[ad. L. concatēnātiōn-em, n. of action f. concatēnā-re: see prec. and -ATION; cf. F. concaténation.] The action of concatenating, or the condition or relation of being concatenated.
1. Union by chaining or linking together; concatenated condition.
1603. Holland, Plutarch’s Mor., 162. The concatenation and coherence of these matters handled by Plutarch.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., I. iv. 22. That correspondence or concatenation, which is betweene the superiour globe and the inferiour.
a. 1688. Villiers (Dk. Buckhm.), Milit. Couple, Wks. (1775), 129. The most affectionate couple … since the concatenation of Adam and Eve in Paradise.
1730. A. Gordon, Maffei’s Amphith., 213. The demolishing the Coliseum, by reason of the Concatenation of the Stones and Iron Bracers, became a tough piece of Work.
b. An instance of chaining or linking together.
1657. S. Purchas, Pol. Flying-Ins., I. i. 2. So many … joints, connexions, and concatenations … in so small a fabrick.
2. esp. Union in a series or chain, of which the things united form as it were links.
1614. T. Adams, Devil’s Banquet, 296. Hee … hath power to adde plagues with an euerlasting concatenation.
1678. Norris, Misc. (1699), 372. Those Dispensations, which separately taken, appear harsh,… in concatenation … conspire to the Beauty and Interest of the whole.
1761. Brit. Mag., II. 131. To imagine him so careless about the concatination of events.
1841–71. T. R. Jones, Anim. Kingd. (ed. 4), 532. Their separation from the chain is always to be ascribed to accidental violence … concatenation is so essential to the existence of the animals that they soon perish if separated from the rest.
1867. Lewes, Hist. Philos., II. 218. The necessary concatenation of ideas which should reproduce the concatenation of objects is destroyed.
3. quasi-concr. A concatenated series or system, an interdependent or unbroken sequence, a ‘chain’: a. material.
1726. Dart, Canterb. Cathedr., 8. A Wall or Concatination of marble Slabs … surrounding the Choir.
1849. Ruskin, Sev. Lamps, iv. § 4. 98. This vile concatenation of straight lines.
1874. Micklethwaite, Mod. Par. Churches, 72. [Organ-pipes] mere concatenations of zinc chimney-cans.
b. non-material.
1622–62. Heylin, Cosmogr., III. (1682), 30. A long concatenation of felicity.
1656. Hobbes, Liberty, Necess., & Ch. (1841), 105. Nor doth the concourse of all causes make one simple chain or concatenation.
1753. Johnson, in Adventurer, No. 107, ¶ 3. Taking in the whole concatenation of causes and effects.
1880. Vern. Lee, Stud. Italy, VI. ii. 262. A concatenation of bungles and contradictions.
