[a. L. consensus agreement, accord, sympathy, common feeling, f. consens- ppl. stem of consentīre: see CONSENT. Used in the physiological sense by Bausner, Deconsensu partium humani corporis, 1556, whence sense 1 in mod.F. and English.]
1. Phys. General agreement or concord of different parts or organs of the body in effecting a given purpose; sympathy. Hence transf. of the members or parts of any system of things.
1854. Brimley, Ess., Comte, 320. In the universe … he resolves to see only a vast consensus of forces.
1861. Goldw. Smith, Lect. Mod. Hist., 24. There is a general connexion between the different parts of a nation’s civilization; call it, if you will, a consensus, provided that the notion of a set of physical organs does not slip in with that term.
1870. H. Spencer, Princ. Psychol., I. II. ix. 278. A mutually-dependent set of organs having a consensus of functions.
2. Agreement in opinion; the collective unanimous opinion of a number of persons.
1861. Sat. Rev., 21 Dec., 637. Bishop Colenso is … decidedly against what seems to be the consensus of the Protestant missionaries.
1880. Athenæum, 10 April, 474/3. A consensus had actually been arrived at on the main features involved.
transf. 1884. H. A. Holden, Plutarch’s Themist., 190. The consensus of [the MSS.] ABC leaves no room for doubt about a reading.
b. Also Consensus of opinion, authority, testimony, etc.
1858. Sat. Rev., V. 287/1. Supported by a great consensus of very weighty evidence.
1874. H. R. Reynolds, John Bapt., V. i. 289. Sustained by a great consensus of opinion.
1889. J. H. Newton, in Buchanan’s Jrnl. Man, III. June, 238. This consensus of thought bears everywhere directly against the received opinions of the religious world, and makes for a higher theology.
