Also 5 sspace, 5–6 spase; Sc. 5 spas, 6 spais, spaice, spece, 7 speace. [ad. OF. espace (aspace, espasse, spaze, etc., F. espace, = Prov. espaci, espazi, Pg. espaço, Sp. espacio, It. spazio), ad. L. spatium (med.L. also spacium).]
I. Denoting time or duration.
1. Without article: Lapse or extent of time between two definite points, events, etc. Chiefly with adjs., as little, long, short, small.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 6980. Þair faith lasted littel space.
1338. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 213. Grace God gaf him here, þis lond to kepe long space.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XI. 9. And quhen he herd … at sic space he had Till purvay hym, he ves rycht glad.
c. 1450. Holland, Howlat, 34. All thar names to nevyn … war prolixt and lang, and lenthing of space.
1471. Ripley, Comp. Alch., I. vi. in Ashm. (1652), 130. A yere we take or more for our respyte: For in lesse space our Calxe wyll not be made.
c. 1549. Registr. Aberdon. (Maitland), II. 307. With intervale and space necessare of þe law vsit.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 18. They become whole and frolicke, in small space.
1700. Dryden, Sigismunda & Guiscardo, 27. To her Father’s Court in little space Restor’d anew.
1782. Cowper, Gilpin, 242. The turnpike gates again Flew open in short space.
1812. Cary, Dante, Parad., XXIII. 16. Short space ensued; I was not held … Long in expectance.
1835. T. Mitchell, Acharn. of Aristoph., 178. A ten years’ truce, in short, was … little more than space allowed for making new preparations for war.
1871. Rossetti, Poems, Staff & Scrip, xxx. O changed in little space!… O pale that was so red!
† b. Delay, deferment. Obs. rare.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 440, Prol., [I] al for-ȝeue with oute lengere space.
1540–54. Croke, 13 Ps. (Percy Soc.), 19. Without abode or space Bowe downe thyne ears.
† c. In space, after a time or while. Obs.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 2811. Tyll þai comyn of the cost of Caucleda in spase.
1474. Caxton, Chesse, III. viii. (1883), 148. In space and succession of tyme he departed to them alle his goodes temporell.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 114. Take muddy water … & set it alone,… & in space it wyll waxe clere.
1546–a. 1553. [see GRACE sb. 15].
a. 1591. H. Smith, Serm. (1866), I. 22. In space cometh grace.
† 2. Time, leisure or opportunity for doing something. Chiefly in to have (or give) space. Obs.
a. Const. to (usually with inf.) or of.
13[?]. Guy Warw. (1891), p. 556. Berard on þe helme he smot: To stond hadde he no space.
c. 1325. Body & Soul, in Map’s Poems (Camden Soc.), 346. A! Ihesu, that us alle hast wrouȝt,… Of amendement ȝef us space.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. III. 164. Þenne mornede Meede, and menede hire to þe kyng To haue space to speken, spede ȝif heo mihte.
1445. trans. Claudian, in Anglia, XXVIII. 277. The doome of heven also yiveth space to mannys favour in the.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 215 b/1. Thenne she prayed … that she myght haue space to praye.
1508. Kennedie, Flyting w. Dunbar, 373. To eit thy flesch the doggis sall haue na space.
1565. Cooper, Thesaurus, s.v. Spatium, They had tyme or space to take aduisement.
a. 1637. B. Jonson, Queen & Huntress. Give unto the flying hart Space to breathe how short soever.
1675. R. Burthogge, Causa Dei, 102. That very space to Repent … but confirmeth and emboldens the stubborn and wicked.
b. Without const.
1338. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 86. He may, tille he has space, gif it withouten synnes.
1390. Gower, Conf., II. 256. Thogh thei hadden litel space, Yit thei acorden in that place.
c. 1430. How Gd. Wijf tauȝte hir Douȝtir, in Babees Bk. (1868), 42. To compelle a dede to be doon & þere be no space, It is but tyrannye.
c. 1510. More, Picus, Wks. 26. Happly thou shouldest not liue an houre more Thy sinne to clense, and though thou hadst space, Yet paraduenture shouldst thou lacke the grace.
1581. H. Walpole, in Allen, Martyrdom Campion (1908), 46. God graunt they may amend the same while here they have the space.
1601. Shaks., All’s Well, IV. i. 98. Come on, thou art granted space.
c. Coupled with other sbs. denoting time, ability, etc.; esp. in time and space, space and time.
(a) a. 1300. Assump. Virg., 172. Þat þu … Ȝef hem boþe wille and space, Hem to amendy er hy beo ded.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 11292. Y þanke þe … Þat hast lent me wyt and space, Þys yn Englys for to drawe.
c. 1330. Roland & V., 127. He bisouȝt ihesu … To sende him miȝt & space, For to wite þe soþe þere.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Parson’s Prol., 64. For to yeue hym space and audience.
c. 1450. Godstow Reg., 18. I cry vn-to ȝow…, That ȝe gete to us repentaunce and space.
c. 1480. Childe of Bristowe, in Hazl., E. P. P., I. 121. And y shal laboure … to bring your soule in better way, yf y have lyf and space.
c. 1550. Rolland, Crt. Venus, III. 153. Thow sall not aill, and I haif life and space.
(b) c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 35. Whil I haue tyme and space.
c. 1400. Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton, 1483), I. xvi. 14. He had space and suffysaunt leyser ynow for to haue enstablysshed procuratours.
1484. Caxton, Fables of Alfonce, iii. Whanne the poure man was before the Juge, he demaunded terme and space for to answere.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xv. 32. Asking wald haif … Convenient tyme, lasar, and space.
[1821. Scott, Kenilw., xxxii. ‘By my faith, time and space fitting, this were a good tale to tell,’ said Leicester.]
3. With the (that, etc.): a. The amount or extent of time comprised or contained in a specified period. Const. of, or with preceding genitive.
(a) c. 1340. Hampole, Pr. Consc., 3933. Þe space of alle ane hale yhere.
1340–70. Alex. & Dind., 885. Þe space of hure liuus.
a. 1425. trans. Arderne’s Treat. Fistula, etc. 91. Late it stande stille without mouyng by þe space of a ‘pater noster.’
1484. Caxton, Fables of Alfonce, i. [He] festyed hym by the space of xiiij dayes.
1515. Sel. Cases Star Chamb. (Selden), II. 98. He bought the space of xxti yere Irne … and Retailled the same.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, 28. The leaves … dronken in wine by the space of seven dayes healeth the Jaundes.
1604. E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, III. xvii. 174. In the water whereof, you cannot indure to hold your hand, the space of an Ave Maria.
1638. Junius, Paint. Ancients, 99. For the space of many generations it hath been a shop of all Arts and Artists.
1726. Swift, Gulliver, III. iii. 197. The former revolves in the space of ten hours.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 344. In the space of a tide, the salt water has not time to … return.
1832. Brewster, Nat. Magic, xii. 311. In the space of twenty minutes the eggs were roasted quite hard.
1837. P. Keith, Bot. Lex., 128. He found that sprigs … became quite dead in the space of a day.
(b) c. 1386. Chaucer, Man of Law’s T., 916. Duryng the metes space, The child stood lokyng in the kynges face.
c. 1450. St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 3617. Before many ȝere space.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xxiii. 26. Thow seis thir wrechis sett … To gaddir gudis in all thair lyvis space.
1576. Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 27. Who in seuen dayes space lost two sonnes.
1625. in Foster, Eng. Factories India (1909), III. 101. Within an howers space shee was burnt to the water.
a. 1648. Ld. Herbert, Hen. VIII. (1683), 45. He had but a Winter’s Space; for the War was to begin the next Spring.
1820. Keats, St. Agnes, xvii. In a moment’s space.
1825. Scott, Betrothed, xxxi. There was more than three hours’ space to the time of rendezvous.
b. The amount of time already specified or indicated, or otherwise determined.
1338. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 305. Bituex prime & none alle voide was þe place. Þe bataile slayn & done alle within þat space.
1382. Wyclif, Eccl. iii. 1. Alle thingus han time, and in ther spaces passen alle thingus vnder the sunne.
c. 1430. Lydg., Min. Poems (Percy Soc.), 142. Al the space the masse was seyeng.
1545. Reg. Privy Council Scot., I. 16. For payment of the saidis horsemen during the said space.
1586. A. Day, Eng. Secretary, II. (1625), 27. I thought … I might in this space haue found a season conuenient.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 221/1. Their [sc. Jews] Custome is before Marriage to be contracted and after some space to be Married.
1712. W. Fleetwood, Four Serm., Pref. p. viii. That precious Life, had it pleased God to have prolonged it to the usual Space.
1737. Gentl. Mag., VII. 690/2. The Expence of the Fleet within the same Space, exceeded 270,000l.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., xxiv. In less than the space we have mentioned, the Count … came back to the verge of the forest.
1851. Longf., Gold. Leg., ii. Poems (1910), 467. Forty years … Have I been Prior…, But for that space Never have I beheld thy face!
† c. In the mean space, meantime, meanwhile. Obs. (Cf. MEAN a.2 2.)
1538. Elyot, Interim, in the mean space or time, in the mean season.
1585. T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy., I. xx. 26. In the mean space … we went to see the towne.
1612. Shelton, Quix., I. I. vi. In the mean Space, Gossip, you may keep them at your House.
a. 1656. Ussher, Ann., VII. (1658), 815. In the mean space Piso went about in vain, to assaile the Navy.
1760–72. H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1809), IV. 70. God was pleased, in the mean space, to cut off all debate.
ellipt. 1600–6. [see MEAN a.2 2].
1637. Heywood, Pleas. Dial., i. Wks. 1874, VI. 99. Meane space, What did the passengers?
1675. Hobbes, Odyssey, X. 537. Mean space Circe a Ram and black Ewe there had ty’d.
4. With a and pl.: A period or interval of time.
When used without adj. usually implying a period of short duration.
13[?]. Coer de L., 6123. Withinne a lytyl space … The castel become on a fyr al.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, I. 505. But whan he had a space lelt frome his care, Thus to hymsilf full ofte he ganne complaine.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 10131. A space for his spilt men spedely to graue.
c. 1450. Holland, Howlat, 112. To schape me a schand bird in a schort space.
c. 1475. Rauf Coilȝear, 334. He kneillit doun in the place, Thankand God ane greit space.
1526. Tindale, Acts xv. 33. After they hadde taryed there a certayne space.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 259. He and his defended themselues … a long space.
1633. Verney Mem. (1907), I. 77. God hath afflicted you with many sad crosses within a short space.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 117. Like Diligence requires the Courser’s Race; In early Choice; and for a longer Space.
1719. in W. S. Perry, Hist. Coll. Amer. Col. Ch., I. 219. For a considerable space no one could be heard.
1779. Mirror, No. 8. After a space, I tired of walking by the Red Sea.
1833. Act 3 & 4 Will. IV., c. 46 § 80. For any space not exceeding thirty days.
1852. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., I. ix. 118. When she found a space to say something to her husband.
1875. Hamerton, Intell. Life, I. v. 28. The incompatibility between the physical and the intellectual lives is often very marked if you look at small spaces of time only; but if you consider broader spaces, such as a lifetime, then the incompatibility is not so marked.
b. With of. (Freq. a space of time.)
c. 1340. Hampole, Pr. Consc., 436. Þer þre partes er þre spaces talde Of þe lyf of ilk man.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Clerk’s T., 47. I dar the better ask of yow a space Of audience.
c. 1500. Melusine, 335. Nerbonne where he rested hym a lytel space of tyme.
1565. Cooper, Thesaurus, s.v. Intercapedo, After a space of time.
1602. Patericke, trans. Gentillet’s Disc., 90. In this contestation … remained their affaires by a long and great space of yeares.
1657. Sparrow, Bk. Com. Prayer (1661), 244. A good space of time to do it in.
1708. Swift, Proc. Bickerstaff, Wks. 1755, II. I. 166. After a competent space of staring at me.
1818. Scott, Br. Lamm., x. The intervention of an unusual space of sobriety. Ibid. (1831), Cast. Dang., ix. An intermediate space of punishment.
1880. Sayce, Introd. Sci. Lang., I. 230. The number of the vibrations in any given space of time.
c. In the advb. phr. (for) a space.
(a) c. 1440. York Myst., xiv. 97. A starne to be schynyng a space.
1515. Barclay, Egloges, iii. (1570), B vj/2. Els must he rise and walke him selfe a space.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII., 238 b. She with all the Ladyes entered the tentes, and there warmed them a space.
1667. Milton, P. L., II. 717. Hov’ring a space, till Winds the signal blow.
1720. Pope, Iliad, XVIII. 389. Yet a space I stay, Then swift pursue thee on the darksome way.
1814. Scott, Lord of Isles, V. xxxiii. He paused a space, his brow he cross’d.
1883. Violet Hunt, in Longman’s Mag., July, 270. Knights! of your charity I pray, leave him lying here a space, On the flags before the altar, with the sun upon his face.
(b) 1575. Mirr. Mag., Q. Cordila, xxv. If I departed for a space withall.
1690[?]. T. Watson, in Spurgeon, Treas. Dav., Ps. cxxxvii. 1. The other leaves … for a space hang down their heads.
1818. Keats, Lett., Wks. 1889, III. 142. I have had one or two intimations of your going to Hampstead for a space.
1877. ‘H. A. Page,’ De Quincey, I. ii. 26. Meantime deep peace fell for a space on the family.
† d. A period of delay. Obs.–1
1430–40. Lydg., Bochas, I. ii. (1554), 56. They departed made no lengar spaces,… And gan to chose them new dwellyng places.
† e. A spell of writing or narration. Obs.–1
c. 1440. Ipomydon, 528. Of chyld Ipomydon here is a space.
II. Denoting area or extension.
* Without article, in generalized sense.
5. Linear distance; interval between two or more points or objects.
Freq. with more or less suggestion of sense 6.
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 107. Astronomie … makth a man have knowlechinge Of Sterres … And what betwen hem is of space.
1534. More, Comf. agst. Trib., I. (1553), A ij. Neyther one fynger breadth of space, nor one minute of tyme from you.
1565. Cooper, Thesaurus, s.v. Spatium, Aequali spatio distare, to be like space asunder.
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., II. iii. 23. Therefore Make space enough betweene you.
1667. Milton, P. L., VI. 104. ’Twixt Host and Host but narrow space was left, A dreadful interval.
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., II. xiii. § 3. This Space, considered barely in length between any two beings, without considering anything else between them, is called distance.
1751. Harris, Hermes, Wks. (1841), 145. Between London and Salisbury there is the extension of space.
1808. Stower, Printer’s Gram., 161. Less space is required after a sloping letter than a perpendicular one.
1876. Voyle & Stevenson, Milit. Dict., 394/1. Space,… the interval between troops when drawn up in line or column.
1892. A. Oldfield, Man. Typog., iii. When space is required, a mark similar to a sharp in music should be made.
† b. Proper place or relationship. Obs.–1
1390. Gower, Conf., II. 24. Min herte … Som time of hire is sore adrad, And som time it is overglad, Al out of reule and out of space.
6. Superficial extent or area; also, extent in three dimensions.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 51. Also Affrica in his kynde haþ lasse space.
c. 1450. St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 8130. Also Crayke þai him gaue, With thre myle space aboute to haue.
1451. Capgrave, Life St. Aug., 3. Asia … conteyneth as mech in space as do þe othir too parties.
1602. Shaks., Ham., II. ii. 261. I could … count my selfe a King of infinite space; were it not that I haue bad dreames.
1687. A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., II. 78. Large Houses … which take up a great deal of space because of the spaciousness of the Gardens.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., Space, in Geometry, is the Area of any Figure.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 42. The more it is heated, the more space it takes up.
1845. Stoddart, Gram., in Encycl. Metrop., I. 7/1. We are so constituted, that we cannot conceive certain objects otherwise than as occupying space.
b. Extent or area sufficient for some purpose; room. Also const. to with inf.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, I. 714. Certeynly no more hard grace May sit on me, for why? there is no space. Ibid. (c. 1385), L. G. W., 1999, Ariadne. [He] hath Rovme and eke space To welde an axe or swerde.
1573–80. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 91. Leaue space and roome, to hillock to coome.
1610. Shaks., Temp., I. ii. 492. Might I but through my prison once a day Behold this Mayd:… space enough Haue I in such a prison.
1671. Milton, P. R., II. 339. Our Saviour … beheld In ample space under the broadest shade A Table richly spred.
1842. Tennyson, ‘You ask me why,’ iv. Where … The strength of some diffusive thought Hath time and space to work and spread.
1869. J. G. Holland, Kathrina, Childhood & Youth, 49. The foul demon who would drive my soul To crime that leaves no space for penitence!
c. Extent or room in a letter, periodical, book, etc., available for, or occupied by, written or printed matter.
c. 1530. Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866), 49. I write no more to you, for lacke of space.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 218. But streighten’d in my Space, I must forsake This Task.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), II. 298. With a studied brevity, his [Linnæus’] system comprehends the greatest variety, in the smallest space.
1866. Chambers’s Encycl., VIII. 7/2. Various expressive adjectives,… into the consideration of which our space will not permit us to enter.
1885. Encycl. Brit., XVIII. 165/1. In the marginal glosses, where it was an object to save space.
1892. Photogr. Ann., II. 279. Nothing has been omitted on the score of space.
d. On space, paid according to the extent occupied by accepted contributions. U.S.
1902. Eliz. L. Banks, Newspaper Girl, 202. The woman … if she is ‘on space’ will soon find the editors with ‘no work on hand to-day—sorry—hope something will turn up to-morrow’ attitudes.
7. Metaph. Continuous, unbounded or unlimited extension in every direction, regarded as void of matter, or without reference to this. Freq. coupled with time.
1656. trans. Hobbes’ Elem. Philos. (1839), 94. Space is the phantasm of a thing existing without the mind simply.
1734. J. Kirkby, trans. Barrow’s Math. Lect., x. 176. Space is nothing else but the mere Power, Capacity, Ponibility, or … Interponibility of Magnitude.
1799. Med. Jrnl., I. 369. The necessary condition of our intuitive knowledge, i. e. that of space and time.
1892. Westcott, Gospel of Life, 184. All our conceptions are defined by conditions of time and space.
8. Astr., etc. The immeasurable expanse in which the solar and stellar systems, nebulæ, etc., are situated; the stellar depths.
1667. Milton, P. L., I. 650. Space may produce new Worlds. Ibid., VII. 89. This which yeelds or fills All space.
1816. Shelley, Daemon, I. 251. Each [orb] with undeviating aim … through the depths of space Pursued its wondrous way.
1829. Chapters Phys. Sci., 411. They recede so far from us, as to be lost in the immensity of space.
1870. Proctor, Other Worlds than Ours, ii. 36. Our earth is as a minute island placed within the ocean of space.
b. In the phrase into space. Also fig.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. I. i. All Dubarrydom rushes off, with tumult, into infinite Space.
1873. Helps, Anim. & Mast., i. (1875), 6. The pamphlet has vanished into space.
1892. Spectator, 2 April, 451/2. He broke away,… and plunged, with a few followers, apparently into space!
c. In more limited sense: Extension in all directions, esp. from a given point.
1827. Faraday, Chem. Manip., xxiii. (1842), 586. It is with equal difficulty that they throw off their heat by radiation into space or to other bodies.
1854. Tomlinson, Arago’s Astron., 95. Suppose the body A is projected … into free space.
1885. Leudesdorf, Cremona’s Proj. Geom., 33. In the above the geometric forms are supposed to lie in space.
** In particularized or limited senses.
9. A certain stretch, extent or area of ground, surface, sky, etc.; an expanse.
13[?]. K. Alis., 7146 (Laud MS.). On a pleyne he cheseþ a place, Þat biclippeþ a mychel space.
1382. Wyclif, Josh. xvii. 18. But thow shalt passe to the hil,… and purge spacis to dwelle.
1432–50. trans. Higden (Rolls), I. 51. Þerfore men … folowede not the measures of spaces but reasones of diuision.
1565. Cooper, Thesaurus, s.v. Spatium, Great and large spaces in wide roomes.
1577. B. Googe, trans. Heresbach’s Husb., 42. Though the Corne be laide … in the floores, yet let there be a space left in the middest.
1600. J. Pory, trans. Leo’s Africa, App. 368. In which space is comprehended the fairest, fruitfullest,… and most ciuill part of all Africk.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., II. xxi. 107. The water … that otherwise would spread it selfe into a larger space.
1713. trans. Gregory’s Astron. (1726), I. 154. The Stars…, if they were ever more than seventeen in this Space, pass’d away into Comets.
1794. Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, l. The space around the building was silent, and apparently forsaken.
1812. Byron, Ch. Har., I. lxxii. The lists are oped, the spacious area clear’d,… No vacant space for lated wight is found.
1841. Penny Cycl., XXI. 171/1. A general change of temperature in the earth itself, or communicated from the planetary spaces around it.
1878. Browning, La Saisiaz, 6. No blue space in its outspread … challenged my emerging head.
fig. 1592. Timme, Ten Eng. Lepers, C ij. In religion there is both a centre and a space.
1727. Bolingbroke, in Occasional Writer, II. 28. Thus Avarice and Prodigality are at an immense distance; but there is a Space marked out by Virtue between them, where Frugality and Generosity reside together.
1856. N. Brit. Rev., XXVI. 57. These free spaces are found as well within the Established Church, as among the dissident bodies.
b. Const. of (ground, sea, etc.).
1565. Cooper, Thesaurus, Raucus tractus, a long space of the sea makynge an hoarse noyse.
1665. Manley, Grotius’ Low-C. Wars, 797. Taking into their works … a great space of Ground without the Town.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 531. So vast a Space Of Wilds unknown … Allures their Eyes.
1708. J. Philips, Cyder, I. 459. Sailing the Spaces of the boundless Deep.
1746. Francis, trans. Horace, Sat., II. vi. 204. And now the Night, elaps’d Eleven, Possess’d the middle Space of Heaven.
1815. Shelley, Alastor, 405. A little space of green expanse.
1833. Tennyson, Lady of Shalott, I. ii. Four gray towers Overlook a space of flowers.
1891. Farrar, Darkn. & Dawn, xxxvii. The graffito scrawled upon every blank space of wall in Rome.
fig. 1601. Shaks., Jul. C., IV. iii. 25. Shall we … sell the mighty space of our large Honors For so much trash. Ibid. (1605), Lear, IV. vi. 278. Oh indistinguish’d space of Womans will.
1818. Shelley, Rosalind, 952. And then I sunk in his embrace, Enclosing there a mighty space Of love.
a. 1854. H. Reed, Lect. Brit. Poets, xv. (1857), 355. The vast spaces of our English poetry.
† c. With poss. pron. The place where one takes up a position, residence, etc. Obs. rare.
c. 1460. Play Sacram., 461. Yea goo we to than & take owr space & looke owr daggaris be sharpe & kene.
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., I. i. 34. Let … the wide Arch Of the raing’d Empire fall: Heere is my space.
d. ellipt. in pl. (Cf. sense 8.)
1821. Shelley, Hellas, Prol. 75. The senate of the Gods is met, Each in his rank and station set; There is silence in the spaces.
1871. B. Taylor, Faust (1875), II. 6. But if there burst from these eternal spaces A flood of flame, we stand confounded ever.
10. A more or less limited area or extent; a small portion of space (in sense 6 or 8 c).
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 2247. Neymes … ȝyf him a strok ounride wiþ-inne þe neckes space.
c. 1391. Chaucer, Astrol., I. § 2. This ring rennyth … in so Rowm a space þat hit desturbith nat the instrument.
14[?]. Nom., in Wr.-Wülcker, 675. Hoc intercilium, the space betwene the eyn.
1483. Cath. Angl., 351/1. Þe Space be-twene sculders, jnterscapulum.
1530. Palsgr., 273/2. Space bytwene the eyes, entroeil.
1577. B. Googe, trans. Heresbach’s Husb., 42. Leauing open a space for twoo doores.
1594. T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., II. 150. That there might bee a more free and easie space for the motion of the Animal spirite.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Vacuum Disseminatum, or Interspersum, i.e. small void Spaces spread about between the Particles of Bodies.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Area, The Elliptic Space P S D being drawn equal to the other A S B.
1827. Faraday, Chem. Manip., vi. (1842), 179. Even the space left open round the neck may be closed when desirable.
1845. Lindley, Sch. Bot. (1854), 16. A viscid secreting space called the stigma.
1879. Harlan, Eyesight, iii. 37. The most sensitive portion is a small space directly in the line of vision, called the yellow spot.
b. A part or portion marked off in some way; a division, section.
c. 1391. Chaucer, Astrol., I. § 20. Next thise azymutz … ben ther 12 deuysiouns embelif,… þat shewen the spaces of the howres of planetes.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., VIII. xvi. (1495), 322. As the cercle that hyghte Zodiacus is dystyngued in xii spaces,… so the cercle of the sonne is distingued in xii spaces.
1474. Caxton, Chesse, IV. ii. (1883), 166. He may not meue but in to one space or poynt.
1625. N. Carpenter, Geogr. Delin., I. ix. (1635), 202. Spaces are portions in the Spheare bounded by the Parallel circles.
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., VII. xxix. 44. Take a short space of a Ruler or Transom, and saw in one side of it a Notch.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 129. Set those six spaces off upon a straight line for a base…; set off three spaces upon the perpendicular.
c. A void or empty place or part.
1837. P. Keith, Bot. Lex., 95. The … rudiment of the future seed, not yet inclosing a space.
1850. H. Reed, Lect. Eng. Lit., iv. (1855), 140. His human heart had large spaces to hold his fellow-beings in.
1888. Rolleston & Jackson, Anim. Life, 131. The cilia … cause the currents of water to flow … into the interlamellar spaces.
11. An interval; a length of way; a distance.
1382. Wyclif, Gen. xxxii. 16. Goo ȝe bifore me, and be there a space bitwixe flok and flok.
14[?]. Sir Beues (M.), 1130. And Beues rode forth swith harde Towarde the cite of Damas, That was a full feyre space.
1481–90. Howard Househ. Bks. (Roxb.), 200. The space to be a fote and halffe betwene the stodes.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, lviii. 198. He was a grete space before all his company.
1585. T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy., III. viii. 82. They … go backwarde a certeine space.
1604. E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, I. vi. 20. The firme land runnes an infinite space.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 29. The space from one Boa [buoy] to another, is an hundred paces or more.
1743. W. Emerson, Fluxions, 109. That is, the Space is always as the Square of the Time.
1807. Wordsw., White Doe, VI. 161. Apart, some little space, was made The grave where Francis must be laid.
1810. Scott, Lett., in Lockhart (1837), II. viii. 304. It corresponds … very commonly with the proper and usual space between comma and comma.
1842. Thornton, Mod. Cabinet Arts, 159. An appreciable difference in the space which separates the stars.
b. Const. of (the precise distance).
1382. Wyclif, Gen. xxx. 36. He … putte a space of thre daies weye bitwix hem and his dowȝtir husboond.
c. 1440. Ipomydon, 1466. He had not slepyd … Not the space of a myle [etc.].
1483. Sc. Acts, Jas. III. (1875), XII. 32/2. He sal nocht cum … to þe space of sex myle neir þe place.
1526. Tindale, Rev. xiv. 20. Bloud cam out … by the space off a thowsande and iiij score furlongs.
1627. Reg. Privy Council Scot., Ser. II. VIII. 402. He wes caryed doun in the streame thairof abone ane pair of buttis speace.
c. From space to space, at (regular) intervals.
1763. Mills, Pract. Husb., IV. 368. To hang upon the vines, from space to space (the nearer the better), phials half filled with sugared water.
1814. Scott, Wav., ix. A heavy balustrade, ornamented from space to space with huge grotesque figures of animals. Ibid. (1831), Ct. Rob., xvii. A long,… arched passage, well supplied with air from space to space.
d. A short distance.
1813. Scott, Rokeby, I. vii. Now Oswald stood a space aside.
1836. J. H. Newman, Par. Serm., III. vii. 105. He did not merely approach a space, and then stand as a coward.
† 12. Course, custom, procedure. Obs. rare.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 755. I schal my þro steke, & spare spakly of spyt in space of my þewez.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 176. This ilke monk leet olde thinges pace, And helde after the newe world the space.
13. The dimensional extent occupied by a body or lying within certain limits.
1530. Palsgr., 273/2. Space of ones body, corpsage.
1675. R. Burthogge, Causa Dei, 28. Some of the Platonists … affirmed that the Place of Hell was all that space between the Moon … and This.
1678. Hobbes, Decam., Wks. 1845, VII. 91. They cannot be parted except the air … can enter and fill the space made by their diremption.
1715. trans. Gregory’s Astron. (1726), II. 702. That all the Air … is compress’d into the Space A B Z X.
1823. Lamb, Elia, II. Old Margate Hoy. The things do not fill up that space, which the idea of them seemed to take up in his mind.
1842. Loudon, Suburban Hort., 193. If we … take the space rendered opaque by the wood at 21 per cent.
14. Mus. One or other of the degrees or intervals between the lines of a staff.
1597. Morley, Introd. Mus., 4. You must then recken downe from the Cliefe,… assigning to euerie space and rule a seuerall Keye.
1662. Playford, Skill Mus., I. i. 3. The Gam-ut is drawn upon fourteen Rules, and their Spaces.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Staff, Each Line and Space he [Guido Aretino] mark’d at the beginning of the Staff with Gregory’s Seven Letters.
1782. Miss Burney, Cecilia, X. x. All that torment of first and second position, and E upon the first line, and F upon the first space!
1848. Rimbault, Pianoforte, 15. The additional lines and spaces above and below the staff.
1883. Grove’s Dict. Mus., III. 647/2. The spaces in the treble stave make the word face.
15. An interval or blank between words, or lines, in printed or written matter.
1676. J. Moxon, Print Lett., 7. The Distance between one word and another is called a Space.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), A Blank, a void space in Writing.
1791. Boswell, Johnson, an. 1748 (Oxf. ed.), I. 128. The words … having been first written down with spaces left between them, he delivered in writing their etymologies [etc.].
1849. Craig, Leads … [do] not make any impression in printing, but leave a white space where placed.
1908. [Miss Fowler], Betw. Trent & Ancholme, 21. Leaving a space for his own name.
b. Typog. One or other of certain small pieces of cast-metal, of various thicknesses and shorter than a type, used to separate words (or letters in a word), and also to justify the line.
1676. Moxon, Print Lett., 11. You must indent your Line four Spaces at least. Ibid. (1683), Mech. Exerc., Printing, xxii. ¶ 4. Thin-spaces being … Cast only that the Compositer may Justifie his Lines the Truer.
1771. Luckombe, Hist. Print., 278. We may count four sorts of Spaces for composing,… besides Spaces for justifying, called Hair Spaces.
1808. Stower, Printer’s Gram., 161. Spaces are cast to such a regular gradation, that no excuse can be offered … for irregular spacing.
1892. A. Oldfield, Man. Typog., ii. There are five kinds of spaces: the en quadrat; thick space…; middle or 4-em spaces…; thin or 5-em spaces…; and hair spaces.
16. In specific uses (see quots.).
For half-, quarter-space see HALF- II. n, QUARTER sb. 30.
1846. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., VII. 207. (Short-horns), The part commonly called ‘the space’ from the hip to the rib is generally recommended to be short.
1883. M. P. Bale, Saw-Mills, 336. Space, the space is the distance from one saw tooth to another, measured at the points.
1884. Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 87. The former places [on a bird’s skin] are called tracts or pterylæ…, the latter, spaces or apteria.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VI. 10. In some cases a distinct pulsation may also be felt in the second left [intercostal] space.
III. attrib. and Comb.
17. Simple attrib. a. In the sense of ‘used for spacing (in printing, etc.),’ as space-key, -line, -rule; also ‘used for holding spaces,’ as space-barge, -box, -paper.
1771. Luckombe, Hist. Print., 282. Care should be taken by a Founder to cast Space rules to a true Straight-line.
1798. Thorne, Spec. Printing Types, Space lines, 4 to english and 4 to pica.
1825. Hansard, Typographia, Index, Leads or metal space lines.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Space-lines, printers’ leads for justifying, or filling up lines or words, made from 4 to 12 in pica. Ibid., Space-rule, a thin piece of metal, type-height, of different lengths, used by compositors for making a delicate line in algebraic and other formulae.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2677/1. By holding the space-key [of a type-writer] down while an ‘I’ and ‘S’ are struck.
1888. Jacobi, Printers’ Vocab., 129.
b. Relating to space as a general concept or relation, as space-consciousness, -effect, -element, -image, etc.
1862. H. Spencer, First Princ., II. v. § 59 (1875), 189. We can mentally diminish the velocity or space-element of motion. Ibid. (1871), Princ. Psychol. (1872), II. VI. xiv. 194. The various structures fitting the infant for apprehensions of space-relations. Ibid., 196. Some space-consciousness accompanies the sensation of taste.
1872. Green, Lett. (1901), 338. The most wonderful church in point of space-effect (if I may coin the word) I ever saw.
1884. trans. Lotze’s Metaph., 286. It is essential that the directions … should be unmistakably distinguished in the space-image.
1893. Month, April, 483. It is contrary to all our experience of space-occupancy.
c. In applied mathematics, as space-centrode, -integral, -locus, -path, -point, etc.
1873. J. C. Maxwell, Electr. & Magnetism (1881), II. 188. The work done by the force F1 during the impulse is the space integral of the force. Ibid. (1881), (ed. 2), I. 16. I shall call the vector F the space-variation of the scalar function ψ.
1882. Minchin, Unipl. Kinemat., 41. Notation for Space-Points and for Body-Points. Ibid., 87. The rolling of the Body Centrode on the Space Centrode.
d. U.S. In the sense ‘paid by or calculated upon the extent of space occupied,’ as space-artist, -man, -writer; space-bill, rate, writing.
1887. Westm. Rev., Oct., 858. The general substitution of ‘space writing’ for the work of salaried reporters.
1892. Howells, Mercy, 116. He felt that as a space-man … his duty to his family required him to use every means for making copy.
1895. S. R. Hole, Tour Amer., 190. News editors, copy-readers, and space-writers.
1902. Eliz. L. Banks, Newspaper Girl, 233. Space artists get paid two dollars a single-column cut.
18. Comb. a. With adjs. and ppl. adjs., as space-cramped, -embosomed, -spread, -thick.
1683. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Printing, xiii. ¶ 1. Space thick; that is, one quarter so thick as the Body is high.
1845. Bailey, Festus (ed. 2), 207. Visiting The spirits in their space-embosomed homes. Ibid., 217. The shade Of Death’s dark valley And his space-spread wings.
1891. Pall Mall Gaz., 26 Jan., 3/1. Our extracts, space-cramped as they necessarily are.
b. With ppl. adj., as space-filling, -occupying, -penetrating, etc.
1799. Phil. Trans., XC. 81. The space-penetrating power is no higher than what will suffice for the purpose.
1817. Coleridge, Biogr. Lit. (Bohn), 62. The soul was a thinking substance, and the body a space-filling substance.
1839. Bailey, Festus, 326. Space-pervading, oh! ye must be, Spirit-like, infinite. Ibid. (1848), (ed. 3), 222. Space-piercing shadow alighting on the face Of some fair planet circling deep in Heaven.
1862. Spencer, First Princ., II. vi. § 60 (1875), 191. The space-occupying kind of force.
1871. Fraser, Life Berkeley, x. 392. The presumed ontological antithesis between what is conscious and what is space-occupying.
19. Special combs.: † space-government, an interim government, interregnum; space-lattice, an open-work arrangement representing the internal structure of a crystal; space-nerve (see quot.); space-telegrapher, one concerned or connected with space-telegraphy; space-telegraphy, wireless telegraphy; space-washer, a washer serving to keep parts of machinery, etc., at a fixed distance apart.
1600. E. Blount, trans. Conestaggio, 261. Knowing there was a *space-gouernement, with likelihood of warre.
1895. Funk’s Stand. Dict., *Space-nerve, the portion of the auditory nerve that supplies the semicircular canals of the inner ear.
1899. Nature, 12 Jan., 249. The problem is now fair game for the *space-telegraphers.
1898. Engineering Mag., XVI. 118/1. The methods of *space-telegraphy.
