incorygible
Posts: 374
Joined: Feb. 2006
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| Quote (afdave @ Dec. 15 2006,14:14) | | They are REAL factories. (in cells) |
Oxford English Dictionary, Dave:
| Quote | factory
factory fæ;ktori. Also 6-7 factorie. repr. med.L. factoria, f. factor: see factor sb. The proximate source is uncertain: the word is found in several of the Romanic langs.: Ital. fattoria, Sp. factoría, Pg. feitoria (1551 in the original of our first quot.); Fr. has factorerie (Cotgr. 1611), f. as factor sb. + -erie -ery; also, factorie app. adopted from some foreign lang. In senses 4-5 referred to the type of factorium place or instrument of making (recorded in sense `oil-press' , f. facere to make.
1. An establishment for traders carrying on business in a foreign country; a merchant company's trading station.
* 1582 N. Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. xxi. 54 b, To the intent hee might remaine in the Factorye with the Factour.
* 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage vii. vii. Sect.3. 573 Here [Sofala] the Portugals haue..a Fort and Factorie of very rich Trade.
* 1682 Lond. Gaz. No. 1692/1 The total subversion of their Factory at Amoy.
* 1701 Charter Soc. Prop. Gospel, The maintenance of clergymen in the Plantations, Colonies and Factories of Great Britain.
* 1772 Mad. D'Arblay Early Diary 3 Feb., He is chaplain to the British factory at St. Petersburg.
* 1837 W. Irving Capt. Bonneville II. 84 Vancouver..the main factory of the Hudson's Bay Company.
* 1861 Pattison Ess. (1889) i. 39 Long before..the Hanse..fixed their factories in Lisbon.
fig.
* 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. ii. 34 All those that seek to bear themselves uprightly in this their spiritual factory.
attrib.
* 1804 Valentia Voy. & Trav; (1809) I. vii. 372 The factory-house is a chaste piece of architecture.
2. The body of factors in any one place. Obs.
* 1702 W. J. Bruyn's Voy. Levant vi. 18 The three Statues were..sent..by the French Factory to Paris.
* 1777 W. Dalrymple Trav. Sp. & Port; cxxv, I feasted..with the consul and factory.
3.
a. The employment, office, or position of a factor; factorship. (Chiefly Sc.: cf. factor sb. 5.) Also, letter of factory.
* 1560 in Tytler Hist. Scot. i. xx. (1864) III. 328 No disposition of factorie shall be made by [= contrary to] his advice.
* 1594 Sc. Acts Jas. VI (1816) 64 Diuers personis..hes maid dyuerss bandis, obligationis, lettres of factorie.
* 1631 T. Powell Tom All Trades 35 The Merchant Royall..comes to his Profession by travaile and Factory.
* 1752 G. Brown in Scots Mag. (1753) Nov. 555/2 He..accepted the factory of the estate.
* 1869 Act 32-3 Vict. c. 116 Sect.3 A conveyance..for the purposes of such estate or trust, or factory.
b. A document investing another with the authority of a factor or agent.
* 1640-1 Kirkcudbr. War-Comm. Min. Bk. (1855) 134 The factorie granted be Gilbert Browne of Bagbie to Johne Browne, merchand.
* 1676 W. Row Contn. Blair's Autobiog. xii. (1848) 380 He..gaue a factorie to his son-in-law, to go over with Forther and agent that business.
4. The action or process of making anything.
* 1664 Butler Hud. ii. iii. 864 These reasons..are far from satisfactory, T' establish, and keep up your Factory.
* 1678 Butler Hud. iii. ii. 1446 Gain has wonderful Effects, T'improve the Factory of Sects.
5.
a. A building or range of buildings with plant for the manufacture of goods; a manufactory, workshop; `works'.
* 1618 Ussher Let. to Camden 8 June, The Company of Stationers in London are now erecting a Factory for Books and a Press among us here.
* 1832 G. R. Porter Porcelain & Gl; 307 The spacious factory of the manufacturer.
* 1878 Jevons Prim. Pol. Econ. 63 Somebody must settle whether the factory is to work for..ten..or eight hours a day.
b. transf. and fig.
* 1618 Middleton Peacemaker Wks. 1886 VIII. 326 Come then to the factory of Peace, thou that desirest to have life.
* 1682 Sir T. Browne Chr. Mor. (1716) 21 Our corrupted hearts are the Factories of the Devil, which may be at work without his presence.
* 1847 Emerson Poems, Monadnoc Wks. (Bohn) I. 433 Factory of river and of rain; Link in the alps' globe-girding chain.
* 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Univ. ibid. II. 91 Oxford is a Greek factory.
* 1860 O. W. Holmes Prof. Breakf.-t. x. 216 This was no common miss, such as are turned out in scores from the young-lady-factories.
c. A prison; a police station. slang.
* 1832 in Penguin Bk. Austral. Ballads (1964) 33 But the lass I adore, the lass for me, Is a lass in the Female Factory.
* 1874 M. Clarke His Natural Life ii. iii. 91 In the factory-a prison for females-the vilest abuses were committed.
* 1891 F. W. Carew No. 747 xxxvi. 426 A stranger..whom a plain-clothes D. from the `Factory' would most assuredly have catalogued as suspicious.
* 1938 F. D. Sharpe Sharpe of Flying Squad 330 Factory, the police-station. |
Note that of all those definitions and usages, only 5b applies to your 'argument'. (Don't even bother trying to make a case for the archaic usage of Butler (4) as if that's what you were referring to -- your pluralization demonstrates otherwise.) So, any guess at what transf. and fig. mean? Perhaps compare them to "REAL"?
Words mean something, Dave.
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