Forms: 5 i-compouned, y-componed, -yd, componed(e, -yd(e, -pouned, 6 -pounde, 5 -pound. [Originally pa. pple. of compoune, compone (see COMPOUND v.), and so of 3 syllables, com-poun-ed, but already c. 1400 reduced to two; its participial character, which was thus obscured, was lost entirely after the vb. became compound with pa. pple. compounded.]
1. gen. Made up by the combination of several elements or ingredients. a. artificially.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 92. Medicyns boþe þe symple & þe compound [v.r. componed].
1566. Drant, Horace Sat., II. iv. (R.). Some kinde of compounde wyne.
1601. Holland, Pliny (1634), I. 547. Certain compound medicines for trees.
1765. A. Dickson, Treat. Agric., III. (ed. 2), 452. The farmer … may make his compound dunghill of the earth of the field which he intends to manure.
1859. Donaldson, Gk. Gram., ¶ 364. A compound word is an union of two or more words, represented at least by their roots, and conveying their separate and combined signification.
1868. Helps, Realmah, ii. (1876), 19. Some compound sleep-stuff … I say compound, because I am sure it was mixed with some drug.
b. Consisting in its nature of a combination of various parts; composite, complex.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 11. Þilke .iiij. complexiouns … sumtyme ben y-componed [v.r. y-componyd], þat is to seie, medlid.
1598. Barckley, Felic. Man (1631), 366. Elements and compound things.
1798. Ferriar, Illustr. Sterne, Varieties of Man, 199. The Gryphons, those compound animals.
1813. Sir H. Davy, Agric. Chem., iv. (1814), 42. A body is Considered as Compound when two or more distinct substances are capable of being produced from it; thus Marble is a Compound body.
c. Involving the combination of various actions, processes, notions, etc.; combined, collective.
1711. F. Fuller, Med. Gymn., 99. A Compound Method of Cure.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 174. Through the wall, and through an opposite buttress, whose compound thickness amounted to eight feet.
1823. J. F. Cooper, Pioneers, iii. This offspring of compound genius.
1855. Bain, Senses & Int., I. ii. (1864), 51. In the propulsion of food there is a compound or double action.
† d. ‘Made up,’ fictitiously composed. Obs.
1574. Hellowes, Gueuara’s Fam. Ep., 128. No man shall thinke it is a compound fable, but that of a trueth it did passe.
2. Specific uses.
a. Surg. and Med., in compound cyst, rupture, dislocation, etc.; compound fracture variously used: see esp. quots. 1783, 1847, 1885.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 90. Þe festre þat is now vlcus I-compouned [v.r. componed].
1543. Traheron, Vigo’s Chirurg., 83. Everye wounde is compounde, that hath anythyng joyned unto it, without remotion … as woundes caused by brusynge. Ibid. (1586), 273. A fracture compound is that which is accompanied with a wound.
1685. J. Cooke, Marrow Chirurg. (ed. 4), I. I. i. 5. Fractures … are either simple or compound.
1745. trans. Van Swieten’s Boerhaave, III. 136. When the ulna and radius are both fractured together … they then call the fracture complicated, or even compound, though it would also seem that a fracture may be termed compound, when only a single bone is broken in several places.
1783. Pott, Chirurg., Wks., I. 449. I use the term Compound fracture in the sense in which the English have always used it, that is, to imply a broken bone complicated with a wound. Ibid., II. 14. If both intestine and omentum contribute mutually to the formation of the tumour, it is called entero-epiplocele, or compound rupture.
1831. Sir A. Cooper, Dislocations (ed. 7), 13. In compound dislocation not only the articulatory surfaces of the bone are displaced, but the cavity of the joint is laid open by a division of the skin and the capsular ligament.
1847. South, trans. Chelius’ Surg., I. 509. A fracture is only compound when a wound, however small, communicates with it so as to expose the broken bone to the air.
1885. Syd. Soc. Lex., Fracture, compound, fracture with a coexisting skin wound, with which it communicates.
b. Arith. and Alg.
(a) Made up by combination of several elements, as † compound decimal, one consisting of a whole number and a decimal fraction (obs.); c. fraction (see quot.); c. number, a number formed by multiplication of factors, a composite number; also, † a number represented by two or more figures (obs.); c. quantity (in Alg.), a quantity consisting of more than one term; (in Arith.) a quantity expressed in terms of various denominations, as pounds, shillings, and pence; c. ratio, see quot. for obs. use; now, the ratio formed by multiplying together the antecedents, and also the consequents, of two or more ratios.
(b) Dealing with other than simple numbers, dealing with numbers of various denominations of quantity, measure, weight, etc., as in compound addition, division, multiplication, subtraction.
(c) Proceeding by other than the simple process, as compound (formerly compounded) interest, proportion.
1557. Recorde, Whetst., A iij. Compounde nombers are made by multiplicacion of 2 nombres together.
1579. Digges, Stratiot., There be three sorts of numbers … the last a mixt or a compound.
1594. Blundevil, Exerc., I. i. (ed. 7), 2. Compound is that which is compounded of Article and Digit, as 13, 14, 17, 24. Ibid., I. xxvii. (ed. 7), 73. Consider whether your Divisor be compound, or simple, I call that compound which contayneth Fractions.
1660. T. Willsford, Scales of Commerce, I. II. 48. Use or Interest hath … two Species, viz. Simple or Compounded. Ibid., 49. Compound interest … is called interest upon interest. Ibid., 59. I will … proceed to Decimall Tables of compounded Interest.
1806. Hutton, Course Math., I. 32. Compound Addition shows how to add or collect several numbers of different denominations into one sum. Ibid., I. 127. Compound Interest, called also Interest upon Interest, is that which arises from the principal and interest, taken together, as it becomes due. Ibid. (1827), I. 52. A Compound Fraction, is the fraction of a fraction … as, 1/2 of 2/3, or 3/5 of 5/6 of 3.
1859. Barn. Smith, Arith. & Algebra (ed. 6), 194. A quantity consisting of more than one term, as a + b, a + b + c, is called a Compound quantity.
1875. Todhunter, Algebra, xxvi. 224. Let there be three ratios … a : b, b : c, c : d; then the compound ratio is a × b × c : b × c × d.
c. Archit. Compound order: COMPOSITE order.
Compound arch, archway: in mediæval architecture, a series of arches of different sizes inclosed in an archway of larger dimensions. Compound pier: ‘a term sometimes given to a clustered column’ (Gwilt, Encycl. Archit., Gloss.).
a. 1639. Wotton, Ground Rules Archit. (1676), 8. The Compound Order, or as some call it, the Roman, others more generally the Italian.
1703. T. N., City & C. Purchaser, 27. Composite, Compound, or Roman.
1726. R. Neve, Builder’s Dict. (ed. 2), Architects reckon five Orders … viz. Tuscan, Dorick, Ionick, Corinthian, and Roman, Composite, or Compound Order.
d. Zool. and Bot. Consisting of a combination of individual organisms, as compound animal, zoophyte, coral, etc., or of simple parts, as compound eye, stomach, flower, fruit, leaf, umbel, etc.
1668. Wilkins, Real Char., 108. Compound; bearing a flower like Jessamine.
1776. Withering, Brit. Plants (1796), I. 321. The Dandelion and the Thistle are compound flowers; that is, each of these flowers are composed or compounded of a number of small flowers, called Florets.
1836. Todd, Cycl. Anat., I. 770/2. Certain Crustacea … exhibit … Compound eyes … having distinct facets.
1841–71. T. R. Jones, Anim. Kingd. (ed. 4), § 2311. The compound stomach is that possessed by the Ruminantia … and consists of four distinct cavities.
1880. Gray, Struct. Bot., iii. § 4. 100. Compound Leaves are those which have from two to many distinct blades, on a common leaf-stalk.
e. Mech. and Physics, as in compound axle, engine, electro-magnet, lever, locomotive, microscope, motion, pendulum, screw, steam-engine.
1710. J. Clarke, Rohaults’ Nat. Phil. (1729), I. 84. As there are Compound Motions, so also are there compound Determinations.
1829. Nat. Philos., Mechanics, II. iv. § 26. 10 (Useful Knowl. Soc.). The power may act upon the weight through … a series of levers, in which case the apparatus is called a composition of levers, or a compound lever.
1829. Carlyle, Misc. (1857), I. 272. A compound-pendulum, vibrating in the character of scarecrow.
1838. Comstock, Nat. Philos. (ed. Lees), 46. Compound motion is that motion which is produced by two or more forces, acting in different directions, on the same body, at the same time.
1867. J. Hogg, Microsc., I. ii. 31. In the compound microscope, not less than two lenses must be employed.
1879. G. Prescott, Sp. Telephone, p. ii. In 1830, Professor Henry deduced from the hypothesis of Ampère … the compound electro-magnet.
1886. M. Reynolds, Engineman’s Pocket Comp., iii. 25. A compound engine is a condensing engine in which the mechanical action of the steam is begun in one cylinder and ended in a larger cylinder.
f. Music.
Compound interval († concord), one exceeding an octave. Compound stop: an organ-stop having more than one rank of pipes. Compound time: time or rhythm in which each bar is made up of two, three, or four bars of simple time.
1694. W. Holder, Harmony (1731), 39. Notwithstanding this Distinction of Original and Compound Concords.
1848. Rimbault, 1st Bk. Piano, 29. Compound Common Time occurs when two bars of Triple Time are joined in one … Compound Triple Time is when the measure of common Triple Time is divided into nine parts.
1880. Grove, Dict. Mus., s.v., 4–4 time, which is made up of two bars of 2–4 time … in Germany is always classed with the compound times. In England however … those rhythms only [are] considered as compound, in which each beat is divisible into three parts.
1881. C. A. Edwards, Organs, 148. Compound stops do not give any one sound to a note, but a combination of two or more.
g. Compound householder: a householder whose rates are included in his rent, and paid by the landlord.
1851. 14 & 15 Vict., c. 14 (title), An Act to amend the Law for the Registration of certain Persons commonly known as ‘Compound Householders.’
1880. McCarthy, Own Times, IV. 110. The compound householder … was the occupier of one of the small houses the tenants of which were not themselves rated to the relief of the poor.
Compound larceny, radical, etc.: see LARCENY, etc.
