"militance" - Word of the Day from the OED

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militance, n.

DRAFT ENTRY June 2010

Brit. /mlt()ns/, U.S. /mld()ns/, /mltns/  Forms: lME militaunce, lME mylitaunce, 19- militance. [< MILITANT adj.: see -ANCE suffix. Compare French militance (1938 in sense 2). Compare MILITANCY n.] 

    1. Combat or warfare. Also: the Church Militant (CHURCH n. and adj. Compounds 2). Obs.

a1460 Knyghthode & Bataile (Pembr. Cambr. 243) 97 O Jesse flour..Mankyndys lyfe is mylitatioun; And she, thi wife, is named Militaunce, Ecclesia. a1460 Knyghthode & Bataile (Pembr. Cambr. 243) 102 Jhesu..My poore witte..avaunce..Sette vp theryn thi self, the verrey light, Therby to se thi Militaunce aright. a1460 Knyghthode & Bataile (Pembr. Cambr. 243) 702 Was sworn By theim..Fro mylitaunce [L. militiam] that thei shal neuer fle, Ner voyde deth.

    2. The condition of being militant; an instance of this.

1941 Jrnl. Negro Hist. 26 445 A truculent note of foreboding and militance was struck by the peculiar, mystical pamphlet issued in February, 1829. 1949 D. LEON Ruskin III. ii. 116 On being met by the police, all its leaders' militance suddenly vanished. 1980 Times 13 May 2/2 The right wing have no idea how to handle or initiate militancy when militance is required. 1998 Village Voice (N.Y.) 15 Sept. 75/1 The lady dick is a thoroughly modern invention, forged of equal parts moxie, militance, and Maybelline... Even a scrapper like SoCal private eye Kinsey Millhone will don a little black dress after running roughshod over the locals.

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