composition
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌkɒmpəˈzɪʃən/
Forms: form: compositions
Etymology: From Middle English composicioun, borrowed from Old French composicion, from Latin compositiō, compositiōnem.
Senses: glosses: The act of putting together; assembly.
examples: text: Ste. What do'st thou know me for?
Kent. A Knave, a Rascall, [...] one that would'st be a Baud in way of good service, and art nothing but the composition of a Kave, Begger, Coward, Pandar, and the Sonne and Heire of a Mungrill Bitch, one whom I will beate in to clamours whining, if thou deny'st the least sillable of thy addition.
ref: c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], page 291, column 2:
glosses: A mixture or compound; the result of composing.
examples: text: And as for the perfume which thou shalt make, ye shall not make to yourselves according to the composition thereof: it shall be unto thee holy for the Lord.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 30:37:
glosses: The proportion of different parts to make a whole.
examples: text: John of Gaunt. O how that name befits my composition!
Old Gaunt indeed, and gaunt in being old:
Within me grief hath kept a tedious fast;
And who abstains from meat that is not gaunt?
ref: 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene 1]:
text: It seemed that the milk of human kindness had not been left out of his composition.
ref: 1932, Frank Richards, The Magnet - Bunter's Night Out:
text: Discussion acknowledged the Network's difficulty in transforming its mostly white composition into a more multi-racial organization.
ref: 1982 December 4, Sharon Page, “R2N2 Conference: Revitalizing the Movement”, in Gay Community News, volume 10, number 20, page 3:
glosses: The general makeup of a thing or person.
examples: text: It will stoope and yeeld upon better compositions to him that shall make head against it.
ref: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 40, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
text: If the Duke, with the other dukes, come not to composition with the king of Hungary, why then all the dukes fall upon the king.
ref: c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], lines 1-3:
text: That now
Sweno, the Norways’ king, craves composition:
Nor would we deign him burial of his men
Till he disbursed at Saint Colme’s inch
Ten thousand dollars to our general use.
ref: c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
text: with an incredible courage they advanced to the push of the Pike with the defendants, that with the like courage repulsed[…], that the Turks retired and fled into the Castle, from whence by a flag of truce they desired composition.
ref: 1630, John Smith, True travels, Kupperman, published 1988, page 50:
text: […] the Britons, by rendering the war thus bloody, seemed determined to cut off all hopes of peace or composition with the enemy.
ref: 1754, David Hume, The History of England, volume I, London: T. Cadell, published 1773, page 8:
glosses: An agreement or treaty used to settle differences; later especially, an agreement to stop hostilities; a truce.
examples: text: He hath perverted a young gentlewoman here in Florence, of a most chaste renown; and this night he fleshes his will in the spoil of her honour: he hath given her his monumental ring, and thinks himself made in the unchaste composition.
ref: c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:
text: That all and every person and persons already convicted or prosecuted in order to conviction of recusancy […] shall be thenceforth exempted and discharged from all the penalties, seizures, forfeitures, judgments, and executions, incurred by force of any of the aforesaid Statutes, without any composition, fee, or further charge whatsoever.
ref: 1688, Parliament of England, Toleration Act 1688, section 3:
text: Insidious death! should his strong hand arrest,
 No composition sets the prisoner free.
ref: 1742, [Edward Young], “Night the”, in The Complaint, London: […] , →OCLC:
glosses: A payment of money in order to clear a liability or obligation; a settling or fine.
topics: law
glosses: A payment of money in order to clear a liability or obligation; a settling or fine.
A payment of fine in order to settle a (usually minor) criminal charge.
topics: law
glosses: an agreement or compromise by which a creditor or group of creditors accepts partial payment from a debtor.
glosses: An essay.
topics: human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
glosses: The formation of compound words from separate words.
examples: text: […] and how good Mrs. West could have written such books and collected so many hard words, with all her family cares, is still more a matter of astonishment. Composition seems to me impossible with a head full of joints of mutton and doses of rhubarb.
ref: 1818, Jane Austen, A letter dated 8 September 1818
glosses: A work of music, literature or art.
topics: media
printing
publishing
glosses: Typesetting.
topics: mathematics
sciences
glosses: Applying a function to the result of another.
topics: natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: The compounding of two velocities or forces into a single equivalent velocity or force.
examples: text: There is no composition in these news
That gives them credit.
ref: c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
glosses: Consistency; accord; congruity.
examples: text: The investigation of difficult things by the method of analysis ought ever to precede the method of composition.
ref: 1704, I[saac] N[ewton], “(please specify |book=1 to 3)”, in Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. […], London: […] Sam[uel] Smith, and Benj[amin] Walford, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC:
glosses: Synthesis as opposed to analysis.
topics: arts
hobbies
lifestyle
photography
qualifier: painting
glosses: The arrangement and flow of elements in a picture.
qualifier: object-oriented programming
glosses: Way to combine simple objects or data types into more complex ones.
Synonyms: sense: general makeup of a thing or person
word: configuration
word: constitution
sense: mixture or compound
word: composite
word: blend
word: melange
word: mixture
word: arrangement
word: composition
word: form
word: makeup
word: structure
Hyponyms: word: form factor
word: musical composition
word: organization
word: physique
word: system
Meronyms: word: part
Derived terms: chemical composition
cocomposition
composition algebra
composition book
composition notebook
composition cloth
composition fee
composition metal
composition of a felony
composition over inheritance
decomposition
ecocomposition
fallacy of composition
letter of composition
macrocomposition
nanocomposition
paracomposition
photocomposition
precomposition
pyrotechnic composition
recomposition
subcomposition
vinyl composition tile
Related terms: compose
composer
composing
composite
compositing
compositional
compositionism
compositionist
compositor