Binary

a. and sb. [ad. L. bīnāri-us, f. bīnī two together.]

  A.  adj. Of, pertaining to, characterized by, or compounded of, two; dual: a. gen. Binary system (of classification): one by which each group and sub-group is perpetually divided into two, the one with a positive and the other with a negative character, till individuals (or genera) are reached.

1766.  Croker, etc., Compl. Dict., The cubitus … is composed of a binary number of bones.

1835.  W. Swainson, Geogr. & Class. Anim., § 250. Binary or dichotomous systems, although regulated by a principle, are among the most artificial arrangements that have been ever invented.

1885.  J. Lecky, in Proc. Philol. Soc., 19 Dec. A stress-group might have a ternary effect when only containing two syllables, and a binary effect when containing three.

  b.  in Music. Binary measure: that which has two beats to a bar. Binary form: the form of a movement which is founded on two principal themes or subjects.

1597.  Morley, Introd. Mus., Annot. That circle … with the binarie cipher following it, signified the lesse moode perfect, and time vnperfect.

1609.  Douland, Ornithop. Microl., 50. The Song is … [to] end in a Binarie measure.

1782.  Burney, Hist. Mus., II. v. 454. All measure was then, as at present, reducible to two standards of proportion, the Ternary and Binary, or perfect and imperfect, which we now call Triple and Common Time.

1875.  Ouseley, Mus. Forms, 70. Handel’s longer airs are written in … the ancient binary form.

  c.  in Astron. Binary stars or system: two stars or suns, one of which revolves round the other, or both of which revolve round a common center.

1802.  W. Herschel, in Phil. Trans., XCII. 481. The binary sidereal system which we are now to consider.

1878.  Lockyer, Stargazing, xxiv. 359. The binary stars, those compound bodies, those suns revolving round each other.

  d.  in Chem. and Min. Binary compound: one consisting of two elements. Binary theory: that which considers all acids as compounds of hydrogen with a radicle simple or compound (as H + Cl, H + NO₃), and all salts as similar compounds with a metal replacing hydrogen (as K + Cl, K + NO₃).

1812.  Sir H. Davy, Chem. Philos., Pref. 12. Acidiferous substances … and their binary combinations with oxygene.

1833.  Lyell, Princ. Geol., III. 365. Mica-schist … is a binary compound of quartz and mica.

1863.  Watts, Dict. Chem., I. 42. In 1816 Dulong proposed the theory, since known as the binary or hydrogen-theory of acids.

  e.  in Crystallog. (See quot.)

1816.  R. Jameson, Char. Min. (1817), 216. A crystal is named binary, bibinary, tribinary, when it experiences one, two, or three decrements by two rows.

  f.  in Math. Binary arithmetic: a method of computation in which the binary scale is used, suggested by Leibnitz. Binary scale: the scale of notation whose ratio is 2, in which, therefore, 1 of the ordinary (denary) scale is expressed by 1, 2 by 10, 3 by 11, 4 by 100, etc. Binary logarithms: a system invented by Euler for use in musical calculations, in which 1 is the logarithm of 2, and the modulus is 1·442695.

  B.  sb.

  1.  A combination of two things; a couple, pair, ‘two’; duality. ? Obs.

1460.  Capgrave, Chron., 3. Make eke thre binaries. As for the first, think that ye be mad of to natures—body and soule.

a. 1619.  Fotherby, Atheom., II. x. § 4 (1622), 307. If you desire to make Two, or a Binary.

[1627.  Bacon, Sylva, § 608. This same Binarium of a Stronger and a Weaker … doth hold in all Living Bodies.]

1782.  Burney, Hist. Mus., I. 65. The Alpha, or unit … and the Beta, or binary.

1837.  Fraser’s Mag., XVI. 405. The invariable opposition … of the binaries of boats and Anubises.

  2.  Astron. A binary star or system. Cf. A c.

1868.  Lockyer, Heavens, 351. The elliptical or oval form of this binary [ξ in Ursa Major].

1882.  Athenæum, 27 May, 670/1. Binaries, or stars known to be physically double.