Also 5 combynacion. [a. OF. combination (14th c. in Littré, mod.F. combinaison), ad. late L. combīnātiōn-em a joining two by two, f. combīnāre to COMBINE.]
1. gen. The action of combining or joining two or more separate things into a whole.
1613. R. C., Table Alph. (ed. 3), Combination, a ioyning, or coupling together.
1663. P. Fletcher, Purple Isl., III. (R.). These two fair isles … Are oft made one by love’s firm combination.
1678. Cudworth, Intell. Syst., Wks. 1837, I. 57. Words in great variety result from the different combinations and conjunctions of a few letters.
1712. Blackmore, Creation, IV. Atoms … From which by various combination springs This unconfined diversity of things.
1847. E. Guest, in Philol. Soc. Trans., III. 27. Every combination in language is an act of the will and reason.
2. Combined state or condition of two or more things; condition of union, conjunction.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lxxviii. § 5. Neither ought it to seem less reasonable, that … a combination be admitted in this case, as well as division in the former.
1637. R. Humfrey, trans. S. Ambrose, I. 121. Conjugal combination.
1675. South, Serm., 17 Oct., in 12 Sermons (1727), I. 442. Those Vices [Pride and hard Heartedness] which it [Ingratitude] is always in Combination with.
1750. Johnson, Rambler, No. 36, ¶ 5. The same images in the same combination.
1875. H. Wood, Therap. (1879), 482. Digitalis … is best given in combination.
1878. Jevons, Prim. Pol. Econ., 40. When several men work at the same capstan, the combination is simple.
3. concr. Such a condition embodied in a group or set of things combined into a whole.
c. 1532. Dewes, Introd. Fr., in Palsgr., 1053. The body … is but a conglutination and combination of the foure elementes.
1641. Hinde, J. Bruen, xxx. 94. Such assemblies … are for the most part … a combination of the Popish and prophane.
1779. Johnson, L. P., Cowley, Wks. II. 25. They … produced combinations of confused magnificence.
1821. Craig, Lect. Drawing, iii. 142 Blue, red, yellow, and their combinations.
1853. Soyer, Pantroph., 136. The cooks … could form unheard-of combinations with the succulent pieces.
† b. An ecclesiastical plurality. Obs.
1618. Hales, in Gold. Rem., Lett. fr. Dort, 4. The impediments were … combinations, that is, double benefices, when men having two cures could not sufficiently attend both.
4. The banding together or union of persons for the prosecution of a common object: formerly used almost always in a bad sense = conspiracy, self-interested or illegal confederacy; hence (later), the term applied to the unions (formerly illegal) of employers or workmen to further their interests, affect the rate of wages, etc.
1593. Abp. Bancroft, Dangerous Positions, I. i. 7. By reason of their said combination and secretenesse vsed, many thinges lie hidde from those in authority.
1624. Capt. Smith, Virginia, IV. 146. [They] by a generall combination in one day plotted to subuert the whole Colony.
1667. Pepys, Diary (1877), V. 80. Some few … that do keep out of all plots and combinations.
1712. W. Rogers, Voy., 235. I us’d what Arguments I could offer, shew’d them the Danger and Folly of Combinations.
1776. Adam Smith, W. N., I. II. v. 371. Either by combination or by any other sort of violence.
1795. J. B. Bird (title), The Laws respecting Masters and Servants … comprising … the law respecting combinations amongst workmen.
1824. Act 5 Geo. IV., c. 95. Workmen … who shall enter into any Combination to obtain an Advance … shall not therefore be subject or liable to any Indictment or Prosecution … under the Common or the Statute law.
1826. Disraeli, Viv. Grey, III. iv. ‘Entered into a combination!’ ‘Yes, Mr. Grey! a conspiracy.’
1845. Penny Cycl. Suppl., I. 398/2. Till then [1824], any combination of any two or more masters, or of any two or more workmen, to lower or raise wages, or to increase or diminish the number of hours of work, or quantity of work, to be done, was punishable at common law as a misdemeanour: and there were also thirty-five statutes in existence, most of them applying to particular trades, prohibiting combinations of workmen against masters.
1856. Froude, Hist. Eng. (1858), I. i. 17. A combination of three or four of the leading nobles was sufficient … to effect a revolution.
b. concr. An association or society thus formed.
1571. Hanmer, Chron. Irel. (1633), 25. The second company of this combination.
1597. Bacon, Ess. Hon. & Reput. (Arb.), 68. As … hee doe content euerie faction or combination of people.
1725. De Foe, Voy. Round World (1840), 46. To form other societies or combinations.
1818. Jas. Mill, Brit. India, III. ii. 79. Pardon is commonly granted to any one of a combination who gives evidence against the rest.
1833. New Monthly Mag., XXXVIII. 51. Some combinations have framed rules to prevent men from having above a certain number of apprentices.
† c. Agreement, treaty, alliance, compact. Obs.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., V. i. 392. A solemne Combination shall be made Of our deere soules. Ibid. (1613), Henry VIII., I. i. 169. This cunning Cardinall The Articles o’ th’ Combination drew As himselfe pleas’d.
5. Math. † a. = ALLIGATION 2. Obs.
1542. Recorde, Gr. Artes (1575), 426. More varieties in combination may followe anone.
b. pl. The different collections that can be made of any number of given individuals, when they are taken in groups of a definite number, but without regard to the order of arrangement. Thus ab and ba are the same combination, though different permutations.
1673 J. Wallis (title), Treatise of Algebra … of the Cono-Cuneus, Angular Sections, Angles of Contact, Combinations, Alternations, etc.
1764. Reid, Inquiry, iii. Wks. I. 116/2. They who are acquainted with the theory of combinations.
1838. De Morgan, Ess. Probab., 35. If I ask how many combinations of 21 can be taken out of 25, I do in effect ask how many combinations of 4 may be taken.
1870. Bowen, Logic, xii. 417. The laws of the permutation and combination of numbers.
6. Chem. Chemical union, in which substances combine to form new compounds; concr. the product or compound resulting from such a union.
1766. T. Amory, J. Buncle (1825), III. 224. The gold and the reguline part of antimony being heaviest, the combination of them sinks to the bottom.
1800. trans. Lagrange’s Chem., I. 379. The substance formed by the combination of tungsten with oxygen.
1868. W. Cortis, trans. Naquet’s Chem., 3. In compounds which result from combination, the proportion is definite and constant.
1878. Huxley, Physiogr., 78. The red powder is a combination of this oxygen with mercury.
7. Connection of ideas in the mind.
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., II. xxxiii. § 6. This strong Combination of Ideas, not ally’d by Nature, the Mind makes in it self either voluntarily, or by Chance. Ibid. (J.). They never suffer any ideas to be joined in their understandings, in any other or stronger combination than what their own nature and correspondence give them.
1727. R. Greene, Princ. Philos., 662. Particular Combinations of Simple Ideas.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., viii. note. Whist … a game … which requires … memory, judgment, and combination.
1844. Stanley, Arnold, I. iv. 185. Quickness and power of combination.
8. Short for COMBINATION-ROOM.
1749. in Chr. Wordsworth, Soc. Life Univ. 18th C. (1874), 161. A fire to be made in the Combination at noon, to continue till two o’clock in the afternoon.
9. = Combination-garment.
1884. Pall Mall G., 24 Oct., 22. These two combinations and a well-made dress … form the most healthy and comfortable dress for women.
1890. Daily News, 8 Jan., 7/6. Ladies’ natural wool combinations.
10. attrib. and Comb., as combination garment, a close-fitting under-garment worn mostly by women and children, consisting of combined chemise or undershirt and drawers; combination laws, laws directed against combinations or associations of workmen or masters, repealed in 1824; combination-paper (Camb. Univ.), see quot.; combination-pedal in Organs, a pedal that acts upon a number of stops at once; also one which, instead of operating upon the draw-stops, acts upon the wind-supply (Grove Dict. Mus., 1880); combination-union, a union formed by the combination of several trades-unions. Also in various mechanical tools or contrivances that combine several functions, as combination-attachment, -fuse, -lock, -plane, etc.
1884. Health Exhib. Catal., 40/1. Flannel *Combination Garment for a child.
1884. Pall Mall G., 24 Oct., 2/2. The combination garment is made in soft merino, suitable for wearing next to the skin…. It closely follows the shape of the body that it clothes, and is to the petticoat what a glove with fingers is to a baby’s mitten.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Combination-fuse, a fuse combining the principles of time and percussion.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Manch. Strike, iii. 25. Imprisonment … under the old *combination laws.
1845. Penny Cycl. Suppl., I. 398/2. Combination Laws. The laws known by this name were repealed in 1824…. The act passed in 1824 (5 Geo. IV. c. 95) repealed all the statute and common law against combinations of masters and of workmen.
1874. Chr. Wordsworth, Soc. Life Univ. 18th C., 162. ‘Combination-room,’ is said by a good authority to be derived … from their sterner use for business: inasmuch as there were drawn up the ‘first combination paper,’ a list of the Preachers of the Sunday morning University sermons, a certain number of which were appointed—by each college in turn—according to the Prior Combinatio: and of the Preachers on Saints’ days and Sunday afternoons … the Posterior Combinatio.
1890. Railway Herald, 31 May, 11. The majority would be in favour of *combination-unions.
