other operatives, of two distinct classes, that is to say, of society and non-society men.
1892 Photogr. Ann. II. 809 Society rooms, available upon production of a society membership ticket, or an introduction from a society secretary.
1907 Burlington Mag. Aug. 341/2 The Society membership included most of the strongest artists in the country.
1980 A. Kent et al. Encycl. Libr. & Information Sci. XXIX. 34 The 1930s saw the continued expansion of the society's collections. For example, rare books, maps, and documents..were given by a former society president.
2000 Canberra Sunday Times 11 June 65/2 Around the outside of the room, society members displayed items from their collections.
b. Objective.
ΚΠ
1841 ‘J. Hatfield’ James Hatfield & Beauty of Buttermere I. ix. 142 The sociable and society-loving lady.
1868 G. A. Sala Lamb's Wks. I. p. xlii Hook, with whom society-seeking was a vocation and a passion.
1886 Fortn. Rev. Apr. 501 If society-haunting afforded the necessary relaxation.
1907 H. MacFall Ibsen xiv. 212 They drove him from the fold..pouring all their ‘moral’ indignation upon him and his godless, immoral, society-destroying aims.
1997 P. K. Chadwick Schizophrenia viii. 93 It is not surprising that he is a bitter, society-hating man.
C2.
society column n. a column in a newspaper or magazine that reports the activities of members of fashionable or wealthy society.
ΚΠ
1872 Waukesha (Wisconsin) Freeman 10 Oct. If some of her under-bred and injudicious friends will send paragraphic Jenkinsisms to..the ‘Society’ columns of the evening papers, she will soon be set down as a belle.
1911 G. Stratton-Porter Harvester xx. 508 He scanned the society columns of the papers.
2002 Jrnl. Southern Hist. 68 658 A society column headline announced, ‘Society Out in Force at the Christening of Atlanta Speedway’.
society columnist n. a person who writes society columns.
ΚΠ
1920 Evening Gaz. (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) 13 Nov. If we were to believe the jibberings of the society columnists..‘Edward P.’ must be possessed with a heart of putty and the soul of a he-vamp.
1959 G. D. Painter Marcel Proust I. xi. 181 A little bird..informed the society columnist of Le Gaulois.
2007 Evening Standard (Nexis) 13 Nov. 34 Blackstone managed to keep the paparazzi and society columnists away from the lavish wedding.
society hand n. now rare a person who is a member of a trade society or union.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > printing > printer > [noun] > printer belonging to society
society hand1894
1849 Bristol Mercury 30 June 6/5 Not being able to procure society hands, Mr. Granger was compelled to seek elsewhere for workmen.
1894 Freeman's Jrnl. (Dublin) 19 Feb. 6/7 Mr Smith, of the Typographical Society, said that his society and the council had sought to get Messrs Browne and Nolan to employ the society hands.
1911 Times 4 Feb. 12/2 The decision come to by the provincial masters to lock out their society hands.
1947 E. Howe London Compositor xviii. 430 In January, 1851, the proprietors of the Morning Post made yet another attempt to reduce their production costs at the expense of the Society hands employed by them.
society house n. now rare the premises of a particular trade society or union; a workplace which recognizes and agrees to the conditions of a particular trade society or union.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > printing > printing trade > [noun] > printing establishment > conforming to society rules
society house1835
1835 Rep. in E. Howe London Compositor (1947) viii. 231 An individual was called from the Society House, and required by the master to go on at per hour—he declined, unless paid piecework.
1859 Leeds Mercury 16 Aug. 2/2 All persons ‘locked out’, belonging to the different trades, were to assemble..at their respective society houses.
1886 Pall Mall Gaz. 22 Oct. 10/2 The Board had paid more for printing in ‘non-society’ houses than in society houses.
1929 Times 29 Oct. 23/2 In ‘Society’ houses the Trade Unions exercise an effective control over the number of apprentices indentured.
society page n. a page in a newspaper or magazine that reports the activities of members of fashionable or wealthy society.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > journalism > journal > parts and layout of journals > [noun] > other sections or columns
Poets' Corner1733
situations wanted1809
situations vacant1819
feuilleton1845
roman feuilleton1845
home page1860
personal1860
society page1883
City page1893
women's page1893
book page1898
ear1901
film guide1918
op-ed1931
masthead1934
magazine section1941
write-in1947
listings1971
1883 Atlanta Constit. 12 Aug. 7/3 The notice of a party at the house of Mr W K Booth.., which appears on the society page, was written as a compliment by one of the guests.
1949 H. MacLennan Precipice i. 144 A picture I saw of her in the society page of The New York Times.
2003 Jrnl. Amer. Musicol. Soc. 56 377 Given the emphasis on royal titles and expensive jewelry..this passage would be more appropriate to the society pages of the local newspaper than to the leading German music journal of the day.
Derivatives
soˈcietyish adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > aspects of faith > sectarianism > [adjective]
sectary1590
separatistical1610
separistical1633
separistic1655
separate1680
separating1734
sectarian1796
sectarial1816
separatist1830
separatistic1830
denominational1838
separatical1846
societyisha1873
confessional1907
a1873 S. Wilberforce Speeches on Missions (1874) i. 4 The tendency of all that is to cultivate party feeling within the Church..and so by degrees to become one-sided, or what I may call societyish.
1965 C. Bancroft Six Racy Madams Colorado (2006) 27 Etta Kelly, Jennie's new lessee, was a very ‘societyish’ madam and ran an enterprising house.
soˈcietyless adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > lack of social communication or relations > [adjective]
unentertained1628
unsociable1638
incommunicable1646
incommunicatinga1676
societyless1788
1788 F. Burney Diary 23 Oct. (1842) IV. 272 Societyless, and bookless, and viewless as I am.
1974 J. van der Zee Greatest Men's Party on Earth iv. 52 It's the scene of the birth stirrings of a new social order: a societyless class.
1990 A. Duff Once were Warriors xi. 146 This societyless lot, this structureless pack of arseholes not budging, just making out they were moving by milling about.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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