Also 4–6 substaunce, (5 sobstans, 6 supstance). [a. OF. (mod.F.) substance (12th c.), ad. L. substantia, f. substans, -ant-, pr. pple. of substāre to stand or be under be present, f. sub- SUB- 2 + stāre to stand. Cf. OF. sustance, Pr. sustancia, It. sostanza, sustanza, -ia, Sp., Pg. su(b)stancia.
L. substantia was adopted as the representative of Gr. οὐσία in its various senses.]
1. Essential nature, essence; esp. Theol., with regard to the being of God, the divine nature or essence in respect of which the three Persons of the Trinity are one.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 9762. An-fald godd vndelt es he, And a substance wit-in þir thre.
a. 1325. Athan. Creed, 4, in Prose Psalter (1891), 194. Noiþer confoundand persons, ne departand þe substaunce. Ibid., 29. 195. He his God, of þe substaunce of þe fader biȝeten to-fore þe worldes; & man of þe substaunce of þe moder born in þe world.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, i. (Petrus), 403. In þis symon dwellis ay twa substance, þat is to wyt, of devel and man, to-gyddir knete.
1450–1530. Myrr. Our Ladye, 4. The glory of the blessyd endeles Trinite in onehed of substaunce and of Godhede.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 197. The pure substaune of god in his owne nature & deite.
1585. Dyer, Prayse of Nothing, Writ. (Grosart), 77. That substance, which we communicate with Angels, being created of nothing.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lii. § 3. In Christ therefore God and man there is a two-folde substance, not a two-folde person, because one person extinguisheth an other, whereas one nature cannot in another become extinct.
c. 1610. Women Saints, 173/11. [Arius] affirming the Sonne of god to be of inferiour substance to his Father.
1678. Cudworth, Intell. Syst., 601. That Essence or Substance of the Godhead, which all the Three Persons or Hypostases agree in.
1833. J. H. Newman, Arians, II. iv. (1876), 195. To protest … against the notion that the substance of God is something distinct from God Himself.
1860. Pusey, Min. Proph., 12. God giveth us of His Substance, His Nature,… making us partakers of the Divine Nature.
1876. Norris, Rudim. Theol., I. iv. 73. It is God’s nature to be one in substance, manifold (that is, threefold) in person.
2. Philos. A being that subsists by itself; a separate or distinct thing; hence gen., a thing, being.
1340. Ayenb., 112. [Supersubstantial bread] þet is to zigge: þet paseþ and ouergeþ alle substances and alle ssepþes be ver.
1382. Wyclif, Gen. vii. 4. I shal reyn vpon the erthe … and I shal do awey al substaunce the which Y made, fro the ouermost of the erthe.
1551. T. Wilson, Logic (1580), 33 b. A liuely bodie is a substaunce. Ergo, a man is a substaunce.
1599. Sir J. Davies, Nosce Teipsum, II. iii. 10. She [sc. the soul] is a substance, and a perfect being.
1616. R. C., Times’ Whistle, I. (1871), 8. God is an Essence intellectuall, A perfect Substance incorporeall.
1667. Milton, P. L., V. 408. Food alike those pure Intelligential substances require As doth your Rational. Ibid., VIII. 109. His Omnipotence, That to corporeal substances could adde Speed almost Spiritual.
1707. Oldfield, Ess. Impr. Reason, II. iii. 139. Minds, which are indiscerpible, are thinking Substances.
1725. Watts, Logic, I. ii. § 2. A Substance is a being which can subsist by itself, without dependence upon any other created being.
1818. Stoddart, Gram., in Encycl. Metrop. (1845), I. 8/1. We refer all our states of being to a substance called self.
1843. Mill, Logic, I. iii. § 6. Substances are usually distinguished as Bodies or Minds.
1868. Bain, Mental & Mor. Sci., App. 50. Mind being … expressed by the one attribute Thought (construed, however, as Thinking Substance), and … Body … summed up in the one attribute Extension (Extended Substance).
1876. Encycl. Brit., V. 143/1. The question whether the material and the thinking substance are one does not meet us at the outset.
1910. T. Case, in Encycl. Brit. (ed. 11), II. 510/2. The doctrine that all things are substances which are separate individuals, stated in the Categories, is expanded in the Metaphysics.
b. First (primary) substance, second (secondary, general) substance: see quots.
In scholastic L. substantia prima and substantia secunda, translating πρώτη οvσία and δευτέρα οὐσία (Aristotle Categ.).
1551. T. Wilson, Logic, C vj, The first substance is called euery singuler persone or propre name…. The second substance comprehendeth both the general worde, and the kinde also of euery singuler persone.
1628. T. Spencer, Logick, 129. The second substance: consisting in the Genus and Species.
1697. trans. Burgersdicius’ Logic, I. iv. 8. Substance is either first or Second. The First is a Singular Substance, or that which is not said of a Subject, as Alexander, Bucephalus. The Second … that which is said of a Subject, as Man, Horse.
1843. Mill, Logic, I. vi. § 2. The well known dogmas of substantiæ secundæ, or general substances.
1876. Encycl. Brit., V. 223/1. The first category is subdivided into … primary substance, which is defined to be … the singular thing in which properties inhere, and to which predicates are attached, and … genera or species which can be predicated of primary substances.
1903. W. Turner, Hist. Philos., 133. The first substance (οὐσία πρώτη) is the individual, which can neither exist in another nor be predicated of another. Second substance is the universal, which, as such, does not exist in another, but may be predicated of another.
3. Philos. That which underlies phenomena; the permanent substratum of things; that which receives modifications and is not itself a mode; that in which accidents or attributes inhere.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIX. cxvi. (1495), 920. Whan tweyne accidentes ben in one substaunce and subiecte: as colour and savour.
1402. in Pol. Poems (Rolls), II. 108. Thus leeveth not of the breed but oonli the licnesse which that abidith therinne noon substeyned substans.
1551. T. Wilson, Logic, C ij. The feare of God is an Accident, the soule is a Substaunce.
1606. Bryskett, Civ. Life, 116. The substance of euery thing is so called, by reason that it is subiect vnto accidents; neither can there be any accident (to which it is proper to be in some subiect) but it must fall into some substance.
1668. Wilkins, Real Char., II. i. 26. Such things as … require a subject of inhesion … are indeed nothing but the modes of Substance.
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., II. xxiii. § 2. The Idea … to which we give the general nane Substance, being nothing, but the supposed … support of those Qualities … which we imagine cannot subsist, sine re substante, without something to support them.
1762. Kames, Elem. Crit. (1774), II. App. 507. A being with respect to its properties or attributes is termed a subject, or substratum. Every substratum of visible qualities, is termed substance.
1781. Cowper, Anti-Thelyphth., 42. Substances and modes of ev’ry kind.
1838. [F. Haywood], trans. Kant’s Crit. Pure Reason, 174. The determinations of a substance, which are nothing else but its particular modes of existing, are termed accidents.
1872. Mahaffy, Kant’s Crit. Phil., I. 268. Thus the pure Category of substance is that which can only be subject—and not predicate.
1876. Encycl. Brit., V. 155/1. The independent substantiality of mind and matter is withdrawn, and they are reduced into attributes of the one infinite substance.
b. in transf. and allusive uses.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, IV. 1505. Þenk þat folye is whan man may chese For accident [h]is substaunce ay to lese. Ibid. (c. 1386), Pard. T., 17. Thise Cookes, how they stampe, and streyne and grynde And turnen substaunce in-to Accident.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 570. The Capteynes there, myndyng not to lease the more for the lesse, nor the substance for the accident.
1579. G. Harvey, Lett. to Spenser, in S.’s Wks. (1912), 639/2. Vertue, the onely immortall and suruiuing Accident amongst so manye mortall and euer-perishing Substaunces.
1598. Barckley, Felic. Man, VI. 568. Euill is no substance nor nature, but an accident that commeth to the substance.
1654. Z. Coke, Logick, 189. The causes are found out & put in substances, in respect of the Essence, Matter, and Form.
1790. Burke, Rev. France, 28. Not changing the substance, but regulating the mode.
c. with reference to the doctrine of the Real Presence in the Eucharist.
1546. Gardiner, Detect. Deuils Sophistrie, 14 b. The substaunce of bred, beyng conuerted into the naturall bodely substaunce of our sauioure [printed souioure] Christe.
1565. Harding, Answ. Jewel, 162 b. In this Sacrament after consecration there remayneth … onely the accidentes and shewes, without the substance of bread and wyne.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lxvii. § 10. How the wordes of Christ commaunding vs to eate must needes importe that as hee hath coupled the substance of his fleshe and the substance of bread together, so we together should receiue both.
1651. C. Cartwright, Cert. Relig., I. 131. It doth argue an extraordinary power in Christ to give his Flesh to eat, though there be no turning of the substance of the Bread in the Sacrament into the substance of his Flesh.
† 4. That which underlies or supports; a basis, foundation; a ground, cause. Obs.
1382. Wyclif, Heb. xi. 1. Feith is the substaunce of thingis to be hopid.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Nun’s Pr. T., 37. And wel I woot the substance is in me If any thyng shal wel reported be.
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 68. Nectanabus, which causeth al Of this metrede the substance. Ibid., 222. Ther is nothing Which mai be betre aboute a king, Than conseil, which is the substance Of all a kinges governance.
1577. trans. Bullinger’s Decades, I. iv. 30. The substance or hypostasis is the foundation, or the vnmoueable proppe, which vpholdeth vs.
1595. Locrine, I. i. 70. A greater care torments my verie bones, And makes me tremble at the thought of it, And in you, Lordings, doth the substance lie.
5. The matter, subject-matter, subject (of a study, discourse, written work, etc.).
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 10. Unto the god ferst thei besoughten As to the substaunce of her Scole, That thei ne scholden noght befole Her wit upon none erthly werkes, Which were ayein thestat of clerkes. Ibid., II. 84. Of bodies sevene in special With foure spiritz joynt withal Stant the substance of this matiere.
c. 1412. Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ., 1030. Lo, fadir, tolde haue I yow þe substance Of al my greef.
c. 1420. ? Lydg., Assembly of Gods, 1601. But forthe to shewe yow the substaunce Of thys matyr.
a. 1536. Songs, Carols, etc. (E.E.T.S.), 106. I dare not, for þer dissplesans, Tell of þes maters half the substance.
1561. T. Norton, Calvin’s Inst., title-p., Notes conteyning in briefe the substance of the matter handled in each section.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., IV. i. 32. Vnto your Grace doe I in chiefe addresse The substance of my Speech.
1600. J. Pory, trans. Leo’s Africa, App. 400. Out of the relations … of these two woorthy authors … we will deriue the whole substance of our speech.
1665. Boyle, Occas. Refl., III. v. 44. This, if I forget not, was the substance of the Occasional Meditation, suggested to me by the Storm.
1875. Encycl. Brit., I. 498/2. There are two Alexandrian schools, distinct both chronologically and in substance. The one is the Alexandrian school of poetry and science, the other the Alexandrian school of philosophy.
b. Contrasted with form or expression.
1780. Mirror, No. 80. Having thus done justice to the merit of those authors in point of substance, I proceed to shew their excellence in the composition and style of their productions.
1841. Myers, Cath. Th., III. § 8. 29. This influence we may believe to have extended sometimes to the very words of the Revelation, but far more often only to the substance of it.
1877. R. W. Dale, Lect. Preach., v. 118. The substance of our preaching has been given to us in a Divine revelation.
1888. Encycl. Brit., XXIII. 249. The doctrine of the Trinity is … one which … gives expression to the self-evidencing substance of revelation, and explains and supports religious experience.
† c. A subject-matter to be operated upon. Obs.
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 91. The hihe pourveance Tho hadde under his ordinance A gret substance, a gret matiere, Of which he wolde … These othre thinges make and forme.
6. That of which a physical thing consists; the material of which a body is formed and in virtue of which it possesses certain properties.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., VI. xx. (Bodl. MS.). Mete is a substaunce þat is able to be turned into þe substaunce of þe bodie þat is ifed.
1559. W. Cunningham, Cosmogr. Glasse, 43. The matter and substaunce of mans body.
1577. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 35. The soile and the seede … the lighter in substance, for profite the wurse.
1590. Sir J. Smythe, Disc. Weapons, 3 b. Swords of conuenient length, forme and substance, haue been in all ages esteemed by all warlike Nations.
c. 1600. Shaks., Sonn., xliv. 1. If the dull substance of my flesh were thought, Iniurious distance should not stop my way.
1613. Salkeld, Treat. Angels, 56. Angels haue somtimes beene knowne to eate … although they did not conuert the meate … into their owne substance.
1615. Crooke, Body of Man, 628. The substance of it is soft, loose, rare and like a Sponge.
1667. Milton, P. L., II. 356. What creatures there inhabit, of what mould, Or substance?
1668. Wilkins, Real Char., II. iv. 73. Stalk … of a woody substance…. Head or spike … having a soft downy substance.
1766. Blackstone, Comm., II. 4. It became necessary … to appropriate to individuals not the immediate use only, but the very substance of the thing to be used.
1829. Loudon, Encycl. Plants (1836), 1023. Epiphyllous scattered globular or subdepressed smooth pale at length black, Substance very corneous.
1846. Landor, Exam. Shaks., Wks. 1846, II. 265. Give a countryman a plough of silver and he will plough with it all the season, and never know its substance.
1859. FitzGerald, Omar, lxi. Surely not in vain My Substance from the common Earth was ta’en.
b. of incorporeal things.
c. 1340. Hampole, Prose Treat., viii. 15. By abowndance of charite þat es in þe substance of the saule.
c. 1384. Chaucer, H. Fame, II. 260. Euery spech that ys yspoken … In his substaunce ys but aire.
a. 1475. G. Ashby, Dicta Philos., 234. A kynge sholde take of his olde acquaintance, His familier seruauntes vertuous,… of Substance, Wele disposed, trewe, not malicious.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., I. iv. 99. Dreames … Begot of nothing, but vaine phantasie, Which is as thin of substance as the ayre.
1667. Milton, P. L., IV. 585. Hard thou knowst it to exclude Spiritual substance with corporeal barr.
1668. Wilkins, Real Char., I. i. 5. A great part of this Syriac tongue is for the substance of the words Chaldee, and Hebrew for the fashion.
1682. in Verney Mem. (1907), II. 311. I … am sorry that my Sonne should Be composed of such substance that nothing can shape Him for a Schollar.
1740. Cheyne, Regimen, 35. That spiritual Substance was analogous to Matter infinitely rarefied, refin’d or sublim’d.
1862. H. Spencer, First Princ., I. iii. § 20 (1875), 63. When, instead of the extent of consciousness, we consider its substance.
c. Fifth substance = QUINTESSENCE.
1561. [see QUINTESSENCE 1].
7. The matter or tissue composing an animal body, part or organ.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. v. (1495), g iv/1. The humour cristallinus [of the eye] … is rounde in shape & sastaunce [sic].
a. 1425. trans. Arderne’s Treat. Fistula, etc. 34. Þe quitour, þerfore, bigynne to lessen somwhat, and the bolnyng somwhat to cese, and þe colour and þe substaunce of þe skynne for to turne to his ovne naturel habitude.
1548. in Vicary’s Anat., v. (1888), 41. [Cheeks] not fat in substaunce, but meanely fleshly.
1667. Milton, P. L., VI. 657. Thir armor help’d their harm, crush’t in and brus’d Into thir substance pent.
1724. Blackmore, Treat. Consumptions, 9. An extraordinary Discharge of Flegmatick Matter,… while … the Substance of the Lungs remains sound.
1726. A. Monro, Anat. Bones, 31. Sinuses, large Cavities within the Substance of the Bones, with small Apertures.
1804. Abernethy, Surg. Obs., 178. Blood was discharged mixed with detached pieces of the substance of the brain.
1845. Budd, Dis. Liver, 347. Irregular dilatation of the sac, so as to form additional pouches in the substance of the liver.
b. The muscular tissue or fleshy part of an animal body.
1695. New Light Chirurg. put out, 23. Any Flesh-Wound where there is considerable loss of Substance.
1750. Lady Luxborough, Lett. to Shenstone, 13 May. My plaisters are already reduced from eight or nine to two only: one over my eye,… and one just above my knee, where the loss of substance (as they call it) makes it longer in curing.
1831. Youatt, Horse, 36. A three-fourth, or thoroughbred horse of sufficient substance and height.
1894. Nature’s Method in Evol. Life, iii. 45. The nervous system becomes highly strung,… and the muscles deficient in size, with a general want of what is known as ‘substance.’
† c. Bot. (See quots.) Obs.
1777. S. Robson, Brit. Flora, 15. Bullate, the substance of the leaf rising high above the veins, so as to appear like little blisters.
1793. Martyn, Lang. Bot., s.v. Substantia, The substance of a vegetable consists of the Epidermis or Cuticle, covering the Cortex or Outer Bark.
8. Any particular kind of corporeal matter.
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 89. Of man, of beste,… Of fissch, of foughl, of everychon That ben of bodely substance.
1541. R. Copland, Guydon’s Quest. Cyrurg., E iv. [The nose] is of thre substaunces, that is to wyt of substaunce flesshely, bony, and cartilagynous.
1644. Digby, Nat. Bodies, xiv. § 11. 123. Our designe requireth more maniable substances.
1668. Wilkins, Real Char., II. x. 259. Grain or some Vegetable, baked in a drier substance without any considerable mixture.
1774. Pennant, Tour Scot. in 1772, 169. The gills furnished with strainers of the substance of whalebone.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist., I. 75. This variety of substances, which compose the internal parts of our globe.
1802. Paley, Nat. Theol., v. § 3. 65. That sort of substance which we call animal substance, as flesh, bone, membrane, cartilage, &c.
1816. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 91. When a varnish of any kind is laid over a substance, to prevent it from absorbing water, some allowance should be made for such addition.
1827. Faraday, Chem. Manip., xix. (1842), 527. To perform the operation over a cloth or some other soft substance.
1839. Lindley, Introd. Bot. (ed. 3), 472. Corky…; having the texture of the substance called cork.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., II. v. 250. Thus, from the mixture of two perfectly transparent substances, we obtain an opaque one.
b. A species of matter of a definite chemical composition.
1732. Arbuthnot, Rules of Diet, iv. in Aliments, etc. 499. Substances abounding with volatile oily Salts.
1807. Simple substance [see PRIMARY a. 3 d].
1843. [see SIMPLE a. 13 a].
1856. Orr’s Circ. Sci., Mech. Philos., 2. By simple substances, we mean those which cannot be resolved by the chemist into any simpler elements: thus gold, silver, and iron are simple substances…. Copper, zinc, iron, and carbon are all considered elementary substances.
1864. Intell. Obs., No. 32. 93. A new substance … to which I gave the name Santoneine.
1876. Jrnl. Chem. Soc., I. 365. The saccharification of amylaceous substances.
c. Anat. and Zool. With qualifying word or phr. forming specific designations.
1815. J. Gordon, Syst. Hum. Anat., I. 40. Adipose substance.
1855. Dunglison, Med. Lex., White Substance of Schwann.
1870. W. S. Kent, in Ann. Nat. Hist., March, 217. The sarcodic substance lining all the interstitial cavities of the sponge.
9. A piece or mass of a particular kind of matter; a body of a specified composition or texture. Now rare.
c. 1595. Capt. Wyatt, R. Dudley’s Voy. W. Ind. (Hakl. Soc.), 56. In the night a substance of fyre resemblinge the shape of a fierie Dragon should fall into our sailes and theare remaine some quarter of an ower.
1668. Wilkins, Real Char., II. v. 133. That [fish] which hath … stringy substances on his head and back. Ibid. A very rough skin, with finny substances, standing out from each side like wings. Ibid., vi. 172. Thin broad substances, standing off from the body of the Fish.
1681. trans. Belon’s Myst. Physick, Introd. 32. Set the Water in a cold place, in a Glass Body, within eight Days, you will find a congealed Substance in the Bottom of the Vessel.
1725. Bradley’s Fam. Dict., s.v. White Honey-Charge, Continue boiling till the Roots and Herbs be reduced to a Mash … throwing away the gross Substance.
1726. Swift, Gulliver, III. i. 10. I … perceived a vast Opake Body between me and the Sun,… it appeared to be a firm Substance.
1799. Ht. Lee, Canterb. T., Wom. T., (ed. 2), I. 351. Throwing from him, without examination, some hard substance that incommoded him.
10. A solid or real thing, as opposed to an appearance or shadow. Also, reality.
1576. Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 281. The ignoraunce of the world is grosse & palpable: for, touching Nature their skill is but superficiall, and like a shadowe destitute of substaunce.
1588. Shaks., Tit. A., III. ii. 80. He takes false shadowes, for true substances.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., II. ix. 2. Full liuely is the semblaunt, though the substance dead.
1651. Hobbes, Leviathan, II. xxxi. 186. A Common-wealth, without Soveraign Power, is but a word, without substance.
1667. Milton, P. L., I. 529. With high words, that bore Semblance of worth not substance.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 27 Aug. 1667. One who kept up the forme and substance of things in the Nation.
1716. S. W., in Nelson’s Pract. True Devot. (1784), p. xvi. Taught how to take the mystic Bread and Wine, T’adore the Substance, nor neglect the Sign.
1784. Cowper, Task, IV. 527. The poet’s hand, Imparting substance to an empty shade, Impos’d a gay delirium for a truth.
1821. Byron, Sardanap., I. ii. 533. There needs too oft the show of war to keep The substance of sweet peace.
1836. Marryat, Japhet, lxiii. I would not lose the substance by running after shadows.
1856. Merivale, Rom. Emp., l. V. 580. A mere honorary title, and only a presage of the substance that was to follow.
1914. Daily Chron., 28 July, 6/3. The Austro-Hungarian communiqué … argues … that Servia conceded the shadows and withheld the substance.
b. Westminster School. An older pupil who is responsible for the proper conduct of a new boy, called his ‘shadow.’
1845. College & T. B. Life at Westm., 25 Oct. After my first week at School, I started altogether on my own account, my Substance then having nothing more to do with me.
1899. W. K. R. Bedford, Outcomes of Old Oxford, 85. Every neophyte was consigned to the tutelage of some boy already in the school … the shortcomings of the shadow, or tyro, were credited to the preceptor, or substance, and visited with penalties upon the latter.
11. What is embodied in a statement; the meaning or purport of what is expressed in writing or speech; what a writing or speech amounts to.
1415. Ld. Scrope, in 43rd Rep. Dep. Kpr. Publ. Rec., 590. Ilche worde y kan nought remembr bot for the most sobstans as nye os y kan thinke.
1415. in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. II. I. 47. Yf heny of thes persones … woldyn contrary ye substaunce of yat i have wretyn at zys tyme.
1481. Caxton, Myrr., II. xxv. 117. Yf ye wyl here and wel reteyne the mater and substaunce of this present booke.
1502. Ord. Crysten Men (W. de W., 1506), I. ii. A vj b. I shall put the substaunce of the latyn afore sayd in englysshe.
1576. Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 17. So farre as I gather by the substance of your letters, a certaine kinde of suspicion is signified.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., IV. i. 9. I haue receiu’d New-dated Letters from Northumberland: Their cold intent, tenure, and substance thus.
1612. Brinsley, Lud. Lit., xxii. (1627), 256. Learning is not so much seen, in setting downe the words, as the substance.
1653. H. Cogan, trans. Pinto’s Trav., lxxix. 321. All of them together, seeming to be Merchants sons,… sung in verse with a very sweet and melodious voyce, words of this substance, ‘High and mighty Lord’ [&c.]
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., I. ii. 3. But to come to the Substance of what is here intended.
1699. Bentley, Phal., 233. The substance of the Epigram imports, that Thespis was the first contriver of Tragedy.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 5 Aug. 1670. This is the substance of what she told me.
1794. Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, xxxi. Who repeated the substance of what had passed between Montoni and herself.
1805. A. Knox, Rem. (1834), I. 1. I hope … that, if any thing … appeared exceptionable, it was in manner and expression only, and not in the substance of my sentiments.
1837. B’ness Bunsen, in Hare, Life (1879), I. x. 461. The whole substance of his communications proved a state of vicious disorganization.
1861. G. C. Lewis, Lett. to Reeve, 9 April. You may rely on the substance of this story being quite authentic.
1867. Ruskin, Time & Tide, iii. § 9. The substance of what I said to them was this.
† b. The main intent or purpose. Obs. rare.
1606. Chapman, Gentl. Usher, IV. ii. To execute the substance of our mindes In honor’d nuptialls.
† 12. The vital part. Obs.
c. 1430. Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1903), 233. ‘The kingis sone,’ sche seide, ‘is deed, Þe ioie, þe substaunce of my lijfe.’
1588. Shaks., Tit. A., I. i. 374. Deare Father, soule and substance of vs all.
1605. 1st Pt. Jeronimo, I. iii. Come, my soules spaniell, my lifes ietty substance.
13. That which gives a thing its character; that which constitutes the essence of a thing; the essential part, essence.
c. 1585. [R. Browne], Answ. Cartwright, 55. To be able to teache is not of the substance of a minister, but onely of a lawful minister. Ibid., 56. If a man bee not a lawfull minister, hee hath no essence nor substance of a mynister.
1597. Morley, Introd. Mus., 96. Phi. What doe you call keeping the substance of a note? Ma. When in breaking it, you sing either your first or last note in the same key wherin it standeth, or in his eight.
1620. T. Granger, Div. Logike, 94. The essences, or substances of things are not here meant.
1790. Burke, Rev. France, 220. Miserable bigots … who hate sects and parties different from their own, more than they love the substance of religion.
1856. N. Brit. Rev., XXVI. 41. Modern thought, in its substance, is a congeries of all those refined theistic speculations, of all those baffled aspirations, of all those deep and distracting surmises.
1869. Mozley, Univ. Serm., ii. (1876), 39. It is sufficiently clear that these are not the substance of the character.
b. in legal use. (Cf. SUBSTANTIAL A. 5 b.)
1592. West, 1st Pt. Symbol., I. § 22. The substance of this contract consisteth in the thing solde, and in the price thereof.
1596. Bacon, Max. & Use Com. Law, I. (1630), 4. The intention is matter of substance. Ibid., xvi. 68. If a man bid one robbe I. S. as he goeth to Sturbridge-faire, and he robbe him in his house the variance seemes to be of substance.
a. 1623. Swinburne, Spousals (1686), 141. Resisting the Substance of Matrimony, it overthroweth the Contract.
1843–56. Bouvier, Law Dict. (ed. 6), II. 555/2. Substance, evidence. That which is essential; it is used in opposition to form.
† 14. The amount, quantity or mass (of a thing).
c. 1420. ? Lydg., Assembly of Gods, 764. When Vertew sy the substaunce of hys oost, He prayed all the comons to the felde hem hy.
a. 1500. in Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., Var. Coll. IV. 87. A vessaill called the Mighell of Brykelsey … in the whiche diuerse merchauntes of our Citie of London had goodes and merchandises to a grete value and substaunce.
c. 1500. Lancelot (S.T.S.), 1740. If … to the rich iftis of plesans, That thei be fair, set nocht of gret substans.
1520. Cov. Leet Bk., 675. What supstance of malt was then brewede within the Cyte wokly by the comyn brewers.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. V., 57 b. He found there innumerable substance of plate and money belongyng to the citizens.
1565. Wills & Inv. N. C. (Surtees, 1835), 244. Raffe Vasye … oweth me for all my … muke … the substance by estimac[i]on come to or will come to … two hundrethe futhers.
1596. Shaks., Merch. V., IV. i. 328. Be it so much As makes it light or heauy in the substance, Or the deuision of the twentieth part Of one poore scruple.
† 15. The greater number or part, the majority, mass or bulk of. Obs.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, IV. 217. It moste ben and sholde. For substaunce of þe parlement it wolde.
1435. Cov. Leet Bk., 185. That the maiour call the substance of the Crafte of Carpynters and sett hem to-geþer as one felawshipe.
1462. J. Russe, Lett. to J. Paston, Sept. The substaunce of jentilmen and yemen of Lodyngland be assygned to be afore the seyd commesyoners.
1507. in Leadam, Sel. Cases Star Chamber (Selden Soc.), 259. Robert … hath ered great substans of the ground of your seid besechers.
1512. Act 4 Hen. VIII., 1 § 1. The said Countie [sc. Cornwall] is thre score and ten myle in lenght and the substaunce therof right litle more than six myle in brede.
1550–3. Decaye Eng., in S. Fish, Supplic. (1871), 96. Many of them doeth kepe the most substaunce of theyr landes in theyr owne handes.
1552–3. Act 7 Edw. VI., c. 12. The Kynges Majesties Treasure … waasted, the greate Substaunce of the Moneyes molted and altered in bayse coyne.
b. Sum († summary) and substance: see SUM sb., SUMMARY sb.
16. Possessions, goods, estate; means, wealth. arch. (chiefly as a reminiscence of biblical language).
13[?]. Cursor M., 9538 (Gött.). Of his substance he gaf ilkan, And ilkan gaf he substance an.
1382. Wyclif, Prov. iii. 9. Honoure the Lord of thi substaunce. Ibid. (1382), Luke xv. 13. He wastide his substaunce in lyuynge leccherously.
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 6595. Yit shulde he selle alle his substaunce And with his swynk haue sustenaunce.
c. 1430. Lydg., Min. Poems (Percy Soc.), 135. Abel … Gaff God his part, tethe of his substaunce.
1466. Paston Lett., Suppl. 108. I truste I am of that substans that, what soever caswelte fortunyd, yourre maistresship shuld not lese on pene of yourre dute.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, lxxxviii. 7. London, thou art of townes A per se…. Of merchauntis full of substaunce and myght.
c. 1520. Skelton, Magnyf., 1445. Take of his Substance a sure inuentory.
1535. Coverdale, Job i. 3. His substaunce was vij. M. shepe, iij. M. camels, v. C. yock of oxen, v. C. she asses, and a very greate housholde. Ibid. (1535), Ps. xvii. 14. They haue children at their desyre, and leaue the rest of their substaunce for their babes.
1590. Shaks., Com. Err., I. i. 24. Thy substance, valued at the highest rate, Cannot amount vnto a hundred Markes.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 206. They will hazard all their worth … and other substance.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 3 Nov. 1685. Innumerable persons of the greatest birth and riches leaving all their earthly substance.
1794. Wordsw., Guilt & Sorrow, xxvi. My father’s substance fell into decay.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., ii. I. 156. A fortune raised out of the substance of the ruined defenders of the throne.
† b. With a: An amount of wealth, a fortune; pl. riches, possessions. Obs.
13[?]. [see sense 16].
1382. Wyclif, Ecclus. xli. 1. Hauende pes in his substaunces [1383 richessis]. Ibid. (1382), Acts ii. 45. Thei selden possesciouns and substaunces. Ibid. (1382), Heb. x. 34. Knowynge ȝou for to haue a betere and dwelling substaunce.
1487. Act 3 Hen. VII., c. 2. Wymmen … havyng substaunces somme in goodes moveable, and somme in landes and tenements.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., Pref. 5 b. Whose brother for the education of youth in true Religion & learning, imploied a wonderful substaunce.
1731–9. Tull, Horse-Hoeing Husb. (1822), 154. A small substance.
† 17. a. A supply or provision of. Obs.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 1560. Iason weddit was Vn-to this queen & tok of it substaunce What so hym leste onto his puruyaunce.
c. 1412. Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ., 4909. If a man, in tyme of swich a nede, Of his goode ȝeue yow a goode substaunce.
1515. in Leadam, Sel. Cases Star Chamber (Selden Soc.), II. 79. The said Towne [was] then in better substaunce of goodis good ordre and rule then it is nowe.
1535. Coverdale, Eccl. ii. 7. As for catell and shepe, I had more substaunce of them, then all they yt were before me.
† b. Maintenance, subsistence. Obs.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 67. Sees gendren manye fischis to substaunce of mankynde.
1502. Ord. Crysten Men (W. de W., 1506), I. iii. C ij. It is not gyuen to hym for substaunce or refeccyon corporell.
a. 1513. Fabyan, Chron., VI. clxx. (1811), 164. All thynges … were than more wasted in glotony, and outrage of owners, than in substaunce and ayde of nedy men.
† 18. Substantial existence, substantiality. Obs.
c. 1366. Chaucer, A. B. C., 87. As j seide erst þou ground of oure substaunce Continue on us þi pitous eyen cleere.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 135. To gyue substance to priuation, (that is) beinge to noo beinge.
1628. [see SUBSISTENCY 3].
19. Substantial or solid qualities, character, etc.
c. 1430. Wyclif’s Bible, Prol. I. 58. Symple men, that wolden for no good in erthe … putte awei … the leste … title, of holi writ, that berith substaunce, either charge.
1559. Q. Eliz., in Strype, Ann. Ref. (1709), I. II. 414. Dyvers reasons which appeare unto me to have in them small substance.
1581. Rich, Farew. (1846), 259. Knowyng her housebande to be a man of no verie greate substaunce, and but slenderly stuffed in the hedpeece.
1858. Hawthorne, Fr. & It. Note-bks. (1871), I. 221. Neither rulers nor people had any faith or moral substance.
1863. Kinglake, Crimea (1876), I. 117. This fact gave great strength and substance to the pretensions of Russia.
b. That which makes a material firm, solid and hard-wearing.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Loom & Lugger, I. ii. 21. You must learn from the French to give your fabrics more substance.
Mod. There’s hardly any substance in this material.
† 20. The consistency of a fluid. Obs.
c. 1450. Mirk’s Festial, 166/9. Take hede on watyr, and on yse, and on snow; how þay ben ych on dyverse in substance, and ȝet þay ben but watyr.
1541. R. Copland, Guydon’s Quest. Cyrurg., R j. Whan it [sc. blood] is drawen, consydre the substance and the colour yf it be so as is abouesayde.
1799. G. Smith, Laboratory, I. 207. Give it the substance of thin paste.
21. In substance. a. In reality.
1390. Gower, Conf., II. 87. To receive Bothe in substance and in figure Of gold and selver the nature.
1667. Milton, P. L., XI. 771. Hee the future evil shall no less In apprehension then in substance feel Grievous to bear.
1785. Burke, Sp. Nabob of Arcot’s Debts, Wks. 1842, I. 339. The nabob of Arcot, and rajah of Tanjore, have, in truth and substance, no more than a merely civil authority. Ibid. (1793), On policy of Allies, Wks. 1842, I. 601. We know that the monarchy did not survive the hierarchy, no not even in appearance, for many months; in substance, not for a single hour.
† b. In general; generally speaking. (In ME. poetry used, esp. by Lydgate, as a metrical tag.)
c. 1407. Lydg., Reason & Sens., 645. In especial ther be tweyne, And thou mayst chesen, in substaunce, Whiche ys most to thy plesaunce. Ibid., 894. And fynaly, as in substaunce, Do as the lyst, lo, this the ende. Ibid. (1426), De Guil. Pilgr., 5881. Yt behoueth in sentence, That the fulfyllyng in substaunce To the fulle haue suffysaunce.
c. 1440. Generydes, 1968. Now haue I here rehersid in substaunce xv kynges, As shortly as I myght, With ther powre and All ther hoole puysaunce.
1447. Rolls of Parlt., V. 129/2. In whos kepyng the Bokes, suretees and godes in substaunce holy remaigne.
† c. In the main, for the most part. Obs.
1475. Rolls of Parlt., VI. 151/1. The which forseid xth part, and xve and xe … been in substaunce levied and paied.
a. 1500. Bale’s Chron., in Six Town Chron. (1911), 119. And the hertes of the comones in substance wer wt þe Erle; And a geinst the seid priour.
d. In essentials, substantially.
1491. Act 7 Hen. VII., c. 22. Preamble, All whiche matiers afore rehercid is by the seid John Hayes in substaunce confessed and knowleged.
1581. in D. Digges, Complete Ambass. (1655), 440. She used in substance the like speeches the King had done.
1687. A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., II. 106. The Religion of the Persians is in substance the same with that of the Turks.
1737. Gentl. Mag., VII. 662. To this it was replied in Substance as follows.
1821. T. Jefferson, Writ. (1830), IV. 344. I may misremember indifferent circumstances, but can be right in substance.
1857. Keble, Euch. Ador., ii. 26. Whitgift … adds, in substance, the same account of it.
1908. Progr. Modernism, 118. These are, in substance, our ideas upon the origin of religion.
e. In effect, virtually.
1834. H. Taylor, Artevelde, I. I. ii. Think well What you should say; for if it must be ‘no’ In substance, you shall hardly find that form Which shall convey it pleasantly.
† f. In a pure or unmixed state, in the natural state. (Cf. F. en substance.) Obs.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., I. ii. II. iii. 102. Theophrastus speakes of a Shepheard that could eat Hellebor in substance. Ibid., II. i. IV. ii. 303.
† g. ? Real, substantial. Obs.
1649. Milton, Tenure of Kings, 4. When the Common wealth nigh perishes for want of deeds in substance, don with just and faithfull expedition.
22. Of (…) substance: a. (often of good or great substance) Substantial, well-to-do, wealthy. (Cf. OF. de substance.)
1480. Cov. Leet Bk., 435. The Comien Counceill of þe Cite & other persones of substaunce.
1496. in Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., Var. Coll. IV. 211. Suche inhabitantes of grete substans.
a. 1508. Dunbar, Tua Mariit Wemen, 337. That syre of substance.
1528. More, Dyaloge, III. xv. Wks. 235/1. A very honest person, & of a good substaunce.
1660. South, Serm., Matt. xiii. 52 (1727), IV. 11. A Man of Substance and Sufficiency.
1681. Pennsylvania Arch., I. 38. Men of substance and reputation.
1840. Thackeray, Catherine, xxii. Hayes’s father was reported to be a man of some substance.
1869. Blackmore, Lorna D., i. My father being of good substance, at least as we reckon in Exmoor.
1889. Jessopp, Coming of Friars, ii. 70. [He] was a man of substance and influence.
† b. Of immaterial things: Substantial, weighty.
c. 1400. Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton, 1483), IV. xxxiii. 82. The hygher that he is sette in estate the more shold his wordes be of substaunce and moost of reputacion.
a. 1456. Ld. Cromwell, in Paston Lett., III. 425. There is a greet straungenesse betwix my right trusty frend John Radcliff and you, withoute any matier or cause of substaunce, as I am lerned.
1509. Fisher, Funeral Serm. C’tess Richmond, Wks. (1876), 291. Tryfelous thynges that were lytell to be regarded she wolde let passe by, but the other that were of weyght & substaunce [etc.].
† c. Of a meal: Sumptuous. Obs.
c. 1485. Digby Myst. (1882), III. 574. I haue ordeynnyd a dyner of substawns, My chyff freyndes þerwith to chyr.
23. Comb., as substance-yielding ppl. adj.
1611. Cotgr., Substantifique, substantiell, or substance-yeelding.
