Also 5 coode. [a. F. code, f. L. cōdex, cōdic-em; see CODEX.]
1. a. Rom. Law. One of the various systematic collections of statutes made by later emperors, as the code of Theodosius, of Justinian; spec. the latter.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 2183. Þat mayst þou fynde al and sum In code ‘de raptu virginum.’
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), III. 255. Theodocius his code.
1577. trans. Bullinger’s Decades (1592), 427. The lawes and constitutions … founde either in the Code, in the booke of Digestes, or Pandectes.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Code, a Volume conteining divers books; more particularly a Volume of the Civil Law so called, which was reduced into one Code, or Codice, by Justinian.
1756–7. trans. Keysler’s Trav. (1760), II. 355. The manuscript of the Theodosian code.
1818. Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), V. 170. It is said in Justinian’s Code.
b. A systematic collection or digest of the laws of a country, or of those relating to a particular subject.
(In modern use, chiefly since the promulgation of the French Code Civile or Code Napoléon, in 1804.)
1735. Pope, Donne Sat., II. 96. Larger far Than civil codes with all their glosses are.
1771. Junius Lett., xliv. 237. There is no code in which we can study the law of parliament.
1818. Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), I. 2. The different German tribes were first governed by codes of laws formed by their respective chiefs.
1828. W. Sewell, Oxf. Prize Ess., 33. Their penal code was formed in no sanguinary spirit.
1844. Ld. Brougham, Brit. Const., xix. § 1 (1863), 301. Every government is bound to digest the whole law into a code.
2. transf. A system or collection of rules or regulations on any subject.
1809–10. Coleridge, Friend (1865), 158. In the legislative as in the religious code.
1841. Myers, Cath. Th., IV. xxiv. 298. Christianity can never be reduced to a mere code of Ethics.
1875. Manning, Mission H. Ghost, xiii. 352. The Sermon on the Mount contains the whole code of perfection.
b. ‘A collection of receipts or prescriptions represented by the Pharmacopœia’ (Syd. Soc. Lex.).
3. a. A system of military or naval signals. b. Telegr. A system of words arbitrarily used for other words or for phrases, to secure brevity and secrecy; also attrib., as in code telegram, word.
1808. Wellington, in Gurw., Disp., IV. 21. A long letter respecting … a code of signals for the army.
1875. Jevons, Money (1878), 166. Maritime codes of signals.
1880. Brit. Postal Guide, 241. Code telegrams are those composed of words, the context of which has no intelligible meaning.
1884. Pall Mall Gaz., 12 Sept., 5/1. Telegraph companies had to face … the extension of the use of code words.
† 4. A collection of writings forming a book, such as the Old or the New Testament. Also, a recognized division of such forming a volume. Obs.
1701. Grew, Cosmol. Sacra, IV. i. 138. Then having learned the Hebrew Tongue, and procured a Copy of the Hebrew Code.
1736. Bailey (folio), Code, a Volume or Book.
1794. Paley, Evid., I. I. ix. § 3. The Christian Scriptures were divided into two codes or volumes. Ibid. Intending by the one a code or collection of Christian sacred writings, as the other expressed the code or collection of Jewish sacred writings.
5. Comb.
1823. W. Cobbett, Rur. Rides (1885), I. 390. The humane code-softener.
1831. Carlyle, Misc. (1872), III. 241. Code-makers and Utilitarians.
