Also 5–6 fynyte. [ad. L. fīnīt-us, pa. pple. of fīnīre to put an end to, bound, limit, f. fīnis end, limit.]
A. adj.
† 1. Fixed, determined, definite. Obs.
1493. Festivall (W. de W., 1515), 79. There was made a fynyte loveday betwene the kyng & Thomas.
1603. Holland, Plutarch’s Mor., 1191. Giving us assurance of that which is finite and determinate.
1680. H. More, Apocal. Apoc., 334. A finite vast number is here put for an indefinite numerous multitude.
2. Having bounds, ends, or limits; bounded, limited; opposed to infinite.
1587. Golding, De Mornay, iv. 42. For if any of them [perfections] be finite, then he is not infinite.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., I. iii. 11. Whatsoever we imagine, is Finite.
1692. Bentley, Serm. Folly of Atheism, vi. 21. That supposed Infinite Duration will by the very Supposition be limited at two extremes, though never so remote asunder; and consequently must needs be Finite.
1854. Moseley, Astron., iii. (ed. 4), 11. The surface of the earth is finite in every direction, and the mass which it encloses is one wholly separate and detached from every other.
b. Having an existence subject to limitations and conditions.
1633. G. Herbert, Temple, Artillerie, iv.
| There is no articling with Thee: | |
| I am but finite, yet thine infinitely. |
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 421, 3 July, ¶ 7. The whole Heaven or Hell of any finite Being.
1809–10. Coleridge, The Friend (1865), 67. Of eternity and self-existence what other likeness is possible in a finite being, but immortality and moral self-determination?
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 416, Phaedo, Introduction. Of the absolute goodness of any finite nature we can form no conception; we are all of us in process of transition from one degree of good or evil to another.
3. Math. Of a line: Terminated. Of a quantity, number, distance: Limited, neither infinite nor infinitesimal. Of a group: Containing a limited number of substitutions. Of a solution: Resulting in a finite quantity. Finite points: such as are not at an infinite distance apart. Finite series (see quot. c. 1865).
1570. Billingsley, Euclid, I. Post. ii. 6. To produce a right line finite, straight forth continually.
1660. Barrow, Euclid, I. i. 9. Upon a finite right line given AB, to describe an equilateral triangle ACB.
1840. Lardner, Geom., 276. When the ellipse becomes a parabola, these two distances become infinite, while their difference, or the the distance V F, remains finite.
c. 1865. Circ. Sc., I. 573/1. A series is called a finite series when it has an assignable last term.
1885. Leudesdorf, Cremona’s Proj. Geom., 139. To draw the tangent at a given point of a parable, having given two other finite points on the curve, and the direction of the point at infinity on it. Ibid., 265. The finite segment FF′ is cut or not by the tangents according as the conic is a hyperbola or an ellipse.
1885. Watson & Burbury, Math. Th. Electr. & Magn., I. 38. It may be proved that dk Pid μk is the only finite integral solution in μ of the second of equations.
1893. A. R. Forsyth, Theory of Functions, 587. These finite discontinuous groups are of importance on the theory of polyhedral functions.
4. Gram. Of a verb: Limited by number and person; not in the infinitive mood.
1795. L. Murray, Gram., Syntax, 86. A simple sentence has in it but one subject, and one finite verb. Ibid. (1798), (ed. 4), III. 113, note. Finite verbs are those to which number and person appertain.
5. Music. (See quot.)
1869. Ouseley, Counterp., xv. 105. If the canon is concluded by a coda, it is called Finite.
¶ App. misused for infinite.
a. 1400. Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.), 93.
| That it may plese his fynyte deyté, | |
| Knowleche in this to sendyn us! |
B. quasi-sb.
1. The adj. used absolutely.
1687. Dryden, Hind & P., I. 104.
| Let reason then at Her own quarry fly, | |
| But how can finite grasp Infinity? |
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., II. xv. § 12. Finite of any Magnitude, holds not any Proportion to Infinite.
1825. Coleridge, Aids Refl. (1836), 155, note. Reasoning from finite to finite on a basis of truth; also, reasoning from infinite to infinite on a basis of truth; will always lead to truth as intelligibly as the basis on which such truths respectively rest.
1847. Emerson, Poems, Threnody, Wks. (Bohn), I. 492.
| My servant Death, with solving rite, | |
| Pours finite into infinite. |
b. The finite: that which is finite.
1845. Maurice, Moral & Metaphysical Philosophy, in Encycl. Metrop., II. 575/1. What do you mean by saying that God is either finite or infinite? the finite and the infinite are both alike thoughts of our own.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), IV. 9–10, Philebus, Introduction. To us, the notion of infinity is subsequent rather than prior to the finite, expressing not absolute vacancy or negation, but only the removal of limit or restraint, which we suppose to exist not before but after we have already set bounds to thought and matter, and divided them after their kinds.
2. A finite thing; a finite being: see A. 2.
a. 1619. Fotherby, Atheom., II. x. § 4 (1622), 308–9. That one thing, which is the beginning of all things, is, in Nature before both all Ones, and all, Manyes, all wholes, all parts, all termes, and all indeterminations, all finites and all infinites.
1648. Boyle, Seraph. Love, xxvi. (1700), 154. It being as impossible for an Aggregate of Finites, to comprehend or exhaust one Infinite, as ’tis for the greatest number of Mathematick Points to amount to, or constitute a Body.
1846. [see FINITED ppl. a.].
