sb. and a. [ad. F. formulaire sb. = collection of formulæ, ad. L. *formulārium, neut. sing. of formulārius (recorded in sense ‘lawyer skilled in formulæ’): see FORMULA, FORMULAR, and -ARY.]
A. sb. A collection or system of formulas; a statement drawn up in formulas; a document containing the set form or forms according to which something is to be done (esp. one that contains prescribed forms of religious belief or ritual).
1541. R. Copland (title), The Questyonary of Cyrurgyens, with the formulary of lytell Guydo in Cyrurgie.
a. 1626. Bacon, On Libel in 1592, Wks. 1861, VIII. 204. In the practice of all law, the formularies have been few, and certain, and not varied according to every particular case.
c. 1645. Howell, Lett., I. xxxii. (1655), 274. I beleeve evry one hath som Mode and Modell or Formulary of his own, specially for his private cubicular Devotions.
1723. Waterland, Ath. Creed, iv. 154. They receiv’d this Creed from the Gallican Churches; received it as an Orthodox Formulary, and an approved Rule of Faith.
a. 1734. North, Life Guildford (1742), 260. A Committee of Council to settle the Formulary [of the coronation].
1782. Burney, Hist. Mus. (1789), II. ii. 121. It contains instructions for measuring musical intervals by the Monochord, and a Formulary of the Ecclesiastical tones.
1827. Bentham, Ration. Evid., Wks. 1843, VI. 441. Take up a history of an old French law-suit, the evidence is absolutely unreadable: it is the same dull formulary in every case.
1877. J. D. Chambers, Divine Worship, 110. The Anglican Formularies, however, do not recognize Hymns at all.
b. ? A formula.
1782. Warton, Enq. Poems Rowley, 23. These poems abound with modern words, and modern formularies of expression: with whole lines, and often prolix paragraphs, not to be possibly distinguished from the composition of the present day.
1874. J. Sully, Sensation & Intuition, 112. The force of the active impulses generating an eager desire for doing something, will tend to shut out from view all limitation to endeavour, and to encourage a boundless faith in the primitive formulary, ‘I can.’
B. adj. Of the nature of a formula or prescribed form; of or relating to formulas.
1728. J. Morgan, Algiers, II. iv. 293. No Voyage is undertaken from Constantinople, by either public or private Persons, without their first visiting his Tomb, whereat they say a Fedha, or formulary sort of Prayer for Success.
1766. Johnson, in Boswell, Feb. In the formulary and statutory part of law, a plodding blockhead may excel. Ibid. (1775), Lett. to Mrs. Thrale, 11 June. Part of it [an epitaph], which tells the birth and marriage, is formulary, and can be expressed only one way.
1862. Helps, Organiz. Daily Life, 119–20. If you would rightly organize anything which has life in it, such as a community of men, you must have a living Organization which can vary, withhold, or rescind all that is merely formulary, and that depends solely upon rules.
1875. Poste, Gaius, III. Comm. (ed. 2), 445. Under the formulary system the term was still employed, but marked the moment when the praetor delivered the written formula containing the commission of the judex.
b. Of a person: Closely adhering to formulas.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., III. III. ii. 155. There is in the Mountain here and there; in Marat People’s-friend; in the incorruptible Seagreen himself, though otherwise so lean and formulary, a heartfelt knowledge of this latter fact.
