Also 6 Sc. existens. [a. OF. existence, ad. med.L. existentia, n. of state f. ex(s)istent-em (see EXISTENT), pr. pple. of ex(s)istĕre: see EXIST and -ENCE.] The state of being existent.
† 1. Actuality, reality. Obs.
(Opposed to apparence: the Fr. words often so occur in the Roman de la Rose.)
c. 1384. Chaucer, H. Fame, I. 266. Allas what harme dothe Apparence Whan hit is fals in existence.
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 5552. To se Hym that is freend in existence From hym that is by apparence.
1430. Lydg., Chron. Troy, I. v. A deceyte is couertly yment … As it were sothe in very existence.
2. Being; the fact or state of existing; ‘actual possession of being’ (J.). In existence: as predicate = ‘extant.’
c. 1430. Lydg., Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866), 45. Thyng counterfetyd hath non existence.
1432–50. trans. Higden (Rolls), I. 267. The coloures of faces, quantites of bodies, qualites of sawles, haue theire existence in man after the diuersite of heuyn.
1552. Abp. Hamilton, Catech. (1884), 38. God allone is be himself; of his awin natural existens.
1665. Glanvill, Sceps. Sci., 20. Matter is not necessary to the Souls existence.
1725. Watts, Logick, III. ii. § 8. 465. If an Argument taken from the Nature or Existence of Things.
1768–74. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), II. 462. Existence belongs solely to substances, and essence solely to qualities.
1816. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, I. 585. The earth was the most consequential aggregate of matter in existence.
1818. Jas. Mill, Brit. India, III. IV. ix. 298. It created some evils of the greatest magnitude which previously had no existence.
1856. Sir B. Brodie, Psychol. Inq., I. ii. 56. These facts sufficiently proved the existence of some actual disease.
1871. Alabaster, Wheel of Law, p. xxxvii. Buddhists … See more reason to lament existence than to be grateful for it.
b. Continued being; continuance in being.
1736. Butler, Anal., I. i. Wks. 1874, I. 17. We know not at all upon what the existence of our living powers depends.
1811. Wellington, in Gurw., Disp., VIII. 274. People who absolutely depend for their existence upon the continuance of His Royal Highness’ protection.
1874. Green, Short Hist., viii. 492. The colony was now firmly established and the struggle for mere existence was over.
c. Continuance of being as a living creature; life. (Sometimes in disparaging sense: ‘a mere existence not worthy the name of life.’)
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 169. Morod their famous Æsculapius, seeing no more money, limited my life to fiue dayes more existence.
1825. Landor, in Four C. Eng. Lett., 441. I shall remember his [friendship] to the last hour of my existence.
1838. De Morgan, Ess. Probab., 223. [An annuity] to be paid at the end of the year in which the joint existence fails.
1860. B’ness Bunsen, in Hare, Life, I. v. 276. His existence of bodily ease and freshness.
1870. Dickens, E. Drood, vii. We have had a wretched existence.
3. A mode or kind of existing.
a. 1763. Shenstone, Ess. (1765), 52. Such appears to me to be the true existence of apparitions.
1867. M. Arnold, Empedocles on Etna, I. ii. Other existences there are, that clash with ours.
1878. Browning, La Saisiaz, 28. New existence led by men and women new.
4. concr. a. All that exists; the aggregate of being.
1751. Harris, Hermes, Wks. (1841), 142. Existence may be considered as an universal genus.
1868. Geo. Eliot, Sp. Gipsy, 51. All beauteous existence rests, yet wakes.
b. Something that exists; a being, an entity.
1605. Timme, Quersit., I. iii. 10. Things naturall are called properly naturall existences or beings.
1624. Massinger, Renegado, V. ii. (1630), K 3 b. Prosper thou great Existence my endeauours.
a. 1754. Fielding, True Patriot, Wks. 1775, IX. 329. I have heard of a man who believed there was no real existence in the world but himself.
1820. Keats, Hyperion, II. 337. When all the fair existences of heaven Came.
1846. Mill, Logic, I. iii. § 1. An enumeration of Existences, as the basis of Logic, did not escape the attention of the schoolmen.
1891. C. R. Francis, in Indian Mag., Sept., 459. There is no limit to the ever-increasing number of deified existences.
