Suppression

[ad. L. suppressio, -ōnem, n. of action f. suppress-, supprimĕre to SUPPRESS. Cf. F. suppression (15th c.).]

  1.  The action of putting down, as by power or authority; a. a practice or custom, a proceeding or movement, etc.; occas. † the quenching (of fire).

1528.  More, Dyaloge, IV. Wks. 250/2. He magnifyeth baptisme but to the supression of penance & of al good liuing.

1551.  T. Wilson, Logic (1580), 48 b. The first suppression of the Popes whole power.

1574.  Homilies, II. Agst. Rebell., 617 (heading), The suppression of the last rebellion.

1607.  Chapman, Bussy d’Ambois, IV. i. 168. My love (Like to a fire disdaining his suppression) Rag’d being discourag’d.

1658.  T. Wall, Charact. Enemies Ch., 42. To read their own shame in the suppression of mischief fruitlessly attempted.

1737.  in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. I. 267. The Suppression of Play-houses.

1776.  Adam Smith, W. N., II. i. I. 392. The suppression of twenty shilling notes, would probably relieve it [sc. the scarcity of gold and silver].

1825.  Jefferson, Autobiog., Wks. 1859, I. 71. The result was … suppression of corvees, reformation of the gabelles.

1828.  Scott, F. M. Perth, ix. The extension of the dominion and the wealth of the church, and the suppression of heresy.

  attrib.  1806.  Surr, Winter in Lond., III. 199. These suppression chaps intend to enforce the penal statute, and compel us to go to church!

1902.  Westm. Gaz., 2 July, 2/1. In favour of a rigorous suppression policy.

  b.  persons or communities.

1570–6.  Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1826), 225. A Monasterie … which (in the late … generall suppression) was found to be of the yeerly value of an hundreth and twenty pounds.

1590.  Sir J. Smyth, Disc. Weapons, 35 b. After that victorie and suppression of the Rebels.

1625.  in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. I. III. 206. A farther suppression of all Popish Recusants and disinheriting of them.

1784.  W. Strickland, in B. Ward, Dawn Cath. Revival (1909), I. 78. On the suppression of the Society of Jesus.

c. 1868.  G. Pryme, Autobiog. Recoll., xv. 231. An Irish Act of Parliament for the suppression of ‘Rapparees, Tories, and other Robbers.’

1888.  Gasquet, Hen. VIII. & Eng. Monast., I. 86. They turned out the agents engaged on the suppression [sc. of monasteries], and reinstated the canons.

  c.  Withholding or withdrawal from publication; prevention or prohibition of the circulation of a book or writing.

a. 1700.  Evelyn, Diary, 19 Aug. 1674. The noise of this book’s suppression made it presently be bought up.

1736.  Pope, Lett. to Mr. Allen, 5 June. The only use to my own character, as an Author of such a publication, would be the suppression of many things.

  2.  The action of keeping secret; refusal to disclose or reveal; also, the leaving of something unexpressed.

1728.  Chambers, Cycl., Suppression, in Grammar, an Omission of certain Words in a sentence, which yet are necessary to a full … Construction.

1749.  Power & Harmony Prosaic Numbers, 63. A seasonable Silence, or imperfect Speech (a Figure which the Rhetoricians call a Suppression).

1782.  Miss Burney, Cecilia, VIII. iv. The incident was too extraordinary … to have any chance of suppression.

1837.  Macaulay, Ess., Bacon (1843), II. 284. Unpardonable distortions and suppressions of facts.

1878.  Gladstone, Prim. Homer, 142. Homer, like Shakespeare, is remarkable for the suppression of himself.

  3.  Restraint or stifling (of utterance or expression).

1706.  Phillips (ed. Kersey), Suppression, the Act of Suppressing, Smothering, &c.

1751.  H. Walpole, Lett. to Mann, 21 March. He [sc. a thrush] had dangerous suppressions of breath.

1827–35.  N. P. Willis, Shunamite, 37.

1861.  Geo. Eliot, Silas M., I. i. The self-complacent suppression of inward triumph that lurked in the narrow slanting eyes and compressed lips.

1865.  Swinburne, Atalanta, 2042. With tears and suppression of sighs.

  † 4.  Depression, lowering; pressure of a superincumbent weight. Obs. rare.

1709–29.  V. Mandey, Syst. Math., Astron., 353. Refraction, is the Elevation or Suppression of any Star by reason of … the Vapors Elevating themselves from the Earthly Globe.

1753.  Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., Suppressionis ignis, a fire of suppression, a term used in chemistry to express such an application of fire to any subject, that it shall at once act upon it above and below…. The usual way … is by covering the vessel … with sand, and then laying hot coals upon that.

  5.  Med. and Path. Stoppage or arrest (of a discharge or secretion).

1601.  Holland, Pliny, XXII. xxv. II. 143. It amendeth the suppression or difficultie of voiding urine.

1615.  Crooke, Body of Man, 336. Oftentimes vpon the suppression of their courses their bellies swell and they thinke they are conceiued.

1719.  Quincy, Compl. Disp., 121. Simon Paule gave it in Suppression of Urine.

1822–7.  Good, Study Med. (1829), V. 41. Suppression of the menses. The secretion obstructed in its regular periods of recurrence.

1845.  Budd, Dis. Liver, 222. The disorder of digestion and the suppression of bile.

1877.  M. Foster, Physiol., II. iv. (1879), 378. The cessation of renal activity, the so-called suppression of urine.

  6.  Bot. Absence or non-development of some part or organ normally or typically present.

1845.  Asa Gray Bot. Text-bk., 191. The non-production (suppression) of one whorl of organs.

1849.  Balfour, Man. Bot., § 647. Suppression is liable to occur in all the parts of plants, and gives rise to various abnormalities.

1882.  Vines, Sachs’ Bot., 363. The protonema differs from the Moss-stem … in the suppression of those further divisions by which the tissue of the stem is produced from its segments.

  Hence Suppressionist, an advocate of suppression.

1886.  Daily Tel., 1 Nov. (Cassell). Think of it, ye modern suppressionists.