[f. as prec. + -MENT. Cf. OF. establissement (late AF. establishement), Fr. établissement.]
I. Action or means of establishing.
1. The action of establishing; the fact of being established: in various senses of the vb.
1596. J. Norden, Progr. Pietie (1847), 117. An establishment of concord amongst ourselves [is] to be sought and heartily prayed for.
1688. Col. Rec. Pennsylv., I. 226. That such Sanction and Establishment may be as Effectuall and binding as any Law.
1739. Butler, Serm., Wks. 1874, II. 225. The bare establishment of Christianity in any place … is a very important and valuable effect.
1788. W. Gordon (title), The History of the rise, progress, and establishment … of the United States of America.
1851. D. Wilson, Preh. Ann. (1863), II. IV. i. 192. The establishment of Christianity in Scotland.
1871. Figure Training, 38. A most awkward and clumsy figure is in a fair way towards formation and permanency of establishment.
1875. Fortnum, Maiolica, 37. The establishment of the ducal Court at Urbino naturally drew more favour to the potteries of that city.
2. esp. The ‘establishing’ by law (a church, religion, form of worship). (See ESTABLISH v. 7.) † a. In early use, the settling or ordering in a particular manner, the regulating and upholding of the constitution and ordinances of the church recognized by the state. † b. In 17th–18th c. occasionally the granting of legal status to (other religious bodies than that connected with the state). c. Now usually, the conferring on a particular religious body the position of a state church.
a. 1640–1. Ld. Digby, Sp., in Rushw., Hist. Coll. (1721), IV. 172. A Man … that made the Establishment by Law the Measure of his Religion.
1706–7. Act 5 Anne, c. 5. Securing Ch. Eng., Acts of Parliament now in Force for the Establishment and Preservation of the Church of England.
b. 1731. E. Calamy, Life (1830), I. v. 401. The allowance of the law is of necessity a sufficient establishment [of dissenting worship].
1792. Coke & Moore, Life J. Wesley, II. iv. (ed. 2), 355. Mr. Wesley’s great desire to remain in union with the Church of England … would not allow him to apply for a legal establishment.
c. 1662–3. Addr. of Commons to King, 27 Feb., in Cobbett, Parl. Hist. (1808), IV. 262. In time, some prevalent sect will … contend for an establishment.
1788. Priestley, Lect. Hist., V. lvii. 449. There is no place where there are more forms of religion openly professed, and without the establishment of any of them than Pennsylvania.
1792. Burke, Lett. to Sir H. Langrishe, Wks. VI. 318. The perpetual establishment of the confession of Faith, and the Presbyterian church government.
1813. Mrq. Lansdowne, in Ho. Lords, 8 March. They [Catholic Petitioners of City of Limerick] asked for no establishment of their own Church.
a. 1832. Mackintosh, Causes Revol., Wks. 1846, II. 227. Toleration … was sometimes sought by Dissenters as a step towards establishment.
1886. Earl Selborne, Def. Ch. Eng., I. iv. 77. All such relations of the Church to the State as those which are summed up in the term ‘Establishment.’
† 3. Established or stable condition; settlement, permanence; also, settled condition of mind, calmness, confidence. Obs.
1561. T. Norton, Calvin’s Inst., I. 15. For it is merueilous, how great establishment groweth hereof.
1641. J. Jackson, True Evang. T., III. 227–8. A succession of three good Princes together doch notably contribute to establishment, and felicity of a Kingdome.
a. 1674. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., XVI. (1704), III. 603. If God shall be pleased to add Establishment and Perpetuity to the Blessings he then Restored.
1674. Owen, Holy Spirit (1693), 69. Our Permanency and Establishment in the Truth.
1777. Priestley, Matt. & Spir. (1782), I. Introd. 6. Truth will … gain a firm establishment in the minds of all men.
† b. Manner in which anything is established; organization, ‘footing.’ Obs.
1799. Wellington, in Owen, Disp., 106. The improved establishment on which he had placed their garrisons.
† 4. A means of establishing; something that strengthens, supports or corroborates. Obs.
1561. T. Norton, Calvin’s Inst., I. 17. So many and so notable miracles … are euen as many establishments of the law.
1581. Marbeck, Bk. of Notes, 210. Truth is the piller and establishment of the church.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., III. xx. 155. Their hornes … being a weake and hollow body, require some inward establishment, to confirme the length of their advancement.
5. Settlement in life; formerly often (now rarely) in the sense of marriage.
1684. Prideaux, Lett., 12 Nov. (1875), 138. I … wish with that you had all the other satisfactions you can desire, especially a good establishment in England.
1734. trans. Rollin’s Anc. Hist., IV. IX. 345. You owe … to them, birth, nurture, education and establishment.
1769. Robertson, Chas. V., III. XI. 365. To acquire an establishment of such dignity and value for one of his sons.
1800. Mrs. Hervey, Mourtray Fam., I. iii. 259. Her chief solicitude was to procure an affluent establishment for her daughter.
1815. Jane Austen, Emma, II. vi. 173. Whenever he were attached, he would willingly give up much wealth to obtain an early establishment.
1825. Lytton, Falkland, 16. I saw in the notes of the mothers their anxiety for the establishment of their daughters.
b. Settled income, provision for a livelihood.
1727. Swift, Gulliver’s Travels (1731), 104. His Excellency, who had the sole Disposal of the Emperor’s Revenue, might easily provide by gradually lessening your establishment.
1776. Gibbon, Decl. & F., I. xviii. 484. For each of these princes a suitable establishment was provided.
1776. Cowper, Wks. (1837), XV. 34. It will afford me some sort of an establishment, at least for a time.
1832. Ht. Martineau, Life in Wilds, vii. 94. Providing a permanent establishment for the captain as their chief magistrate.
6. Establishment of a port [Fr. établissement d’un port]: (see quot.).
1833. Sir J. Herschel, Astron., xi. 337. That deviation of the time of high and low water at any port or harbour, from the culmination of the luminaries … which is called the ‘establishment’ of that port.
1875. Bedford, Sailor’s Pocket-bk., V. (ed. 2), 168. The time of high water at any particular place is the same on the days both of New and Full Moon, and is termed the ‘Establishment of the Port.’
1886. Godfray, Astron., App. (ed. 4), 200. The interval between the instant of the moon’s transit across the meridian on the day of new or full moon, and the subsequent high water, is called the vulgar establishment of the port.
II. Something that is established.
† 7. A settled arrangement; a settled constitution or government. Also, a legal enactment. Obs.
1481. Caxton, Godfrey (E.E.T.S.), 42. Helde a counseyl … of the prelates of ytalye at playsance, where he made … establischemens tamende the maners of the Clergye.
1596. Spenser, State Irel. (1633), 100 (J.). Bringing in of that establishment, by which you said all men should be contained in duty ever after.
1605. Verstegan, Dec. Intell., iii. (1628), 63. Aduanced to the honourable titles of Earles and Lords, with Establishment for the continuall remaining of these titles.
a. 1656. Vines, Lord’s Supp. (1677), 418. Not that I would encourage any man to break a wholsom order, or establishment.
1714. Fr. Bk. of Rates, 5. That so much talk’d of Establishment, call’d the Tariff of 1664.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 134. Our establishment respecting seamen was as follows.
b. spec. in Fr. Hist. (transl. of Fr. établissement).
1818. Hallam, Mid. Ages (1872), I. 244. When St. Louis enacted that great code which bears the name of his Establishments.
1873. G. W. Kitchin, Hist. France, I. III. viii. 343. The royal ‘Establishments’ or codes of law.
† c. The ‘estimates’ for public expenditure. Obs.
1672. Earl Essex, in Essex Papers, 31 Aug. (Camden), I. 22. Upon ye closing of ye Establishmyt for this Kingdome [Ireland], five hundred Pounds a year were reservd with intention that, if I should find cause to move the King in behalf of this City of Dublyn, it should be restored to them agen…. I desire … that I may have an Order to insert them [the £500] into the Establishmyt.
8. The ecclesiastical system established by law; more fully Church Establishment. Hence The Establishment often occurs as a distinctive name for the established church (esp. of England, Scotland, formerly Ireland), in contradistinction to the non-established churches or sects.
[1667. J. Corbet, Disc. Relig. Eng., 28. The Setling of a Nation may be made up of an Establishment, a Limited Toleration, and a Discreet Connivence [etc.].]
1731. E. Calamy, Life (1830), I. v. 469. There was a variety of sentiments amongst those out of the Establishment, as well as those under it.
1786. W. Pitt, in Ld. Stanhope, Life (1879), I. 252. It is certainly a delicate thing to meddle with the Church Establishment in the present situation of Ireland.
1795. J. Aikin, Manchester, 241. Chaderton contains a chapel of the establishment.
1806–31. A. Knox, Rem. (1844), I. 93. These teachers have generally been found … within Establishments.
1824. Syd. Smith, Wks. (1859), II. 51/1. America … has no Establishment.
1829. Gen. P. Thompson, Exerc. (1842), I. 22. Half the people in England dislike the church establishment.
1869. Times, 31 Dec., 6/4. The Irish Church Establishment has been abolished.
9. a. An organized body of men, maintained at the expense of the sovereign or of the state for a specific purpose; orig. said of the military service, but applied also to the naval and civil. b. The quota of officers and men in a regiment, ship, etc., complement. Also in Peace, War establishment: cf. 3 b.
1689. Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), I. 518. What forces shall be sent to the Low Countries … shall be continued in English pay, and on the English establishment.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 266. The support of the civil, military and naval establishments.
1800. Dundas, in Owen, Wellesley’s Disp., 558. The establishment does not seem to have exceeded eighty thousand men.
1828. J. M. Spearman, Brit. Gunner (ed. 2), 69. The usual establishment of officers for ships of the same class.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 295. Both these gallant brigades … had been placed on the English establishment.
1853. Stocqueler, Mil. Encycl., Peace Establishment is the reduced condition of an army suited to a time of peace. War Establishment is the augmentation of regiments to a certain number … to meet war exigencies.
1884. Pall Mall Gaz., 12 Sept., 10/2. Lieutenant-Colonel James Roxburgh, formerly H.E.I.C.S., Bengal establishment.
10. An organized staff of employés or servants, often including, and sometimes limited to, the building in which they are located: a. A public institution, a school, factory, house of business, etc.
Establishment hand (colloq. stab hand): among printers, an employé on weekly wages as distinguished from one on piece-work.
1832. G. Downes, Lett. Cont. Countries, I. 188. I now perceived … the high road passed close to the establishment [Pestalozzi’s schools].
1838. Dickens, Nich. Nick., iv. We don’t consider the boys’ appetites at our establishment.
1842. Bischoff, Woollen Manuf., II. 33. The British manufacturers … have been compelled to seek markets, and form establishments in … the most distant parts of the globe.
1845. Stocqueler, Hand-bk. Brit. India (1854), 74. Of these establishments the Bishop’s College Press, at Calcutta, unquestionably stands at the head.
1851. D. Wilson, Preh. Ann. (1863), II. IV. i. 192. The religious establishment which St. Columba founded at Iona.
1873. Act 36 & 37 Vict., c. 76 § 6. The … insufficiency of the establishment for working such railway.
b. A household; a family residence.
Separate establishment: a phrase often used when it is indicated that a married man maintains a paramour.
1803. Lemaistre, Rough Sk. Mod. Paris, xxxii. 302–3. Two or three families long connected with mine, have still establishments here.
1828. D’Israeli, Charles I., II. i. 3. Even long after this period, the poverty of the royal establishment was observed.
1856. Froude, Hist. Eng. (1858), II. vii. 174. Her establishment was broken up, and she was sent to reside … in the household of the Princess Elizabeth.
1862. Trollope, Orley F., i. His wealth would have entitled him to the enjoyment of a larger establishment.
Mod. Newspaper, Everybody but his wife seems to have known that he had a separate establishment.
