[ad. med.L. quālificātio, n. of action from quālificāre: see QUALIFY and -ATION, and cf. F. qualification (1573 in Godef., Compl.).] The action of qualifying; the condition or fact of being qualified; that which qualifies.
1. Modification, limitation, restriction; a modifying or limiting element or circumstance.
1543–4. Act 35 Hen. VIII., c. 5 (Title). An acte concerning the qualification of the statute of the syxe articles.
1651. Baxter, Inf. Bapt., 190. There can be no true closing with Christ in a promise that hath a qualification or condition expressed.
1756. Burke, Subl. & B., I. iv. The removal or qualification of pleasure has no resemblance to positive pain.
1845. Encycl. Metrop., X. 776. There is however some qualification to be admitted in this general statement.
1891. Law Times Rep., LXIII. 765/1. The defendants were liable as principals, as they had contracted in their own names without any qualification.
† 2. The determining or distinctive quality of a person or thing; condition, character, nature. Obs.
1604. Shaks., Oth., II. i. 282. Out of that will I cause these of Cyprus to Mutiny. Whose qualification shall come into no true taste againe, but by the displanting of Cassio.
a. 1674. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., XII. § 11. The commissioners … notwithstanding their qualification … were imprisoned by the Parliament.
1745. De Foe’s Eng. Tradesman, Introd. (1841), I. 3. Having thus described … the English Tradesman, it is needful to inquire into his qualification.
† 3. A quality, attribute or property (of). Obs.
1669. Gale, Crt. Gentiles, I. III. x. 107. Plato laies down as qualifications of true Oratorie [etc.].
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 435, ¶ 7. Liveliness and Assurance are … the Qualifications of the French Nation.
1719. London & Wise, Compl. Gard., 118. The useless Branches, whether it be because they are worn or spent, or because they have no good Qualifications.
1799. I. Milner, in Life, xi. § 18 (1842), 194. Whatever may be their views of justifying faith, that is, whether they think it consists in qualifications or in appropriation.
† b. An accomplishment. Obs.
1715. Sir J. Clerk, Mem. (1895), 87. I thought it would be an additional Qualification to him that he understood the English Language.
1785. Paley, Mor. Philos. (1818), I. 70. The pleasures of grown persons … founded like music, painting, &c. upon any qualification of their own acquiring.
1796. Jane Austen, Sense & Sens. (1849), 161. Every qualification is raised at times … to more than its real value; and she was sometimes worried down … to rate good-breeding as more indispensable to comfort than good-nature.
† 4. The action of qualifying, or process of being qualified (for a position, etc.); also, the result of this action or process. Obs.
1589–92. in Wodrow Soc. Misc. (1844), 535. Being informit of the qualification, literature, and gude conversation of … N.
1659. Pearson, Creed (1839), 303. The death of Christ [was] necessary … in reference to the Priest himself … both in regard of the qualification of himself, and consummation of his office.
1665. Bunyan, Holy Citie, 6. I must speak a word or two concerning John’s qualification, whereby he was enabled to behold … this City.
5. A quality, accomplishment, etc., that qualifies or fits a person for some office or function.
1669. Dk. York, in Pepys’ Diary (1879), VI. 111. Besides his general qualifications for that trust.
1765. Foote, Commissary, I. Wks. 1799, II. 15. A qualification for a canon of Strasbourg.
1779. Burke, Corr. (1844), II. 276. Even a failure in it [law] stands almost as a sort of qualification for other things.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xii. III. 242. This vehement hatred of Popery was … the first of all qualifications for command.
1873. Hamerton, Intell. Life, I. vii. (1875), 37. Even to taste and smell properly, are most important qualifications for the pursuit of literature, art, and science.
b. absol.
1818. Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), III. 27. The bishops are still in law the judges of the qualifications of those who are presented to them.
1861. M. Pattison, Ess. (1889), I. 37. The preceptor … whatever his other qualifications may have been, had not earned his promotion by his Latin style.
1882. Miss Braddon, Mt. Royal, I. i. 29. A sturdy truthfulness was one of her best qualifications.
6. A necessary condition, imposed by law or custom, that must be fulfilled or complied with before a certain right can be acquired or exercised, an office held, or the like.
1723. Act of Pennsylvania, Every brewer … shall be qualified by oath … which said qualification shall be taken by all persons who brew … for sale.
1765. Blackstone, Comm., I. ii. 171. The true reason of requiring any qualification, with regard to property, in voters.
1819. Mackintosh, Parl. Suffrage, Wks. 1846, III. 215. A representative assembly, elected by a low uniform qualification.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 440. A law which fixes a sum of money as the qualification of citizenship.
b. A document attesting that a person is qualified.
1748. Smollett, Rod. Rand., xviii. I carry my qualification to the Navy-office. [Ibid. We must deliver our letters of qualification at the Navy-office before one a-clock.]
7. The act of determining the quality or nature of a thing; spec. a. The determining whether a book or proposition merits theological censure as heretical. Cf. QUALIFICATOR.
1826. Blackw. Mag., XX. 336. His Catechism and other works were submitted for qualification to Melchior Cano, his denouncer.
b. Logic. The expression of quality, or the distinction of affirmative and negative, in a proposition. (Cent. Dict., 1891.)
8. attrib. and Comb., as qualification-ticket; qualification shares, shares that one must hold in order to be qualified for a directorship of a company.
1797. Sporting Mag., IX. 100. A gentleman … applied … for a qualification-ticket.
1899. Daily News, 28 March, 8/3. The money had been given on account of that gentleman’s qualification shares.
Hence Qualificationless a., having no qualification.
1898. Westm. Gaz., 16 Dec., 8/3. The new Bill evidently contemplated the possibility of qualificationless directors.
