a. and sb. [ad. med.L. exclūsīv-us, f. exclūs- ppl. stem of exclūdĕre to EXCLUDE: see -IVE. Cf. F. exclusif, -ive.]
A. adj.
I. That excludes.
1. Having the power or the function of excluding. rare. Exclusive voice: right of veto.
1570. Levins, Manip., 153. Exclusiue, exclusiuus.
1667. Milton, P. L., VIII. 625. We … obstacle find none Of membrane, joynt, or limb, exclusive barrs.
1682. Tate, Abs. & Achit., II. 254. Who with exclusive bills must now dispense, Debar the heir, or starve in his defence.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), s.v., Soveraigns have an Exclusive Voice in the Election of Popes.
1753. Richardson, Grandison, V. xxxiv. 216–7. Your ‘tutor,’ as you are pleased to call him; your friend, your ‘BROTHER’ (too clearly do I see the exclusive force of that last recognition!).
† 2. Excluding (some other) from participation. Const. of, to. Sometimes quasi-adv. = ‘to the exclusion of.’ Obs.
1670. R. Coke, Disc. Trade, 66. The Dutch … will drive the Trade of the World exclusive to the English.
1698. Locke, Govt., 125. One that was, by Right of Nature, to Inherit all … exclusive … of his brethren.
1709. Strype, Ann. Ref., I. xxxii. 331. By this sudden Peace exclusive to the English, the Protestants were … weakned.
3. Not admitting of the existence or presence of (something); unable to co-exist, incompatible. Exclusive concepts (Logic): (see quot.)
a. 1716. Blackall, Wks. (1723), I. 4. The lowest Degree [of eternal Life and Happiness] is exclusive of all Pain and Misery.
1796. Burke, Regic. Peace, i. Wks. VIII. 201. Various persons may concur in the same measure on various grounds. They may be various, without being contrary to, or exclusive of each other.
1864. Bowen, Logic, iv. 93. Exclusive Concepts—animal and vegetable, for instance—do not coincide in any part of their Extension.
4. Of a statement, enumeration, measurement, etc.: Excluding, not comprising (something). Const. of, † to. Of an interval: Not including one or both of the specified terminal points. Opposed to inclusive.
1649. Selden, Laws Eng., II. Pref. (1739), 3. Not one instance in all that Book is exclusive to the Commons.
1651. Baxter, Inf. Bapt., 105. Who dare think that the word [To such] is not rather inclusive as to them, then exclusive?
b. quasi-adv. (and adv.) So as to exclude; according to the exclusive mode of computation. (In the earlier instances the word is perh. the Lat. adv. exclūsīvē: cf. esp. quot. a. 1626.)
1515. in Pitcairn, Crim. Trials, I. *261. Fra the xiiij day forsaid inclusiue, to xx day of þe samyn exclusiue.
[a. 1626. Bacon, Jurisdict. Marches, Wks. 1740, IV. 133. The distinction of exclusivè and inclusivè is a distinction both in time and place.]
1679–88. Secr. Serv. Money Chas. & Jas. (Camden), 99. From 25th Decemb. last exclusive, to 29th Feb’ry following incl.
1724. Swift, Wks. (1778), III. 384. Nor do I know whether he reckons the dross exclusive or inclusive with his three hundred and sixty tons of copper.
1751. Chambers, Cycl., Exclusive … is also used adverbially: as … He sent him all the Gazettes, from No. 195 to No. 300 exclusive.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. iii. 24. The châlet … contained four men exclusive of myself and my guide.
¶ In 18th and early 19th c. exclusive of is often used where we should now say ‘irrespective of,’ ‘apart from (the question of),’ ‘not to speak of.’
a. 1766. Frances Sheridan, Sidney Bidulph (1767), V. 35. I … should (exclusive of any other reasons) have thought myself bound [etc.].
1792. Eliz. Percy, II. 101. He could not, exclusive of his moral character, escape the slur of villainy.
1825. R. P. Ward, Tremaine, II. xii. 118. I think I should like to know her, exclusive of having lost my way.
1832. Southey, Hist. Penins. War, III. 676. Exclusive of this, he said, existing circumstances did not permit the Emperor to refrain from interfering in the affairs of Spain.
II. Excluding all but what is specified.
5. Logic. Of propositions and particles: (see quots. 1864.)
1581. J. Bell, Haddon’s Answ. Osor., 111. Logicians … framyng a sounde & probable Argument from the proposition Exponent, to the Exclusiue.
1725. Watts, Logick, III. ii. § 4. 440. Exclusive Propositions will form a complex Argument; as; pious Men are the only Favourites of Heaven.
1864. Bowen, Logic, v. 135, note. The English Exclusive particles are, one, only, alone, exclusively, [etc.]. Ibid., v. 145. Exclusive Propositions limit the Predicate to this one Subject, thereby excluding it from every other Subject.
6. Of a monopoly or grant: Excluding all other persons from the rights conferred. Hence of a right, privilege, possession, quality, etc.: In which others have no share. Sc. Law: (see quot. 1861).
1767. T. Hutchinson, Hist. Prov. Mass., i. 129. The French claim … to an exclusive fishery upon the sea-coast.
1790. Burke, Fr. Rev., 20. Lest the king’s exclusive legal title should pass for a mere rant of adulatory freedom.
1810. Wellington, in Gurw., Disp., V. 488. They must be under the immediate and exclusive command of their own commanding officer.
1844. H. H. Wilson, Brit. India, III. 477. The right of exclusive trade with India, had been withdrawn from the Company.
1861. W. Bell, Dict. Law Scot., 354/1. Exclusive Privilege. This term is used in a limited acceptation to signify the rights and franchises of the nature of monopolies, formerly enjoyed by the incorporated trades of a royal burgh.
1885. L’pool Daily Post, 1 June, 5/2. It [the Daily News] … has, by the accuracy of its exclusive information, made its glib critics look very foolish.
b. Exclusively confined to. rare.
1804. J. Grahame, Sabbath, 450. Nor is regret exclusive to the old.
7. Of actions, sentiments, etc.: Strictly limited to the object or objects designated. Exclusive dealing: the practice of confining one’s custom to certain special tradesmen, esp. on political or ecclesiastical grounds.
1836. Dickens, Sk. Boz, Election for Beadle, 46. A threat of exclusive dealing was clearly established against the vestry clerk.
1883. H. Spencer, in Contemp. Rev., XLIII. 9. Exclusive devotion to work has the result that amusements cease to please.
8. Employed or followed to the exclusion of everything else; single, sole.
1790. Burke, Fr. Rev., 292. If he had been made the exclusive channel.
1862. Sir B. Brodie, Psychol. Inq., II. i. 5. But I do not see why these should be the exclusive studies of our schools.
1865. Tylor, Early Hist. Man., iv. 70. By no means the exclusive medium of thought.
1873. Mivart, Elem. Anat., ii. 58. The main or exclusive locomotive organ.
III. 9. Of a corporate body, government, class of society, social circle, etc.: Disposed to resist the admission of outsiders to membership or to intimacy of association. Hence of persons as members of such associations, their temper or principles.
1822. Hazlitt, Table-t., Ser. II. xvi. (1869), 312. The same exclusive and narrow-minded spirit (as that of Dissenters).
1826. Disraeli, Viv. Grey, I. II. xiv. 196. ‘But you know we can be exclusive.’
‘Exclusive! pooh! trash—talk to every body.’
1847. Emerson, Repr. Men, Montaigne, Wks. (Bohn), I. 336. The literary class is usually proud and exclusive.
1857. Max Müller, Chips (1880), I. x. 256. No religion … was more exclusive than that of the Brahmans.
1870. E. Peacock, Ralf Skirl., I. 162. An oligarchic government, as exclusive as that of the worst days of the Venetian Republic.
1878. Bosw. Smith, Carthage, 179. The strange animals and rich minerals … which had so enlarged the ideas … of the untravelled and exclusive Israelites.
B. sb.
1. An exclusive proposition or particle. Cf. A. 5.
1533. More, Debell. Salem, Wks. 943/1. This man hath a special insight in inclusiues & exclusiues, when he weneth yt in my words it wer included [etc.].
1579. Fulke, Heskins’ Parl., 174. The scriptures that say Christ is in heauen, speake without exclusiues, or exceptiues.
a. 1656. Vines, Lord’s Supp. (1677), 285. I will not now stand to prove the exclusive.
1864. Bowen, Logic, v. 145. These [Exponibles] are divided into Exclusives, Exceptives and Restrictives.
† 2. = exclusive voice (see A. 1; cf. It. exclusiva).
1599. Sandys, Europæ Spec. (1632), 147. Whereby having the Exclusive as they terme it; no Pope can be made but with his liking.
3. An exclusive person. Cf. A. 9.
1825. R. P. Ward, Tremaine, II. ii. 24. She came out, at once, and in full maturity of fastidiousness, a finished Exclusive.
1837. Lockhart, Scott (1839), VIII. 75. One by one, the other exclusives were seen engaged in a little tête-à-tête with her ladyship.
1867. Lydia M. Child, Rom. Repub., xxiii. 283. She used to be the most fastidious of exclusives.
