Also 4–6 cawse, 4–7 Sc. causs, 5–6 Sc. caus, 5 Sc. caws, 6 causse, 6–7 caus. [a. F. cause (= Pr., Sp., It. causa), ad. L. causa, caussa. The latter came down in living use as It., Sp., Pr. cosa, ONF. cose, F. chose matter, thing (a sense which causa has in the Salic Law, in Gregory of Tours, and the Capitularies). At a later period the med.L. causa, of philosophy and the law-courts, was taken into the living languages, in the form causa, cause; in Fr. from the 13th c.]
I. General senses.
1. That which produces an effect; that which gives rise to any action, phenomenon or condition. Cause and effect are correlative terms.
c. 1315. Shoreham, 117. Cause of alle thyse dignyte … Was Godes owene grace.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., IX. xxv. (1495), 362. The cause of nyghte is shadowe of the erthe that is bytwene vs and the sonne.
c. 1400. Test. Love, II. (1560), 285/2. Every cause of a cause is cause of thing caused.
1549. Compl. Scot., 149. The philosophour sais that the cause of ane thing is of mair efficacite nor is the thyng that procedis fra the cause.
1639. Rouse, Heav. Univ., x. (1702), 143. To produce effects beyond the cause; which is indeed to make something out of nothing.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 570. Proteus only knows The secret Cause, and Cure of all thy Woes.
1751. Johnson, Rambl., No. 141, ¶ 1. The greatest events may be often traced back to slender causes.
1827. Pollok, Course of T., V. These were the occasion, not the cause, of joy.
1868. Lockyer, Elem. Astron., iii. 83. The Sun’s heat and the Earth’s rotation are, in the main, the causes of all atmospheric disturbances.
b. as philosophically defined.
1656. trans. Hobbes’ Elem. Philos., II. ix. (1839), 121. A cause simply, or an entire cause, is the aggregate of all the accidents both of the agents how many soever they be, and of the patient, put together; which when they are all supposed to be present, it cannot be understood but that the effect is produced at the same instant.
c. 1790. Reid, Wks., I. 76/1. We have no ground to ascribe efficiency to natural causes, or even necessary connection with the effect. But we still call them causes, including nothing under the name but priority and constant conjunction. Ibid., 77/1. In the strict philosophical sense, I take a cause to be that which has the relation to the effect which I have to my voluntary and deliberate actions.
1846. Mill, Logic (1856), III. v. § 5. We may define … the cause of a phenomenon, to be the antecedent or the concurrence of antecedents, on which it is invariably and unconditionally consequent.
1870. Jevons, Elem. Logic, xxviii. 239. By the Cause of an event we mean the circumstances which must have preceded in order that the event should happen.
2. A person or other agent who brings about or occasions something, with or without intention. (Often in bad sense: one who occasions, or is to blame for mischief, misfortune, etc.)
c. 1374. Chaucer, Anel. & Arc., 257. Þaughe þat yee Þus Causelesse þe Cause be Of my dedely aduersitee.
1509. Fisher, Fun. Serm. C’tess Richmond (1708), 28. I am, sayth he, the veray cause of raysynge of the Body, and I am also the veray Cause of lyfe unto the Soule.
1540. Hyrde, trans. Vives’ Instr. Chr. Wom. (1592), G v b. Howe much mischiefe such women bee cause of.
1611. Bible, 1 Chron. xxi. 3. Why will hee bee a cause of trespasse to Israel?
1660. Stanley, Hist. Philos. (1701), 73. The Mind is the disposer and cause of all things.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 92. The Laws Imposed by Nature, and by Nature’s Cause.
1713. Berkeley, Hylas & Phil., ii. God is the supreme and universal Cause of all things.
1839. Tennyson, Dream Fair Wom., 104. ‘My youth,’ she said, ‘was blasted with a curse: This woman was the cause.’ Ibid. (1859), Enid, 87. Am I the cause, I the poor cause that men Reproach you?
3. A fact, condition of matters, or consideration, moving a person to action; ground of action; reason for action, motive.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 320. Cause is hwi þu hit dudest, oðer hulpe þerto, oðer þuruh hwon hit bigon.
1340. Ayenb., 42. Huanne þe seruises byeþ y-do uor onclenliche cause.
c. 1460. Fortescue, Abs. & Lim. Mon. (1714), 67. Movyd therto by non other Cause, save only drede of his Rebellion.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 1. The cause why we name this treatyse ye pilgrymage of perfeccion.
1575. Laneham, Lett. (1871), 3. Az I haue good cauz to think.
1592. West, Symbol., I. § 55 (1632). The consideration of instruments is the motiue cause, for which the Instruments are made.
1655. Comp. Clark, 310. The said F. R. as well for the considerations aforesaid as also … for divers other good causes and considerations … doth for himself and his Heirs covenant.
1678. Cudworth, Intell. Syst. (1837), I. 77. To give just cause of suspicion.
1785. Reid, Lett., in Wks. I. 65/2. A reason … is often called a cause.
1876. Green, Short Hist., iii. § 4 (1882), 129. The causes which drew students and teachers within the walls of Oxford.
b. In a pregnant sense: Good, proper or adequate ground of action; esp. in to have cause, have no cause, with cause, without cause; so to show cause, esp. in Eng. Law, to argue against the confirmation of a ‘rule nisi’ or other provisionally granted order or judgment.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, IX. 25. I had gret causs hym for to slay.
1413. Lydg., Pylgr. Sowle, III. vii. They … kepen hit withouten ony cause.
c. 1440. York Myst., xvi. 49. For fadir, vnkyndnes ȝe kythe þem no cause.
1520. in W. H. Turner, Select Rec. Oxford, 26. To … shew a cause why he ought not to be … disfranchised.
1549. Bk. Com. Prayer, Matrimony, If any of you know cause, or just impediment, why these two persons should not be joined together.
1561. T. Norton, Calvin’s Inst., I. xvii. § 1. Modesty, that wee draw not God to yeeld cause of his doings.
1611. Bible, Pref., 9. To whom euer was it imputed for a fault … to amend it where he saw cause?
1747. in Col. Rec. Penn., V. 88. The Government of Pennsylvania had not seen cause yet to contribute something towards it.
1768. Blackstone, Comm., III. 265. Upon good cause shewn to the court.
1865. Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., I. II. vi. 84. The Order got into its wider troubles … with Christian neighbours … who did not love it, and for cause.
1867. Law Rep., 2 Q. B. 360. A rule was obtained … to enter the verdict for the plaintiff … Hayes, Serjt., and Beasley, shewed cause.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 347. If a man has cause of offence against another.
1883. Law Rep. 11 Queen’s B. 597. The plaintiff has been defamed, and has primâ facie a cause of action.
c. Cause why: ‘reason why,’ reason. Sometimes used interrogatively, or conjunctively: Why, for the reason that, for this reason. Obs. exc. dial.
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 3526. God wate wele þe cause why.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Sqr.’s T., 177. And cause why? for they kan nat the craft.
c. 1440. Gesta Rom., viii. 21 (Harl. MS.). He is gilty of my dethe, and I shalle telle you cause why.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., II. XIII. 222. Cause whi God wole ȝeue his gracis … is this.
1548. Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Matt. v. 42. There is no cause why to cut off these membres.
1581. Campion, in Confer., I. (1584), C b. You must consider … the cause why.
1856. Kingsley, Lett., in Life, xiv. (1879), II. 21. Such a view … as tourist never saw, nor will see, ’case why, he can’t find it. [Cf. CAUSE conj.]
† 4. The object of action; purpose, end. Obs. exc. in b. Final cause: a term introduced into philosophical language by the schoolmen as a transl. of Aristotle’s fourth cause, τὸ οὖ ἓνεκα or τέλος, the end or purpose for which a thing is done, viewed as the cause of the act; esp. applied in Natural Theology to the design, purpose or end of the arrangements of the universe.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Clerkes T., 386. This Markys hath hire spoused with a ryng Broght for the same cause.
1514. Barclay, Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (1847), p. xlix. Then all be fooles … Which with glad mindes use courting for such cause.
1595. Hunnis, Joseph, 59. For to sojourne in the land, is cause we come to thee.
b. 1587. Golding, De Mornay, x. 149. Let us consequently see the final cause: that is to wit, how and to what ende he guydeth it.
c. 1660. Boyle, Disquis. Final Causes, § 1. Those that would exclude final causes from the consideration of the naturalist … either that, with Epicurus, they think … it is improper and vain to seek for final causes in the effects of chance: or … with Descartes, that … it is rash for men to think, that they know, or can investigate, what ends [God] proposed to Himself in His actings about His creatures.
1691. Ray, Creation, I. (1701), 49. The Continuation of these two Motions of the Earth … upon Axes not parallel, is resolvable into nothing but a final and mental Cause, or the τὸ βέλτιστον, because it was best it should be so.
1708. Sterne, Sent. Journ. (1778), I. 24. The efficient as well as the final causes of travelling.
1857. Buckle, Civiliz., I. viii. 541. Descartes, by founding a philosophy which rejected all authority except that of the human reason, was, of course, led to abandon the study of final causes.
1881. B. Sanderson, in Nature, No. 619. 439. The final cause of an animal … is muscular action, because it is by means of its muscles that it maintains its external relations.
5. In the preceding senses, with various defining attributes.
The four causes of Aristotle were the efficient cause, the force, instrument or agency by which a thing is produced; the formal (see quot. 1678); the material, the elements or matter from which it is produced; the final, the purpose or end for which it is produced (see 4 b). The First Cause, the original cause or Creator of the Universe; secondary causes, those derived from a primary or first cause. Occasional causes in Cartesian philosophy: see OCCASIONAL, -ISM.
1393. Gower, Conf., III. 87. He clepeth god the firste cause.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., III. xvii. (1495), 61. The cause efficient of the syghte is the vertue of the soule that hyghte animalis.
1447. Bokenham, Seyntys, Introd. (1835), 1. The fyrste is what, the secunde is why, In wych two wurdys,… The foure causys comprehended be.
1586. T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad. (1589), 667. The Philosophers propound fower causes of everie thing, The efficient, the materiall, the formall, and the finall cause.
1646. H. Lawrence, Comm. Angels, 31. His [God’s] essence (which is the efficient, finall, and exemplary cause of all things).
1656. Ben Israel, Vind. Judæorum, in Phenix (1708), II. 409. The Knowledg of the one first Cause.
1678. Hobbes, Decameron, ii. 15. Another they call the Formal Cause, or simply the form or essence of the thing caused: as when they say, Four equal Angles and four equal Sides are the Cause of a Square Figure.
1726. Ayliffe, Parerg., 147. There are seven Causes consider’d in Judgment, viz. the Material, Efficient, and Formal Cause; and likewise a Natural, Substantial, and Accidental Cause; and lastly a Final Cause.
1733. Pope, Ess. Man, III. 1. The Universal Cause Acts to one End, but acts by various Laws. Ibid. (1742), Dunciad, IV. 644. Philosophy, that lean’d on heaven before, Shrinks to her second cause, and is no more.
1845. Corrie, Theol., in Encycl. Metrop., 858/1. The main object of Theology is to ascertain the attributes and perfections of this First Great Cause.
1858. Mansel, Bampton Lect., ii. (ed. 4), 30. By the First Cause is meant that which produces all things, and is itself produced of none.
1862. H. Spencer, First Princ., I. ii. § 12 (1875), 37. We are not only obliged to suppose some Cause, but also a first Cause.
6. From the general senses arise various phrases:
† a. By the cause that: for the reason that; with the purpose that, to the end that, in order that; by the cause of: by reason of, on account of. Obs. Hence bi-cause, BECAUSE, q.v.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 2488. Be þe cause þat þei scholde rise Erly … Vnto her reste went þei att nihte.
a. 1450. Knt. de la Tour, 2. Thei had in hem no shame nor drede by the cause thei were so used.
c. 1460. Fortescue, Abs. & Lim. Mon. (1714), 138. Which by the Cause therof lyvyn in the gretter penurye.
† b. For cause that: for the reason that (= BECAUSE A. 1, B. 1). For cause of: by reason of, on account of (= BECAUSE A. 2 a); for the sake of (= BECAUSE A. 2 b). Obs.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., VII. vii. 205. For caws þat he past til Twlows.
1475. Caxton, Jason, 67. Callid god of bataill for cause of many batailles that he had. Ibid. (1480), Chron. Eng., ccxxii. 214. And al he did for cause of spences and for to gadre tresour.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., II. 334. For caus that tha no wald Resist the wrang.
1578. Sc. Poems 16th C., II. 154. For cause his faith was constantly In Christes blude.
† c. For my (his, etc.) cause: on my (his, etc.) account, for my (his, etc.) sake. Obs.
c. 1450. Merlin, 15. Ye shull neuer be Juged to deth for my cause.
c. 1500. Lancelot, 3395. I wald not … for my causs, that such o knycht suld dee.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 134. I have described and set him out in this manner … which I did for use and customs cause.
1611. Bible, 2 Cor. vii. 12. I did it not for his cause that had done the wrong.
¶ See also CAUSE conj.
II. In legal, and related senses.
(In the Digest, ‘causa’ sometimes means ‘the facts of the case.’)
7. Law. The matter about which a person goes to law; the case of one party in a suit. Hence to plead a cause. (Cf. 1883 in 3 b.)
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 9362. Þe riȝte of is cause.
c. 1300. Beket, 1043. To bringe this cause of holi churche tofore the Pope.
c. 1400. Maundev., xvi. 172. Bothe partyes writen here Causes in 2 Billes.
1474. Caxton, Chesse, 27. Pletyng of a cause for his client.
1553. T. Wilson, Rhet., 6. The judges before whom … the determinacion of his cause resteth.
1611. Bible, Ex. xxii. 9. The cause of both parties shall come before the Iudges.
1760. Goldsm., Cit. W., xcviii. He that has most opinions is most likely to carry his cause.
1802. Mar. Edgeworth, Moral T. (1816), I. 218. Would to heaven my son could have … such a trial! And … that I might plead his cause!
b. fig.
c. 1489. Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, xxvi. 545. Ye can speke shrewdly wythoute a cause lawfull.
1568. Bible (Bishops’), Ps. xxxv. 1. Pleade thou mny cause O Lord.
1611. Bible, Pref., 6. This seemeth to argue a bad cause, or a bad conscience, or both.
8. Law. A subject of litigation; a matter before a court for decision; an action, process, suit; = CASE sb.1 6.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., A. 701. To corte … Þer alle oure causez schal be tryed.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 128. In alle manere cause he sought þe right in skille.
1399. Langl., Rich. Redeles, III. 318. To ben of conceill for causis that in the court hangit.
1495. Act 11 Hen. VII., xxiv. § 1. In any accion or cause personell.
1529. Rastell, Pastyme Hist. Fr. (1811), 73. He was in all cawsis so indyfferent.
1652. Needham, trans. Domin. Sea, 5. This caus could not by any pretens bee brought into judgment.
1752. Johnson, Rambl., No. 201, ¶ 11. He was summoned as an evidence in a cause of great importance.
1790. Burke, Fr. Rev., 306. The governing power, which, in the midst of a cause, or on the prospect of it, may wholly change the rule of decision.
1879. Carpenter, Ment. Phys., II. x. 436. Further proceedings having been taken in a cause which he had heard some years previously.
b. Hence (Sc.) Day or hour of cause: i.e., of trial; also fig. and transf.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xxiv. Whispering to Plumdamas that he would meet him at Mac Croskie’s … in the hour of cause. Ibid. (1822), Nigel, xxxvii. I will be with you in the hour of cause.
c. fig. Matter in dispute, an affair to be decided.
c. 1500. Lancelot, 1495. Ther god hyme-self hath ton the causs on hond.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., III. i. 289. What counsaile giue you in this weightie cause?
1665. Manley, Grotius’ Low-C. Warrs, 283. Ready to decide the cause by Battel.
† 9. Contextually, and in translating L. causa or Gr. αἰτία, it sometimes has or approaches the sense ‘charge, accusation, blame.’ Obs.
c. 1340. Cursor M., 16681 (Laud). The cawse of his deth they wroght Abovyn his hed.
1382. Wyclif, Acts xxv. 27. For to sende a boundun man, and not to signifie the cause of him.
1494. Fabyan, VII. 494. Many … whiche laye there [in the prisons] for great causes and crymes.
c. 1550. Cheke, Matt. xxiii. 37. Þei set his caus in writing over his hed.
1605. Shaks., Lear, IV. vi. 111. I pardon that mans life. What was thy cause? Adultery?
† b. To be in cause: to be to blame. Obs.
c. 1400. Apol. Loll., 25. Prelats mai sore drede, þat her vniust & iuilwilly cursing be in cause whi þe puple drediþ not cursing.
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 4525. Who was in cause … But hir silfe?
1635. R. N., trans. Camden’s Hist. Eliz., I. iv. 38. Shee herselfe is in cause that I cannot satisfie her.
† 10. gen. A matter of concern, an affair, business; the case as it concerns any one (cf. CASE sb.1 1). Obs. (exc. dial.)
1375. Barbour, Bruce, III. 302. His causs ȝeid fra ill to wer.
1393. Gower, Conf., III. 85. Wisdom is … Above all other thing to knowe In loves cause and elles where.
14[?]. Tundale’s Vis., 100. His frendys by sybbe Herd of that cause that hym bytydde.
1477. Earl Rivers (Caxton), Dictes, 65. Committe alle thy causes to god.
1593. Shaks., Lucr., 1295 (1594), I iij b. The cause craues hast.
1655–60. Stanley, Hist. Philos. (1701), 65. Pericles … could easily reduce the exercise of his mind from secret abstrusive things to publick popular causes.
1880. W. Cornw. Gloss. (E. D. S.), Cause, case. ‘If that’s the cause I must work later.’
b. Phrases. If cause were, in cause. Obs. exc. dial. (Cf. CASE sb.1 3, 10, 11.)
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 5295. He … shulde it fulfille … Except oonly in cause twoo.
1523. Fitzherb., Surv., 10 b. In that cause the lorde of the honer or manere may take a distresse for his rentes homages.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss. (1812), I. 314. We are bounde to ayde him, in cause that he requyre … vs so to do.
1634. Malory’s Arthur, II. lxiv. 402. If cause were that they had to do with Sir Launcelot.
1696. Stillingfl., 12 Serm., i. 7. I may say … as our Saviour doth in another cause.
c. Seal of cause: charter of incorporation.
1806. Forsyth, Beauties Scotl., III. 260. The incorporation of Fleshers [of Glasgow] obtained their charter or seal of cause in 1580.
11. That side of a question or controversy that is espoused, advocated and upheld by a person or party; a movement that calls forth the efforts of its supporters. (Spec. applied in Commonwealth times to the Puritan ‘cause.’)
1581. Savile, Tacitus’ Hist., III. xxv. (1591), 129. It was the publicke act of the cause.
1588. Marprel. Epist. (Arb.), 36. Terming the cause by the name of Anabaptisterie.
1595. Shaks., John, III. iv. 12. Such temperate order in so fierce a cause.
1660. Bibl. Fanatica, in Harl. Misc. (1746), VIII. 71/1. A pious Brother, and a real Assertor of the good old Cause.
1678. Butler, Hud., III. II. 545. Zeal … made the Church and State and Laws Submit t’ old Iron and the Cause.
1705. Addison, Italy, Ded. Their Hopes or Fears for the Common Cause rose or fell with Your Lordship’s Interest and Authority in England.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, XIII. iii. I shall ever esteem it the cause of my sex to rescue any woman [etc.].
1792. Burke, Corr. (1844), III. 472. No cause in the world can … be more clear in my eyes … than that of the Poles.
1827. Hallam, Const. Hist. (1876), II. x. 275. The good old cause, as the commonwealth’s men affected to style the interests of their little faction.
1842. Tennyson, Two Voices, 148. In some good cause … To perish.
1884. Gladstone, in Standard, 29 Feb., 2/7. We should be traitors to the cause we profess to have taken in hand.
b. Hence To make common cause (with): to join in behalf of a common object.
1844. H. H. Wilson, Brit. India (1845), I. 209. Before they made common cause with either French or English.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 101. The two parties suspended their dissensions, and united their strength in a common cause.
1863. Mary Howitt, trans. F. Bremer’s Greece, II. xiv. 114. Epirus will make common cause with Thessaly whenever the day comes that she rises.
c. Hence applied colloquially in some religious bodies, to their ‘cause’ as embodied in a particular local organization, enterprise, mission or church.
Mod. Several new causes have been started in the county during the year. The Baptists have a flourishing cause in the village.
† 12. Disease, sickness. Obs. [A sense, simply transferred from late L., as to the origin of which see the Latin Dicts. In Eng. often vaguely associated with other senses, and used accordingly.]
[1490. Caxton, How to Die, 2. What some euer mater or cause be layd to him … he oughte to suffre and receyue it pacyently.
1509. Hawes, Past. Pleas., XVIII. xvii. I your cause can nothing remedy.]
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, III. xxvi. 353. Hellebor may not be ministred except in desperate causes.
1585. Lloyd, Treas. Health, F iij. In a hote cause, lettis made in a playster is much worth.
1601. Shaks., All’s Well, II. i. 114. Toucht With that malignant cause. Ibid. (1607), Cor., III. i. 235. Leaue vs to cure this Cause.
III. Comb., as cause-monger, -renderer, -seeking adj., causewise adv.; cause-book, a book in which legal causes are entered; cause-list, a list of causes to be tried.
1885. Law Times’ Rep., LII. 574/2. The cause was re-entered in the *cause-book.
1837. Edin. Rev., LXIV. 491. These *cause-mongers go also to the storehouse of their fancy.
a. 1637. B. Jonson, Eng. Gram., For, a *cause-renderer, hath sometime the force of a severing one.
1877. Tyndall, in Daily News, 2 Oct., 2/4. He has been described by the German Lichtenberg as ‘das rastlose Ursachenthier’—the restless *cause-seeking animal—in whom facts excite a kind of hunger to know the sources from which they spring.
1869. Act 32 & 33 Vict., c. 91. Sched. i. 1./2. Accounts of various suitors kept *cause-wise.
