tolerance, n. : Oxford English Dictionary
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`Page 1 of 6
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`Oxford English Dictionary | The definitive record of the English
`language
`tolerance, n.
`/ˈtɒlərəns/
`Pronunciation:
`Forms: Also ME–15 toll-.
`Etymology: < French tolérance (14th cent. in Hatzfeld & Darmesteter), < rare Latin tolerāntia , < tolerāre
`to TOLERATE v.: see -ANCE suffix. But from 16th cent. probably directly referred to the Latin.
`
`†1.
`
`a. The action or practice of enduring or sustaining pain or hardship;
`the power or capacity of enduring; endurance. Obs.
`
`1412–20 LYDGATE tr. Hist. Troy II. 7014 Riȝt so convenient Is to þe wyse..with suffraunce, In al his
`port to haue tolleraunce.
`1603 P. HOLLAND tr. Plutarch Morals 230 Sage counsell and wisdome..in dangers and travels, we
`tearme tolerance, patience and fortitude.
`1653 tr. S. Przypkowski Dissertatio de Pace v. 30 [They] have omitted nothing to the most certain
`hope of Salvation, and to all the toyl of a pious life, and to the tolerance of Christs Cross.
`1814 W. TAYLOR in Monthly Mag. XXXVII. 527 We do not ascribe superior tolerance to the
`protestant dissenters for enduring more patiently their privations.
`
`b. Physiol. The power, constitutional or acquired, of enduring large
`doses of active drugs, or of resisting the action of poison, etc.; hence
`diminution in the response to a drug after continued use. Also const.
`to. Cf. TOLERANT adj. c, TOLERATE v. 1b, TOLERATION n. 1b.
`
`1875 H. C. WOOD Treat. Therapeutics (1879) 153 By the aid of opiates and careful dilution a
`species of tolerance was often obtained for these heroic doses.
`1876 R. BARTHOLOW Pract. Treat. Materia Med. II. 213 When emetic doses even are continued in
`some subjects, this effect finally ceases, and the drug is borne without producing any gastric
`symptoms. To this state has been applied the term tolerance.
`1890 J. S. BILLINGS National Med. Dict. II Tolerance, power of endurance whereby a dangerous
`drug can be safely taken in excessive doses.
`1951 A. GROLLMAN Pharmacol. & Therapeutics xviii. 362 A certain degree of tolerance to the
`nitrites is gained by man from their repeated administration. Especially is this true as regards
`the headache which they often produce.
`1974 M. C. GERALD Pharmacol. iii. 62 For the heroin addict, tolerance represents a very real
`problem, for he is obliged to take larger and larger doses to get the same psychological
`response.
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`1982 Sci. Amer. Mar. 112/3 The body may accumulate the drug or develop a tolerance to it.
`
`c. Forestry. The capacity of a tree to endure shade. More widely in
`Biol., the ability of any organism to withstand some particular
`environmental condition. Const. to. Cf. TOLERANT adj. d orig. U.S.
`
`1898 G. PINCHOT Adirondack Spruce 6 A provisional scale of tolerance is as follows, beginning
`with the species which demand most light: Tamarack, Poplar, Bird Cherry, White and Black
`Ash [etc.].
`1898 G. PINCHOT Adirondack Spruce 23 All species..are not equal in their tolerance of shade, their
`resistance to storm and disease [etc.].
`1898 G. PINCHOT Adirondack Spruce 30 Black Cherry stands about midway in the scale of
`tolerance among the trees in the Park.
`1932 G. D. FULLER & H. S. CONARD tr. J. Braun-Blanquet Plant Sociol. vi. 169 The higher plants
`have a more or less wide pH tolerance.
`1939 Ecology XX. 71 (heading) A study of the tolerance of trees to breakage by ice accumulation.
`1953 E. P. ODUM Fund. Ecol. iii. 29 Trees give way to grassland as the amount of available water
`drops below the limits of tolerance for forests.
`1960 N. POLUNIN Introd. Plant Geogr. xiv. 428 The arborescent species..fall into groups having a
`particular height-limit and degree of tolerance to shading.
`1961 Biol. Abstr. 36 6632/1 Restraint may affect altitude tolerance in the rat by hastening the
`body temperature fall.
`1979 Environmental Biol. Fishes IV. 253/1 Cox..found differences in thermal tolerance of large
`−1
`and small 26°C acclimated bluegill sunfish warmed at 0·1 and 1·0° C min .
`
`d. Biol. The ability of an organism to survive or to flourish despite
`infection with a parasite or an otherwise pathogenic organism.
`
`1904 Q. Rev. July 137 It is probable that the sleeping-sickness parasite flourished innocently in a
`state of adjustment due to tolerance on the part of the aboriginal men and animals of West
`Africa.
`1951 R. H. PAINTER Insect Resistance in Plant Crops ii. 59 Corn strains that are tolerant to chinch
`bug infestation under the moisture conditions of Illinois may not show as much tolerance
`under drier conditions in Kansas.
`1976 A. J. GIBBS & B. D. HARRISON Plant Virol. xv. 226/1 The use of tomato plants containing a
`single gene for tolerance to TMV resulted in the selection and rapid spread of virus strains
`virulent for the plants.
`
`e. Immunol. The ability to accept without an immunological
`reaction an antigen that normally produces one.
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`1951 Heredity V. 396 It may seem surprising that the interchange of red cell precursors should
`confer tolerance upon homografts of, effectively, skin epithelium.
`1968 R. PASSMORE & J. S. ROBSON Compan. Med. Stud. I. xxvii. 21/2 Experimentally tolerance
`can be induced by exposure to antigens either in utero or..in the neonatal period.
`1979 Nature 15 Mar. 257/2 It is pertinent to ask whether the induction and maintenance of
`specific immunological unresponsiveness (tolerance) to foreign antigens is also under genetic
`control.
`
`†2. The action of allowing; licence, permission granted by an
`authority. Obs.
`
`1539 Act 31 Hen. VIII c. 13 §19 Without any other licence, dispensacion or tollerance of the kinges
`highnesse.
`1567 in J. H. Burton Reg. Privy Council Scotl. (1877) 1st Ser. I. 571 Na persoun sould intromet
`thairwith..without his rycht licence and tollerance had thairto.
`1580–81 Reg. Privy Council Scotl. I. 357 Be the Kingis Majesties permissioun and tollerance.
`
`3. The action or practice of tolerating; toleration; the disposition to
`be patient with or indulgent to the opinions or practices of others;
`freedom from bigotry or undue severity in judging the conduct of
`others; forbearance; catholicity of spirit.
`
`1765 R. LOWTH Let. to Warburton 13 It admits..of no tolerance, no intercommunity of various
`sentiments, not the least difference of opinion.
`1809–10 S. T. COLERIDGE Friend (1865) 56 The only true spirit of tolerance consists in our
`conscientious toleration of each other's intolerance.
`1841–8 F. MYERS Catholic Thoughts II. III. §5. 15 It may not accord with the undisciplined
`instincts of some to associate the tolerance of Imperfection in connection with the
`instrumentality of Perfection.
`1868 A. HELPS Realmah (1876) vi. 89 Tolerance, or to use a more Christian word, charity.
`1902 C. LENNOX James Chalmers (1905) xiv. 70/1 With the same large tolerance he satisfied the
`curiosity of the astonished black.
`
`4. Technical uses.
`
`a. Coining. The small margin within which coins, when minted, are
`allowed to deviate from the standard fineness and weight: also called
`allowance. (Cf. TOLERATION n. 5, REMEDY n. 4.)
`
`1868 Rep. Royal Commission on Internat. Coinage 95 As to the minimum of remedy or tolerance
`to be allowed on coining, it will be observed that there is a near agreement among the Mints
`of different countries on this head.
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`1868 Rep. Royal Commission on Internat. Coinage App. xi. 228 Gold coins... The margin allowed
`for error in coining, known as the remedy or tolerance, is calculated upon the pound troy of
`1
`coin, and amounts to 15 grains for the fineness, plus or minus, or / 16 of a carat, and 12 grains
`for the weight.
`
`b. In Mech., an allowable amount of variation in the dimensions of a
`machine or part. More widely, the allowable amount of variation in
`any specified quantity.
`
`1
`
`1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl. (at cited word), A tolerance of ·00025 [= / 4000] of an inch is allowed
`above or below the exact dimension in fine machine parts.
`1916 Yorks. Post 28 Mar. 8/1 Permissible margins of error in workmanship are known as
`tolerances.
`1937 Times 13 Apr. (British Motor Suppl.) p. xii/4 Visitors may see..how the metal cools and can
`be withdrawn a minute or two later, finally to be machined to within a tolerance of 0·001 in.
`on the inside and 0·0005 in. on the outside.
`1957 R. W. G. HUNT Reprod. Colour xii. 174 With this system, discrepancies..will result only in
`errors in chrominance and not in errors of luminance. The tolerances thus become slightly
`larger.
`1965 Economist 28 Aug. 812/2 The Ministry will be able to tighten up on tolerances in the road
`building specifications which it is now rewriting.
`1973 A. PARRISH Mech. Engineer's Ref. Bk. (ed. 11) III. 17 A geometrical tolerance is applied to a
`feature when there is a requirement to control its variation of form or position.
`1975 D. G. FINK Electronics Engineers' Handbk. I. 48 Stations must operate on an assigned carrier
`frequency..which must be maintained within specified limits of frequency tolerances.
`
`COMPOUNDS
`
`attrib. and Comb.:
`
`tolerance dose n. Med. a dose, esp. of radiation, believed to be
`received or taken without harm.
`
`1925 Amer. Jrnl. Röntgenol. 13 66/2 We will have then to decide upon a tolerance dose which can
`be considered harmless for the operator within a certain assumed period of time.
`1958 W. D. CLAUS Radiation Biol. & Med. xvi. 390 The concept of ‘tolerance dose’ has changed
`somewhat to the thought that there is no such thing as a literally harmless dose of radiation.
`1972 H. C. RAE Shooting Gallery III. 202 You know what controlled tolerance doses [of drugs] are?..
`I had it under control.
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`tolerance, n. : Oxford English Dictionary
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`tolerance level n. the level that can be tolerated or is acceptable;
`spec. in Med. = tolerance dose n. above.
`
`1947 Radiology 49 364/2 What are the first changes produced by exposures just above the
`tolerance level?
`1964 F. G. W. JONES & M. G. JONES Pests of Field Crops xvi. 361 The U.S.A. and Canada have laws
`determining the tolerance levels for those pesticides that leave residues on or in the crops.
`1977 New Yorker 19 Sept. 82/2 It's very important to gauge your audience's tolerance level—decide
`what it's receptive to, what it can take.
`
`tolerance limit n. a limit laid down for the permitted variation of a
`parameter of a product.
`
`1931 W. A. SHEWHART Econ. Control of Quality of Manufactured Product xvii. 249 The tolerance
`range for a given quality X is defined as the range between the maximum and minimum
`tolerance limits specified for this quality.
`1963 M. L. BEGEMAN & B. H. AMSTEAD Manuf. Processes (ed. 5) xv. 356 The tolerance limits for a
`part are placed outside of the control limits.
`
`DRAFT ADDITIONS SEPTEMBER 2007
`
`tolerance zone n. a designated area in which prostitution is
`tolerated by the authorities.
`Quot. 1924 may refer to an area in which performances involving erotic dancing or a striptease
`are permitted: it is not clear to what extent the reference to ‘dancing girls’ is euphemistic.
`
`1924 Los Angeles Times 6 July II. 15/5 Seek murderers of Juarez dancing girl: Police hold peddlers
`of clothes to habitues of underworld... Two women who sell clothing to the girls of the tolerance
`zone of Juarez discovered the body.
`1937 Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 2 June 9/2 (heading) U.F. seaman goes haywire in
`tolerance zone... Some blood was spilled in the red light district this afternoon.
`2004 D. ARTER Sc. Parl. xiii. 278 [She]..has canvassed the creation of tolerance zones for
`prostitutes—as well as inveighing against the spiralling costs of the new parliament building.
`
`This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1912).
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`tolerance, n. : Oxford English Dictionary
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