[as if ad. L. *exhaustiōn-em, n. of action f. exhaurīre: see EXHAUST v. Cf. F. exhaustion.] The action of exhausting; the state of being exhausted.
1. The action or process: a. of drawing out or forth, esp. air; b. of emptying of contents; the condition of being emptied.
1661. Boyle, Spring of Air, III. xx. (1682), 80. Upon the exhaustion of the air incumbent on the water [etc.].
1800. Vince, Hydrostat., viii. (1806), 82. You make a more perfect exhaustion by the other method.
1881. Spottiswoode, in Nature, No. 623. 550. In the next tube the exhaustion has been carried further.
c. spec. (Steam-Engine) The discharge of waste steam from the cylinder; cf. EXHAUST sb. 1 a. Also attrib.
1782. Specif. Watt’s Patent No. 1321. 5. The regulating valve is then to be shut and the exhaustion regulating valve is opened.
1824. ‘R. Stuart,’ Hist. Steam Engine, 107. The exhaustion-cock was shut, the steam was readmitted into the cylinder, and the operation was repeated.
1848. E. Alban, Steam Engine, 57. The exhaustion openings are usually made much too small.
1849. Specif. Unwin’s Patent No. 12,410. 2. This improved method of clearance or exhaustion is applied to an engine suitable for locomotive purposes.
2. The action or process of consuming or using up completely.
1831. R. Knox, Cloquet’s Anat., p. v. The rapid sale and exhaustion of that work.
1881. Sir W. Thomson, in Nature, No. 619. 449. This exhaustion [of heat] would not be complete until the absolute zero of temperature was reached.
3. The state of being exhausted of strength, energy, etc.; extreme loss of strength.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., III. xxi. 163. There ensueth no destructive exhaustion.
1651. Reliq. Wotton. (1672), 334. Great exhaustions cannot be cured with sudden remedies.
1793. Beddoes, Calculus, etc. 175. In the state of temporary exhaustion the fibre loses its tone.
1854. H. Miller, Sch. & Schm. (1858), 253. Lacking in their utter exhaustion strength for fighting and breath for scolding.
1877. Erichsen, Surg., I. 11. Exhaustion … is an occasional cause of death after severe operations.
b. The draining (anything) of valuable properties; the condition of being so drained.
1813. Sir H. Davy, Agric. Chem., viii. (1814), 359. When cattle are fed upon land not benefited by their manure, the effect is always an exhaustion of the soil.
c. Chem. (See quots.)
1874. W. Crookes, Dyeing & Calico-Printing, 32. The precipitate from the alkaline extract of cotton, after exhaustion with boiling alcohol, was, without being previously dried, dissolved in dilute caustic soda-lye.
1884. Syd. Soc. Lex., Exhaustion, In Pharmacy, the term is applied to any process, such as percolation, whereby the active constituents of a drug are removed in solution, leaving it exhausted.
4. Exhaustive enumeration or treatment; cf. EXHAUST v. 2 c, 4.
1868. Gladstone, Juv. Mundi, iii. (1869), 96. The … lists are presented, by way, not of exhaustion, but of example.
5. a. gen. The process of establishing the correctness of a hypothesis by ‘exhausting’ all the other conceivable hypotheses relating to the question; the process of arriving at a conclusion by the successive elimination of unsuitable alternatives.
fig. 1877. Owen, in Wellesley’s Disp., p. xxxvi. By a process of exhaustion, the specific gravity of the inefficient would gradually deposit them below their betters.
b. Math. Method of exhaustions: (See quot. 1730–6.)
1685. J. Wallis, Treat. Algebra, lxxiii. 280. It will be necessary to premise somewhat concerning (what is wont to be called) the Method of Exhaustions.
1730–6. Bailey (folio), Exhaustions (in Mathematics) a way of proving the equality of two magnitudes by a reductio ad absurdum; shewing that if one be supposed either greater or less than the other, there will arise a contradiction.
1881. Routledge, Science, ii. 37. The method of exhaustions … is only an application of the general principle of limits.
1884. Merz, Leibniz, I. iii. 49. The method of exhaustions … in which the area of a surface enclosed by a curve is found by inscribing polygons of an increasing number of sides.
