a. and sb. [a. Fr. affirmatif, -ive (13th c. Littré) ad. L. affirmātīv-us, f. affirmāt- ppl. stem of affirmā-re: see AFFIRM and -IVE.]
A. adj.
† 1. Strengthening, corroborative; confirmatory. Obs.
1509. Hawes, Past. Pleas., XVI. xlix. No worldely thyng can be wythout stryfe, For unto pleasure payne is affyrmatyfe.
1580. Hollyband, Treas. Fr. Tong, Da, for Dea, a word affirmative, as ouy da, yea forsooth.
a. 1674. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., I. II. 106. He received the affirmative advice of all the Judges of England.
† 2. Strong in assertion; positive, dogmatic. Obs.
1650. Jer. Taylor, Holy Liv. (1727), 102. Be not confident and affirmative in an uncertain matter.
1734. trans. Rollin’s Anc. Hist. (1827), V. XIV. 364. He at first speaks in an affirmative tone of voice.
3. Logic. Expressing the agreement of the two terms of a proposition.
1570. Billingsley, Euclid, I. vii. 17. A proposition vniuersall affirmatiue is most agreable to sciences.
1628. T. Spencer, Logick, 188. A definition must be vniversall, and affirmatiue.
1860. Abp. Thomson, Laws of Thought, § 75. 128. Where a judgment expresses that its two terms agree, it is called Affirmative.
4. Hence, Asserting that the fact is so; answering ‘yes’ to a question put or implied; opposed to negative.
1628. Bp. Hall, Hon. of Maried Clerg., I. § 28. 759. This negatiue charge implyes an affirmatiue allowance.
1638. Penit. Conf., vii. (1657), 133. Therefore the Commission runnes in words affirmative, and not negative.
1651. Hobbes, Leviathan, III. xlii. 290. The ordinary way of distinguishing the Affirmative Votes from the Negatives, was by Holding up of Hands.
1751. Chambers, Cycl., s.v., In grammar, authors distinguish affirmative particles; such is, yes.
1849. Grote, Greece (1862), VI. II. lxvii. 43. The negative and the affirmative chains of argument.
1851. H. Spencer, Soc. Stat., xxxii. § 4. This question seems to claim an affirmative answer.
1865. Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., X. XXI. vi. 104. Görtz Junior … after some intense brief deliberation, becomes affirmative.
† 5. Math. Of quantities: Positive, or real; opposed to negative or less than nothing. Obs.
1693. E. Halley, Algebra, in Phil. Trans., XVII. 964. Which is affirmative when 2 r p is less than d r–d p, otherwise negative.
1789. Waring, in Phil. Trans., LXXIX. 187. When n is a given quantity, and n–1/2 not a whole affirmative number, [etc.].
B. sb. [sc. mode, proposition, statement.]
1. The affirmative mode in a proposition; that which affirms or asserts. To answer in the affirmative; to answer ‘yes,’ or that it is so.
c. 1400. Beryn, 2605. Ffor then were they in the affirmatyff, and wold preve anoon.
1532. More, Answ. Frith, Wks. 1557, 841/1. If he will bydde me proue the affyrmatiue.
1663. Gerbier, Counsel, 108. The one will resolve on the affirmative.
1725. De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 84. They all very cheerfully answered in the affirmative.
1861. Geo. Eliot, Silas M., 33. ‘Well; yes—she might,’ said the butcher, slowly, considering that he was giving a decided affirmative, ‘I don’t say contrary.’
2. An affirmative word or proposition; opposed to a negative.
1588. Fraunce, Lawiers Logic, I. ii. 49 b. Affirmative is that which doth affirme and lay downe something to bee or imagined to bee.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., V. i. 24. If your foure negatiues make your two affirmatiues.
1628. Coke, On Littleton, I. i. § 1 (1633), 6 b. Witnesses cannot testifie a negative, but an affirmatiue.
1725. Watts, Logic, II. ii. § 2. In Latin and English two negatives joined in one sentence make an affirmative.
1870. Bowen, Logic, vi. 169. Two judgments which are alike in Quality, either both Affirmatives or both Negatives.
† 3. A statement affirmative of, or asserting something; an assertion, or affirmation. Obs.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., 73. That affirmative which sayes the Loadstone is poyson.
1660. Jer. Taylor, Worthy Commun., i. § 4. 75. That he is a priest in heaven appears in the large discourses and direct affirmatives of St. Paul.
