[a. F. localité, ad. late L. locālitātem, f. locālis LOCAL.]
1. The fact or quality of having a place, that is, of having position in space.
1628. Bp. Hall, Old Relig., vii. § 3. 69. It destroyes the truth of Christs humane bodie, in that it ascribes quantitie to it, without extension, without localitie.
1661. Blount, Glossogr., Locality, the being of a thing in a place.
1661. Glanvill, Van. Dogmatizing, xi. 100. That the Soul and Angels … they have nothing to do with grosser locality, is generally opinion’d.
1772–82. Mason, Eng. Gard., I. 181. Come then, thou sister Muse, from whom the mind Wins for her airy visions colour, form, And fix’d locality; sweet Painting, come.
1790. Han. More, Relig. Fash. World (1791), 34. The locality of Hell, and the existence of an Evil Spirit, are annihilated.
1855. H. Spencer, Princ. Psychol., VI. xiii. (1872), II. 174. Imagine a solitary point A, in space which has no assignable bounds; and suppose it possible for that point to be known by a being having no locality.
2. The fact of being local, in the sense of belonging to a particular spot. Also pl. local characteristics, feelings or prejudices. Obs.
1771. Mrs. Griffith, Hist. Lady Barton, I. 33. And now I talk of coaches, I have never set my foot in ours, since you left London: I begin to think that this is carrying the idea of locality too far, and will therefore order it to set me down at the play-house, this evening.
1791. Burke, Th. Fr. Affairs, Wks. 1802, IV. 14. These factions … weakened and distracted the locality of patriotism.
1802. A. Hamilton, Wks. (1886), VII. 246. The vast variety of humors, prepossessions and localities which, in the much diversified composition of these States, militate against the weight and authority of the General Government.
3. pl. The features or surroundings of a particular place. [So Fr. localité, ‘particularité ou circonstance locale’ (Littré).]
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, x. Owing to the height to which he was raised, and the depth of the vaulted archway, his eye could but indistinctly reach the opposite and external portal. It is necessary to notice these localities.
1832. G. Downes, Lett. Cont. Countries, I. 61. After nightfall we walked over to Sallenches. The localities about the bridge reminded me of Milltown in the County of Dublin.
4. a. The situation or position of an object; the place in which it is, or is to be found; esp. geographical place or situation, e.g., of a plant or mineral.
1836. Buckland, Geol. & Min., II. Index, Lignite, localities of. Ibid., Lituite, locality and character of.
1838. Hawthorne, Amer. Note-bks. (1883), 202. A blind man … feeling all around him with his cane, so as to find out his locality.
1850. Robertson, Serm., Ser. III. iv. (1872), 53. The anatomist can tell you that the localities of these powers are different.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., II. xiv. 303. He insists upon the power of the glaciers to mould themselves to their localities.
1894. H. Nisbet, Bush Girl’s Rom., 249. The reports that the police were sending down constantly, of his supposed locality and outrages.
b. A place or district, of undefined extent, considered as the site occupied by certain persons or things, or as the scene of certain activities.
1830. Lyell, Princ. Geol., I. 321. Pallas mentions that, in the same locality, opposite old Temruk, a submarine eruption took place in 1799.
1862. Stanley, Jew. Ch. (1877), I. xv. 291. The deliverer is to be sought in the locality nearest to the chief scene of the invasion.
1880. Haughton, Phys. Geog., iv. 185. The tremendous rainfall of the Khasi Hills, amounting in some localities … to 559 inches of annual rainfall.
5. Sc. † a. An assessment, tax, or levy, esp. one for the support of soldiers or other war-expenses. Obs.
1640. in Minute Bk. War Comm. Kirkcudbright (1855), 157. Desyering the said Committie to allot and allocate to thame … ane competent localitie, furthe of the redrest of thair said husbands’ rentes, goodes and geir, for aliment of thame and thair said childrene.
1659. in Clarke Papers (1901), IV. 161. We are in greate want of monies, to carry on our Locality, for coales and candle, all the six Companies beinge draune into the Cittadell.
1679. in W. McDowall, Hist. Dumfries, xxxvii. (1873), 426. Ane month’s locality for sixty horse.
1686. Corshill Baron-Court Book, in Ayr & Wigton Arch. Coll. (1884), IV. 172. James Bichet … persued Robert Lachlane and Johne Wyllie … for the 2 pairte pryce of ane seck,… lost by them in takeing localitie to sojouris with corne.
1687. Cameronian Soc. Let. to Friends, in Shield, Faithf. Contendings (1780), 301. Paying any of their wicked impositions, as Militia-money, Cess, Locality, or Fines.
Comb. 1685. J. Renwick, Serm. (1776), 151. Then shall cess payers and locality-payers be paid home.
b. ‘The apportioning of an increase of the parochial stipend on the landholders, according to certain rules’ (Jam.); the stipend as apportioned. Also short for decree of locality.
1664. in Morison, Decis. Crt. Session (1806), XXXIII. 14789. There being but a decreet of modification, and no locality, the Earl alleged locality should be first made.
a. 1768. Erskine, Instit., II. x. § 47 (1773), 359. Where a determinate quantity of stipend … is modified to a minister out of the tithes of the parish … the decree is called of modification: but where that quantum is also localled or proportioned among the different landholders liable in the stipend, it is styled a decree of modification and locality.
1870. in Cases Crt. Session, 3rd Ser. IX. 59. This was a process of augmentation, modification, and locality of the stipend of the parish of Cameron. In the locality … one of the heritors … objected to the interim scheme of locality prepared by the common agent, on the ground that [etc.].
1883. Ritchie, St. Baldred, 23 (E. D. D.). The Old Localitie, payable to the minister of Tyninghame, by way of minute.
c. (See quots.)
1807–8. R. Bell, Dict. Law Scot. (1815), s.v., The term locality is also applied to such lands as a widow has secured to her by her contract in liferent. These are said to be her locality lands.
1872. Bell’s Princ. Law Scot., § 1947 (ed. 6), 831. In the stipulations of a marriage contract these points are important—1. A provision by jointure, locality, etc., if accepted, discharges the claim of terce…. Locality is an appropriation of certain lands to the wife in liferent; her security depending on the completion of her right by infeftment duly recorded.
6. Law. Limitation to a county, district or place.
1768. Blackstone, Comm., II. xxiii. 384. The locality of trial required by the common law seems a consequence of the antient locality of jurisdiction. All over the world, actions transitory follow the person of the defendant, territorial suits must be discussed in the territorial tribunal.
7. Phrenol. The faculty of recognizing and remembering places.
1815. Spurzheim, Physiognom. Syst. (ed. 2), 364, xxiv. Organ of locality. Ibid., 368. This faculty measures distance, and gives notions of perspective: it makes the traveller, geographer and landscape-painter; it recollects localities and judges of symmetry. Hence it seems to me that it is the faculty of locality in general.
1875. E. C. Stedman, Victorian Poets, 187. To use the lingo of the phrenologists, his locality is better than his individuality.
8. Psychol. in phr. sense of locality (see quots.).
1888. Encycl. Brit., XXIII. 480/2. These investigations show not only that the skin is sensitive, but that one is able with great precision to distinguish the part touched. This latter power is usually called the sense of locality.
1889. Syd. Soc. Lex., Locality, sense of, the faculty of distinguishing the part of a sensory surface to which a stimulus is applied.
