Also 4–5 -icioun. [a. F. composition, ad. L. compositiōn-em, n. of action f. compōnĕre; see COMPONE and COMPOSE.]
I. As an action. * generally.
1. The action of putting together or combining; the fact of being put together or combined; combination (of things as parts or elements of a whole).
c. 1386. Chaucer, Sqr.’s T., 221. By composiciouns Of Anglis.
1612. Bacon, Ess., Vain-Gl. (Arb.), 464. Such composition of glorious natures doth put life into busines.
1662. Stillingfl., Orig. Sacr., III. i. § 14. Wee must consider … when the composition of things together in the understanding, doth depend upon the meer operation of the mind.
1674. Grew, Anat. Plants, Lect., i. (1682), 226. The Composition of Atomes in Bodies is like that of Letters, in Words.
1841. Myers, Cath. Th., III. § 31. 114. The instances of abridgement and composition of quotations.
2. The forming (of anything) by combination of various elements, parts, or ingredients; formation, constitution, construction, making up.
1555. Eden, Decades W. Ind. (Arb.), 338. One of the marueylous thynges that god vseth in the composition of man.
1656. trans. Hobbes’ Elem. Philos. (1839), 10. Every body … which is capable of composition and resolution.
1707. Curios. in Husb. & Gard., 165. The Ingredients … imploy’d in the Composition of the Prepar’d Water.
1766. Goldsm., Vic. W., xvi. In the composition of a pudding, it was her judgement that mixed the ingredients.
1821. J. Q. Adams, in C. Davies, Metr. Syst., III. (1871), 112. The substitution of the troy pound … for the composition of the bushel and gallon.
† 3. The putting (of things) into proper position, order, or relation to other things; orderly arrangement; ordering. Obs. or arch.
1598. Bacon, Relig. Medit., Earthly Hope (Arb.), 113. A state of minde which … is setled … out of a good gouernment and composition of the affections.
1644. Bulwer, Chiron., 21. In the gesture and composition of the body.
1704. Swift, Mech. Operat. Spirit. By what kind of Practices the Voice is best govern’d towards the Composition and Improvement of the Spirit.
1854. Faber, Growth in Holiness, xxii. (1872), 453. Reverence and composition of body and outward demeanour.
** specifically.
4. = SYNTHESIS. † a. Philos. ‘Synthetic’ reasoning or demonstration; reasoning from the universal to the particular. Obs.
1570. Billingsley, Euclid, I. i. 9. Composition passeth from the cause to the effect. Ibid. A demonstration a priori, or composition is, when in reasoning, from the principles and first groundes, we passe … till after many reasons made, we come at the length to conclude that, which we first chiefly entend. And this kinde of demonstration vseth Euclide … for the most part.
1704. Newton, Optics, III. Concl. As in Mathematicks, so in Natural Philosophy, the investigation … by the method of analysis, ought ever to precede the method of composition.
1751. Chambers, Cycl., Composition … is a method of reasoning wherein we proceed from some general self-evident truth to other particular and singular ones.
b. Logic. Fallacy of composition: see quots.
1724. Watts, Logic, III. iii. § 7. The sophism of composition is when we infer any thing concerning ideas in a compounded sense, which is only true in a divided sense … If any one should argue thus, Two and three are even and odd; five are two and three; therefore five are even and odd.
1864. Bowen, Logic, ix. (1870), 278. The sophism of Composition … An instance … is what may be called the Spendthrift’s Fallacy: All of these contemplated expenditures (taken separately) are of trifling amount; Therefore all of them may be incurred (together) without ruining me.
5. Combination of arithmetical factors, ratios, forces, or elements, so as to produce a compound resultant: † a. Math. The multiplication of factors to produce a ‘compound’ or composite number. Obs. b. The multiplication or compounding of ratios; see COMPOUND v. 2, a. 2. † c. In a proportion, the substitution of the sum of the first and second terms for the first (or second), and of the sum of the third and fourth for the third (or fourth) Obs.; now expressed by componendo.
1557. Recorde, Whetst., B j. Here must you vnderstande by composition, the multiplicacion of the partes of nombers together.
1660. Barrow, Euclid, V. xxx. BC/AB < EF/DE and therefore by composition AC/AB < DF/DE.
1695. Alingham, Geom. Epit., 19. If A:B::C:D then by composition of Reason it will be as A + B:B::C + D:D.
1827. Hutton, Course Math., I. 325.
1875. Todhunter, Algebra, xxvi. 224.
d. Dynamics. Composition of forces: see quots. So c. of velocities, etc.
1807. Hutton, Course Math., II. 137. Composition of Forces, is the uniting of two or more forces into one, which shall have the same effect; or the finding of one force that shall be equal to several others taken together, in any different directions.
1830. Kater & Lardn., Mech., v. 52. In the examples of the composition of forces … here given, the effects of the forces are the production of pressures, or to speak more correctly … the ‘composition of pressures.’
1863. Kinglake, Crimea (1876), I. iv. 73. The law which determines the composition of mechanic forces.
† e. Chem. Chemical combination. Attraction of composition: a name for chemical affinity. Obs.
1800. trans. Lagrange’s Chem., I. 5 The following ten laws … comprehend all the phenomena of the attraction of composition.
1816. J. Smith, Panorama Sc. & Art, II. 304. The species of attraction called chemical attraction, is also [called] … the attraction of composition, or chemical affinity.
6. Gram. a. The combination, according to certain rules or principles, of two (or more) words to form one compound word.
1530. Palsgr., 9. Whan soever … this worde ex commeth in the composicion of any worde in the frenche tong.
1580. Golding, Pref. Verses Baret’s Alv., A v a. To giue iust rules of Deriuation, And Composition.
1699. Bentley, Phal., 263. Σιδωνο, which is one member in the Composition of it, relates to the Phœnissæ.
1871. Roby, Lat. Gram., § 979. New words may be formed … by the junction of two or more separately intelligible words into one. This is called composition. The distinctive features of two words being compounded are the loss of their separate accents, and the possession of but one set of inflexions.
b. The due arrangement of words into sentences, and of sentences into periods; the art of constructing sentences and of writing prose or verse.
[1388. Wyclif, Ecclus., Prol. And lackide compassioun of wordis [Vulg. deficere in verborum compositione].]
1553. T. Wilson, Rhet., 88 b. Composicion … is an apte joynyng together of wordes in suche order, that neither the eare shal espie any jerre, nor yet any man shalbe dulled with overlong drawing out of a sentance.
1666. Dryden, Pref. Ann. Mirab. (Globe), 38. The last line of the stanza is to be considered in the composition of the first.
1874. Blackie, Self-Cult., 36. Composition, properly so called, is the culmination of the exercises of speaking and reading, translation and re-translation.
Mod. All candidates must pass in Latin prose composition. Greek Verse composition is no longer obligatory.
7. The composing of anything for oral delivery, or to be read; the practice or art of literary production.
1577. Harrison, England, Pref. My rash and retchlesse behauiour vsed in the composition of this volume.
1750. Johnson, Rambler, No. 31, ¶ 7. Dryden, whose warmth of fancy, and haste of composition, very frequently hurried him into inaccuracies.
1794. Sullivan, View Nat., II. The composition of such a series of history.
1809–10. Coleridge, Friend (1865), 75. Books of recent composition.
1829. Scott, Wav., Gen. Pref. I did not abandon the idea of fictitious composition in prose.
8. The action or art of disposing or arranging in due order the parts of a work of art, esp. of a drawing or painting, so as to form a harmonious whole.
1695. Dryden, trans. Du Fresnoy’s Art Painting, Pref. In the composition of a picture the painter is to take care that nothing enter into it which is not proper … to the subject.
1726. Leoni, trans. Alberti’s Archit., III. 14 b. Composition is that Rule or Method in painting, whereby the several Parts in a Picture are joyned together in order to form a Whole.
1848. Sir W. Stirling, Ann. Artists Spain, I. 126. Their colouring is Flemish, but in drawing and composition they display a knowledge of the Italian models.
1859. Gullick & Timbs, Paint., 68. A successful attempt at composition, or the regular disposal of the subject in the space allotted.
1876. Humphrey, Coin Coll. Man., xxvi. 399. Certain coins of Trajan exhibit the same style of composition as the decussis.
9. The action or art of composing music.
1597. Morley, Introd. Mus., 182. You lacke nothing of perfect musicians, but only vse to make you prompt and quicke in your compositions.
1795. Mason, Ch. Mus., i. 58. To invent within the rules of legitimate composition.
1881. Shorthouse, J. Inglesant, II. ii. 40. His friend, however, though devoted to secular music, brought to the performance and composition of it so much taste and correct feeling, that Adria was ravished in spite of himself, and of his preference to the solemn music of the Church. Ibid. 41. He set himself to the work in which he was engaged—the composition of a motet for some approaching festival of the Church.
10. Printing. The setting up of type; the composing of pages of matter for printing.
1832. Babbage, Econ. Manuf., xxi. (ed. 3), 206. The printer usually charges for composition by the sheet.
† 11. The composing or settling (of differences, etc.). Obs.
a. 1654. Selden, Eng. Epin., ii. § 19. Quiet composition of seditious tumults.
12. The settling of a debt, liability, or claim, by some mutual arrangement; compounding. Composition of felony: see COMPOUND v. 9. Cf. 22–5.
1557. Order Hospitalls, F vij b. All debts owing to the Howse by composition.
1682. Lond. Gaz., No. 1686/4. That the said Debts may be satisfied without Composition or Abatement.
1707. Reflect. upon Ridicule, 267. To come to Composition, and lose one half of the Debt to save the rest.
a. 1734. North, Life Sir D. North (1826), II. 371. If he could not get in all that was due from the debtor, he got by composition, barter, or other means, as much as he could.
1780. Burke, Sp. Econ. Ref., Wks. III. 300. All sorts of accounts should be closed some time or other—by payment; by composition; or by oblivion.
1855. Milman, Lat. Chr. (1864), V. IX. viii. 397. The composition for a life of wickedness by a gift to a priest.
1856. Froude, Hist. Eng., II. 248. A happy contrivance for the composition of felonies.
II. The mode, with the resulting condition or state.
13. The manner in which a thing is composed, compounded, or made up; condition or state as resulting from, or constituted by, combination; constitution, make, with reference to ingredients.
1382. Wyclif, Ex. xxx. 32. Beside [1611 after] the composicioun of it ȝe shulen not make another.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVI. vii. (1495), 555. In composicion of syluer is quycke syluer and whyte brymstone.
1715. Desaguliers, Fires Impr., 152. Lapis Calaminaris, which enters into the Composition of the Brass.
1750. Johnson, Rambler, No. 51, ¶ 11. The composition of this pudding she has however promised Clarinda, that … she shall be told.
1831. Brewster, Optics, vii. 69. Having thus clearly established the composition of white light.
1881. J. Russell, Haigs, i. 27. The elements of heroism and romance enter largely into the composition of the narrative.
1883. Eng. Illust. Mag., Nov., 88/1. Confusion … between the composition of brass and bronze.
† b. Structure, consistency. Obs.
1555. Eden, Decades W. Ind. (Arb.), 358. Matters of hard compositions, as quarreys and stones.
1624. Capt. Smith, Virginia, II. 22. The rockes are of a composition like Mill stones.
† 14. Position in relation to other parts; disposition, arrangement, posture. Obs.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., (MS. B.), 30. Þe brawne is made … as a bowe þat ys y-bent; & for þat kynde wolde kepe þys compositioun, he clothyde þe brawne wyþ a pannycle.
14[?]. Prose Legends, in Anglia, VIII. 148. Hir berynge and composicyone of chere.
1644. Bulwer, Chiron., 70. The Thumbe erect, the other Fingers gently bent in, is a convenient composition of the Hand for an exordium.
15. The state or quality of being composite.
1541. R. Copland, Guydon’s Formul., ii. T j. The dysposycyons that make composycyons in woundes be sondry.
1570. Billingsley, Euclid, I. Def. iii. 2. Pointes, for their simplicitie and lacke of composition, are … only the termes and endes of quantitie.
1609. Bible (Douay), Num. iv. 16. The incense of composition.
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., I. xv. § 9. None of the distinct Ideas we have of either is without all manner of Composition.
1872. H. Spencer, Princ. Psychol., II. VI. ii. 6. Even in Compound Quantitative Reasoning there are degrees of composition.
16. Of persons: † a. Constitution of body. Obs.
1579. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 143. A good composition of the body layeth a good foundation of olde age.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1673), 266. Mala constitutio, that is to say, an evill state or composition.
b. Mental constitution, or constitution of mind and body combined; the combination of personal qualities that make any one what he is. (Now usually regarded as transf. from 13.)
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., II. i. 73. Oh how that name befits my composition: Old Gaunt indeed, and gaunt in being old.
1625. Bacon, Ess., Simulation (Arb.), 510. The best Composition, and Temperature is, to have Opennesse in Fame and Opinion; Secrecy in Habit.
1697–8. Watts, Reliq. Juv. (1789), 148. Some higher worlds, furnished with inhabitants of a better composition.
1701. Swift, Contests Nobles & Com. Athens. A sort of instinct or secret composition of their nature.
1823. Lamb, Elia, Ser. I. xvii. Mod. Gallantry. Whatever there is of the man of business in my composition.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 241. Persons … who have a touch of madness in their composition.
17. Artistic manner, style.
a. The mode or style in which words and sentences are put together.
1532. W. Thynne, Chaucer’s Wks., Ded. In whose [Chaucer’s] workes is … suche perfectyon in metre, the composycion so adapted.
1597. F. Thynne, Animadv. (1865), Introd. 99. The tedious lengthe and the disordered compositione.
1612. Brinsley, Lud. Lit., xx. (1627), 241. To come to the stile and composition.
1870. Stanhope, Hist. Eng., II. xiii. 144. So superior was this speech in composition.
1873. Morley, Rousseau, II. 238. The author … might have been expected to look beyond composition.
b. The arrangement of the parts of a literary work. rare. (Cf. sense 8.)
1838–9. Hallam, Hist. Lit., IV. v. § 26. The ordonnance or composition of the Paradise Lost is admirable…. Every part succeeds in an order noble, clear, and natural.
c. The (due) arrangement of the parts of a picture or other work of art (or of a natural scene).
1706. Art of Painting (1744), 18. Composition, design, and colouring … are the essence of Painting.
1766. Goldsmith, Vic. W., xvi. They were drawn with seven oranges—a thing quite out of taste, no variety, no composition in the world.
a. 1849. Poe, Landsc. Gard., Wks. 1864, IV. 341. What is technically termed the composition of a natural landscape.
1858. Hawthorne, Fr. & It. Jrnls., I. 187. As regards the composition of the picture, I am not convinced of the propriety of its being in two so distinctly separate parts.
1860. Ruskin, Mod. Paint., V. VIII. i. 159. Composition may be best defined as the help of everything in the picture by everything else.
d. Music.
1666–7. Pepys, Diary, 12 Feb. He … played … most admirably, and the composition most excellent.
a. 1789. Burney, Hist. Mus., I. Defin. p. xviii. To Excellence of Style and Composition.
† 18. Consistency, congruity. Obs. rare. Cf. 22.
1604. Shaks., Oth., I. iii. 1. There’s no composition in this Newes, That giues them Credite.
III. The product.
19. quasi-concr. A condition consisting in the combination or union (material, practical, or ideal) of several things; a combination, aggregate, mixture.
1551. Recorde, Cast. Knowl. (1556), 3. Orontius defineth the worlde to be the perfect and entiere composition of all thinges.
a. 1680. T. Brooks, in Spurgeon, Treas. Dav., Ps. xxx. 5. All honey would harm us, all wormwood would undo us; a composition of both is the best way.
1744. Berkeley, Siris, § 58. Common soaps are compositions of lixivial salt and oil.
1765. A. Dickson, Treat. Agric., 360. Every soil is a composition of different earths.
1772–84. Cook, Voy. (1790), V. 1779. It is difficult to represent this sound by any composition of our letters.
1821. Craig, Lect. Drawing, iv. 233. A composition of ultra-marine and vermillion.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 35. Narrative is of three kinds, the simple, imitative, and a composition of the two.
b. used of persons. (Cf. 16 b.)
1790. Pennant, Lond. (1813), 133. Queen Elizabeth, as singular a composition as her father.
1847. Emerson, Repr. Men, Swedenborg, Wks. (Bohn), I. 313. He seemed, by the variety … of his powers, to be a composition of several persons.
20. concr. A substance or preparation formed by combination or mixture of various ingredients.
Applied in various trades to particular mixed substances used in the operations of the trade; e.g., stucco, plaster or cement made to serve the purposes of marble or stone; mixed metal made for a particular purpose; the mixture of which candles are made; the composite material of which printers’ inking-rollers are made, etc. In these technical uses, frequently shortened to COMPO.
1555. Eden, Decades W. Ind. (Arb.), 229. Mengle togyther … a blacke masse or composition … lyke vnto very blacke pytche.
1562. Turner, Herbal, II. 130 b. We put it [squilla] … into drinkes or spicye composiciones.
1576. Fleming, Panop. Epist., 272. Medicinable compositions.
1664. Power, Exp. Philos., I. 43. That diaphanous Composition, Glass.
1707. Curios. in Husb. & Gard., 164. An Ingredient of the Composition, with which the Egyptians embalm’d the Bodies.
1701. Addison, Switzerland, Wks. 1721, II. 170. The one [quire] of them is supported by vast pillars of stone, cased over with a composition that looks the most like marble of any thing one can imagine.
1791. Hamilton, trans. Berthollet’s Dyeing, II. II. III. iv. 187. The solution of tin called by dyers Composition.
1831. Brewster, Nat. Magic, iv. 69. Some compositions … which diffused noisome odours.
† b. A structure. Obs.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 94. The much greater tonnage of the stone … than was necessary in the compositions of my predecessors.
21. An intellectual production.
† a. A sentence formed by due arrangement of words. Obs. rare.
1612. Brinsley, Lud. Lit., xiii. (1627), 180. Marking carefully both parts of the Composition or Sentence, both antecedent and consequent.
b. A train of ideas put into words; a literary production. In school and college language, one written as an exercise in the putting of ideas into prose or verse.
1601. R. Chester, Loves Martyr. To these are added some new compositions.
1603. Holland, Plutarch’s Mor., 95. Some compositions of his owne penning.
1734. Watts, Reliq. Juv. (1789), 159. Considerable benefit … to be derived from devotional compositions.
1774. Warton, Hist. Eng. Poetry, Diss. ii. I. 27. Aldhelm’s Latin compositions … were deemed extraordinary performances.
1841. Lane, Arab. Nts., I. 75. Compositions of a similar nature to the tales of a Thousand and One Nights.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 47. I deny that I make verses or address compositions to him.
c. A work of art (esp. a drawing or painting), consisting of several elements artistically combined.
1774. Sir J. Reynolds, Disc., vi. Wks. 1798, I. 177. The capricious compositions of Tintoret.
1875. Hamerton, Intell. Life, II. i. 49. A study in colour of every separate thing that was to form part of the composition.
d. transf. to natural scenery.
1753. Hogarth, Anal. Beauty, 12. Compositions in nature and art.
1879. Rood, Chromatics, v. 61. The presence of clouds breaks up the symmetry of these natural chromatic compositions.
e. A musical production, a piece of music.
1666–7. Pepys, Diary, 12 Feb. The whole composition is most excellent.
a. 1789. Burney, Hist. Mus., IV. 282. One of Handel’s compositions.
1876. Geo. Eliot, Dan. Der., vi. Herr Klesmer played a composition of his own, a Fantasia.
22. A mutual agreement or arrangement between two parties, a contract. arch. or Obs.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 848. And telle he moste his tale as was resoun, By forward and by composicioun.
1490. Caxton, Eneydos, xxv. 92. Laomedon made a composicion with phebus and neptunus … by the whiche he promysed theym … a toune full of golde.
1599. Parismus, II. (1661), 261. As he was making Composition with Parismenos for their Transportation.
1712. Arbuthnot, John Bull (1755), 13. My curse on … all my posterity, if ever they come to any composition with the Lord Strutt.
1839. Stonehouse, Axholme, 403. In the reign of Edward the Second … a composition was made between Sir John de Mowbray, and the Abbot of Selby.
23. An agreement for the settlement of political differences; a treaty, etc. arch.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VIII. 57. Pope Gregorye … sent to þe kynges of Engelond and of Scotlond … þat þe composicioun schulde be stedfastliche i-holde.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 497. That the realmes of England and of Fraunce … were of late … joyned together in an eternall league and composition.
1649. Answ. Petit. City Oxf., in J. Harrington, Def. Rights Univ. Oxf. (1690), 16. By … several charters confirmed by Act of Parliament and special compositions with the city.
1860. Motley, Netherl. (1868), I. vi. 290. To send a mission of mediation to Spain, for the purpose of … bringing about some honourable composition.
b. A mutual agreement for cessation of hostilities, a truce; an agreement for submission or surrender on particular terms; capitulation; terms of surrender.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. cviii. 130. I desyre you that we may abyde in composicyon, that ye make vs no warr, nor we to you, the space of a moneth.
1627. Lisander & Cal., III. 44. Reyne Berk having held out three moneths against the attempts of the besiegers … yeelded upon composition.
1685. Lond. Gaz., No. 2075/3. General Schultz has taken Caschaw by Composition.
1761–2. Hume, Hist. Eng., xl. (1806), III. 368. Henry … entered into a composition with them; and … granted them peace on the most advantageous conditions.
24. An agreement or arrangement involving surrender or sacrifice of some kind on one side or on both; a compromise.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lxii. § 7. Content to deliver up the bookes of God by compocition to the end their own lives might be spared.
1655. Fuller, Ch. Hist., III. i. § 16. The French speech … was fain at last to come to a composition with the English tongue.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa (1811), I. xii. 77. It will probably end in a composition, never to have either.
1826. Q. Rev., XXXIII. 296. This singular composition between taste and principle.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., IV. 265. With the Elector of Saxony a composition was made … Instead of the four hundred thousand rixdollars which he had demanded, he consented to accept one hundred thousand and the Garter.
25. An agreement for the payment (or the payment by agreement) of a sum of money, in lieu of the discharge of some other obligation, or in a different way from that required by the original contract; a compounding; spec. an agreement by which a creditor accepts a certain proportion of a debt, in satisfaction, from an insolvent debtor.
The fines paid by Royalists under the Commonwealth were called Compositions of Delinquents.
1570. Act 13 Eliz., c. 18. Comynaltie and cityzens shall have the said Ground … for such Composition as they shall make with the Lorde, Owners and Occupiers.
1622. Malynes, Anc. Law-Merch., 344. Towardes the composition which they shall make with their creditors.
1633. T. Stafford, Pac. Hib., i. (1821), 22. Such Summes of mony, as shall grow or come, by reason of any such compositions or Fines.
1646. in Whitelock’s Mem., Oct. 12 (1732), 224. Order touching Compositions of Delinquents.
1667. Pepys, Diary, 10 Sept. There is no such thing likely to be as a composition with my Lady Castlemaine [8 Sept., Lady Castlemaine is compounding for a pension].
1761–2. Hume, Hist. Eng., lii. (1806), IV. 92. Compositions were openly made with recusants, and the popish religion became a regular part of the revenue.
1827. Hallam, Const. Hist. (1876), III. xviii. 345. The Irish admitted the composition or fine for murder.
Mod. He is not a bankrupt; he was insolvent, but succeeded in making a composition with his creditors.
b. A sum of money paid in settlement of, or by way of compounding for, some claim or liability; e.g., the proportion of a debt paid, according to agreement, by an insolvent debtor.
1581. Lambarde, Eiren., IV. xvi. (1588), 578. Then is the partie to redeeme his libertie with some portion of money … which composition is properly called his Fine or his Raunsome.
1661. Bramhall, Just. Vind., iv. 84. [He] made them pay at once an hundred and eighteen thousand pounds as a composition for their Estates.
1769. Robertson, Chas. V., V. 506, note. Fixing by law the fine or composition to be paid for each different crime.
1864. Reader, 11 June, 749. Members, paying £1 annually, with an entrance fee of £1, or a life composition of £10.
1888. Times, 13 Oct., 12/1. An offer was submitted of a composition of 5s. 6d. in the pound.
26. attrib. and Comb. as (in sense 20) composition-candle, -nail, -tube, -wall; (in sense 25) composition-fish (see quot.), -money, -rent; composition-action (see composition-pedal); composition-cloth, a waterproof material made from long flax, used for trunk-covers, etc.; composition-deed, a deed effecting a composition (see 25) between a debtor and creditors; composition-face (Crystallogr.) = c.-plane; composition-metal, a kind of brass composed of copper, zinc, etc., used for the sheathing of ships; composition-pedal, a pedal in an organ that acts on a number of stops at once, a combination-pedal; composition-plane (Crystallogr.), the common plane or base between the two parts of a twin crystal.
1881. C. A. Edwards, Organs, 116. In large two-manual instruments it is … necessary to have well arranged *composition actions.
c. 1865. Letheby, in Circ. Sc., I. 95/2. Fats … employed in the manufacture of *composition-candles.
1614. Eng. Way to Wealth, in Harl. Misc. (Malh.), III. 241. His Majesty’s serjeant-cater hath yearly gratis, out of every ship and bark, one hundred of the choicest and fairest lings … and they call them *composition-fish.
1596. Spenser, State Irel., 91. Counting their *composition-money therewithall.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., *Composition-nails, those which are made of mixed metal … largely used for nailing on copper sheathing, are erroneously called copper nails.
1880. Hopkins, in Grove, Dict. Mus., I. 383. A ‘double-action’ *composition pedal will not only draw out a given number of stops … suppose the first four—but will draw in all but the same four.
1633. T. Stafford, Pac. Hib., iii. (1821), 257. The great charge … for her Majestie out of euery Plough land within the Province, called the *composition rent.
1795. Hull Advertiser, 25 July, 1/1. The Estate is discharged of Tithes in kind, and subject only to a moderate composition Rent in lieu thereof.
1823. J. Badcock, Dom. Amusem., 78. Some … of the pipe usually employed, or of that more pliable *composition tube, employed by the makers of beer engines.
1816. Keatinge, Trav., I. 242. He rammed the victims of his malignant and drunken caprices … into his *composition-walls: for he too was an architect.
