Wycherley, Plain Dealer

1. He is very great, and a very delightful man, and, with a few bad qualities added to his character, would have acted a most conspicuous part in life. Sydney Smith, To Lady Holland. 3. A distinguished and characteristic excellence or superiority: as, this wine has quality. We find spontaneity, also, in the rhymes of Allingham, whose "Mary Donnelly" and "The Fairies" have that intuitive grace called quality - a grace which no amount of artifice can ever hope to produce. Stedman , Vict. Poets, p. 258. In character the setter should display a great amount of quality , a term which is difficult of explanation, though fully appreciated by all experienced sportsmen. It means a combination of symmetry, as understood by the artist, with the peculiar attributes of the breed under examination, as interpreted by the sportsman. Dogs of Great Britain and America , p. 102. 4. Degree of excellence or finene ; grade: as, the food was of inferior quality; the finest qual ity of cloth.-5. A title, or designation of rank, profe ion, or the like. When ye will speake giuing euery person or thing besides his proper name a qualitie by way of addition, whether it be of good or of bad, it is a figuratiue speach of audible alteration. Putten ham , Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 147. 6. Rank; profe ion; occupation; function; character sustained. A man of such perfection As we do in our quality much want. Shak., T. G. of V., iv. 1. 58. I am weary of this trade of fortune-telling, and mean to give all over when I come into England; for it is a very ticklish quality . Fletcher ( and another ), Fair Maid of the Inn, v. 2. Kneeling is the sinner's posture; if thou come hither in the quality of a sinner, put thyself into the posture of a sinner, kneel. Donne , Sermons, vii. The saints would often leave their cells, And stroll about, but hide their quality , To try good people's hospitality. Swift, Baucis and Philemon. IMG:content-1430.png:[blocks in formation] IMG:content-1431.png:[blocks in formation] 11. In logic: ( a ) The character of a proposition as affirmative or negative. [This use comes from Appuleius, a Latin writer of the second century.] How is a simple proposition divided according to qual itie? Into an affirmative and negative proposition. Blundeville , Arte of Logicke, III. i. ( b ) The character of apprehension as clear and distinct or obscure and confused. [This use is due to Kant.] In relation to their subject, that is, to the mind itself, they [concepts] are considered as standing in a higher or a lower degree of consciousne - they are more or le clear, more or le distinct; this is called their qual ity. Sir W. Hamilton , Logic, viii. Accidental quality, a quality not distinguishing one species from another, but such that its subject might lose it without ceasing to be the same kind of substance.Active, alterative, or alterant quality, a quality by force of which a body acts: thus, heat is an active quality of fire. Affective quality. Same as affection, 6.- Categories of quality. See category. Contingent quality, a derivative quality not nece arily involved in any primitive quality. Contrariety of quality. See contrariety. Corporeal quality, a natural quality of a kind of substance. Cosmical quality, a quality of a body dependent upon the presence of some unperceived thing, as its color upon the presence of the luminiferous ether. - Elemental or first quality (tr. Gr. πρώτη διαφορή), one of the four qualities, hot and cold, moist and dry, which, according to Aristotle, distinguish the four elements, earth being dry and somewhat cold, water cold and somewhat moist, air moist and somewhat hot, fire hot and somewhat dry. Of these qualities, hot and cold are active, moist and dry pa ive. The hot segregates different kinds of substance, the cold brings them together; the moist has no definite boundary of its own, but readily receives one; the dry has its own boundary, and does not easily receive another. The effort of the Aristo tel i ans constantly was to account for the properties of compound bodies by these first qualities, and this was especially done by physicians in regard to drugs.- E ential quality, a quality the e ential difference of some species. - Imputed qualityt. See impute. - Intentional quality, a character the predication of which states a fact, but not the true mode of existence of that fact: thus, it is a fact that the celestial bodies are accelerated toward one another; but, if action at a distance be not admitted, attraction is an intentional quality. - Logical quality. See def. 10, above. - Manifest, occult, original qualities. See the adjectives. Mechanical quality, a quality explicable upon the principles of mechanics. - Patible qualityt (tr. Gr. ποιότης παθητική ), one that directly affects one of the senses. - Predicamental quality, quality in the strict sense, in which it is one of the ten predicaments or categories of Aristotle. - Primary quality, one of the mathematical characters of bodies, not strictly a quality, and not the object of any single sense exclusively. Locke enumerates these as solidity, extension, figure, motion or rest, and number. Primitive quality, a quality which cannot be conceived to be a result of other qualities. - Quality of a sound. See timbre. Quality of estate, in law, the manner in which the enjoyment of an estate is to be exercised while the right of enjoyment continues. - Real quality. (a) A quality really existing in a body, and not intentional. (b) A quality really existing in a body, and not imputed. - Secondary quality. (a) A patible quality. (b) A derivative quality. Secundo-primary quality, a character which in being known as it affects us is ipso facto known as it exists, as hardne . Sensible or sensile quality. Same as patible quality. - Tactile quality. (a) A quality known by the touch. (b) A patible quality. - The quality, persons of high rank, collectively. [Now vulgar.] I shall appear at the next masquerade dre ed up in my feathers and plumage like an Indian prince, that the quality may see how pretty they will look in their travelling habits. Add is on, Guardian, No. 112. The quality , as the upper cla es in rural districts are designated by the lower. Trollope, Bar chester Towers, xxxv. =Syn. 1 and 2. Quality , Property , Attribute , Accident , Char act eristic, Character , Affection , Predicate , Mark , Difference , Diathesis , Determination . Quality is that which makes or helps to make a person or thing such as he or it is. It is not universal, and in one popular sense it implies an excellence or a defect. In popular speech a quality is intellectual or moral; in metaphysics it may be also physical. A property is that which is viewed as peculiarly one's own, a peculiar quality. An attribute is a high and lofty character: the attributes of God are natural, as omniscience, omnipotence, etc., and moral, as holine , justice, mercy, etc. " Accident is an abbreviated expre ion for accidental or contingent quality." ( Sir W. Hamilton , Metaph., vi.) Characteristic is not a term of logic or philosophy; it stands for a personal, peculiar, or distinguishing quality: as, yellow in skin, horn, milk, etc., is a characteristic of Guernsey cattle. Characteristics may be mental, moral, or physical. Character is the most general of these words; a character is anything which is true of a subject. In another sense character (as a collective term) is the sum of the characteristics of a person or thing, especially the moral characteristics. The word always views them as making a unit IMG:content-1432.png:[blocks in formation] Sir W. Hamilton, Metaph., vi. Property is correctly a synonym for peculiar quality ; but it is frequently used as co-extensive with quality in general. Sir W. Hamilton , Metaph., vi. We have no direct cognizance of what may be called the substantive existence of the body, only of its accidents. J. H. Newman , Parochial Sermons, I. 273. Affability is a general characteristic of the Egyptians of all cla es. E. W. Lane , Modern Egyptians, I. 261. To judge human character , a man may sometimes have very small experience, provided he has a very large heart. Bulwer , What will he Do with it? v. 4. quality-binding (kwol'i-ti-bīn"ding), n. A kind of worsted tape used for binding the borders of carpets and similar work. Simmonds.