Also 6 colysion. [ad. L. collīsiōn-em, n. of action f. collīs- ppl. stem of collīdĕre to dash together, f. col- together + lædĕre to hurt by striking: see COLLIDE. Cf. F. collision, 16th c. in Littré.]
1. The action of colliding or forcibly striking or dashing together; violent encounter of a moving body with another; in recent use esp. of railway trains or ships.
1432–50. trans. Higden (Rolls), I. 315. For the collision of waters metenge there.
1615. Crooke, Body of Man, 300. By the collision of stones fire is beaten out.
1677. Plot, Oxfordsh., 31. The collision of the waters against the lips of the orifice.
1772–84. Cook, Voy. (1790), V. 1904. These people produce fire both by collision and attrition; the first by striking two stones against each other.
1835. Mech. Mag., XXIII. 32. Collision of carriages on the Dublin and Kingstown railway.
1848. Arnould, Mar. Insur. (1866), II. III. ii. 698. When the collision is entirely owing to the master and crew of the insured ship.
2. a. The coming together of sounds with harsh effect.
1625. N. Carpenter, Geog. Del., II. xiv. 246. We may generally obserue in the Northerne Languages a rough collision of consonants and aspirations.
1751. Johnson, Rambler, No. 88, ¶ 8. He … does not often offend by collision of consonants.
a. 1771. Gray, Corr. (1843), 303. The crowd of monosyllables, the collision of harsh consonants.
1868. W. H. Thompson, Plato’s Phaedrus, p. ix. He quotes instances of this collision [of vowels] from Demosthenes.
1876. Jebb, Attic Orators, II. 67.
† b. The coming together of two vowels with elision of one of them; synalœpha; see quots. Obs.
1552. Huloet, Colysion, abiection, contraction, or demption of a vowel as this, thayre, for the ayre, thaduice, for the aduice.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Collision of a Vowel, is the contracting two Vowels into one.
1677. Holyoke, Dict., A Collision of a vowel, synalepha, symphonesis.
3. fig. Encounter of opposed ideas, interests, etc.; clashing, hostile encounter.
1662. H. More, Philos. Writings, Pref. Gen. 25. There is not the … slightest coallision or clashing in this hypothesis … with the ordinary … sense of the Scripture.
1738. Warburton, Div. Legat., II. (R.). The collision of contrary false principles.
1839. Thirlwall, Greece, VIII. 423. The moderate independent party had avoided all collision, not only with Rome, but even with Callicrates.
1858. Froude, Hist. Eng., III. 498. In collision with a law which his conscience forbids him to obey.
1872. Yeats, Growth Comm., 211.
1884. F. Temple, Relat. Relig. & Sci., vii. (1885), 193. Science and Religion come into apparent collision on the question of the freedom of the will.
b. fig. Coming into contact (with no notion of violent opposition or hostility); action of mind upon mind, or the like. Now rare or Obs.
1664. H. More, Myst. Iniq., Apol., Pref. Out of which friendly Collision … gaining greater Light to some considerable Truths.
1749. Chesterf., Lett., II. ccxiii. 320. Your constant collision with good company will … smooth and polish you.
1751. Johnson, Rambler, No. 154, ¶ 11. By the fortuitous collision of happy incidents.
1846. Prescott, Ferd. & Is., I. Introd. 53. In this wide and various collision their moral powers were quickened by constant activity.
4. attrib., as collision bulkhead, mat (Naut.): see quots., and BULKHEAD 1.
1879. W. H. White, Ship-Build., in Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 78/1. Known as a ‘collision’ bulkhead, because it provides against injury to the bow in case of collision.
1882. Nares, Seamanship (ed. 6), 27. Collision mats … are large mats … from 8 to 15 feet square … for covering a hole in the ship’s side, in case of a collision.
1887. Daily News, 23 July, 5/6. A collision mat has since been battened over the breach.
