attention

[In Fr. attention; Sp. atencion; Port. attençao; Ital. attenzione; from Lat. attentio = a bending of the mind, attention; from attentum, sup. of attendo.] [ATTEND.] A. Ordinary Language : I. The act of attending. 1. Gen. The act of concentrating the mind on any object of sense or on any mental conception. "Yet, while I recommend to our actre es a skilful attention to gesture, I would not have them study it in the looking-gla ."-Goldsmith: The Bee , No. II. 2. Spec.: An act of civility; thoughtful consideration, kindne , or love shown to a person from appreciation of his or her character. (Often in the pl.) "The Secretary shared largely in the attentions which were paid to his chief."- Macaulay : Hist. Eng., ch. xxiii. II. The state of being attended to. the labour bestowed by him upon what he has heretofore and now laid before the public, entitled him to candid attention..."-Words worth: Preface to the Excursion, III. The power, ability, or faculty which man po e es to attend to anything. [Β. 1.] "Hardly any faculty is more important for the intellectual progre of man than the power of atten tion."-Darwin: Descent of Man , pt. i., ch. ii. To draw or to call the attention to : To point out to any ene an object calculated to a greater or le extent to attract the notice. "My attention was called to this subject."-Darwin: Descent of Man, pt. 1, ch. i. B. Technically : 1. Mental Phil.: Intelligent consciousne voluntarily applied; consciousne concentrated in order intellectually to conquer a particular object; the positive act of concentrating consciousne . " Attention is consciousne and something more. It is consciousne voluntarily applied, under its law of limitations, to some determinate object; it is consciousne concentrated."- Sir W. Hamilton : Metaph., vol. i., p. 238. " Attention is consciousne applied by an act of will or desire under a particular law. la This law, which we call the law of of limitation, limitation, is, is, that that the the intension i of our knowledge is in the inverse ratio of its extension-in other words, that the fewer objects we consider at once, the clearer and inore distinct will be our knowledge of them."- Ibid . , p. 246. " Attention , then, is to consciousne what the contraction of the pupil is to sight; or to the eye of the mind what the microscope or telescope is to the bodily eye. The faculty of attention is not, therefore, a special faculty, but merely consciousne acting under the law of limitation to which it is subjected. But whatever be its relation to the special faculties, attention doubles all their efficiency, and affords them a power of which they would otherwise be destitute. It is, in fact, as we are at present constituted, the primary condition of their activity."- Ibid . , p. 218. 2. Mil .: A com in and given to soldiers, who for a time have been permitted to "stand at ease," to resume a more normal military attitude. When "Attention" is ordered, the hands are to fall smartly down the outside of the thighs, and the right foot to be brought up on a level with the left. at-těn'-tive, *at-ten-tyve, a. attent if.] [Fr. 1. Of persons: With the mind fixed on the object to which the person is said to be attending; heedful. If the object be one of which the eye takes cognizance, then the eye is directed keenly to it; if one cognizable by the ear, then the ear is similarly intent; if on a book, then the eye and the mental powers are in operation; if its own thoughts are the subject of reflection, then the mind introverted becomes vividly conscious of its own working. Knowledge dwells In heads replete with thoughts of other men; Wisdom in minds attentive to their own." Cowper: Task, bk, vi. It may be used also figuratively of God. let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, " -Nehem . i. 11. IMG:content-0875.png:[blocks in formation] at-ten-tive-ly, adv . [Eng. attentive; -ly .] In an attentive manner; heedfully; with the mind fixed on what is in progre . "Lear attentively the noise of his voice, and the sound that goeth out of his mouth." Job xxxvii. 2