adoptionn.
/əˈdɒpʃn/, U.S. /əˈdɑpʃ(ə)n/ 1.
a. The action or practice of legally or informally taking a person into any relationship; esp. the taking of a minor who is not one's offspring into the legal relationship of child. Also: an act or instance of this.figurative in quot. 1645.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > [noun] > adoptive or foster relationship > adoption
adoption1340
arrogation1565
affiliation1623
whangai1948
third party adoption1965
open adoption1973
closed adoption1977
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 101 Adopcioun zuo is a word of laȝe, uor by þe laȝes of þe emperurs, huanne an heȝ man ne heþ no child, ha may chiese þet child of a guod man, yef he wyle, and maki him his zone be adopcioun.
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1874) V. 213 (MED) Pelagius..seide þat it nedeþ nouȝt to cristene children for to clense hem of synne, but for to worshippe hem wiþ þe sacrament of adopcioun [L. ut sacramento adoptionis honorentur].
a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) vii. l. 827 (MED) To occupie thempire, he began..Cleymyng a title bi oon Licynyan That was his sone bi adopcioun.
?1483 W. Caxton tr. Caton i. sig. aiiij The second [kind of cousin] is legale, the whiche cause is by adopcyon.
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection i. sig. Biv Admitted as chyldren by adopcion or choyse.
1581 J. Marbeck Bk. Notes & Common Places 15 The Lawiers..define Adoption to be a legitimate act imitating nature, found out for their solace and comfort, which haue no children.
1603 W. Shakespeare Hamlet i. iii. 62 Those friends thou hast, and their adoptions tried, Graple them to thee with a hoope of steele.
1645 J. Cleveland Char. London Diurnall 6 As Chickens are hatcht at Grand Cairo, by the Adoption of an Oven.
a1684 R. Leighton Pract. Comm. 1st Epist. Peter (1693) I. 42 This our Adoption is not a meer extrinsecal denomination, as is adoption amongst Men.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Afiliation Among the antient Gauls, Afiliation was a sort of Adoption only practis'd among the Great.
1755 Bp. T. Sherlock Disc. I. viii. 230 The Spirit itself, that is the Spirit of Adoption, which Christians receive, is one Witness.
1837 N. Hawthorne Gentle Boy in Twice-told Tales 109 Within a week after his adoption of Ilbrahim, he had been both hissed and hooted.
1875 H. E. Manning Internal Mission of Holy Ghost i. 18 We are made sons of God by adoption.
1907 F. W. Hodge Handbk. Amer. Indians I. 15/2 The political adoption of the Tuscarora by the Five Nations.
2004 Company Mar. 53/3 Although my dad wanted me to give the baby up for adoption, Mum insisted I keep it.
b. The fact of being adopted in this manner; the state or condition of being adopted.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > [noun] > adoptive or foster relationship
adoptionc1384
milk-tie1870
milk kinship1885
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Rom. viii. 23 We vs silf sorwen with ynne vs the adopcioun of Goddis sones, that is..the staat of Goddis sones bi grace [Tyndale adopcion, Great adopcyon, Geneva, Rheims, King James adoption; L. adoptionem].
c1450 J. Capgrave Life St. Katherine (Arun. 396) (1893) iv. l. 2034 (MED) This is a gret distynccyon..Of nature and adopcyon..Adopcyon, we seye, is but as a gest.
a1513 R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) I. ccxxxiii. f. clvv The Kynge shuld take hym for his sone of adopcion and ryghtefull Heyre.
1589 J. Melville Spirituall Propine 27 I thanke thee for his glorious resurrection, and ascension to heauen, and sitting at thy right hand, powring down the haly Spirite according to his promise, vpon me his childe of adoption.
1606 A. Wotton Def. M. Perkins Bk. iv. 159 Wee are the children of God, and shall continue so, receiuing at the last the inheritance of sonnes, because of our adoption.
1656 J. Ellistone & J. Sparrow tr. J. Böhme Mysterium Magnum (new ed.) xl. 274 The inherited adoption or childship.
a1711 R. Duke Fifteen Serm. (1714) ii. 54 Let us thus secure Our Title and Adoption by bearing as near a similitude as is possible to this Our Elder Brother.
?1791 W. Taplin Gentleman's Stable Directory II. 66 Attempts [were] made to render the abandoned orphan a son of adoption with different mares in rotation.
1828 C. Lamb Child Angel in Elia 2nd Ser. 160 It could not taste of death, by reason of its adoption into immortal palaces.
1855 A. J. Evans Inez iii. 25 Uncle! uncle! am I not your child by adoption? Have you not loved and cared for me during long years?
1904 H. Kirke From Gun Room to Throne iii. 67 D'Auvergne cajoled the old Duke and obtained adoption as his heir.
1940 J. Arthur Blue Jeans ii. 51 We got no special claim, 'cept by adoption.
2002 fRoots July 47/3 His passionate support for the rights of native Australians saw his adoption into the Maiali language group who live in the country's Northern Territory.
c. British. The assumption by a local authority of responsibility for the maintenance of a road. Cf. adopt v. 2e.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > taking > [noun] > taking over
adoption1825
takeover1910
1825 Law Jrnl. 3 92/2 It further appeared that there had not been any express adoption of this road by the parish, nor had the commissioners of the highways at all recognized it as a public highway.
1890 Act 53 & 54 Vict. c. 59 §41 Adoption of private streets... The urban authority..may..declare the whole of such street or part of a street to be a highway repairable by the inhabitants at large.
1922 J. J. Clarke Local Govt. of U.K. 151 The Private Street Works Act, 1892, facilitates the method of adoption of private streets.
1999 Sentinel (Stoke-on-Trent) (Nexis) 2 Jan. 1 A further £750,000 would have to be spent to improve it to standard for adoption as a public highway.
d. The action or practice of acquiring a domestic animal, esp. a stray or rescued one, and providing it with a permanent home.
ΚΠ
1878 Anti-vivisectionist 14 Dec. 291 M. Scholl proposes to institute the legal adoption of dogs. He says, ‘Give the animal which we love a legal and inviolable place at the domestic hearth.’
1932 Daily Messenger (Canandaigua, N.Y.) 16 July 4/2 The report of the New York S.P.C.A...related that while 225,410 cats were destroyed in the last 10 months, not one request for adoption of a cat was received.
1948 Billboard 8 May 66/3 Lexington town-folk apparently regarded the show as an animal shelter, judging from the number of puppies and kittens left on the lot for adoption.
1992 N.Y. Times 27 Dec. i. 20/1 Every year, thousands of wild horses and burros are captured on public rangelands and put up for ‘adoption’... Anyone with a pen of 400 square feet can buy one of these wild animals.
2003 J. Katz New Work of Dogs iii. 73 The fosterers took them in, named them, loved them... Their mission was to ready the dogs for adoption.
2.
a. The action or an act of taking something up or embracing it as one's own; choosing something for one's use or practice.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > taking > taking possession > [noun] > adopting as one's own
adoption?1510
adopting1577
the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > use (made of things) > [noun] > taking into use
adoption?1510
usurpation1583
?1510 T. More tr. G. Pico della Mirandola in tr. G. F. Pico della Mirandola Lyfe I. Picus sig. d.vi Axe..what ende they haue appointed them selfe in the adoption wherof they shuld be happy.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) ii. ii. 284 I shall..stand vnder the adoption of abhominable termes. View more context for this quotation
1682 in R. Burthogge Argument Infants Baptisme (1684) i. 31 Adoption of it [sc. circumcision] into the Law was in Confirmation of the Promise.
1769 E. Burke Observ. Late State Nation 55 They may add to the public calamity of their own measures, the adoption of his projects.
1791 H. More Estimate Relig. Fashionable World 133 A christian life seems to consist of two things..the adoption of good habits, and the excision of such as are evil.
1821 W. M. Craig Lect. Drawing vi. 347 I cannot, therefore, recommend this mode of miniature painting to your adoption.
1878 J. R. Seeley Life & Times Stein III. 550 The country of his own adoption.
1915 A. Marshall Explosives 322 The first satisfactory solution of the problem was the adoption of picric acid by France.
1968 Brit. Jrnl. Psychiatry 114 674/1 Freud..by his adoption of the term agoraphobia, emphasized the experience of anxiety.
2002 Computer Music Jan. 73/1 Clubland has remained somewhat static when it comes to the adoption of new technology.
b. Linguistics. The assimilation of a word or phrase from one language into another without (substantially) altering its form; borrowing; (also) an instance of this.
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1650 J. Howell Cotgrave's French-Eng. Dict. (rev. ed.) Ep. Ded. sig. a4v The language growes every day more copious and rich by this adoption of the choisest and best significant words.
1765 H. Fuseli tr. J. J. Winckelmann Refl. on Painting & Sculpt. Greeks 140 The adoption of a Greek word becomes yet easier.
1792 R. Nares Gen. Rules Pronunc. Eng. Lang. i. iii. 26 The prevalence of this improper sound is chiefly owing to the adoption of words from French and Italian.
1841 I. D'Israeli Amenities Lit. II. 243 He would allow of no words but such as were true English, or of Saxon original; admitting of no adoption of any foreign word into the English language.
1888 H. A. Strong tr. H. Paul Princ. Hist. Lang. xxii. 460 Of course the first and foremost of the causes for the adoption of foreign words into the mother tongue is the need felt for them.
1921 H. L. Mencken Amer. Lang. (ed. 2) 398 The chief mark of the dialect is its very extensive adoption of English loan words.
1964 Transition No. 13. 7/1 It is precisely this free adoption of words from foreign languages that has made English such a rich language.
1992 Atlantic Sept. 124/3 Around the early nineteenth century a renewed literary interest in Old Norse folklore and language led to the adoption into English of berserker, ‘a frenzied, savage person’.
c. With reference to a word, practice, method, etc.: the fact of being taken up and accepted; the state or condition of being adopted.
ΚΠ
1652 T. Urquhart Εκσκυβαλαυρον 13 As for the Latin, it oweth all its Scientifick dictions to the Greek and Arabick: yet did the Roman Conquest give adoption to many Latin words, in both these languages, especially in matters of military discipline, and prudential Law.
1731 N. Tindal tr. P. Rapin de Thoyras Hist. Eng. XV. 250 Abdication (continued he) no doubt is, by Adoption, an English Word.
1755 S. Johnson Dict. Eng. Lang. Pref. Which [words]..must depend for their adoption on the suffrage of futurity.
1805 S. J. Pratt Hail Fellow! Well Met! v. vi. 218 His new-fangled system has deprived him of every comfort he enjoyed before its adoption.
1879 in Cassell's Techn. Educator IV. 10/2 The great advantages of their adoption in all great metropolitan centres.
1933 L. Bloomfield Lang. xxv. 450 The borrowed form is subject to the phonetic changes that occur after its adoption.
2001 Constr. News 20 Sept. 53/3 (advt.) Tendering online—e-tendering—is gaining wider adoption as clients and contractors alike realise the benefits simply in document production and distribution.
3. The formal acceptance or approval of a report, proposal, resolution, etc.; ratification. Cf. adopt v. 8.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > approval or sanction > [noun] > of accounts or reports
adoption1796
1796 Parl. Reg. 1781–96 XLIV. 603 The Chairman of the Committee of ways and means brought up a report for the adoption of the House.
1840 Eclectic Rev. Mar. 357 The appeal we have made to parliament has been met by resistance and reproach, and it were folly to expect the administration of the day to urge its adoption any further.
1881 Evening News 26 July 3/6 The chairman in moving the adoption of the report said it was with great satisfaction that he informed the shareholders of the favourable traffic receipts of 1880.
1914 A. C. McLaughlin & A. B. Hart Cycl. Amer. Govt. I. 419/1 The court in that case held that the President had nothing to do with the proposing or adoption of amendments.
1973 I. M. Sinclair Vienna Convent. Law of Treaties ii. 32 Historically, the adoption of the text of a treaty took place by the agreement of all the States participating in the negotiations.
2008 East Grinstead Courier (Nexis) 20 Nov. 12 As far as Felbridge is concerned the adoption of this document has come far too late for the village.
Compounds
General attributive (in sense 1a, sometimes also sense 1d).
adoption agency n.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > [noun] > adoptive or foster relationship > adoption > agency which specializes in
adoption agency1919
1880 Funny Folks 1 May 138/2 Why does not some benevolent or speculative individual start an ‘Anglo-French Child-Adoption Agency’?]
1919 Proc. Ann. Congr. Amer. Prison Assoc. 408 Institutions..are not supposed..to be either employment bureaus for household drudges or wholesale adoption agencies.
1997 Irish Times (Nexis) 22 May 15 Birth mothers sometimes gave adoption agencies false information either to protect themselves or to conceal the identities of the fathers of their children.
adoption centre n.
ΚΠ
1939 Newark (Ohio) Advocate 15 Mar. 8/1 (caption) Cradle-shaped sign, above, hangs at entrance to Evanston's famous adoption center.
1975 Texas Monthly Oct. 131/2 It is really a canine prison and the bank has historically resisted any effort to improve conditions or make it a more active adoption center.
2005 A. Solomos Veiled Arches xx. 53 At the end of the three months, her parents would not wait another day, and had people at the adoption centre bring the papers to sign.
adoption counsellor n.
ΚΠ
1958 Michiganensian 62 97 Proud new parents receive advice from an adoption counselor, a service offered by the school.
1992 ABA Jrnl. Mar. 87/3 Staff members screen all potential adopters after they have selected a pet. The adoption counselor's role in that process..is to alert the screeners to any signs of trouble.
2008 Belfast Tel. (Nexis) 23 Oct. 34 Adoption counsellor Rose Dagoo, from the Post Adoption Centre, says adopted children are particularly sensitive to losing a parent.
adoption law n.
ΚΠ
1874 10th Ann. Rep. Board State Charities Mass. 253 Since the amendatory Act of 1872 completely changed the adoption law, the work of the Agency in reference to the adoption of children has been only nominal.
1953 Internat. & Compar. Law Q. 2 390 It might well be advocated that there should be reciprocal agreement about adoption law in countries with similar principles and welfare and education facilities.
2003 Advocate 10 June 39/1 In recent years three states—California, Connecticut, and Vermont—have passed pro-gay adoption laws.
adoption lawyer n.
ΚΠ
1954 N.Y. Times 11 June 32 (heading) Adoption lawyer punished.
2002 Law & Social Inq. 27 814 An adoption lawyer in Peru stated..that ‘he has routinely bribed officials.’
adoption order n.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > [noun] > adoptive or foster relationship > adoption > order which authorizes
adoption order1889
1889 Freeman's Jrnl. (Dublin) 15 June 6/7 The adoption order is not to confer upon the adopted child any of the incidents of blood relationship..towards the foster parent.
1926 Law Times 6 Mar. 194/1 If an application for an adoption order is made by spouses they must both be parties to it.
1993 Guardian 6 Sept. ii. 10/2 The number of birthmothers who have changed their minds and tried to get the adoption order revoked is unknown.
adoption paper n.
ΚΠ
1853 N.Y. Herald 29 Mar. 2 I opened it [sc. the package], and to our surprise found in it adoption papers, regularly and legally executed, making me equal with his other children.
1956 Harvard Law Rev. 69 792 The executor's staff began a search of the entire probate records of Massachusetts in an effort to learn whether a name on an adoption paper was that of a real person, or a pseudonym of Mrs. Greer.
2005 A. Bruce Cat be Good iii. 24 In some cases, the adoption papers of these cats carry a statement such as ‘not suitable for homes with children under the age of four.’
adoption record n.
ΚΠ
1889 San Francisco Chron. 24 Aug. 5 (heading) Flo's adoption record thrown out.
1935 Social Service Rev. 9 289 The adoption records are open to inspection.
2000 Native Peoples No. 5. 61/1 She legally had her adoption records opened under the Indian Child Welfare Act, and from her birth certificate, knew the name of her birth mother.
adoption registry n.
ΚΠ
1927 Social Service Rev. 1 248 The word ‘adopted’ will be added to the birth record and the date of birth to the adoption registry.
2011 Chicago Daily Herald (Nexis) 22 May 18 Illinois keeps an adoption registry where both adoptees and adoptive parents can register to be matched later on with each other.
adoption society n.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > [noun] > adoptive or foster relationship > adoption > society which specializes in
adoption society1918
1916 Victoria (Texas) Daily Advocate 19 July Jack's mother was the leader of the Orphan's Adoption Society.]
1918 8th Biennial Rep. State Board Charities & Corrections Calif. 1916–18 27 The mere fact that a child has been presented to an institution, or an adoption society..is all too often accepted as proof that he is in need of that particular type of care.
2002 N. Pfeffer in K. W. M. Fulford et al. Healthcare Ethics & Human Values xxxii. 207/2 She would fail the criteria of suitable motherhood set by an adoption society.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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