Also 4–6 admynystracion, -cioun, -tyon, etc. [ad. L. administrātiōn-em, n. of action, f. administrā-re: see ADMINISTER v. The Fr. administration (13th c. in Littré) may be the immed. source.]
† 1. The action of administering or serving in any office; service, ministry, attendance, performance of duty. Obs. in general sense.
1382. Wyclif, 2 Cor. iv. 1. Therfore we hauynge this administracioun, or office [Vulg. administrationem] … faylen not.
1484. Caxton, Curial, iij b. Thanguysshes that he hath suffred in admynystracion publycque.
1526. Tindale, 1 Cor. xii. 5. Ther are differences of administracions, and yet but one lorde [Wyclif seruycis, Rheims ministrations, 1611 administrations].
1676. Hale, Contempl., I. 356. No man’s condition is desperate so long as the Physician continues his administration.
1797. Boswell, Johnson (1816), I. 18. All the stores of nature and of art stand in prompt administration.
† 2. Performance, execution of. Obs.
1598. Barkcley, Felicitie of Man (1631), 309. Hee that buyeth an office, must sell the administration of it.
1611. Bible, 2 Cor. ix. 12. For the administration of this seruice … is abundant also by many thanksgiuings vnto God [Wyclif mynysterie, Tindale ministracion].
3. Management (of any business).
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boethius, I. (1560), 199/2. I … desired to put foorth in execucion and in act of commen administracion thilke things that I had learned.
1494. Fabyan, VII. 547. Rule and gouernaunce of the same kyngedome and lordeshyppes, with all admynystracions of the same.
1538. Starkey, England, 4. Admynystratyon of the maters of the commyn wel.
1769. Robertson, Chas. V., VI. VI. 107. In him was vested the sovereign administration of the revenues.
1868. Ruskin, Polit. Econ. Art, i. 18. The principles which are right in the administration of a few fields, are right also in the administration of a great country.
4. ellipt. The management of public affairs; the conducting or carrying on of the details of government; hence, sometimes, used for government.
1681. H. Nevile, Plato Rediv., 79. All the difficulty in our Administration, hath been to regulate our own Nobility.
1771. Junius Lett., xlix. 254. The real injuries they received from every measure of your grace’s administration.
1825. T. Jefferson, Autobiog., Wks. 1859, I. 50. I resigned the administration at the end of my second year.
1851. Mariotti, Italy, i. 25. Salutary reforms in every branch of administration.
5. The executive part of the legislature; the ministry; now often loosely called the ‘Government.’
1731. Gentlem. Mag. (1806), I. 9. A Defence of the measures of the present Administration.
1783. Cowper, Priv. Corr. (1824), I. 250. The deplorable condition of the country, insisted on by the friends of administration, and not denied by their adversaries.
1790. Beatson, Nav. & Mil. Mem., I. 17. Our Administration took alarm thereat.
1840. Macaulay, Clive, 84. A rapid succession of weak administrations … had held the semblance of power.
6. Law. The management and disposal of the estate of a deceased person by an executor or administrator. spec. As opposed to probate, The authority to administer the estate of an intestate, as conferred by Letters of Administration granted, formerly by the Ordinary, now by the Probate Division of the High Court of Justice.
1538. Starkey, England, 127. The prerogatyfe gyven to the same Byschope of Canterbury, wherby he hath … the admynystratyon of intestate godys.
1574. trans. Littleton’s Tenures, § 200. If that he make no executours when he entreth into religion, then the ordinary may commit the administration of his goods to others, as if he were dead indeed.
1708. Bickerstaff Det., in Swift’s Wks., 1755, II. I. 166. Once a term she is cited into the court to take out letters of administration.
1852. McCulloch, Taxation, II. vi. § 3 (ed. 2), 300. The court by which the probate or administration is granted.
1867. E. V. Williams, Executors & Administr., III. I. ii. (1867), II. 885. Co-executors … are regarded in law as an individual person … the acts of any one of them, in respect of the administration of the effects, are deemed to be the acts of all.
7. The action of administering something to others: a. Dispensation (of a sacrament, of justice, etc.). b. Giving or application (of remedies). c. Tendering (of an oath).
c. 1315. Shoreham, 57. The signe hys of thys sacrament The bisschopes blessynge, Forth myd the admynystracioun.
1474. Caxton, Chesse, II. i. A 8 b. He ought alwey thynk on the gouernement of the royame & who hath thadmynystracion of justyce.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., V. ii. 75. In th’administration of his Law.
1635. Pagitt, Christianogr., 66. For the Administration of the Sacrament of Baptisme.
1677. Hale, Prim. Orig. Man., 232. These severe Administrations of War could not be without great Desolations.
1763. Blackstone, Comm., III. 73. To rectify and redress any mal-administrations of justice.
1875. Wood, Therap. (1879), 195. In poisoning by oxalic acid, the immediate administration of an antidote is of the utmost importance.
