Variety

Forms: 6 varyete, varietee, -tye, 6–7 -tie, 7– variety. [a. F. variété (= It. varietà, Sp. variedad, Pg. variedade), or ad. L. varietāt-, varietās difference, diversity, etc., f. vari-us VARIOUS a.: see -TY.]

  † 1.  a. Variation or change of fortune. Obs.

a. 1533.  Ld. Berners, Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546), G viij. The players and gesters suffered great varietee in the empyre, according to the diuersitee of emperours.

1617.  Moryson, Itin., II. 114. Our loose wings sometimes beating the rebels … and sometimes being driven by them back to our Colours … and this skirmish continuing with like varietie some three howers.

  † b.  Tendency to change; fickleness; change of purpose or plans. Obs.

a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Hen. VII., 11. Thinkyng surely that they … would neuer consent & longe agree with the Englishmen, accordyng to their olde vaffrous varietie.

1579.  Fenton, Guicciard. (1618), 312. This varietie (if it be possible to find out the truth in so great inconstancie) many attributed to his credulitie and lightnesse of beliefe.

  † c.  Dissension, division. Obs.^–1

1546.  Bale, Eng. Votaries, I. 68. After the decease of King Edgare,… was a wonderfull varyete and scisme through out the whole realme.

  2.  Difference or discrepancy between things or in the same thing at different times.

1552.  Huloet, Varietie in fourme, dissimilitudo.

1580.  Fulke, Martiall Confut., viii. Wks. (Parker Soc.), II. 193. The variety in time that is in the witness of the invention of the Cross.

1604.  E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, III. xix. 180. Many, according to the varietie of their opinions, attribute this to diverse causes.

1629.  H. Burton, Truth’s Tri., 245. The vulgar Latine … hath noted in the margin … in the variety of reading.

1654.  trans. Scudery’s Curia Pol., 165. You cannot … but conclude … that my reasons are valid and strong for the variety of my different Conduct in such great Affairs.

1748.  Anson’s Voy., II. x. 246. This … occasions a very remarkable variety in the manner of equipping the ship for these two different voyages.

1774.  Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), VI. 381. Upon examination, there will be less variety found between them than between birds that live upon land, and those that swim upon the water.

1861.  Paley, Æschylus (ed. 2), Prometh., 591, note. There is the same variety in 601, and the latter reading necessitates the questionable lengthening of α before πρ in 612.

  3.  The fact, quality or condition of being varied; diversity of nature or character; absence of monotony, sameness or uniformity.

1548.  Udall, Erasm. Par. 1 Cor. xii. 34. The diuers placying and vse is not to the member reprochful, but this varietie rather apertayneth to the welth of the whole body.

1561.  trans. Calvin’s Four Godly Serm., iii. G j. Although amonges men, there be soche a varietie & defference of myndes and desyres.

1606.  Shaks., Ant. & Cl., II. ii. 241. Age cannot wither her, nor custome stale Her infinite variety.

1675.  R. Burthogge, Causa Dei, 63. By Representing the variety of Opinions about the thing whereon I now discourse.

1704.  F. Fuller, Med. Gymn. (1711), 3. They do not consider the wonderful Variety of the Disorders of Nature.

1843.  Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., VI. 108/1. The powerfulness, and variety of this splendid instrument.

1856.  Kingsley, Lett. (1878), I. 497. The perpetual variety of work which I have been in.

1860.  Mozley, Univ. Serm., vii. 156. We find ourselves surrounded by the greatest variety of character in the world.

  b.  Without article.

1567.  Maplet, Gr. Forest, 27 b. It is to be maruelled how Dame Nature hath … for varietie sake so manifoldly varied and multiplied y^e kindes of colours either simply died, and stained, or [etc.].

a. 1633.  J. Austin, Medit. (1635), 270. Therefore in Pleasures both Body and Soule desire with fulnesse of Pleasure to have fulnesse of variety.

a. 1680.  Butler, Rem. (1759), I. 15. And she [Nature] affects so much to use Variety, in all she does.

a. 1721.  Prior, Ess & Dial. Dead, Opinion, Wks. 1907, II. 196. We judge of things according to the humour we are in and that very Humour is subject to infinite Variety.

1784.  Cowper, Task, II. 606. Variety’s the very spice of life, That gives it all its flavour.

1826.  Disraeli, V. Grey, V. iv. Variety is the mother of enjoyment.

1859.  Habits of Gd. Society, xi. 312. A sensible man avoids variety in drinking.

1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), V. 14. There is a want of variety in the answers.

  c.  As a literary, musical or artistic quality.

1597.  Morley, Introd. Mus., III. 180. So that you must in your musicke be wauering like the wind, sometime wanton, sometime drooping,… and shew the verie vttermost of your varietie, and the more varietie you shew the better shal you please.

1601.  R. Chester, Love’s Martyr, Title-p., A Poeme enterlaced with much varietie and raritie.

1622.  Peacham, Compl. Gent., x. (1906), 86. Varietie is various, and the rules of it so difficult [etc.]. Ibid. To proceed further, were to translate Virgil himselfe; therefore hitherto of varietie.

1753.  Hogarth, Anal. Beauty, ii. 16. How great a share variety has in producing beauty.

1846.  Ruskin, Mod. Paint., I. II. ii. § 8. Variety is never so conspicuous, as when it is united with symmetry.

1870.  Swinburne, Ess. & Stud. (1875), 61. Variety is a rare and high quality, but poets of the first order have had little or none of it.

  d.  pl. A series or succession of different forms, conditions, etc.; variations.

1604.  E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, II. viii. 100. We see great varieties in the yeere, which proceeds from the divers motions and aspects of Planets.

1668.  Cowley, Ess., Agric., Virg. Georg., 40. What makes the Sea retreat, and what advance: Varieties too regular for chance.

1748.  Anson’s Voy., II. v. 180. I must … make a short digression on the heat and cold of different climates, and on the varieties which occur in the same place in different parts of the year.

1794.  G. Adams, Nat. & Exp. Philos., IV. xliv. 406. The great distance of … Saturn … [does] not permit us to distinguish the varieties of its surface.

1805.  Foster, Ess., I. i. The varieties through which life has passed.

1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., ii. I. 167. He had passed through all varieties of fortune, and had seen both sides of human nature.

  † 4.  The fact or quality of being varied in color; variegation. Obs. rare.

1555.  Eden, Decades (Arb.), 67. Hauyng theyr fethers entermengled with greene, yelowe, and purple, whiche varietie deliteth the sense not a litle.

1609.  Bible (Douay), Exod. xxvi. 31. Twisted silke, wrought with imbrodered worke and goodlie varietie. Ibid., Ezek. xvii. 3. A great eagle with great winges … ful of feathers, and of varietie, came to Libanus.

  5.  Used as a collective to denote a number of things, qualities, etc., different or distinct in character; a varied assemblage, number or quantity of something.

  In some instances hardly distinguishable from sense 3.

  a.  With the.

1553.  T. Wilson, Rhet. (1580), 30. I might heape together the varietie of pleasures, which come by travaile.

1623.  Heminge & Condell, in 1st Folio Shaks., A 3 heading. To the great Variety of Readers.

1634.  Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 186. Behold the varietie of temporary blessings.

1798.  S. & Ht. Lee, Canterb. T., II. 164. The variety of simple scenes … made him delight to linger in Switzerland.

1851.  Carpenter, Man. Phys. (ed. 2), 579. The variety of movements of which the hand of Man is capable.

  b.  Without article. ? Obs.

1575.  Fenton (title), Golden Epistles, contayning varietie of discourse, both morall, philosophicall, and divine, gathered as well out of the remainder of Guevaraes workes, and other authors.

1602.  Warner, Alb. Eng., XI. lxv. 278. Varietie of Men to court a Woman is her pride.

1680.  Morden, Geog. Rect., England (1685), 21. Bravely furnished with Variety of pleasant Orchards and Gardens.

c. 1791.  Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), VIII. 541/1. Hindostan affords variety of beasts for carriage, as camels, dromedaries [etc.].

  c.  With a, that, etc.

1708.  Sewel, II. s.v. Verschiet, There is no variety of goods; There’s no choice to be had.

1728.  Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Vein, In digging…, they meet with a variety of Veins.

1774.  Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), VIII. 197. He thus perceived a variety of kinds, almost equal to that variety of productions, which these little animals are seen to form.

1780.  Mirror, No. 77. From this circumstance … a variety of remarks might be made.

1863.  P. Barry, Dockyard Econ., 262. In consequence of the quality of the work executed, Messrs. Maudslay … have performed a great variety of smaller operations.

1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 240. Like Proteus, he transforms himself into a variety of shapes.

1891.  Farrar, Darkn. & Dawn, xv. To Nero … every man was sluggish and plebeian who did not care to season his recreation with a variety of vices.

  d.  With a plural verb.

1718.  Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett. to C’tess Bristol, 10 April. For twenty miles together … the most beautiful variety of prospects present themselves.

1780.  Bentham, Princ. Legisl., xix. § 24. Now of the infinite variety of nations there are upon earth, there are no two which agree exactly in their laws.

1849–50.  Alison, Hist. Europe, X. lxv. § 74. 69. A variety of false attacks were immediately directed … against the ramparts.

1887.  Science, X. 115. A variety of hooks were used for different kinds of fish and according to the time of day.

  6.  A different form of some thing, quality, or condition; something that differs or varies from others of the same class or kind; a kind or sort.

  Also without of: see (b).

  (a)  1617.  J. Taylor (Water P.), Observ. & Trav. Lond. to Hamburgh, Wks. (1630), 81/2. They haue strange torments and varieties of deaths, according to the various nature of the offences that are committed.

1639.  S. Du Verger, trans. Camus’ Admir. Events, To Rdr. a vij. Some good soules … will be glad to finde profitable admonitions … with varieties of pleasures fitting their humour.

1784.  Cowper, Tiroc., 475. The spirit of that competition burns with all varieties of ill by turns.

1852.  H. Rogers, Ecl. Faith (1853), 118. The distinction between the certain and the probable is felt to be too important not to be marked by corresponding varieties of speech.

1860.  Mozley, Univ. Serm., vii. (1877), 156. Even the varieties of good character are almost infinite.

1873.  Hamerton, Intell. Life, I. iv. 22. The two lads represent two distinct varieties of human life.

  (b)  1643.  Denham, Cooper’s H., 198. Nature, whether more intent to please Us or her self, with strange varieties,… Wisely she knew the harmony of things.

1671.  Grew, Anat. Pl., Introd. 3. For beholding the Many and Elegant Varieties, wherewith a Field or Garden is adorned.

1779.  Mirror, No. 8. A good plain Mirror, intended to represent things just as they are, but with properties and varieties not to be met with in common glass.

1825.  Carlyle, Schiller, II. 77. The task of composing dramatic varieties, of training players,… could not wholly occupy such a mind as his.

  b.  Bot. and Biol. A plant or animal differing from those of the species to which it belongs in some minor but permanent or transmissible particular; a group of such individuals constituting a sub-species or other subdivision of a species; also, a plant or animal that varies in some trivial respect from its immediate parent or type.

1629.  Parkinson, Parad., xxvi. 215. Many more sorts of varieties of these kindes there are, but these onely … are noursed vp in Florists Gardens for pleasure.

1721.  Mortimer, Husb. (ed. 2), II. 217. To make Varieties of them, the Seeds of the best single ones … are to be sown in September.

1721.  Bradley, Philos. Acc. Wks. Nat., 145. The Lady Cow, which has likewise its Varieties beautifully spotted with the gayest Colours.

1780.  Encycl. Brit. (ed. 2), VI. 4651/2. Tritæophya leipyria is only a variety of the tritæophya causus.

1832.  Lander, Exp. Niger, II. viii. 10. Another variety of corn grows here, which has eight ears on a single stem.

1845.  Florist’s Jrnl. (1846), VI. 206. For 12 old varieties in the nurserymen’s class.

1859.  Darwin, Orig. Spec., i. 7. When we look to the individuals of the same variety or sub-variety of our older cultivated plants and animals.

1870.  Yeats, Nat. Hist. Comm., 6. A worker in wood will tell, from the texture and grain, not merely the species but the variety of tree.

  attrib.  1890.  Science-Gossip, XXVI. 42. And what shall we say to some of our Latinised variety-names?

  c.  So in the classification of inorganic substances or of diseases.

  (a)  1753.  Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl. s.v., The naturalists of former ages have run into great errors, in mistaking the accidental varieties of plants, animals, and minerals for distinct species.

1757.  Da Costa, Fossils, 134. The sand-stone,… exhibited by Woodward,… is only a variety of this kind.

1839.  Ure, Dict. Arts, 619. Verona green is merely a variety of the mineral called green earth.

1855.  J. Phillips, Man. Geol., 204. The coal is partly ‘splint,’… partly of the ‘cannel’ or ‘parrot’ variety.

  (b)  1806.  Med. Jrnl., XV. 5. It is an inflammatory affection, but destitute of redness;… the name of phlegmasia alba, or white inflammation, will therefore sufficiently characterize this variety of it.

1876.  Bristowe, Th. & Pract. Med. (1878), 414. The various forms of intercurrent or secondary pneumonia, and … the lobular variety of the disease.

  † 7.  pl. Articles of various kinds; odds and ends.

1624.  in Foster, Eng. Factories Ind. (1909), III. 28. Whatsoever goods or varietyes be brought in by the English.

  8.  ellipt. Variety performances. (See 9 b.)

1908.  Stage Year Bk., 26. Some provincial theatres have gone over entirely to variety.

  9.  attrib. a. Variety shop or store, one in which small goods of various kinds are sold; a general store. U.S.

1824.  A. Singleton (H. C. Knight), Lett. fr. South & W., 84. One indication of a new country is that the shops are variety-shops; each one keeping piece-goods, groceries, cutlery, porcelain, and stationary [sic] in different corners.

1829.  in Thornton, Amer. Gloss. [The collected trumpery] gives the Mayor’s office the appearance of a ‘variety store.’

1842.  Mrs. Kirkland, Forest Life, I. 149. A ‘variety store,’ offering for sale every possible article of merchandize, from lace gloves to goose-yokes [etc.].

1884.  Harper’s Mag., Nov., 888/1. One of them walked gauntly down to the post-office in the corner of the variety store.

  b.  Used to designate music-hall or theatrical entertainments of a mixed character (songs, dances, impersonations, etc.). Also applied to things or persons connected with such entertainments.

1886.  Referee, 25 March (Cassell’s). The biggest variety company ever seen at the East-end of London.

1891.  Chambers’s Jrnl., 14 March, 165/1. Music halls, or, to give them the more recent and appropriate term, variety shows, are quite modern institutions.

1892.  Daily News, 25 March, 2/2. The high salaries paid to variety artists.

1894.  ‘Max O’Rell, John Bull & Co., 200. A succession of songs and dances in costume, commonly called Variety Shows.

1908.  Stage Year Bk., 26. They are now an integral part of variety performances. Ibid. Theatres need the latter [licence] for the variety weeks and even extended variety seasons.