[f. prec. sb.; cf. F. cautionner, med.L. cautiōnāre.]
† 1. intr. To give a caution or warning. Obs.
1641. J. Jackson, True Evang. T., II. 166. It was cautioned in the Law not to yoake an Oxe, and an Asse together.
1678. Cudworth, Intell. Syst., Pref. We have Caution’d concerning it, in the Book it self.
† 2. To provide with a ‘caution’ or saving clause; to guard. Obs.
1655. Fuller, Ch. Hist., IX. iv. § 4. Such Prophesyings … might be … discreetly cautioned and moderated.
1681. Burnet, Hist. Ref., II. 7. It was added, to caution this, that the person … should do nothing … without the advice and consent of the greater part of the rest.
3. To advise or charge (a person) to take heed; to warn. To caution oneself: to take heed, take precautions. Usual const. against, or to with inf.
1683. Lorrain, trans. Muret’s Rites Funeral, To Rdr. 4. In so cautioning us against a too late expectation of finding it.
a. 1694. Tillotson, Wks., I. v. 63 (R.). Cautioning us to take heed lest we be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness.
1702. Eng. Theophrast., 113. If a Man that lives at Court, do not caution himself against the Snares [etc.].
1845. Ford, Handbk. Spain, i. 28. Don Quixote cautions Sancho to be moderate in his food.
1857. Buckle, Civiliz., I. xiv. 535. He cautions his readers against the common error of looking to antiquity for knowledge.
Hence Cautioned, Cautioning ppl. adjs.
1718. Prior, Solomon, II. 548 (J.). To our caution’d Soul.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa (1811), I. xxxviii. 284. More of the cautioning friend, than of the satirizing observer.
1863. Geo. Eliot, Romola, III. xxi. Romola’s belief in him had submerged all cautioning doubts.
