[ME., a. OF. conjunction, -juncion, -joncion, -jonction, ad. L. coniunctiōn-em ‘joining together, marriage union, connection of ideas, a conjunction (in grammar),’ n. of action from conjungĕre to CONJOIN.]
1. The action of conjoining; the fact or condition of being conjoined; union, connection, combination.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., V. iii. 159. Þe coniunccioun of god and of man.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 13831. The coniunctoun vniust is Ioynit vs betwene.
1538. Starkey, England, I. ii. 41. The vnyon and coniunctyon of the body and soule togyddur.
1578. Banister, Hist. Man, I. 19. The coniunction of the Vertebres with the head.
1594. Shaks., Rich. III., V. v. 20. We will vnite the White Rose, and the Red. Smile Heauen vpon this faire Coniunction.
1643. Baillie, Lett. & Jrnls. (1841), II. 55. In the meeting I moved the Conjunction of elders.
1656. J. Sergeant, trans. T. White’s Peripat. Inst., 233. Through its conjunction to the body.
1685. Lond. Gaz., 20–4 Aug., 2/2. The Canal for the Conjunction of the two Seas.
1699. Sir T. Morgan’s Progr. Fr. & Flanders, in Somers, Tracts, IV. (1751), III. 159. Major-general Morgan was to make Conjunction with the French Army.
1771. Smollett, Humph. Cl., 6 May. Efforts she has made towards a nearer conjunction with our sex.
1818. Jas. Mill, Brit. India, I. II. iv. 133. This rude conjunction of dissimilar subjects.
1890. H. C. G. Moule, Secret Prayer, vii. 115. That immediate conjunction with the Head through which he has union with the members.
b. Phr. In conjunction with, in conjunction.
1745. Col. Rec. Penn., V. 5 In conjunction with ye neighboring Governments.
1764. Reid, Inquiry, vi. vii. Visible figure is never presented to the eye but in conjunction with colour.
1853. Bright, Sp. India, 3 June. The President … has to act in conjunction with the Court of Directors.
2. spec. † a. Union in marriage. Obs.
1541. Barnes, Wks. (1573), 365/1. Those Priestes that … hath not forsaken the coniunction of maryage.
1587. Fleming, Contn. Holinshed, III. 1980/1. Wishing by the coniunction of those two yoong princes, the vniting of the two kingdoms in perpetuall amitie.
a. 1652. Brome, City Wit, III. ii. My Legitimate Spouse, when is our day of conjunction?
1762. Hume, Hist. Eng., III. xlix. 53.
1819. A. Rees, Cycl., s.v. Contubernium, When this conjunction between slaves came to be considered as a lawful marriage.
† b. Sexual union, copulation. Obs.
1567. Maplet, Gr. Forest, 88.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1673), 57. When the Cow … conceiveth at the first conjunction.
1650. Bulwer, Anthropomet., 214.
1794. G. Adams, Nat. & Exp. Philos., I. x. 429. Neither vegetation, nor animality, nor appetite, nor conjunction.
† c. Joining in fight, hostile encounter. rare.
1648. Evelyn, Mem. (1857), III. 23. As for acts of hostility committed, there hath as yet been little, beside the conjunction of some scouts and forlorn hopes.
† d. Mixture or union of ‘elements’ or substances; one of the processes in alchemy. Obs.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg. (MS. A.), 9. If a surgian ne knewe nouȝt þe science of elementis … he mai not knowe science of conjounciouns, þat is to seie, medlyngis.
1471. Ripley, Comp. Alch., iv., in Ashm. (1652), 146. In our Conjunccion four Elements must be aggregat.
1609. Rowlands, Knave of Clubs, 42. Earth and Water, Aire and Fire, Do a coniunction make.
3. Astrol. and Astron. An apparent proximity of two planets or other heavenly bodies; the position of these when they are in the same, or nearly the same, direction as viewed from the earth.
Formerly, two planets were said to be in conjunction when they were in the same sign of the zodiac, or even in adjacent signs; in modern astronomy, the term is definitely restricted to their position at the moment when they are in the same longitude or right ascension. Conjunction is often used simply for conjunction with the sun of a primary planet (formerly also of the moon, in which case it is equivalent to ‘new moon’). An inferior planet may be in inferior conjunction, i.e., between the earth and the sun, or in superior conjunction, i.e., on the farther side of the sun.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, IV. 695. Astrology, Quhar-throu clerkis that ar witty, May knaw coniunctione off planetis.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., IX. iv. (1495), 348. The mone meuyth rounde abowte fro Coniunccion to Coniunccion, that is fro chaunge to chaunge.
1587. Fleming, Contn. Holinshed, III. 1356/2. In this yeare 1583 … the great and notable conjunction of the two superior planets, Saturne and Jupiter.
1647. Lilly, Chr. Astrol., i. 26. When two Planets are in one and the same degree and minute of any Signe, we say they are in Conjunction.
1754–8. Bp. Newton, Prophecies, Daniel, xi. 160. The month began … not at the true conjunction, but at the first appearance of the new moon.
1858. Herschel, Outlines Astron., vii. (ed. 5), 268. A Solar eclipse can only happen when the sun and moon are in conjunction.
1889. C. Pritchard, Occas. Th. Astron., x. 229. The technical phrase ‘conjunction’ does not necessarily imply any very close proximity.
4. The occurrence of events in combination; a combination of events or circumstances.
1684. Contempl. State of Man, I. x. (1699), 114. How dreadful the conjunction of so many and so great Calamities.
a. 1862. Buckle, Civiliz. (1869), III. v. 316. [This] required a peculiar conjunction of events.
1866. Rogers, Agric. & Prices, I. xxiii. 601. This was a rare conjunction of circumstances.
5. A concrete example of conjunction; a number of persons, things, or elements, conjoined or associated together; a combination, association, union.
1541. R. Copland, Guydon’s Quest. Chirurg. Howe many coniunctions of bone be in the hande, and howe many bones in euery coniunction.
1633. Bp. Hall, Hard Texts, 419. The Lord will not suffer these wicked conjunctions to prosper.
1644. Chillingw., Fast Serm. at Oxf., 15. It exceedes the conjunction of all the good things of the world.
1722. De Foe, Plague (1756), 197. A populous Conjunction or Collection of Alleys, Courts, and Passages.
1863. Kinglake, Crimea (1876), I. xvii. 376. A strong man and a good cause make a formidable conjunction.
† b. A joining; a joint. Obs.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 110 (MS. A.). Þe schap of þe coniunccioun of þe .v. boonys of þe heed.
1578. Banister, Hist. Man, I. 4. Sutura … is a coniunction of the bones.
1686. W. Harris, trans. Lemery’s Chym., I. xiii. (ed. 3), 339. Fit to it a large capacious Receiver, lute well the conjunctions.
† c. A thing that conjoins or unites; a bond or tie. Obs. rare.
1570. Q. Eliz., in Strype, Ann. Ref., I. lvi. 615. So near a neighbour by situation, blood, natural language, and other conjunctions.
6. Gram. One of the Parts of Speech; an uninflected word used to connect clauses or sentences, or to coordinate words in the same clause.
1388. Wyclif, Prol., 57. A participle … mai be resoluid into a verbe … and a coniunccion copulatif, as thus, dicens, that is, seiynge, mai be resoluid thus, and seith.
1530. Palsgr., Introd., 44. The table of conjunctyons.
1615. J. Stephens, Ess. & Charac., Taylors man (1857), 249. A Taylors man—Is a Conjunction copulative: He makes things hang together.
a. 1637. B. Jonson, Eng. Gram., xxii. A conjunction is a word without number, knitting divers speeches together.
1876. Mason, Eng. Gram. (ed. 21), § 287. Prepositions show the relation of one notion to another. Conjunctions show the relation of one thought to another. Hence conjunctions for the most part join one sentence to another.
† b. = CONJUGATION. Obs. rare.
1578. Cooper, Thesaurus, Introd. In a verbe they have to note … of what conjunction it is.
