stabilityn.
/stəˈbɪlɪti/ The quality or condition of being stable.
1. In physical senses.figurative.1585 C. Fetherston tr. J. Calvin Comm. Actes Apostles xv. 36. 381 There ought nothing..to bee more firme, than the spirituall building of faith, whose stabilitie is grounded in the very heauen.1910 J. W. Harper Social Ideal x. 117 Social jerry-building has no stability.† d. ‘Fixedness; not fluidity’ (Johnson). Obsolete. rare.
a. Power of remaining erect; freedom from liability to fall or be overthrown.
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the world > space > relative position > vertical position > [noun] > power of remaining upright
stability1426
1426 J. Lydgate tr. G. de Guileville Pilgrimage Life Man 23472 Thyng that is maad by rule and lyne, In it self hath more beaute tendure, and mor stabilite.
1691 J. Ray Wisdom of God 76 The Roots [of a tree] for its stability and drawing nourishment from the Earth.
1700 C. Nesse Antidote against Arminianism 14 The Temple stood firmly upon those Two Pillars [Jachin and Boaz, i.e. Stability and Strength].
1712 R. Blackmore Creation i. 24 These subterranean Walls dispos'd with Art, Such Strength, and such Stability impart, That Storms..and Earthquakes..Break not the Pillars.
1746 J. Hervey Medit. (1748) 231 The Strength of an Oak, or the Stability of a Pyramid.
1894 H. Drummond Lowell Lect. Ascent of Man 414 The true function of the root is to give stability to the tree.
b. Fixity of position in space; freedom from liability to changes of place.
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the world > movement > absence of movement > [noun] > condition of remaining in one place
fixure1603
stability1625
fixedness1647
lying1683
stationariness1727
fixation1894
staticness1940
1625 N. Carpenter Geogr. Delineated i. v. 115 The stabilitie is an affection whereby the Terrestriall Spheare is firmely settled in his proper place.
1664 H. Power Exper. Philos. iii. 168 An Intrinsecal Tendency that it [the Magnet] has of its own, to bring all its parts to their right and determinate points, there to remain in a perfect Stability.
1681 C. Cotton Wonders of Peake 45 He..began to try This, and that hanging stone's stability, To prove their firmness.
1831 D. Brewster Life I. Newton x. 136 The doctrine of the motion of the earth and the stability of the sun.
1832 H. Douglas Ess. Mil. Bridges (ed. 2) i. 24 The gradual progress of rivers to their present state of comparative stability.
c. Ability to remain in the same relative place or position in spite of disturbing influences; capacity for resistance to displacement; the condition of being in stable equilibrium, tendency to recover the original position after displacement. Also, of a body in motion: Freedom from oscillation, steadiness. Also spec. with reference to aircraft.
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the world > movement > absence of movement > [noun] > stability
stabilitya1542
a1542 T. Wyatt Coll. Poems (1969) 109 Such is thi hand on me, That in my fleshe for terrour of thy yre Is not on poynt of ferme stabilite.
1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica ii. ii. 57 Had they been acquainted with this principle, Anaxagoras, Socrates and Democritus had better made out the ground of this stability... Now whether the earth stand still, or moveth circularly, we may concede this Magneticall stability.
1794 G. Adams Lect. Nat. & Exper. Philos. III. xxviii. 181 Our motions..serve..to preserve constant stability amidst a variety of causes which tend to destroy it.
1796 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 86 52 When a solid body floats..and external force is applied to incline it from its position, the resistance opposed to this inclination is termed the stability of floating.
1799 Monthly Rev. 30 501 A method..for ascertaining the degree of stability or stiffness of a ship.
1855 D. K. Clark Railway Machinery 165/2 By steadiness or stability is meant the property of moving along the rail without any inclination from the centre-line of progression.
1877 W. H. White Man. Naval Archit. iii. 63 The statical stability of a ship may be defined as the effort which she makes when inclined by external forces acting horizontally, and held steadily at that inclination, to return towards her natural position of equilibrium.
1877 W. H. White Man. Naval Archit. iv. 131 On this assumption..dynamical stability may be defined as the ‘work’ done in heeling the ship from her upright position to any angle of inclination.
1879 Cassell's Techn. Educator (new ed.) II. 86/2 The spinning motion [of a top] gives a stability to the axis of rotation.
1883 Encycl. Brit. XV. 751/1 [article Mechanics] Safety against displacement by turning is called stability of position; safety against displacement by sliding, stability of friction.
1900 Strand Mag. Sept. 310/2 As the dragging-cable was about 328 ft. long, with a slack of about 75½ ft long, the stability of the vessel was greatly improved.
1912 Aeroplane 10 Apr. 430/1 As to the fore and aft stability, the problem was solved by making the float some 14 ft. long, but seeing that it was only about 2 ft. wide there was obviously very little lateral stability.
1914 Evening News 15 Oct. 4/5 The stability planes.
1916 H. Barber Aeroplane Speaks 70 Longitudinal Stability in an aeroplane is its stability about an axis transverse to the direction of normal horizontal flight.
1916 H. Barber Aeroplane Speaks 87 The instruments indicating longitudinal, lateral, and directional stability.
1918 W. E. Dommett Dict. Aircraft 43 Stability, Dynamic.—Stability dependent upon the maintenance of a definite speed or speeds.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > chemical properties > [noun] > quality of being fixed or not fluid
stability1661
chromotropism1908
1661 R. Boyle Hist. Fluidity & Firmnesse ii, in Certain Physiol. Ess. 182 Since fluidness and stability being contrary qualities, are to be apprehended under contrary notions, we may conceive that the firmnesse or stability of a body consists principally in this, that the particles that compose it..either do so rest or are so intangled between themselves.
e. Of a system of bodies: Permanence of arrangement; power of resisting change of structure.
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the world > time > change > absence of change, changelessness > lasting quality, permanence > [noun] > permanent state or condition
stay1536
fixedness1647
fixity1791
stability1855
stationarity1901
1855 D. Brewster Mem. Life I. Newton (new ed.) I. xiii. 357 This grand discovery..securing the stability of the system, is doubtless one of the noblest in physical astronomy.
1869 Huxley in Scientific Opinion Apr. 464/2 Whereby all perturbations eventually reduced themselves to oscillations on each side of a mean position, and the stability of the solar system was secured.
f. Of a chemical compound or combination: Capacity to resist decomposition or disruption. Also of an atomic nucleus or subatomic particle.
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the world > matter > chemistry > chemical reactions or processes > [noun] > reactivity > stability
stability1862
the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > [noun] > decomposition of nucleus > capacity to resist
stability1955
the world > matter > physics > atomic physics > particle physics > [noun] > a particle > capacity to resist disruption
stability1955
1862 W. A. Miller Elements Chem. (ed. 2) III. 41 Such combinations are usually of small stability and are decomposed as rapidly as they are formed.
1877 J. C. Maxwell in Encycl. Brit. VI. 313 Now if such groups [of molecules] of greater stability are disseminated through the substance [etc.].
1878 W. H. Wardell Explosives in Encycl. Brit. VIII. 808/1 The fulminates are among the most violent of all explosive compounds, their chemical stability being very small.
1955 J. A. Wheeler in W. Pauli Niels Bohr & Devel. Physics 163 (heading) Nuclear fission and nuclear stability.
g. Of a colour: Permanence.
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the world > matter > colour > colouring > colouring matter > [noun] > dye > fast dye > quality
stability1791
wash-fastness1962
1791 W. Hamilton tr. C.-L. Berthollet Elements Art of Dyeing I. i. i. iii. 45 The stability of colour consists in its power of resisting the action of acids, alkalis, &c.
2. Of an immaterial thing: Immunity from destruction or essential change; enduring quality.† f. Put for: Source or cause of stability. Obsolete.
a. of government, institutions, customs, etc.
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the world > time > change > absence of change, changelessness > stability, fixity > [noun]
stablenessa1300
tack1412
steadfastnessc1450
surenessc1450
stability1470
radicationa1500
constance1509
steadiness1530
certitudea1533
firmance1533
staidness1556
establishment1561
settledness1571
settling1582
state1597
groundedness1601
inviscerationa1631
setness1642
unmalleableness1644
fixedness1647
poise1649
inveteracy1716
well-foundedness1735
fixity1791
unmalleability1828
deep-rootedness1860
instatement1877
steady state1885
hard and fastness1897
1470–85 T. Malory Morte d'Arthur xx. xviii. 829 I wote wel in me was not alle the stabylyte of this realme.
c1508 Want of Wyse Men (Chepman & Myllar) in Poems R. Henryson (1908) III. 171 Now is stabilitee fundyn in na stage..Peas is away, all in perplexitee.
1584 in D. Masson Reg. Privy Council Scotl. (1880) 1st Ser. III. 699 The cuntrie being brocht to a greittar stabilitie.
1624 J. Smith Gen. Hist. Virginia iv. 148 Where there was no honesty..in such a Countrey..there can bee no stabilitie.
1655 in E. Nicholas Nicholas Papers (1892) II. 355 A progresse in the old way workes stability.
1767 A. Young Farmer's Lett. 15 The difference in stability of a commerce founded on the necessities or superfluities of life.
1800 Marquess Wellesley in Select. Despatches (1877) 732 The stability of our Government will bear a due proportion to its wisdom, liberality, and justice.
1858 R. W. Emerson Persian Poetry in Wks. (1906) III. 237 Oriental life and society..stand in violent contrast with the..secular stability..of the western nations.
1859 F. W. Newman Let. 5 May in Sieveking Mem. (1909) 172 He [Louis Napoleon] covets stability and the glory of liberating Italy.
1867 S. Smiles Huguenots Eng. & Ireland xviii. 446 That enterprising and industrious middle class which gives stability to every state.
1873 C. Robinson New S. Wales 32 The stability and expansiveness of this industry is proved by its steady and uniformly progressive development.
1875 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) V. 123 He [Plato] is deeply struck with the stability of Egyptian institutions.
1882 E. A. Freeman Lect. Amer. Audiences ii. v. 396 What I see in England, in America, in Switzerland, is stability, the power to make changes..without pulling the whole political fabric down on the heads of the reformers.
b. of the Divine nature or attributes. ? Obsolete.
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1593 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie i. iii. 54 The naturall generation and processe of all things receyueth order of proceeding from the setled stabilitie of diuine vnderstanding.
1707 J. Norris Pract. Treat. Humility iii. 84 When he compares himself with the central stability and immoveable subsistence of that great and glorious Being.
c. of worldly estate, financial affairs.
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a1628 J. Preston New Covenant (1629) ii. 63 If you looke for stabilitie in your estate, and wonder why a change should come,..why didst thou expect stabilitie in that which is subject to vanitie?
1732 Belle Assemblée II. 295 Those devoted to Ambition; who seem, methinks, in a continual Whirl, are never in a state of Stability, or perfect Ease.
1814 W. Wordsworth Excursion iii. 113 [The hermit craving] a life of peace, Stability without regret or fear; That hath been, is, and shall be evermore! View more context for this quotation
1833 H. Martineau Brooke & Brooke Farm (ed. 3) v. 69 It is the resource on which the proprietor mainly relies for the stability of his fortune.
1865 C. J. Lever Luttrell xl A great London banking firm was associated with the enterprise, which, of course, gave the air of stability to the operation.
1865 M. E. Braddon Only a Clod xv [He] suspends payment upon the first failure that affects his stability.
d. of a science, theory, covenant, etc.
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1656 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. II. v. 59 Science,..hath certitude, and stability, as being conversant in things certain and stable.
a1687 H. More Second Lash of Alazonomastix (1713) App. ii. 119 Which number [eight] being the first cube, is a fit hieroglyphick of the Stability of that Covenant made with the Jews in Circumcision.
1750 S. Johnson Rambler No. 158. ⁋1 Criticism..has not yet attained the certainty and stability of science.
1751 Bp. Thomas in 10th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1885) App. i. 306 The only Thing that could give Stability to their Proceedings.
1837 P. Keith Bot. Lexicon 108 He will not admit that it shakes the stability of Mr. Knight's theory in the slightest degree.
1876 J. B. Mozley Serm. preached Univ. of Oxf. iv. 107 The Gospel language throws doubt upon the final stability of much that passes current here with respect to character.
1883 Manch. Guard. 22 Oct. 5/4 Some of his verses are purely occasional and have no claim to stability.
e. of natural laws or sequences of natural phenomena; also, of a physical property or the system possessing it.
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1836 R. W. Emerson Nature vi. 60 The frivolous make themselves merry with the Ideal theory, as if it affected the stability of nature.
1860 M. F. Maury Physical Geogr. Sea (ed. 8) iv. 100 The two systems of trade-winds are very unequal both as to force and stability.
1880 A. R. Wallace Island Life 225 The result would be an epoch of exceptional stability of species.
1881 J. Hooker in Nature No. 619. 445 The belief in the stability of climatal conditions during the lifetime of the existing assemblages of animals and plants.
1925 W. Greenwood Text-bk. Wireless Telegr. & Telephony vi. 121 Stability is essential [in a receiver]. By this is meant that the sensitivity must be capable of being controlled by the operator, and must not be liable to be upset by the reception of very strong signals.
1962 J. H. Reyner & P. J. Reyner Radio Communication iv. 153 Modern conditions call for high stability, the capacitance being required to remain constant with time.
1963 B. Fozard Instrumentation Nucl. Reactors x. 122 For high quality equipments..requiring a gain stability of 0·1% both H.T. and heater supplies must be stabilised.
1975 D. G. Fink Electronics Engineers' Handbk. xvii. 50 The stability of feedback systems is of great importance since an unstable system will not be effective in maintaining the controlled variable at approximately the desired value.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > change > absence of change, changelessness > stability, fixity > [noun] > source or cause of
stability1678
homoeostat1948
stabilizer1955
1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. i. 45 The Essential Goodness and Wisdom of the Deity is the only Stability of all things.
g. Something fixed or settled.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > change > absence of change, changelessness > stability, fixity > [noun] > something stable
rock1526
fixture1788
stability1833
reliablec1863
anchorman1895
1833 T. Chalmers On Power Wisdom & Goodness of God I. i. i. §1. 57 Just as much as the properties of a triangle are the enduring stabilities of mathematical science.
1850 R. W. Emerson Montaigne in Representative Men iv. 160 Adaptiveness is the peculiarity of human nature. We are golden averages, volitant stabilities, compensated or periodic errors.
3.
a. Of a person, his character or dispositions: The condition of ‘standing fast’; fixity of resolution or purpose; firmness, steadfastness. (The earliest recorded sense.)
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the mind > will > decision > constancy or steadfastness > [noun]
steadfastnessa1000
anrednessOE
stead-stathelfastness?c1225
stability13..
steadfastshipc1320
traistnessa1340
constance1340
sadnessc1384
unmovablenessc1384
hardnessa1400
steadfastheadc1400
unmobletya1425
firmitya1450
constancy1526
constantness1530
firmitude?1541
firmness1553
stoutness1561
settledness1571
cleaving1580
solidity1607
immovableness1617
staunchness1623
fixedness1626
fixationa1631
unswayednessa1656
steadiness1663
sturdiness1675
unbendingness1824
indomitability1851
indomitableness1860
thick and thin1884
fixity1885
unshakability1907
13.. in Hampole's Wks. I. 75 Ihesu..Take my hert in till þi hand, sett me in stabylte.
a1400 Minor Poems from Vernon MS xxxii. 616 In al þe preyers he scholde in be Nis þer wiþ him [Lecherie] no stabulte.
c1400 Rom. Rose 2940 And alle lovers that wole be Feithful, and ful of stabilite.
c1400 Rom. Rose 5532 And for nought ellis wol he flee, If that he love in stabilitee.
1426 J. Lydgate tr. G. de Guileville Pilgrimage Life Man 1934 Look that ye In trouthe, & in stablete Yee loue to-gydre.
1535 W. Stewart tr. H. Boethius Bk. Cron. Scotl. (1858) II. 537 Tha war..So full of wisdome, gentres, and discretioun, With fredome, faith, and greit stabilitie.
1693 J. Owen Disc. Holy Spirit 71 It is hereon that our stability in Believing doth depend.
1785 W. Cowper Task i. 383 His firm stability to what he scorns.
1813 J. Jebb Let. 11 July in J. Jebb & A. Knox Thirty Years' Corr. (1834) II. 142 Whoever truly loves what is stable, will adhere to it with stability of affection.
1856 R. W. Emerson Eng. Traits viii. 143 The stability of England is the security of the modern world. If the English race were as mutable as the French, what reliance?
b. In the Benedictine order (tr. Latin stabilitas): see quots.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > aspects of faith > [noun] > steadfastness > in Benedictine order
stability1516
society > faith > worship > vow > [noun] > monastic
vowc1475
stability1516
the mind > language > speech > agreement > promise > [noun] > vow or oath > religious
avow1330
vowc1475
stability1516
1516 Rule St. Benet lviii. F 6 b Whan she shall be reseyued she must..make a promisse of hir stabilite.
1657 H. P. Cressy Baker's Sancta Sophia I. 187 Let him that is to be receiued to a Religious Profession, promise..1. A constant Stability in that state. 2. A conuersion of his Manners, and 3. Obedience... And as for Stability, it regards both these [2 and 3], adding to them a perseuerance and a continuall progresse in both to the end.
1883 R. F. Littledale in Encycl. Brit. XVI. 704/1 The method adopted [to extirpate irregular and vagrant monks] was the addition of a fourth vow, that of ‘stability’... This fourth vow bound the monk to continuance in his profession, and even to residence for life at the monastery in which he was professed.
Draft additions June 2007
stability ball n. a large inflatable ball used in various fitness exercises, esp. to strengthen the abdominal and back muscles.
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1995 Philadelphia Enquirer 14 Aug. g3/1 On a stability ball the muscles of the trunk rarely get a break; they're constantly working to balance and stabilize your body.
2002 Wall St. Jrnl. 16 Dec. r3/2 The stability ball, in particular, ‘is one of the best pieces of [exercise] equipment out there. You can train your whole body on it, or use it as a chair at your desk. Sitting on a ball requires strength.’
2004 Men's Jrnl. Mar. 39/1 Lie on a stability ball so that your back is supported by the ball.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1915; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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