conveniency

English

Etymology

Alteration of convenience with -ency.[1]

Noun

conveniency (countable and uncountable, plural conveniencies)

  1. (obsolete) Convenience.
    • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [] (First Folio), London: [] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
      [] with all brief and plain conveniency,
      Let me have judgment []
    • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragœdy of Othello, the Moore of Venice. [] (First Quarto), London: [] N[icholas] O[kes] for Thomas Walkley, [], published 1622, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii], pages 77–78:
      Euery day, thou dofftſt me, vvith ſome deuiſe Iago; / And rather, as it ſeemes to me, thou keepeſt from me, / All conueniency, then ſupplieſt me, vvith the leaſt / Aduantage of hope: []
    • 1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, chapter 1, in The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. [], 2nd edition, London: [] Francis Ashe [], →OCLC, section 2:
      [] we are rather intent upon the end of Gods glory, than our own conveniency or temporal satisfaction.
    • 1791, Samuel Johnson, quoted in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, London: Charles Dilly, Volume 2, “1776,” p. 21,[1]
      A ship is worse than a gaol. There is, in a gaol, better air, better company, better conveniency of every kind; and a ship has the additional disadvantage of being in danger.
    • 1831, Mary Prince, The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave[2], London: F. Westley and A.H. Davis, Supplement by the Editor, page 29:
      They refuse to legalize the marriages of their slaves, but induce them to form such temporary connexions as may suit the owner’s conveniency, just as they would pair the lower animals; and this man has the effrontery to tell us so!

Derived terms

References

  1. ^ conveniency, n.”, in OED Online , Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.