[a. F. création (14th c. in Littré or ad. L. creātiōn-em, n. of action f. creāre to CREATE.]
1. The action or process of creating; the action of bringing into existence by divine power or its equivalent; the fact of being so created.
1393. Gower, Conf., III. 91. To-fore the creacion Of any worldes stacion.
1413. Lydg., Pilgr. Sowle, IV. xvi. (1483), 63. I was present at his first creacion.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 15 b. From the creacyon of the worlde vnto this tyme.
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., II. xxvi. § 2. As when a new Particle of Matter doth begin to exist … which had before no Being; and this we call Creation.
1736. Butler, Anal., I. v. Wks. 1874, I. 92. That mature state of life, which was the end of his [man’s] creation.
1830. Lyell, Princ. Geol., I. 399. The creation of a new lake, the engulphing of a city, or the raising of a new island.
1858. Mansel, Bampton Lect., ii. (ed. 4), 35. We can think of creation only as a change in the condition of that which already exists.
b. absol. The calling into existence of the world; the beginning, as a date.
1593. Shaks., Lucr., 924. From the creation to the general doom.
1662. Stillingfl., Orig. Sacr., II. ii. § 9. Could Noah then be ignorant of the Creation, and the fall of man?
1665. Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (1677), 370. As if all India was theirs by title from the Creation.
1831. Brewster, Newton (1855), II. xvi. 100. The account of the creation in Genesis.
2. gen. The action of making, forming, producing, or bringing into existence.
1602. Shaks., Ham., III. iv. 138. This is the very coynage of your Braine: This bodilesse Creation extasie Is very cunning in.
1769. Blackstone, Comm., IV. 420. The creation of estates tail.
1841–4. Emerson, Ess., Art, Wks. (Bohn), I. 145. In our fine arts, not imitation, but creation, is the aim.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. § 27. 216. Down these we swept … usually accompanied by an avalanche of our own creation.
1867. Bright, Sp. Amer., 29 June. The creation of that opinion which has made slavery hateful.
3. The investing with a title, dignity or function.
1460. Capgrave, Chron., 297. This Alisaunder graunted … plener remission in the first day of his creacion.
1491. Act 7 Hen. VII., c. 16 § 7. The creacion of your seid subgiet into the Erle of Surrey.
1621. Elsing, Debates Ho. Lords (Camden), 93. That the LL. of the newe creacion may be brought into the House, eache by 2 other LL.
1720. Ozell, Vertot’s Rom. Rep., I. VI. 325. This restless … People … required Decemvirs, and we consented to their creation.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 520. The Tory party had always been strong among the peers. It … had been reinforced … by several fresh creations.
4. concr. That which God has created; the created world; creatures collectively.
Lord of Creation = man: see LORD.
1611. Bible, Rom. viii. 22. For wee know that the whole creation groaneth, and trauaileth in paine together vntill now.
1658. Sir T. Browne, Hydriot., i. Which in fourty dayes swallowed almost mankinde and the living creation.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 722. A Plague did on the dumb Creation rise.
1725. De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 280. This vast tract of land … is a fruitful … part of the creation.
1751. Johnson, Rambler, No. 175, ¶ 13. A race with whom … the whole creation seems to be at war.
1783–94. Blake, Songs Innoc., Cradle Song, 18. All creation slept and smiled.
5. An original production of human intelligence or power; esp. of imagination or imaginative art.
1605. Shaks., Macb., II. i. 38. Or art thou but A Dagger of the Minde, a false Creation, Proceeding from the heat-oppressed Braine?
1709. Pope, Ess. Crit., 493. The treach’rous colours the fair art betray, And all the bright creation fades away!
1813. Shelley, Q. Mab, VII. 62. Fancy’s thin creations.
1862. Merivale, Rom. Emp. (1865), IV. xxxiv. 130. Lugdunum was a new creation of the Roman power.
1888. Child, Eng. & Sc. Pop. Ball., III. V. cxvii. 42/2. Robin Hood is absolutely a creation of the ballad-muse.
6. Comb., as creation-day; creation money, an annual payment by the Crown to a newly created peer.
1667. Milton, P. L., IX. 556. Beasts, whom God on their Creation-Day Created mute to all articulat sound.
1671. F. Philipps, Reg. Necess., 454. The Dukes and Marquesses a greater yearly annuity or Creation money.
1878. Stubbs, Const. Hist., III. 436. The earl’s creation money, twenty pounds, was a substitute for the third penny of the county…; and the retention of this payment probably suggested the bestowal of creation money on those who were raised to the newer ranks of peerage. Ibid., III. 526.
