Also 5 excelencye. [ad. L. excellentia: see prec. and -ENCY.]
† 1. = EXCELLENCE 1. Obs. or arch.
a. 1400[?]. Chester Pl. (Shaks. Soc.), I. 9. Exsaulted by my excelencye.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 195 b. To be had in honour … as theyr vertue or excellency requyreth.
1579. Fulke, Heskins’ Parl., 95. He [Christe] could not better haue shewed his excellencie aboue Aaron.
1605. Camden, Rem. (1637), 162–3. Lady Iane Grey … for her excellency in the Greek tongue was called for Greia, Graia.
1611. Bible, Ps. lxii. 4. They onely consult to cast him downe from his excellency.
1674. Playford, Skill Mus., Pref. A 4. An high esteem of the Excellency of Musick.
1716–8. Lady M. W. Montague, Lett., I. xl. 162. Fountains, famous for the excellency of their water.
1783. Hailes, Antiq. Chr. Ch., iv. 87. There is friendship, says he, between good men and the Divinity, moral excellency uniting them.
b. High degree of skill; proficiency.
1693. Locke, Educ., § 185. 235 (J.). I have, amongst Men of Parts and Business, so seldom heard any one commended, or esteemed for having an Excellency in Musick.
† c. concr. Something that excels, or takes the highest place; the ‘beauty’ or ‘flower.’ Obs.
1611. Bible, Isa. lx. 15. I will make thee an eternall excellencie, a ioy of many generations.
1660. W. Secker, Nonsuch Prof., 8. Man is the excellency of the creature, the Saint is the excellency of the man.
1667. E. Chamberlayne, St. Gt. Brit., I. I. iii. (1743), 6. The College of the Knights of the Garter … [is] curiously adorned … with the Excellency of Modern Painting and Carving.
† d. In phrases, By, for, with (an) excellency = by way of excellence: see EXCELLENCE 1 b. Obs.
1574. Hellowes, Gueuara’s Fam. Ep. (1577), 4. For excellencie, it was written of him [Cæsar] that he neuer forgot seruice, or euer did remember iniurie.
1631. Gouge, God’s Arrows, V. § 2. 411. This relative particle … They, as here it is used, is to be taken κατ᾽ ἔωξκην [sic] with an excellency.
1648. N. Estwick, A Treatise, 44. The person here is called, by an excellencie, the Spirit of truth.
1716. M. Davies, Athen. Brit., III. 3. The fifth advance in Humanity is nam’d Poetry or Humanity it self, by excellency or preference.
2. a. That in which a person or thing excels; an excellent feature or quality; a chief accomplishment, a specialty: = EXCELLENCE 2.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., II. iii. 163. Cram’d (as he thinkes) with excellencies.
1640. Fuller, Joseph’s Coat, viii. (1867), 195. One’s excellency may consist in the unsnarling of a known controversy.
1676. Etheredge, Man of Mode, I. i. 12. That a mans excellency should lie in Neatly tying of a Ribbond, or a Crevat!
1712. J. James, trans. Le Blond’s Gardening, 143. The Maple has this peculiar Excellency, that it grows in the Shade.
1771. Sir J. Reynolds, Disc., iv. (1876), 357. Those higher excellencies of which the art is capable.
1839. Ld. Brougham, Statesm. Geo. III., Ld. Grenville (ed. 2), 144. The faults of his character were akin to some of the excellencies.
† b. With the: That which makes (a person or thing) to be excellent; the criterion of excellence.
1643. Burroughes, Exp. Hosea, iii. (1652), 207. What is the excellency of man but Religion?
1703. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 98. The Excellency of Sawing is, to keep the Kerf exactly in the Line marked out to be sawn.
1807. T. Thomson, Chem. (ed. 3), II. 495. The excellency of a good enamel is, that it easily fuses into a kind of paste at the heat which is necessary for baking stoneware.
† 3. a. An excellent personality; a ‘dignity.’ Obs.
1688. Collier, Several Disc. (1725), 278. The Arians … say that Christ is … called God only by way of Participation, as other created Excellencies are.
b. As a title of honor. Cf. EMINENCE 5, EXCELLENCE 3 b.
The quots. show that it was formerly applied to royal personages, to ladies, and others, though in England now limited to ambassadors, ministers plenipotentiary, governors (extended also to their wives) and certain other high officers.
[c. 1325. Address to Edw. II., in Pike, Year-bks. 13 & 14 Edw. III., 362. Vestra Excellentia.]
c. 1532. Dewes, Introd. Fr., in Palsgr., 1037. Your excellency [Queen Mary of France] doth styre and move me continually.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 390. Sir John Bushe made request … that it might please the kinges hignesse and excellencie, that [etc.].
1632. J. Hayward, trans. Biondi’s Eromena, B ij. The Lord God grant your Excellencie [Dutchess of Richmond] all increase of felicitie.
1696. Whiston, Th. Earth, III. (1722), 276. His Excellency the Muscovite Ambassador.
1726. Swift, Gulliver, I. I. v. 85. Their Excellencies, who were privately told how much I had been their Friend.
1763. Scrafton, Indostan, iii. (1770), 64. They desired a private conference with the Soubah: But his Excellency [etc.].
1821. Shelley, Hellas, Ded. To his Excellency Prince Alexander Mavrocordato, late Secretary for Foreign Affairs.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 148. Retaining the guard of honor, the sword of state, and the title of Excellency.
