[ad. L. complicātiōn-em, n. of action from complicāre to COMPLICATE: cf. F. complication (16th c. in Littré).]
† 1. The action of folding together; the condition of being folded together. Obs.
1611. Cotgr., Complication, a complication, or folding together.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., V. xxi. 266. The complication or pectination of the fingers was an Hieroglyphick of impediment.
1691. Ray, Creation, I. (1704), 118. The Complication of the Seed-Leaves of some Plants in the Seed.
† 2. The action of combining intimately, the condition of being so combined; combination, conjunction. Obs.
1655. Fuller, Ch. Hist., VIII. ii. § 28. Dr. Fuller … in complication with other Commissioners, pronounced the sentence.
1656. Hobbes, Six Lessons, Wks. 1845, VII. 193. Superficies, made of the Complication of two lengths, or the measure taken two ways.
a. 1685. Jordan, A Defence for Musick, 39, in Muses Melody.
| Where all the Parts in Complication roll, | |
| And every one contributes to the whole. |
1699. Burnet, 39 Articles, xvi. (1700), 141. There is such a Complication of all the Precepts of the Law of God, both with one another, and with the Authority of the Lawgiver, that he who offends in one point, is guilty of all.
3. An involved condition or structure produced by the intimate interweaving of various elements.
1666. J. Smith, Old Age, 112 (T.). Many admirable combinations, complications, and intertextures of them all, which are not elsewhere in the body to be found.
1708. Chamberlayne, St. Gt. Brit., I. III. x. (1743), 226. This house has been … sometimes … a Priory, or College, sometimes … a Spittal or Hospital … Tis now a complication of both.
1790. Paley, Horæ Paul., I. 8. That complication of probabilities by which the Christian history is attested.
† b. = COMPLEX sb. 1. Obs.
1750. Johnson, Rambler, No. 76, ¶ 1. He takes a survey of the whole complication of his character.
4. The action of combining, or condition of being combined, in an entangled, involved, intricate, or perplexing manner; complicated condition, structure, or nature; involved relation.
1793. T. Beddoes, Math. Evid., 25. Owing partly to the length of the demonstration, and partly to the complication of the diagram.
1876. J. H. Newman, Hist. Sk., I. I. ii. 78. The Turkish race … made its way on amid tumult and complication.
b. with a and pl. becoming quasi-concr.: = A complicated or entangled state of relations, matters, or affairs; a complicated mass or structure. Complication of diseases: ‘a collection of several distempers that seize on the body at the same time, especially if they depend one upon another’ (Bailey).
1647. May, Hist. Parl., I. vii. 73. So full of mixtures, involutions, and complications, as nothing is cleare, nothing sincere, in any of their proceedings.
1697. T. Nevett, Consumptions, 69. With a complication of Convulsive and Epileptick Fits.
1730. Southall, Bugs, 5. I fell sick, had a Complication of the Country Distempers.
1856. Froude, Hist. Eng., I. 239. The only prince on whom, at the outset of these complications, he had a right to depend.
1877. Roberts, Handbk. Med., I. 12. Complications include such morbid conditions as are liable to arise during the course of a disease.
1883. Holmes, Syst. Surg. (ed. 3), I. 425. The co-existence of a dislocation with a fracture, is a serious complication.
