a. (sb.) [f. prec. + -AL; prob. of English formation; the F. constitutionnel appears in Dupré in 1801.]
A. adj.
1. Of, belonging to, or inherent in, a person’s constitution (of body or mind).
1682. Flavel, Fear, 119. Our constitutional strength is not to be made the measure of our passive fortitude.
1739. Sharp, Surgery, 246. It is not probable any constitutional Illness will be communicated with the Small-pox by Inoculation.
1834. Macaulay, Ess., Pitt (1854), I. 288. His constitutional malady.
1880. L. Stephen, Pope, iv. 88. Pope’s constitutional irritability kept him constantly on the wing.
2. Affecting the (bodily) constitution; beneficial to, or designed to benefit, the constitution. Cf. B. 1.
1750. G. Hughes, Barbadoes, 32. The Trade-wind is … constitutional to the inhabitants.
1860. All Year Round, No. 71. 484. Satisfied with constitutional walks and gymnastic drill.
1875. H. C. Wood, Therap. (1879), 376. What may be termed the constitutional action of arsenic.
3. Belonging to the very constitution or composition of anything; forming an essential part or element; essential.
1750. Warburton, Doctr. Grace, I. x. Wks. (1811), VIII. 300. The difference … between things natural and things positive, between constitutional and arbitrary.
1779–81. Johnson, L. P., Dryden, Wks. II. 412. The original incongruity runs through the whole…. But when this constitutional absurdity is forgiven, the poem must be confessed to be written with great smoothness of metre, [etc.].
1850. Daubeny, Atom. The., x. (ed. 2), 332. The sulphates of magnesia, of zinc, etc., contain, besides their water of crystallization, a proportion of constitutional water, which may be replaced by sulphate of potass … This constitutional water … is expelled with more difficulty than the water of crystallization.
1872. Mozley, Mirac., Pref. (ed. 3), 25. Antecedent probability is a constitutional element of evidence.
4. In harmony with, or authorized by the political constitution.
1765. Blackstone, Comm., I. iii. 191. To trace out the constitutional doctrine of the royal succession. Ibid. (T.). The long parliament … while it acted in a constitutional manner, with the royal concurrence, redressed many heavy grievances.
1776. Hurd, Serm. bef. Ho. Lords, 13 Dec., Wks. 1811, VIII. 5–6. Theories on government, when framed by sober and thinking men, cannot but be of great importance,… as tending ultimately to improve establishments themselves; but by degrees only, and by constitutional means.
1846. McCulloch, Acc. Brit. Empire (1854), II. 101. This, though a legal, cannot, with any propriety, be called a constitutional proceeding.
1874. Green, Short Hist., iii. § 7. 153. The constitutional restrictions on the royal authority.
b. Of a sovereign: Ruling according to a constitution or constitutional forms that limit his arbitrary power; said also of sovereignty or government so exercised.
1801. W. Dupré, Neol. Fr. Dict., 62. La monarchie constitutionnelle, the constitutional monarchy. Un roi constitutionnel, a constitutional king.
1841. W. Spalding, Italy & It. Isl., III. 127. The only powers which recognised the new constitutional government.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., IV. xvii. 10. According to the pure idea of constitutional royalty, the prince reigns and does not govern.
c. French Hist. Said of ecclesiastics who adopted the civil constitution of the clergy in 1790.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. ii. What endless jarring, of Refractory hated Priests and Constitutional despised ones.
1884. Mrs. Gardiner, Fr. Rev., iv. 76. Here nonjurors were regarded as enemies to the State; there the constitutional clergy as enemies to religion.
d. Adhering to or supporting the existing (or any specified form of) political constitution.
Hence, employed from time to time as a party designation; e.g., since c. 1870 by English Conservatives, whence Constitutional party, Constitutional club, and the like: cf. CONSTITUTIONALIST 2, CONSTITUTIONER 2.
5. Of, pertaining to, or dealing with the political constitution.
1841. W. Spalding, Italy & It. Isl., II. 126. The constitutional history of the principal towns in Lombardy.
1845. Polson, in Encycl. Metrop., 811/1. In the mind of no constitutional lawyer, can a doubt exist as to the soundness of Mr. Pitt’s positions.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., III. 456. Best qualified to discuss constitutional questions.
1875. Stubbs (title), Constitutional History of England.
B. sb. 1. A constitutional walk; a walk taken for health’s sake, or for the benefit of the constitution. (App. this originated at the English Universities.) colloq.
1829. Darwin, Life & Lett. (1888), I. 176. An occasional ride with Simcox, and constitutional with Whitley.
1836. [E. Caswall], Pluck Exam. Papers (Oxf.; ed. 3), 41. He taketh a constitutional of forty minutes every day.
1852. Bristed, 5 Years Eng. Univ. (ed. 2), 45. The Cantab’s constitutional of eight miles in less than two hours.
1857. Hughes, Tom Brown, II. iv. And recognises Holmes and Diggs taking a constitutional.
2. = CONSTITUTIONALIST 2. In the end of the 18th c., an adherent of the French constitution or of political principles in accord with it.
1793. Mad. D’Arblay, Diary, VI. 14. Whether the Constitutionals in England will be employed or not.
1881. Athenæum, 20 Aug., 233/1. The one is the ideal of modern Liberalism, and the Constitutionals of 1789 who pursued it were only mistaken in thinking it much nearer, much more easily attainable, than it really was.
