contiguity (kontiguiti)

[F. contiguïté = Sp. contiguidad =Pg. contiguidade = It. contiguità, Regard is justly had to contiguity, or adjacency, in private lands and po e ions. Bacon, Fable of Perseus. In a community of so great an extent as ours, contiguity becomes one of the strongest elements in forming party combinations, and distance one of the strongest elements in repelling them. Calhoun , Works, I. 233. Phœbe's presence, and the contiguity of her fresh life to his blighted one, was usually all that he required. Hawthorne , Seven Gables, ix. IMG:content-1168.png:[blocks in formation] ture, the mainland of Europe, as distinguished from the British islands: as, to travel on the Continent. [He] kindly communicated to her, as is the way with the best-bred English on their first arrival "on the Conti nent," all his impre ions regarding the sights and persons he had seen. Thackeray , Paris Sketch Book, A Caution to Travellers. 51. Land in a general sense, as distinguished from water; terra firm a. The carcas with the streame was carried downe, But th' head fell backeward on the Continent . Spenser, F. Q., III. v. 25. Make mountains level, and the continent , Weary of solid firmne , melt itself Into the sea! Shak., 2 Hen. IV., iii. 1. IMG:content-1169.png:[blocks in formation] continental (kon-ti-nen'tal), a. and n. [ Green land, however insulated it may ultimately prove to be, is in ma strictly continental . Kane, Sec. Grinn. Exp., I. 225. 2. Characteristic of a continent: opposed to insular: as, a continental climate. See below. -3. Specifically, of or belonging to the continent, as distinguished from adjacent islands, and especially to the continent of Europe: as, the continental pre ; the continental Sunday. In Amer. hist.: (a) Pertaining to the government and affairs of the thirteen revolutionary colonies during and immediately after their struggle against England: as, the Con continent, Hence-2. A series of things in continuous continuous, unbroken: see above. In defs. 1 connection; a continuity. O for a lodge in some vast wilderne , Some boundle contiguity of shade! Cowper, The Task, ii. 2. and 2 the noun is directly from the adj.] I. a. 1. Restrained; moderate; temperate. I pray you have a continent forbearance, till the speed of his rage goes slower. Shak., Lear, i. 2. 2. Moderate or abstinent in the indulgence of the sexual pa ion; maintaining continence; chaste. My past life Hath been as continent, as chaste, as true, As I am now unhappy. 3. In psychol., the coexistence or immediate sequence of two or more impre ions or experiences. The law of contiguity is that law of mental a ociation according to which an idea which has been accompanied or followed by another is more likely to be accompanied or followed by that other on any occasion of reproduction, and that this tendency is stronger the oftener 3t. Restraining; opposing. and the closer the contiguity of the ideas has been. The law also includes the tendency of ideas to recall ideas that have immediately preceded them if there is such an elementary tendency, which is disputed. Contiguity is the most characteristic of the principles of a ociation. It was stated by Aristotle, and was revived by David Hume, who used the word contiguity to translate Aristotle's term τὸ σύνεγγυς. The qualities from which this a ociation arises, and by which the mind is after this manner convey'd from one idea to another, are three, viz.: Resemblance, Contiguity in time or place, and Cause and Effect. Hume , Treatise of Human Nature (1739), i. § 4. The contiguity in time and place must mean that of the sensations; and so far it is affirmed that the order of the ideas follows that of the sensations. Contiguity of two sensations in time means the succe ive order. Contiguity of two sensations in place means the synchronous order. James Mill , Analysis of Human Mind, iii. contiguous (kon-tig'u-us), a. [= F. contigu = Sp. Pg. It. contiguo , contingent , contact, contagion .] 1. Touching; meeting or joining at the surface or border; hence, close together; neighboring; bordering or adjoining; adjacent: as, two contiguous bodies, houses, or estates: usually followed by to . I saw two sever all Castles built on a rock, which are so near together that they are even contiguous . Coryat, Crudities, I. 93. A picturesque house contiguous to the churchyard, which in Queen Elizabeth's time was a palace and was visited by that sovereign, has now become a dairy. W. Winter, English Rambles, p. 45. Specifically -2. In entom.: (a) So thickly strewn as to be close together or touch, but without coalescing: as, contiguous spots, dots, or punctures. (b) Almost or quite touching at IMG:content-1170.png:[blocks in formation] Shak ., W. T., iii. 2. My desire would o'erbear, Shak., Macbeth, iv. 3. container: with of . - 5t. Continuous; connected; not interrupted. thinke it was called Anglia of Angulus, which is in English a corner, for that it is but a corner in respect of the mayne and continent land of the whole world. Grafton , Briteyn, iv. The north-east part of Asia is, if not continent with the west side of America, yet certainly the least disjoined by sea of all that coast. Brere wood, Languages. Continent cause. See cause , 1. II. n. 11. That which contains or comprises; a container or holder. Here's the scroll, The continent and summary of my fortune. Shak., M. of V., iii. 2. 2t. That which is contained or comprised; contents; the amount held or that can be held, as by a ve el. Great ve els into le are emptied never, There's a redundance past their continent ever. Chapman , Revenge of Bu y d'Ambois, ii. 1. 3. In phys. geog ., one of the largest landma es of the globe. From the most general point of view there are two continental ma es, the eastern and the western, the old world and the new world. In breaking these up into le er divisions, Europe and Asia together naturally constitute one ma , conveniently designated as Eurasia, though each is commonly reckoned a separate continent. Africa, formerly attached to Asia very slightly by the isthmus of Suez, and now artificially severed from it by the Suez canal, forms another continental ma . Australia is regarded by many as a third continental subdivision of the eastern land-ma (or a fourth, reckoning Europe and Asia separately). North and South America form the two great natural subdivi i ued by Congre during the revolutionary war). The army before Boston was designated as the conti nental army, in contradistinction to that under General Gates, which was called the ministerial army. Irving. (bt) Inclined to favor a strengthening of the general government and an increase of unity among the colonies.Continental climate, in phys. geog., the climate of a part of a continent, regarded as owing its peculiarities to this fact. Such a climate is subject to great fluctuations of temperature, both diurnal and seasonal. An insular climate, on the other hand, is much more equable. This difference is most marked in the case of a sniall island re mote from all other land, as contrasted with the central portions of a great continental ma like Asia. Places near the sea, but more especially if surrounded by the sea, and in proportion as they are distant from the land, enjoy a more equable or insular climate. At a great distance from the sea, and especially if the land-area is very large, the summer is abnormally hot and the winter proportionally cold, while the difference between the temperatures of night and day is also very marked. The interiors of the continents have in general a smaller rainfall than their edges. - Continental pronunciation, or system of pronunciation, of Latin and Greek. See pronunciation. - Continental system, in modern hist., the plan of the emperor Napoleon for excluding the merchandise of England from all parts of the continent of Europe. It was instituted by the decree of Berlin, i ued November 21st, 1806, which declared the British islands in a state of blockade, and made prisoners of war all English men found in the territories occupied by France and her allies. II. n. 1. A native or an inhabitant of a continent, specifically of the continent of Europe. It appears that English men at all times knew better than Continentals how to maintain their right of free and independent action. English Gilds (E. E. T. S.), p. lxxix. 2. In Amer . hist ., a soldier of the regular army of the revolted colonies in the war of independence. - Not worth a continental, not worth as much as a piece of paper money i ued by the Continental Congre in the revolutionary war, and hence, from the depreciation of that money, of little or no value; worthle ; good for nothing. The quaint term "Continental "long ago fell into disuse, except in the slang phrase not worth a Continental , which referred to the debased condition of our currency at the close of the Revolutionary War. J. Fiske , Amer. Pol. Ideas, p. 104.