sb. (and a.). Also 6–8 unite. [f. L. ūn-us one; the ending was probably suggested by digit and composit(e.
Introduced by Dee, who thus draws attention to the form in his Math. Pref. (1570), *iij marg. Note the worde, Vnit, to expresse the Greke Monas, and not Vnitie: as we haue all, commonly, till now, vsed.]
1. Math. A single magnitude or number regarded as an undivided whole and as the ultimate base of all number; spec. in Arithmetic, the least whole number; the numeral ‘one,’ represented by the figure 1. Cf. UNITY 1 b.
α. 1570. Dee, Math. Pref., *iij. Number, we define, to be, a certayne Mathematicall Summe, or Vnits. And, an Vnit, is that thing Mathematicall, Indiuisible, by participation of some likenes of whose property, any thing, which is in deede, or is counted One, may resonably be called One.
1575. Recorde, Gr. Artes, Y iij b. An Improper Fraction,… that is to saye, a fraction in forme, which in dede is greater than an Unit.
1654. J. Eyre, Exact Surveyor, 12. In the ordinary use of this [Decimal] Chain, for measuring and plotting, you may take onely notice of Units and Primes.
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., VII. xxxiv. 51. The Characteristick of any Logarithme must consist of an Unit less than the given Number consisteth of Digits or Places.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Number, Cardinal Numbers [are] those which express the Quantity of Units; as, 1, 2, &c.
1794. Cunn, Doctr. Fractions, 62. Repetends that begin at the same place, whether at Units, Primes, Seconds.
1832. Hood, Ode to J. Hume, i. Units, Tens, Hundreds, Thousands, Millions.
1838. De Morgan, Ess. Probab., 33. Write down as many numbers, reckoning downwards, as there are units in the number.
1875. Encycl. Brit., II. 527/1. [In arithmetical notation] the figure placed furthest to the right has the same significance as when it stands alone, i.e. it represents units.
β. 1588. A. King, trans. Canisius’ Catech., i ij. Compte … swa mony epactis as yair is vnites in ye golden nombre.
1597. Blundevil, Exerc. (ed. 2), I. vii. 12. Such [numbers] as cannot bee divided but that there will remaine some odde unite, those are called Primes.
1669. W. Simpson, Hydrol. Chym., 226. The great variety the number seven doth produce by the various transposition of its unites.
1679. Moxon, Math. Dict., 162. An Unite is the beginning of Number, and … receiveth no division in Numbers, even as a Point in Magnitudes.
1726. Leoni, Alberti’s Archit., II. 89/1. If, as some affirm, the unite be no number, but only the source of all others.
† b. Without article: = UNITY 1 b. Obs.
1717. Phil. Trans., XXX. 618. The Logarithm of Unite is nothing; and … the nearer any Number is to Unite, the nearer will its Logarithm be to 0.
1823. T. Jefferson, Writ. (1830), IV. 364. In the proportion of a million at least to unit.
c. Any determinate quantity, dimension, or magnitude adopted as a basis or standard of measurement for other quantities of the same kind and in terms of which their magnitude is calculated or expressed.
A large number of special units adopted in technical and scientific use are recorded in some recent Dicts.
1738. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Degree, Thus, a Degree, as being the integer or unite, is denoted by °.
1816. Playfair, Nat. Phil., II. 209. Hitherto, the distance of the Sun from the Earth has served as the unit, by which we have measured all other distances in the planetary system.
1825. Jefferson, Autobiog., Wks. 1859, I. 52. The necessity of establishing a standard of value with us, and of the adoption of a money Unit.
1854. Ronalds & Richardson, Chem. Technol. (ed. 2), I. 253. The loss of heat from these sources has been estimated … at about 7 units of heat per hour per square foot.
1867. Noad, Text Bk. Electricity, 201. The unit of a current conveys a unit of electricity through the circuit in a unit of time.
1870. F. L. Pope, Electric Tel., iii. (1872), 25. The ohm is a unit of resistance, in the same manner that an inch is a unit of length, or a pound a unit of weight.
1886. Ruskin, Præterita, I. 323. Musical people … have not yet fixed their unit of time.
Comb. 1892. Nation (N.Y.), 15 Dec., 459/1. The hopeful earnestness with which Mr. Norman offers his unit-of-weight system as a panacea for the cure of all financial ills.
d. A substance adopted as a standard by which the specific gravity of various bodies is estimated.
1829. Chapters Phys. Sci., 169. As water is taken as the unit for solids and liquids, so is atmospheric air for gases.
1869. Gill, Chem. for Sch., xxii. 274. Dalton, or his immediate successors, found that hydrogen combined in the smallest proportions with other elements, and accordingly adopted it as the unit or standard of atomic weight.
e. (See quots. and REPEAT sb.4 b.)
1855. R. N. Wornum, Anal. Ornament, 18. Units of repetition, or repeats of irregular shapes, arranged diagonally. Ibid., 19. As it is in this case the group that is repeated, the group of figures becomes the pattern or unit of repetition.
2. A single individual or thing regarded as a member of a group or number of things or individuals, or discriminated from these as having a separate existence; one of the separate parts or members of which a complex whole or aggregate is composed or into which it may be analysed.
1642. H. More, Song of Soul, II. I. ii. 55. In number, measure, weight, he all things made; Each unite he dissevers by his Art.
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., II. xii. § 6. 74. Which collective Ideas of several Substances thus put together, are as much each of them one single Idea, as that of a Man, or an Unite.
1716. M. Davies, Athen. Brit., II. To Rdr. 13. Some few Despicable Unadditionable Units or Unitarians.
1739. Hume, Hum. Nat., I. II. ii. ’Tis evident, that existence in itself belongs only to unity, and is never applicable to number, but on account of the unites, of which the number is composed.
1817. Scott, Rob Roy, xxxi. The unit of that life … was for ever withdrawn from the sum of human existence.
1856. Merivale, Rom. Emp., xl. IV. 459. Our history becomes a review of the affairs of a vast unit, the aggregate of a multitude of smaller members.
1872. H. C. Bastian, Begin. Life, I. 216. Before a nucleus is evolved…, the simple living unit (plastide) is able to assimilate nutritive material and grow.
b. That division or section of a collective body or whole which is regarded as the lowest or least to have a distinctive existence; such a division or group of individuals considered as a basis of formation or administration.
1847. Grote, Greece, II. xxviii. IV. 68. The village is a fraction, but the city is an unit.
1861. Maine, Anc. Law, v. 126. The unit of ancient society was the Family.
1888. Bryce, Amer. Commw., II. 224. The county remained the practically important unit of local administration, the unit to which the various functions of government were aggregated.
c. In military or naval use.
1876. Voyle & Stevenson, Milit. Dict., 446/1. In military organization, the term unit is applied to that single portion upon which any part of an army, regiment, &c. is formed. Thus a company is the unit of a regiment; a battery, that of a brigade of artillery.
1893. Infantry Drill, p. xxiii. [A] Battalion [is] the unit of infantry.
1899. Times, 14 Oct., 9. A waterproof bag which is left at the base … on a unit going into action.
3. attrib., passing into adj., with the general meaning ‘of, pertaining or equivalent to, (that of) a unit; produced or caused by a unit; consisting of, containing, or forming a unit or units.’
A large number of special collocations, chiefly of a scientific or technical nature, are given in some recent Dicts.
a. In sense 1 c, chiefly in Electr., as unit coil, current, force, jar, measure, pole, etc.
1839. Noad, Electricity, i. 31. A very useful little electrical instrument … for registering the exact quantity of electricity given to a Leyden phial from the machine; it is called the unit jar.
1843. Brande, Dict. Sci., Unit jar … announce[s] by its repeated discharges, which may be counted, the number of them which have passed into the larger jar.
1844. Noad, Electricity (ed. 2), 53. The value of the unit measure.
1866. R. M. Ferguson, Electr., 17. A magnetic needle of unit size and strength.
1867. Noad, Text Bk. Electricity, 201. A circuit of unit resistance. Ibid. The unit current flowing through a conductor unit of length will exert the unit force on the unit pole at the unit distance.
1867. Brande & Cox, Dict. Sci., etc., III. 899/1. Unit coil,… a standard measure used by electricians for expressing the amount of resistance experienced in a given electrical circuit.
1873. J. C. Maxwell, Electr. & Magn., II. 3. The unit-pole is a pole which points north, and is such that, when placed at unit distance from another unit-pole, it repels it with unit of force.
1876. P. G. Tait, Rec. Adv. Phys. Sci. (ed. 2), xiv. 357. Unit force is … that force which, whatever be its source, produces unit momentum in unit of time.
1884. Knight, Dict. Mech., Suppl., 913/2. Unit and safety valve, one exposing 1 square inch to the force of the steam.
b. In general use.
1896. R. G. Moulton, Lit. Study Bible, xi. 258. These Unit Proverbs exhibit two varieties.
1897. Daily News, 9 Feb., 3/4. Was the scheme to be organized on brigade, battalion, or unit lines? Ibid. The unit system of organization.
1898. Engineering Mag., XVI. 104. A plant of a certain size may be run by a unit-body of men.
1898. Sir W. Crookes, in Daily News, 8 Sept., 6/1. The consumption of wheat per head of the population (unit consumption) was over 6 bushels per annum.
4. As adj. Having the distinct or individual existence of a unit; individual.
1870. J. H. Newman, Gram. Assent, I. i. 7. All things in the exterior world are unit and individual;… the mind contemplates these unit realities as they exist.
a. 1881. A. Barratt, Phys. Metempiric (1883), 115. If the unit minds were parts or modes of this absolute mind.
