Also 4–6 confeþer-, -fether-, 4–7 confederacie, 6 confederatie. [AF. and ME. confederacie, f. stem of L. confœder-ātio, med.L. confœder-ātus: see -ACY.]
1. A union by league or contract between persons, bodies of men, or states, for mutual support or joint action; a league, alliance, compact.
1387. Trevisa, Higden, Rolls) V. 271. After þe sevenþe ȝere of þe confeþeracye initi fœderis] he fauȝt aȝenst þe Angles oft in smal bataylles.
1550. Nicolls, Thucyd., VIII. xviii. 201. They … caused the towne to tourne to their confederatie.
1555. Eden, Decades, 28. Threescore and tenne men whiche were of his confetheracie.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 461. The league and confederacie that was concluded betwene them.
1611. Bible, Obad. 7. All the men of thy confederacie haue brought thee euen to the border.
1684. R. Waller, Nat. Exper., 157. The Confederacy of Two Companies of Men to expose Two Lights to each others view, so that the discovery of the one, may answer immediately to that of the other.
1769. Robertson, Chas. V., III. VII. 2. A general confederacy against the Ottoman power.
1861. May, Const. Hist. (1863), I. i. 10. To … break down the confederacy of the great Whig families.
b. Law (and thence gen.), in bad sense: A league for an unlawful or evil purpose; a conspiracy.
[1353. Act 27 Edw. III., Stat. II. c. 3. Facent entre eux … compaignie ne confederacie en fraude ou deceite.]
1389. in Eng. Gilds (1870), 39. Þei shullen makyn no meyntenaunce ne confederacie ageyn þe kyngis right.
1413. Lydg., Pilgr. Sowle, III. iv. (1483), 53. Thus haue ye … by your fals confederacy destroubled my Royamme.
1533. More, Apol., xliv. Wks. 914/2. He calleth those assemblinges … by ye name of confederacies … for ought that I see he geueth a good thyng and an holesome, an odious heynous name.
1614. B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, I. i. Why this is a confederacy: a meere piece of practice upon her by these impostors.
a. 1704. T. Brown, Pleas. Ep., Wks. 1730, I. 109. The tabacco-boxes too, seem’d engag’d in a general confederacy to bring vice into esteem; their lewd inscriptions charge religion with desperate resolution.
1763. J. Wesley, in Spurgeon, Treas. Dav., Ps. xciv. 16. Confederacies, to carry on the works of darkness.
1829. Southey, O. Newman, vii. Philip is the head Of the confederacy: his crafty brain … plans the mischief.
2. (without a or pl.) Condition or fact of being confederate: union for joint action, alliance. In a bad sense: Conspiracy, collusion.
1594. Carew, Huarte’s Exam. Wits, xii. (1616), 189. Moses … commanded … Aaron to fill a vessell, and place the same in the Arke of confederacie.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., I. iv. § 11. The sciences … which have had better intelligence and confederacie with the imagination … than with reason.
1641. Termes de la Ley, 73. Two were indicted of Confederacie.
1677. C. Hatton, Corr. (1878), 146. They were guilty of confederacy.
1759. Robertson, Hist. Scot., I. I. 44. In close confederacy with the duke of Albany.
1828. D’Israeli, Chas. I., II. ii. 39. In a perpetual state of confederacy and rebellion.
1878. Simpson, Sch. Shaks., I. 134. Philip was in confederacy with Muley Moluck, and therefore could not send troops against him.
† b. Carnal confederacy. Obs. rare.
1610. Healey, S. Aug., Citie of God, XVI. xxiii. 562. Before that the sonnes of God … had any carnall confederacy with the daughters of men.
3. quasi-concr. A collective body of persons or parties united by league; a body of confederates; now esp. a union of states, a confederation.
Southern Confederacy: the Confederate States of America. Confederacy now usually implies a looser or more temporary association than confederation, which is applied to a union of states organized on an intentionally permanent basis.
[1577. Holinshed, Chron., III. 1093. In east Kent there were other … of the same confederacie.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., III. ii. 199.
| Hel. Loe, she is one of this confederacy, | |
| Now I perceiue they haue conioyn’d all three, | |
| To fashion this false sport in spight of me.] |
1681. Nevile, Plato Rediv., 74. The Grecians … were forced to League themselves (yet in several Confederacies, as that of the Etolians, that of the Achaians, etc.) for their mutual defence.
1756. Nugent, Gr. Tour, Netherl., I. 17. The United Provinces are a confederacy of many independent states.
1777. U.S. Senate Manual (1886), 14 (Articles of Confederation). The stile of this confederacy shall be ‘The United States of America.’
1824. W. Irving, T. Trav., I. 179. The literary world is made up of little confederacies.
1839. Thirlwall, Greece, III. 47. A proposal … to transfer the treasury of the confederacy from Delos to Athens.
1861. Const. Confed. States Amer. The citizens of each State … shall have the right of transit and sojourn in any State of this Confederacy.
1861. Motley, in Times, 23 May. The body politic known for 70 years as the United States of America is not a Confederacy, not a compact of Sovereign States, not a co-partnership; it is a Commonwealth.
