Pl. emphases. [a. L. emphasis, a. Gr. ἔμφασις (in senses 1 and 7 below), f. ἐμφα(ν-, ἐμφαίνειν, mid. voice ἐμφαίνεσθαι, f. ἐν in + φαίν-ειν to show, φαίνεσθαι to appear.]
I. The rhetorical sense, and senses derived from it.
† 1. (The Gr. and Lat. sense.) The use of language in such a way as to imply more than is actually said; a meaning not inherent in the words used, but conveyed by implication. Obs.
[Quintilian illustrates the meaning of ‘emphasis’ by the manner in which Virgil indicates the vast size of the Cyclops by saying that he ‘lay along the cavern.’]
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie (Arb.), 194. [Side-note, Emphasis, or the Renforcer] To inforce the sence of anything by a word of more than ordinary efficacie … [the meaning of which] is not apparant, but, as it were, secretly conveyed.
1659. Pearson, Creed, 303. The Lord of that Temple in the emphasis of an Hebrew Article was Christ.
1764. Harmer, Observ., iii. 8. There might be an emphasis in those words of Moses, which has not of late been at all understood.
b. Special or important significance in a word or phrase (cf. 4).
1612. Brinsley, Lud. Lit., 213–4. Let them also be taught carefully, in what word the Emphasis lyeth.
2. Vigor or intensity of statement or expression. Now felt as transf. from 4.
1573. G. Harvey, Lett.-Bk. (1884), 32. The veri causis … he knew fully as wel as mi self, with a good larg emphasis, I warrant you.
a. 1619. Fotherby, Atheom., II. xii. (1622), 335. To expresse, with a greater Emphasis, the incredible power of Musick.
1685. Stillingfl., Orig. Brit., ii. 51. Tertullian doth add the greater Emphasis to his Argument.
1839. De Quincey, Recoll. Lakes, Wks. II. 9. She ceased to challenge notice by the emphasis of her solicitations.
1872. Morley, Voltaire (1886), 122. He is the most trenchant writer in the world, yet there is not a sentence of strained emphasis or overwrought antithesis.
† b. concr. An emphatic expression. Obs. rare–1.
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., I. v. 67. Be choak’d with such another Emphasis.
3. Intensity or force of feeling, action, etc.
1602. Shaks., Ham., V. i. 278. What is he, whose griefes Beares such an Emphasis?
a. 1667. Cowley, Oliver Cromwell (1710), II. 655. It is only an Emphasis and Exaggeration of their Wickedness.
1670. D. Lloyd, State Worthies, 23. It’s the emphasis of misery, to be too soon happy.
1784. Cowper, Task, V. 7. Are they not … by an emphasis of int’rest his?
1876. Geo. Eliot, Dan. Der., I. x. 181. His … figure … was all the worse for its apparent emphasis of intention.
4. Stress of voice laid on a word or phrase to indicate that it implies something more than, or different from, what it normally expresses, or simply to mark its importance. (Cf. quot. 1612 in 1 b.)
1613. R. C., Table Alph. (ed. 3), Emphasis, a forcible expressing.
1748. J. Mason, Elocut., 23. When we distinguish … any particular Word in a Sentence, it is called Emphasis.
1775. T. Sheridan, Lect. Art Reading, i. § 3. Mark the pauses and emphases by the new signs.
1849. Dickens, Dav. Copp., iii. Peggotty said, with greater emphasis than usual, that [etc.].
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), V. 15. The emphasis is wrongly placed.
b. Manner of placing the ‘emphasis’ in speaking or reading.
1725. Bp. Derry, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., II. 450, IV. 338. Upon the Delivery of the enclosed speech from the Throne (which was done with as graceful an emphasis as I ever heard).
5. transf. ‘Stress’ laid upon, importance assigned to, a particular fact or idea.
1687. R. L’Estrange, Answ. Diss., 37. A Flower not to be pass’d over without an Emphasis.
1805. Med. Jrnl., XIV. 61. My laying emphasis on the previous effect of the vaccine inoculation.
1847. Emerson, Repr. Men, Goethe, Wks. (Bohn), I. 384. The emphasis of conversation, and of public opinion, commends the practical man. Ibid. (1870), Soc. & Solit., Wks. (Bohn), III. 49. Lei not the emphasis of hospitality lie in these things.
1863. Geo. Eliot, Romola (1880), I. I. xvi. 222. A slight matter, not worth dwelling on with any emphasis.
6. Prominency, sharpness of contour.
1872. Blackie, Lays Highl., Introd. p. xxii. You never saw a Ben rising bolt upright with a more distinct emphasis. Ibid. (1876), Lang. & Lit. Scott. Highl., 65 The bones which mark the features disappear, or at least lose their emphasis.
1885. E. W. Lightner, in Harper’s Mag., March, 526/2. A charming oriel-window, the base of which is formed by a gradual emphasis of the brick wall.
† II. 7. An optical illusion, mere appearance. Obs. rare–1.
1653. Sir G. Wharton, Disc. Comets, Wks. (1683), 156. Some think Comets … a meer Emphasis or Apparency.
