[f. ADMIT + -ANCE, cf. remittance; after Fr. and Eng. analogies in assistance, attendance, etc. The analogical formation on L. admittens would be admittence.] The action of admitting, now confined to the literal sense of giving entrance, the fig. ideas connected with admit being expressed by ADMISSION.
1. The action of admitting, letting in, or giving entrance; permission to enter. Usually attributed to the person admitted: ‘our admittance (by the porter) into the grounds’ rather than ‘the porter’s admittance of us’; thus = the fact of being admitted, entrance given or allowed.
a. lit. into a place.
1593. Thynne, Lett., in Animadv. (1865), 97. Whene your Lordship will vouchsafe mee admyttance to your presence.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., II. iii. 73. ’Tis Gold Which buyes admittance.
1635. Naunton, Fragm. Reg., in Phenix (1708), I. 208. He came up per ardua … not pulled up by Chance, or by any gentle admittance of Fortune.
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., II. iii. 47 (J.). There are some Ideas, which have admittance only through one Sense.
1731. Arbuthnot, On Aliments, 29 (J.). As to the admittance of the weighty elastick parts of the Air into the Blood.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev. (1872), I. VII. ix. 238. He gets admittance through the locked and padlocked grates.
Mod. ‘No admittance except on business.’
b. fig. into an office, position (arch.), or society (obs.) Mostly replaced by ADMISSION.
1594. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., III. (1617), 124. Therefore a solemne admittance [to office in the Church] is of such necessitie, that without it there can be no Church-Politie.
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., VII. xxxix. (1632), 400. Without the admittance of any Secondary or Viceroy to rule there vnder him.
1649. Selden, Laws of Eng., II. xxxv. (1739), 160. The Pope had no admittance unto his ancient Claim.
1743. J. Morris, Serm., viii. 230. The condition of our admittance into his favor.
c. spec. in Law, into a copyhold estate. The act by which the copyholder is put in actual and legally recognized possession.
1741. T. Robinson, Gavelkind, vi. 98. Who dies before Admittance.
1768. Blackstone, Comm., II. 370. Admittance is the last stage, or perfection, of copyhold assurances.
1809. Tomlins, Law Dict., s.v. Copyhold, The consent of the lord to the surrender shall be adjudged a good admittance. If the steward accept a fine of a copyholder, it amounts to an admittance. But delivering a copy is no admittance.
† 2. Hence, The habit or faculty of being admitted; admissibility. Obs. rare.
1598. Shaks., Merry Wiv., II. ii. 235. You are a gentleman of excellent breeding, admirable discourse, of great admittance.
† 3. The action of admitting as valid or satisfactory; acceptance, sanction. Obs.
1598. Shaks., Merry Wiv., III. iii. 61. The Tyre-valiant, or any Tire of Venetian admittance.
1622. Malynes, Anc. Law-Merch., 424. All other coynes inhaunced aboue the Par of Exchanges heretofore calculated amongst Merchants, and especially with the admittance of Princes.
† 4. The action of admitting the truth (of a tenet), either from conviction or for argument’s sake. Obs.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie (1869), 235. This figure is much vsed by our English pleaders … which they call to confesse and auoid … I call it the figure of admittance.
1635. J. Swan, Spec. Mundi, v. § 2 (1643), 165. We fall into other absurdities upon the admittance of this tenet.
