I. Separately, independently.
1. In a manner detached from other things; without the existence or presence of anything else; separately, independently.
1532. More, Confut. Tindale, Wks. 1557, 450/2. Yf he speke of hym absolutly, without mencion of any speache before hadde wyth hym.
1603. Holland, Plutarch’s Mor., 67. Of all things then that be in the world, some have their essence and being of themselves absolutely and simply.
1618. Bp. Hall, Serm., v. 121. Nothing is, nothing lives absolutely, but he; all other things, by participation from him.
1736. Butler, Anal. (1807), Introd. 3. It cannot but be discerned absolutely as it is in itself.
1877. E. Conder, Bas. Faith, iv. 146. We may say that God exists absolutely, or is the Absolute Being, if we are careful to explain that we oppose ‘absolute’ to ‘dependent.’ God alone has being in Himself. But ‘absolute existence,’ if we do not explain what kind of existence we are speaking of, is a phrase absolutely without meaning.
† 2. Essentially. Obs.
1661. Bramhall, Just. Vind., ii. 9. If one part of the Universall Church do separate itself from another part, not absolutely, or in Essentials, but respectively.
3. With unrestricted or unlimited ownership or authority; despotically.
1612. Drayton, Poly-olbion, v. 75. Now Sabrine, as a Queene, miraculouslie faire Is absolutelie plac’t in her Emperiall Chaire.
1660. Trial of the Reg., 11. It is one … thing to have an Imperial Crown and another thing to govern absolutely.
1875. Maine, Hist. Inst., IX. 254. The spear [was] the symbol of property held absolutely and against the world.
4. Without the addition of any qualification, logical or grammatical. Gram. Without the usual construction, as when an adjective is used without a substantive, or a transitive verb without an object expressed.
1656. trans. Hobbes’s Elem. Phil. (1839), 113. As magnitude is by philosophers taken absolutely for extension, so also velocity or swiftness may be put absolutely for motion according to length.
1668. Culpeper & Cole, trans. Bartholinus’ Anat., II. Introd. 85. The middle Venter or Belly termed Thorax the Chest, and by some absolutely Venter.
1766. Boswell, Johnson (1816), II. 21. You seem to use genus absolutely, for what we call family.
Mod. In ‘the public are informed,’ ‘the young are invited,’ public and young are adjectives used absolutely.
5. Viewed by itself, without reference to, or comparison with, others. Opposed to comparatively or relatively.
1635. N. Carpenter, Geog. Del., I. v. 117. The Globe of the Earth may bee considered either Absolutely in it selfe, or Comparatively in respect of the Heauenly Bodyes.
1651. Baxter, Inf. Bapt., 11. Though none be small absolutely, yet many are very small in comparison of greater.
1874. Motley, Barneveld, I. i. 8. Somewhat larger resources absolutely, though not relatively, than the Seven Provinces.
II. Without doubt or condition.
† 6. Certainly, positively. Obs.
1489. Caxton, Fayt of Armes, IV. x. 257. Noon oughte to swere absolutly for a thinge but that by his owne eyen he be sure and certeyn that it is soo.
1612. Brinsley, Lud. Lit. (1627), xxi. 249. This helpes memory … to have the text most absolutely.
7. Without condition or limitation; unconditionally, unreservedly.
1644. Quarles, Judgm. & Mercy, 276. Though life be not absolutely granted, yet death is but conditionally threatened.
1724. A. Collins, Gr. Chr. Relig., 69. Tho’ absolutely speaking, the promise of the Messias might be fulfilled without it, yet hypothetically it could not.
1876. Grote, Eth. Frag., 162. Absolutely—not under limitation.
8. Actually, positively, as a simple fact. (Qualifying the truth of the statement rather than the fact stated.)
1851. Helps, Friends in C., I. 3. He was absolutely endeavouring to invent some new method for proving something that had been proved before in a hundred ways.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exped. (1856), xlvii. 432. Three young ladies of the half-breed, absolutely with frocks on.
1863. Kemble, Resid. Georgia, 59. She absolutely embraced him.
III. Of manner and degree: Completely, perfectly.
9. In a way that clears off everything; conclusively, finally, completely, unreservedly.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., IV. i. 164. To heare, and absolutely to determine. Ibid. (1603), Meas. for M., IV. ii. 225. This shall absolutely resolue you.
1656. Bramhall, Replic., v. 194. They refused absolutely to submit.
1667. Milton, P. L., IX. 1159. Why didst not thou, the head, Command me absolutely not.
1758. S. Hayward, Serm., v. 141. Many absolutely deny Deity to the Son.
1817. Jas. Mill, Brit. India, II. V. iv. 448. Absolutely to strip them of their dominions.
† 10. Perfectly; in the most excellent manner. Obs.
1601. Holland, Pliny (1634), I. 222. Most elegantly and absolutely described by the Poet Virgill.
11. To the fullest extent, in the highest or utmost degree; entirely, wholly, altogether, quite.
1570. Dee, Math. Praef. That they may be very absolutely skillfull.
1602. Warner, Albion’s Eng., Epit. 390 (1612). A Prince absolutely valorous and vertuous.
1635. N. Carpenter, Geog. Delin., I. ii. 37. The earth is not absolutely and geometrically round.
1676. Earl Orrery, Parth., 24. Which I have now as absolutely forgotten.
a. 1704. T. Brown, 1st Sat. Persius (1730), I. 52. Surely, Jack, thou’rt absolutely mad.
1790. Burke, Fr. Rev., Wks. V. 117. Rendering our whole government absolutely illegitimate.
1820. Scott, Monast., ii. 409. The glen … was not absolutely void of beauty.
1834. Miss Mitford, in L’Estrange’s Life, III. ii. 14. My going to town to spend money is absolutely out of the question.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., III. 55. It was absolutely necessary that he should quit London.
1860. Tyndall, Glaciers, I. § 10. 66. Escape seemed absolutely impossible.
1862. Stanley, Jewish Ch. (1877), I. vii. 131. He was to come absolutely alone.
b. with a sb. In the strictest sense.
1649. Milton, Eikonokl., 145. To be absolutely a tyrant.
1879. Davidson, in Cassell’s Tech. Educ., I. 163. Not professors in name only, but absolutely professional men of the highest position.
c. emphasizing no, nothing.
1726. Butler, Serm. Rolls Chap., II. 43. There is absolutely no bound at all to prophaneness.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 195. A man who had absolutely no claim to high place except that he was a Papist.
1865. Mill, Liberty, iii. 33/2. That people should do absolutely nothing but copy one another.
1876. Freeman, Norm. Conq., I. iii. 106. The King could do absolutely nothing without the consent of his Wise Men.
1878. Huxley, Physiogr., 40. You would see absolutely nothing in the space above the boiling water.
