Forms: 4–6 vnite, vnyte, 4–7 unite, 5–6 unyte; 4 vnitee, vnytee, 6 unitee; 5 vnytie, 6 unytie, 5–6 vnytye, vnitye, 5–7 vnitie, 6–7 unitie, vnity (7 vnitty), 7– unity. [a. AF. unite, OF. unite, uniteit (c. 1200), F. unité (= Sp. unidad, Pg. unidade, It. unità), or ad. L. ūnitāt-, ūnitās oneness, sameness, agreement, f. ūn-us one: see -ITY.]
I. 1. The fact, quality, or condition of being, comprising, or consisting of one in number; oneness, singleness. Freq. of the Deity, and in early use in the phr. in unity.
Used spec. in Philos. and Metaph. to express the negation of multiplicity of being, or existence; individuality, identity (see Baldwin, Dict. Philos. & Psychol.).
a. 1300. Cursor M., 6342. Þis wandes takens persons thre, And an-fald godd in vnite.
c. 1325. Spec. Gy Warw., 429. Wid þe fader, and wid þe sone, And wid þe holi gost in vnite.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 383. Two passen fro unyte.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIX. cxvi. (1495), 921. The one and vnyte of nombre…: therby is fygure and lyknesse of the vnyte of our lorde god.
c. 1532. Du Wes, Introd. Fr., in Palsgr., 1023. The blessed Trinite thre persones in unite.
1594. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., I. ii. § 2. Our God is one, or rather very oneness, and meere unitie.
1606. Shaks., Tr. & Cr., V. ii. 141. If there be rule in vnitie it selfe, This is not she.
1621. T. Bedford, Sin unto Death, 6. The singular number doth not alwayes imply an individuall vnitie.
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., II. vi. § 1. Amongst all the Ideas we have,… there is none more simple than that of Unity, or One.
1725. Watts, Logic (1736), 245. The Unity and Spirituality of the Godhead.
1766. Blackstone, Comm., II. 433. The notion of an unity of person between the husband and wife.
1844. Kingsley, Lett. (1878), I. 117. Perfect unity in extreme multiplicity.
1864. Bowen, Logic, ix. 292. A question often involves a real duplicity under a seeming unity.
a. 1881. A. Barratt, Phys. Metempiric (1883), 106. A priori a spacial principle of unity seems as reasonable as a temporal.
b. Math. The condition of the unit or number one; the numeral one regarded abstractly as the basis of number in reckoning or calculation.
1570. Billingsley, Euclid, VII. i. 184. Vnitie is that, whereby euery thing that is, is sayd to be on.
1657. Hobbes, Absurd Geom., 2. The excesse of the rising proportion above subtriple is the same which unity hath to the six times the number of termes after 0.
1709–29. V. Mandey, Syst. Math., Arith., 6. Unity measures every number by the number itself; so 1 measures 7 by 7.
1831. Brewster, Optics, iv. 28. Take 1 part or unity from the same scale.
1869. J. H. Smith, Elem. Algebra, 50. The quotient is unity when the Dividend and the Divisor are equal.
1885. Watson & Burbury, Math. Th. Electr. & Magn., I. 232. Taking unity as the combining number for hydrogen.
c. A quantity, magnitude, or substance regarded as equivalent to the number one in calculation, measurement, or comparison.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., Measure, in Geometry, any certain Quantity assumed as one, or Unity, to which the Ratio of other … Quantities is express’d.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XVII. 659/1. The most convenient way … would be to consider the weight of the standard as unity.
1801. Monthly Rev., XXXV. 525. The ten millionth part of the … distance … was taken as the unity of measure.
1816. Playfair, Nat. Phil., II. 287. If the mass of Jupiter be supposed unity.
1836. Brande, Chem. (ed. 4), 220. Others adopt oxygen as unity, in which case hydrogen becomes one-eighth of that unit.
1880. Haughton, Phys. Geog., iii. 138. If we call the Gulf Stream unity, we may form an approximate estimate of the other four systems of circulation.
2. An instance of this: † a. = UNIT sb. 1. Obs.
c. 1425. Craft Nombrynge (E.E.T.S.), 22. Reken ten for on vnite. Ibid., 28. Loke how mony vnityes ben in þe nounbre þat comes of þe multiplicacioun or þe 2 digittes.
1543. Recorde, Arith., 119 b. In that place of vnities dothe appere only 7.
1587. Fleming, Contn. Holinshed, III. 1490/2. The residue … being multiplied by vnities, doo make vp the complet number of three score and twelue.
1630. Wingate, Arith., I. i. 15. The Integers, or intire Vnities.
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., III. ii. 129. Because the Angle CAB is a Right Angle,… I therefore only put an Unity before the second Term.
1837. Whewell, Hist. Induct. Sci., I. 250. His objections to geometry and arithmetic are founded on abstract cavils concerning the nature of points, letters, unities.
b. One separate or single thing, quality, etc.; something which is complete or entire in itself, or is regarded as such.
1587. Golding, De Mornay, ii. 16. The foresayd most single and alonly One, abyding still one in it selfe, bringeth foorth all the other vnities.
1598. Marston, Sco. Villanie, I. iv. (1599), 187. Sylenus now is old, I wonder, I, He doth not hate his triple venerie…. Me thinkes a vnitie were competent.
a. 1600. Edmonds, Observ. Cæsar’s Comm., 38. The life and strength of a multitude consisteth in vnities.
1681. Whole Duty Nations, 7. He himself is the prime Unity and Universality.
1828. Carlyle, Misc. (1840), I. 319. The clear view of it as an indivisible Unity.
1847. Emerson, Repr. Men, Swedenborg, ¶ 17. The unities of each organ are so many little organs, homogeneous with their compound.
1889. Mivart, Orig. Hum. Reason, 46. They are apprehensions of abstract qualities grouped round a unity.
II. 3. The quality or condition of being one in mind, feeling, opinion, purpose, or action; harmonious combination together of the various parties or sections (of the Church, a state, etc.) into one body; concord or harmony amongst several persons or between two or more.
In the usage with a († an) the meaning tends to become concrete (see b).
c. 1325. Poem temp. Edw. II. (Percy), xxii. Among men of religioun Is non unite.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. II. 226. Þis unite shulden men have bi þe lore of Jesus Crist, and þanne shulden þei be of o wille.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., IX. viii. 942. That tyme at Bulone … Wes a tretis of vnyte Betuix þe Franche and Inglismen.
1460. Capgrave, Chron. (Rolls), 294. Be this mene was the unite of the Cherch lettid.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 123. The Germains within them selues shold … come to some vnitie & concord.
1590. Greene, Never too late (1600), 42. Vnitie is the essence of amitie.
1606. Shaks., Tr. & Cr., I. lii. 100. The vnity and married calme of States.
1647. Trapp, Comm. Rom. xv. 6. (1656), 652. It is recorded to the high commendation of the Church of Scotland, that for this 90 years and upwards they have kept unity.
1738. Wesley, Ps. CXXXIII. i. When Brethren all in One agree; who knows the joys of Unity!
1776. Paine, Com. Sense, 49. ’Tis not in numbers but in unity that our great strength lies.
1830. D’Israeli, Chas. I., III. v. 62. Laud … contemplated establishing unity by uniformity.
1854. Milman, Lat. Chr., IV. iv. II. 99. No sooner has Anglo-Saxon Britain become one (no doubt her religious unity must have contributed, if imperceptibly, yet in a great degree to her national unity) than she takes her place among the confederation of European kingdoms.
1878. Stubbs, Const. Hist., III. xviii. 221. The king’s death at once broke up the unity of the Court.
(b.) 1460. Capgrave, Chron. (Rolls), 120. Edgare … mad a very unite of all the vii. kyngdammes.
a. 1466. Hist. Coll. Cit. Lond. (Camden), 116. The same yere … the general conselle was endyd, and a unyte made in Hooly Chyrche, and oo pope chosynne.
a. 1500. Bale’s Chron., in Six Town Chron. (1911), 145. The king … and divers lordes … agreed and ther made a full unyte and peas betwene the dukes of york and somerset.
1577. Holinshed, Chron., I. 286/2. Diuerse offers were made on both partes … for an vnitie to haue beene had betwixte the two Princes.
b. Freq. in adverbial phr. at or † in unity, in agreement, concord, or harmony; at one.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, III. 29. Ye holden regne and hous in vnite.
1390. Gower, Conf., II. 194. So schal I live in unite With every man.
c. 1430. Lydg., Lyke thyn Audience, i. Yf yow wilt lyffe in pease and vnite.
c. 1450. Burgh, Secrees, 1520. These Sustrys Cheyned in parfight vnyte, departe may not by natural resoun.
1535. Coverdale, Ps. cxxi. Ierusalem is buylded as a cite, that is at vnitie in it self.
a. 1619. Fotherby, Atheom., II. x. § 4 (1622), 308. An Vnity is alwayes at vnitie with it selfe, and neuer varieth from it selfe.
1662. Playford, Skill Mus., I. v. 18. To guide his Voyce in unity to the sound of the Instrument.
1671. Baxter, Holiness, lxiv. 18. It plainly showeth that they are very much at unity in the main.
1714. in Jrnl. Friends Hist. Soc. (1918), 27. Leaving our family and friends in great love and Unity.
1768. Sterne, Sent. Journ., Dwarf. The old French officer would have set me at unity with myself.
1825. Q. Rev., XXXII. 369. No Italian city or state was at unity in itself.
1871. Jowett, Plato, I. 56. The bad … are never at unity with one another or with themselves.
c. Agreement or accord between things.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. IV. 338. As adiectif and substantyf vnite asken, Acordaunce in kynde, in cas and in numbre. Ibid., 398.
1593. Shaks., Lucr., 1558. These contraries such unity do hold, Only to flatter fools and make them bold. Ibid. (1611), Wint. T., V. ii. 35. There is such vnitie in the proofes.
† d. Agreement or concurrence with something.
1760. J. Woolman, Journal, vii. (1900), 146. Some Friends … expressed their willingness to have it read; which being done, many expressed their unity with the proposal.
4. The fact of forming or being united into one body or whole; union (of two or more persons or things, or of one with another); rarely, physical union or connection; † conjunction of two or more things.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), V. 9. By tokene þe onynge and þe unite of Crist and of holy chirche.
1472–3. Rolls of Parlt., VI. 23/1. Entierly desiryng … the unyte of the nobles and other his subgettes.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 255 b/2. The unyte and assemble of the flesshe of oure lord and of oure lady.
1565. Allen, Defence Purg., xvii. 283. Which forme of argument serued the Arians against the consubstantiall vnitye of God the father, and his son our sauiour.
1578. Timme, Calvin on Gen., 76. Herein we see a true image of our unitie with the Son of God.
1597. A. M., trans. Guillemeau’s Fr. Chirurg., 11/2. The synnuish filamentes which have a vnitye and fasteninge with the Pericranium.
1611. Tourneur, Ath. Trag., I. ii. The unitie of Families is a worke of loue and charitie.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., II. xvii. 87. This is more than consent, or concord; It is a reall Unitie of them all, in one and the same Person.
1796. Burke, Regic. Peace, i. 43. In this unity and indivisibility of possession are sunk ten … wealthy provinces.
1801. Hamilton, Wks. (1886), VII. 186. They have approved the unity of the legislative power in one branch.
1871. R. W. Dale, Commandm., i. 23. That our Lord claimed for himself a mysterious unity with the Father.
1880. J. Caird, Philos. Relig., v. 157. The unity of subject and object … is implied in every act of thought.
† b. A meeting or assembly of people. Obs.–1
a. 1470. Harding, Chron., CLXXXVII. ii. In cytees al he helde wel vnitees, Great iustes ay, and ioyous tournementes.
c. A body formed by union, esp. the Unity of the (Moravian) Brethren. In later quots. ellipt.
1780. La Trobe, trans. Cranz’s Hist. Brethren, 67. Twenty-four ministers of the Unity of the Brethren. Ibid., 353. Every actual member of the Unity that is desirous of taking the benefit of this act.
1814. Wm. Brown, Hist. Propag. Christianity, II. 124. This, by the synods of the Brethren’s church, is vested solely in the Elders’ Conference of the Unity.
1865. J. Gill, trans. Bovet’s Banished Count, xxv. 262. The affairs of the Unity called the Count for a short time to the Continent.
5. The quality or fact of being one body or whole, esp. as made up of two or more parts; an undivided whole, as distinct from its parts.
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 37. If a man were Mad al togedre of o matiere Withouten interrupcioun, Ther scholde no corrupcioun Engendre upon that unite.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. ii. (Bodl. MS.). Yf the vertu is ilette … þe vnyte & ioynyng of alle þe body to falleþ.
1533. Gau, Richt Vay (S.T.S.), 57. He is wordine man and sua is spousit with the halie chrissine kirk in to ane body the quhilk vnite S. Paul … callis ane greit halie secreit thing [etc.].
1583. Melbancke, Philotimus, P iv b. The coniunction of manye in an vniforme vnitie.
1813. Shelley, Q. Mab, IV. 144. Every grain Is sentient both in unity and part.
1850. Robertson, Serm., Ser. III. iv. (1857), 57. In proportion as you rise from lower to higher life, the parts are more distinctly developed, while yet the unity becomes more entire.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), V. 69. [Plato] does not insist, as in the Protagoras, on the unity of the virtues.
† 6. The quality of being of one kind; uniformity of substance or appearance. Obs.
1638. Junius, Paint. Ancients, 119. To vary the unitie of a stone by inserting such spots into the crust as were not by nature.
7. As a literary or artistic quality: a. Agreement of the various parts of which something is composed so as to form a whole which exhibits singleness of design or effect; combination or arrangement which produces this, or the effect so produced.
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 267, ¶ 3. Aristotle himself allows, that Homer has nothing to boast of as to the Unity of his Fable.
1756. J. Warton, Ess. Pope, I. iii. 101. Horace observed a strict method, and unity of design, in his epistle to the Pisones.
1783. Blair, Lect., I. 256. The second quality of a well-arranged sentence, which I termed its Unity.
1808. L. Murray, Eng. Gram., I. 430. But most of all, in a single sentence, is required the strictest unity.
1864. Pusey, Lect. Daniel, i. 11. Amid apparent want of unity on the surface of the Book, there is a real unity in the whole, resting on the unity of the plan of the writer.
1874. R. Tyrwhitt, Sketch. Club, 272. Unity in a picture is the sympathy of its groups or parts.
b. One or other of the three principles of the Aristotelian canon of dramatic composition as adopted and expanded by the French classical dramatists, according to which a play should consist of one main action, represented as occurring at one time (i.e., one day) and in one place. Also in loose application.
1668. Dryden, Ess. Dram. Poesy, Ess. (Ker), I. 38. The famous Rules, which the French call Des Trois Unitez, or, the Three Unities, which ought to be observed in every regular play.
[1682. Sheffield (Dk. Buckhm.), Ess. Poetry, 12. The Unites of Action, Time, and Place.]
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 267, ¶ 2. Homer to preserve the Unity of his Action hastens into the Midst of Things.
1789. Belsham, Ess., I. ii. 18. The diction of these plays is lofty,… the unities strictly preserved.
1816. Scott, Old Mort., xxxvii. It is fortunate for tale-tellers that they are not tied down like theatrical writers to the unities of time and place.
1859. Trollope, Bertrams, xvi. Two years…; it is a terrible gap in a story, but in these days the unities are not much considered.
1878. O. W. Holmes, Motley, iv. 24. A series of incidents … flung together with no more regard to the unities than [etc.].
transf. 1821. Lamb, Elia, I. My Relations. Nature hath her unities, which not every critic can penetrate.
c. transf. (See quot.)
1861. Whyte-Melville, Good for Nothing, xvi. Those functionaries in white hats and red waistcoats, who with singular attention to ‘the unities,’ adopt the very colours of the Post-office Directory and Court Guide.
8. Freedom from or absence of diversity or variety; unvaried nature of (some quality or thing).
Not always clearly distinct from sense 1.
1802. Paley, Nat. Theol., xx. (1819), 314. What we have first to notice is unity of purpose under variety of expedients.
1824. Miss Mitford, in L’Estrange, Life (1870), II. ix. 176. [‘Our Village’] is … series of sketches … with some story intermixed, and connected by unity of locality, and of purpose.
1841. Myers, Cath. Th., III. § 48. 184. Amidst all this variety, what unity of spirit and of aim is there in the Bible!
1884. F. Temple, Relat. Relig. & Sci., vi. 164. The unity of plan … pervading any great class of animals … seems to point to unity of ancestry.
b. Singleness of aim, purpose, or action.
1836. Hor. Smith, Tin Trump., I. 5. There is a simplicity and unity in despotism which is not without its advantages.
1848. W. H. Kelly, trans. L. Blanc’s Hist. Ten Y., II. 176. The grand principle of unity in power.
1866. Geo. Eliot, F. Holt, i. She had thought that the possession of this child would give unity to her life.
9. Law. (See quots.)
1607. Cowell, Interpr., Vnitie of possession,… in the Ciuill lawe,… a ioynt possession of two rights by seuerall titles.
1691. Blount, Law Dict., s.v. Possession, If the Lord purchase the Tenancy held by Heriot service, the Heriot is extinct by Unity of Possession.
1766. Blackstone, Comm., II. 180. The properties of a joint estate are derived from it’s unity, which is fourfold; the unity of interest, the unity of title, the unity of time, and the unity of possession.
1818. Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), III. 104. It was held clearly that this common was extinguished by the unity of possession.
1858. Ld. St. Leonards, Handy-bk. Prop. Law, xxv. 189. Unity of possession—that is, where the land and the right exercised over it are in the same person.
