Qualified

ppl. a. [f. QUALIFY v. + -ED¹.]

  I.  † 1. In predicative use: Furnished with, possessed of (certain) qualities. Obs.

1596.  Shaks., Tam. Shr., IV. v. 66. She is … so qualified as may beseeme The Spouse of any noble Gentleman.

1603.  Knolles, Hist. Turks (1638), 158. A certaine Gentlewoman … more honourably borne, than honestly qualified.

1665.  J. Webb, Stone-Heng (1725), 45. All Stones are not Qualified alike; some are hard … some soft.

1681.  Dryden, Abs. & Achit., 75. The moderate sort of men, thus qualified, Inclined the balance to the better side.

  † b.  Attributively: Possessed of good qualities; accomplished, perfect. Obs.

1592.  Nashe, P. Penilesse (ed. 2), 25 b. The fine qualified Gentleman … should carie it clean away from the lazie clownish droane.

1598.  R. Bernard, trans. Terence (1607), 286. Such a qualified yong gentleman.

1656.  Finett, For. Ambass., 238. Reverenced amongst them for his … descent from a race of qualified saints.

a. 1700.  B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Qualified, Accomplisht Statesman, Soldier, Scholar.

  2.  Endowed with qualities, or possessed of accomplishments, which fit one for a certain end, office or function; fit, competent.

  a.  In predicative use: const. for († in), or to with inf.

1589–92.  in Wodrow Soc. Misc. (1844), 535. Gif he beis fundin hable, meit, and sufficientlie qualifeit thairfoir.

1605.  Shaks., Lear, I. iv. 37. That which ordinary men are fit for, I am qualified in.

1665.  Boyle, Occas. Refl., I. vii. (1848), 89. Him that is qualify’d for such Employments.

1719.  De Foe, Crusoe, II. xiii. (1840), 274. A government qualified only to rule such a people.

1755.  J. Mills trans. Crevier’s Rom. Emp., I. 107. That great man, equally qualified for war or peace.

1845.  Sarah Austin, Ranke’s Hist. Ref., III. 83. A commune was not qualified to dispute concerning things of this kind.

1863.  Lyell, Antiq. Man, 33. In every way highly qualified for the task.

  b.  Used attributively.

1558.  Q. Kennedy, in Wodrow Soc. Misc. (1844), 152. Than sulde be qualifeit men in all the estaitis of the kirk.

1693.  Capt. G. St. Lo (title), England’s Safety … proposing a sure method for … raising qualified Seamen for the manning their Majesties Fleet.

1849.  Cobden, Speeches, 86. I have heard qualified persons say, that the … police there, are the finest armed and drilled men in Ireland.

1865.  Lightfoot, Galatians (1874), 72. I am … a qualified witness of his resurrection.

1880.  C. R. Markham, Peruv. Bark, 93. The plan … was to make a collection of plants and seeds … through the instrumentality of qualified agents.

  3.  Legally, properly, or by custom, capable of doing or being something specified or implied.

1559.  Q. Kennedy, in Wodrow Soc. Misc. (1844), 267. That I was nocht qualifiet to ressone with Willok, because … I wes bot ane meyne man in our estait.

1656.  in Gross, Gild Merch. (1890), II. 267. Sundry Persons not being qualified according to the said Custome.

1702.  Lond. Gaz., No. 3839/4. The next winning Horse that is duly qualified to run for this Plate.

1777.  Sheridan, Sch. Scand., II. ii. No person should be permitted to kill characters … but qualified old maids.

1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., viii. II. 292. The king … had no right to force on them even a qualified candidate.

  b.  Eccl. Entitled to hold two benefices at once (Minsheu, Ductor, 1617: cf. QUALIFY v. 4, quot. 1667).

  4.  Belonging to the upper classes of society; ‘of quality.’ Obs. exc. dial.

1604.  E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, V. xix. 380. If any Indian qualified, or of the common sorte were sicke.

1608.  Willet, Hexapla Exod., 481. These personall wrongs are … of persons not qualified but of common and ordinarie persons.

1703.  Rules of Civility, 116. If … you be behind, and must pass after the qualify’d Person.

1886.  Cheshire Gloss., Qualified, in good circumstances. A rich man would be said to be qualified.

  II.  5. Limited, modified or restricted in some respect; spec. in qualified acceptance, endorsement, estate, fee (see quot. 1818), negative, oath, property.

1599.  Life More, in Wordsw., Eccl. Biog. (1853), II. 130. Delivering this qualified answer to the Kinge.

1635.  Swan, Spec. M., vi. § 2 (1643), 196. If it be taken in a qualified sense, it is not much amisse.

1746.  Hervey, Medit. (1818), 205. Every object, a little while ago, glared with light; but now all appears under a more qualified lustre.

1769.  Blackstone, Comm., IV. 235. Animals, in which there is no property either absolute or qualified.

1818.  Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), I. 79. Where an estate limited to a person and his heirs has a qualification annexed to it, by which it is provided that it must determine whenever that qualification is at an end; it is then called a qualified or base fee.

1860.  Mill, Repr. Govt. (1865), 1/2. Unfit for more than a limited and qualified freedom.

1891.  E. Peacock, N. Brendon, II. 432. Narcissa gave a qualified reply.

  Hence Qualifiedly adv., in a qualified fashion; Qualifiedness, the state of being qualified.

1675.  J. Smith, Chr. Relig. App., I. 23. Cæsar had nothing to commend him to the Electors, but his qualifiedness for that function, by the worth of his parts.

1858.  H. Bushnell, Serm. New Life, 308. A force independent and qualifiedly sovereign.

1865.  J. Grote, Treat. Mor. Ideas, vii. (1876), 98. We cannot be truthful as we may be benevolent, less or more, or qualifiedly.