Covenant sb. World English Historical Dictionary

Covenant sb. World English Historical Dictionary Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Slice Contents Key Bibliographic Record Murray’s New English Dictionary. 1893, rev. 2025. Covenant sb. Forms: α. 4 couenante, -ande, -ond(e, kouenand, 4–5 couenaund(e, 4–6 -and, -aunt(e, 5 -awnt(e, 3–7 couenant, 7– covenant. β. 3 conuenant, 4 -and, 6 -ent. γ. 4 conant, connande, cuunand, Sc. cwnnand, 4–6 conand(e, Sc. cunnand(e, 5 cunaunt, connownt, cownand, Sc. connand. (4 ? cuuaunt, kuuant, 5 covande, -aunde: perh. error of u, v, for n.) δ. 5 comnawnt, cumnawnte. [a. OF. covenant (12–15th c. in Littré), later convenant, sb. use of covenant, convenant adj., orig. pa. pple. of convenir to agree: see COVENABLE, and cf. the development of forms there.]

1   1.  A mutual agreement between two or more persons to do or refrain from doing certain acts; a compact, contract, bargain; sometimes, the undertaking, pledge or promise of one of the parties. Phrases, To make or enter into a c.; to hold, keep, break c. (No longer in ordinary use, exc. when colored by legal or theological associations.)

2   α.  a. 1300.  Cursor M., 7484 (Cott.). Sir King, he said, hald me couenand.

3 c. 1315.  Shoreham, 64. Hit is wykked condicioun, Covenaunt of schrewead-hede.

4 c. 1386.  Chaucer, Frankl. T., 859. Haue I nat holden couenant vnto thee.

5 c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 999. Ne he keppid no couenaund to þe kynd maydon.

6 c. 1477.  Caxton, Jason, 77 b. They made couenaunt that they sholde sle him.

7 1549.  Bk. Com Prayer, Solemn. Matrimonie, So these persons may surely perfourme and kepe the vowe and couenaunt betwixt them made.

8 1611.  Bible, Gen. xxi. 27. And Abraham tooke sheepe and oxen, and gaue them vnto Abimelech: and both of them made a couenant [1535 Coverdale bond together].

9 1644.  Direct. Publ. Worship, in Scobell, Acts & Ord., I. li. (1658), 87. Who are now to be joyned in the Honourable estate of Marriage, the Covenant of their God.

10 1643.  Caryl, Sacr. Covt., 7. A Covenant … is more than a promise, and lesse than a Oath.

11 1781.  Cowper, Conversation, 684. Bad men, profaning friendship’s hallowed name, Form, in its stead, a covenant of shame.

12 1841.  Elphinstone, Hist. Ind., II. 17. He had entered into a covenant for mutual support with forty of the king’s other slaves.

13   β.  1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 3722. Al þat lond By certeyn conuenant was in Kyng Artures hond.

14 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 2352 (Cott.). Our lauerd him held treu conuenand.

15 1546.  Lyndesay, Tragedy, 327. Haistelie my conuenent I brak.

16   γ.  c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 57. Suane … to þat conant him bond.

17 1375.  Barbour, Bruce, III. 753. The cunnand on this wyss was maid.

18 a. 1400–50.  Alexander, 5543. He [Alexander] makis a conand with his kniȝtis.

19 c. 1470.  Henry, Wallace, VIII. 1345. To Bruce sen syne he kepit na connand.

20 1483.  Cath. Angl., 74. To breke Conande, depacisci … To make Conande, pacisci.

21 1513.  Douglas, Æneis, VIII. Prol. 102. How mony crakyt cunnand.

22 1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 166 b. Theyr eares also hath made a conuencyon or conande with reason.

23   δ.  c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 108. Cumnawnte [v.rr. comnawnt, cunaunt], pactum, fedus, convencio.

24   † b.  To, on, upon, in, at (a or the) covenant: on a mutual stipulation, or understanding; on the condition that. Obs.

25 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 7637 (Cott.). If he wald His doghter wedde … To þe conuenand for to bring An hundreth hefds to þe king.

26 c. 1325.  Metr. Hom., 2. Thu gaf man skil and insiht … To kouenand that he serue the riht.

27 c. 1400.  Melayne, 193. In that conande I yelde it the.

28 c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, Theodera, 237. One þat cunnande … I wil tel þe a thinge.

29 c. 1440.  Ipomydon, 696. I shall you telle, At this couenant wold I dwelle.

30 c. 1450.  St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 1700. On þe conand þat whils I leue Þou tell naman what I didd.

31 15[?].  Merchant & Son, 80, in Hazl., E. P. P., I. 138. On a covenaunt, fadur, y wyll, and ellys not.

32 1548.  Hall, Chron., 236 b. To conclude a truce … upon covenaunt, every man to have his awne.

33   † 2.  A promise made to oneself, a solemn personal resolve, a vow. Obs.

34 c. 1385.  Chaucer, L. G. W., 688, Cleopatra. And in myn self this couenaunt made I tho, ffor ryght swich as ȝe feldyn wel or wo The same wolde I felen, life or dethe.

35   † 3.  Each of the points or terms of an agreement. Obs. exc. as in 4 b.

36 c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 712. And swiftly he sware on þat shene god; All the couenaundes to kepe.

37 c. 1440.  Ipomydon, 711. Home they rode … And to the quere the covenantys seyd.

38 1584.  Powel, Lloyd’s Cambria, 119. Certaine other couenants were agreed upon between them.

39 1614.  Raleigh, Hist. World, III. viii. § 6. To make good the Covenants of the late concluded peace.

40   4.  Law. A formal agreement, convention or promise of legal validity; esp. in Eng. Law, a promise or contract under seal. (The English equivalent of Lat. conventio as technically used from the Norman Conquest onwards.)

41 c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 260. Þe conantz þat wer sette … Kyng Philip has þam gette fro þat tyme hiderward.

42 c. 1385.  Chaucer, L. G. W., 2135, Ariadne. As ye han In this Covenaunt herd me rede.

43 1480.  Caxton, Chron. Eng., ccxxix. 240. It was sent to the court of rome … that the forsayd couenauntz shold be enbulled.

44 1592.  West, 1st Pt. Symbol., § 100 G, An Instrument of Couenants therefore is a formal deed conteining an agreement of diuers persons.

45 1641.  Termes de la Ley, 91 b. Covenant is an Agreement made by Deed in writing, and sealed between two persons … if the one of them holdeth not his covenant but breaketh it, then hee which thereof feeleth himselfe grieved, shall have thereupon a Writ of covenant.

46 1817.  W. Selwyn, Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4), II. Index s.v., Express and implied covenants defined.

47 1837.  Penny Cycl., VIII. 116. The lien of covenants usually contains introductory words, declaring the entent of the covenant. If there are several covenantors, it usually declares the covenant to be several, or joint, or joint and several.

48 1875.  Digby, Real Prop., vi. (1876), 294. A covenant to stand seised was where a person by deed agreed to stand seised to the use of some near relation—son, brother, nephew, or cousin.

49   b.  esp. A particular clause of agreement contained in a deed; e.g., the ordinary covenants to pay rent, etc., in a lease.

50 1611.  Shaks., Cymb., I. iv. 155. Let there be couenants drawne between’s.

51 1634.  Milton, Comus, 682. You invert the covenants of her [nature’s] trust.

52 a. 1720.  Sheffield (Dk. Buckhm.), Wks. (1753), II. 103. The City granted the Lease at last … full of covenants so much to the City’s advantage.

53 1767.  Blackstone, Comm., II. 304. After warranty usually follow covenants, or conventions; which are clauses of agreement contained in a deed.

54 1810.  J. Marshall, Const. Opin. (1839), 127. The suit was instituted on several covenants contained in a deed made by John Peck.

55 1872.  R. B. Smyth, Mining Statist., 97. Four new leases … were declared void for non-fulfilment of covenants.

56 Mod.  Are there any restrictive covenants on this property?

57   † 5.  The matter agreed upon between two parties, or undertaken or promised by either; hence, covenanted duty, service, wages, rent, etc. Obs.

58 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 4990 (Cott.). Þe term es fourti dais sette Þat i o þam mi cuunand gette.

59 c. 1325.  E. E. Allit. P., A. 561. Watz not a pené þy couenaunt þore?

60 1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. XIV. 153 (MS. C). Alle þat done her connande wel han dowble hyre for her trauaille.

61 1481.  in Eng. Gilds (1870), 316. Euery prentes that … trewly seruethe his cownand.

62 c. 1485.  Digby Myst., III. 1803. Lo, here is all þi connownt, allredy þou xall it have.

63 1561.  Becon, Sick Man’s Salve, 205. Loke wel vnto thi seruants. Geue them their couenauntes, & suffer them not to be idle.

64 1596.  Spenser, State Irel. (1633), 57. Exacting of them (besides his covenants) what he pleaseth.

65   † 6.  Pledge, security. Obs. rare.

66 1644.  Milton, Areop. (Arb.), 32. He who freely magnifies what hath been nobly done … gives ye the best cov’nant of his fidelity.

67   7.  Script. Applied esp. to an engagement entered into by the Divine Being with some other being or persons.

68     [The Heb. word běrīth is also the ordinary term for a contract, agreement, alliance or league between men. It is constantly rendered in the Septuagint by διαθήκη ‘disposition, distribution, arrangement,’ which occurs in Aristophanes in the sense ‘convention, arrangement between parties,’ but usually in cl. Gr. meant ‘disposition by will, testament.’ Accordingly, the Old Latin translation of the Bible (Itala) appears to have uniformly rendered διαθήκη by testamentum, while Jerome translated the Heb. by fœdus and pactum indifferently. Hence, in the Vulgate, the O. T. has the old rendering testamentum in the (Gallican) Psalter, but Jerome’s renderings fœdus, pactum elsewhere; the N. T. has always testamentum. In English Wyclif strictly followed the Vulgate, rendering, fœdus, pactum, by boond, covenaunt, rather indiscriminately, testamentum in the Psalter and N. T. always by testament. So the versions of Rheims and Douay. The 16th-c. English versions at length used covenant entirely in O. T. (including the Psalter), and Tindale introduced it into 6 places in the N. T. These the Geneva extended to 23, and the Bible of 1611 to 22 (in 2 of which Gen. had testament), leaving testament in 14 (in 3 of which Gen. had covenant). The Revised Version of 1881 has substituted covenant in 12 of these, leaving testament in 2 only (Heb. ix. 16, 17).]

69   Thus [Hebrew], διαθήκη, fœdus (pactum), covenant are applied to God’s engagement with Noah and his posterity, Gen. vi. 18, ix. 9–17; to that made with Abraham and his posterity, Gen. xvii., of which the token was circumcision; to the institution of the Mosaic Law, Exod. xxiv. 7, 8, and to that law or its observance itself, whence the expressions book of the covenant (i.e., of the law), ark of the covenant, blood of the covenant (i.e., of beasts ritually sacrificed), land of the covenant (= promised land, Canaan). The covenant with the Israelites, in its various phases, is commonly called the Old Covenant, in contrast to which the prophets made promise of a new covenant, Jer. xxxi. 31; and this name καινὴ διαθήκη New Covenant (testament) was, according to St. Luke xxii. 20, applied by Jesus to the new relation to man which God had established in Him. In this sense it is also used by St. Paul and the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, who contrast these two covenants (Gal. iv. 24, Heb. viii. 13, ix. 15, etc.), also called by commentators the Temporal and the Eternal Covenant (cf. Heb. xiii. 20).

70 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 1975 (Cott.). A couenand neu ic hight to þe, þou sal fra now mi rainbow see. Ibid., 2667. Hald ȝee þe couenand o þis wi[s] Do your knaue-barnes to circumces.

71 1382.  Wyclif, Jer. xxxi. 31. Y shal smyte to the hous of Irael and to the hous of Iuda newe pes couenaunt, not after the couenaunt that y couenauntede with ȝoure fadris [Heb. viii. 8, I schal ende a newe testament].

72 1557.  N. T. (Genev.), Heb. viii. 8. I shal make with the house of Israel and with the house of Iuda a new couenant [earlier versions testament].

73 1611.  Bible, Ex. xxxiv. 28. And he wrote vpon the Tables the words of the couenant, the ten Commandements. Ibid., Heb. viii. heading, And the temporall Couenant with the Fathers, [is abolished] by the eternal Couenant of the Gospel. Ibid., xii. 24. The mediatour of the new Couenant [margin Testament].

74 1667.  Milton, P. L., XI. 892. And makes a Covenant never to destroy The Earth again by flood.

75 1779.  Cowper, Olney Hymns. Oh, how I love thy holy word, Thy gracious covenant, O Lord!

76 1818.  J. Benson, Bible w. Notes, Heb. xiii. 20. The everlasting covenant—viz the covenant of grace, in its last dispensation, termed everlasting.

77 1881.  N. T., Luke xxii. 20. This cup is the new covenant [marg. testament] in my blood.

78   b.  Hence covenant is sometimes used = Dispensation.

79 1818.  J. Benson, Bible w. Notes, Rom. iii. 28. The faith by which men, under the New Covenant, are justified.

80 1845.  Sarah Austin, Ranke’s Hist. Ref., III. 587. The doctrine, that it was allowable for a man now, as well as under the old covenant, to have several wives.

81 1867.  Bp. Forbes, Explan. 39 Art., vii. (1871), 118. Another important instance of the connection between the old and the new covenant is Prophecy.

82   c.  The two divisions of the Scriptures, belonging to the Mosaic and Christian dispensations respectively, are sometimes called the Books of the Old and the New Covenant, instead of the usual form O. and N. Testament (Gr. παλαιὰ and καινὴ διαθήκη).

83 1587.  Golding, De Mornay, xxxiii. 541. The Gospels, the Acts, and the Epistles, all which together we call the newe Couenant or the newe Testament.

84 1796.  Newcome (title), An Attempt towards revising our English Translation of the Greek Scriptures, or the New Covenant of Jesus Christ.

85   d.  (Greater) Book of the Covenant, Little Book of the C.: names given by O. T. critics to certain portions of the Book of Exodus, viz. ch. xx. 22–xxiii., and ch. xxxiv. 11–26, respectively.

86   8.  Theol. a. Covenant of Works, Covenant of Grace: the two relations which are represented as subsisting between God and man, before and since the Fall.

87   The Covenant of Works (or of Life) was made with Adam for himself and his posterity upon condition of obedience; the Covenant of Grace (or of Redemption) with ‘the Second Adam’ and with his elect in him, for their deliverance from the misery and penalty into which they had fallen through transgression of the covenant of works. The theology of the covenants, or Federal Theology, was first elaborated by Koch or Cocceius (1603–69); and attained great vogue in the 17th c., esp. among the Puritans. It is prominently developed in the Westminster Confession of Faith, and its accompanying Catechisms.

88 a. 1640.  J. Ball, Covt. of Grace (1645), 8. The Covenant of workes, wherein God covenanteth with man to give him eternall life upon condition of perfect obedience in his own person. The Covenant of Grace, which God worketh with man promising eternal life upon condition of believing.

89 1643–7.  Westm. Conf. Faith, vii. Of Gods Covenant with Man.

90 1647.  Assembly’s Larger Catech., A. xxxi. The covenant of grace was made with Christ as the second Adam, and in him with all the elect as his seed.

91 1647.  Shorter Catech., A. 12. When God had created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him, upon condition of perfect obedience.

92 1654.  Jer. Taylor, 2nd Answ. Bp. Rochester. Only the covenant of works did God make with all men till Christ came: but he did never exact it after Adam.

93 1666.  Bunyan, Grace Ab. (1879), 351. Thus … was my Soul … tossed sometimes headlong into despair, sometimes upon the Covenant of Works.

94 1774.  Fletcher, Salv. by Grace, Wks. 1795, IV. 30. An account of the two covenants, that God entered into with man.

95 1818.  Scott, Old Mort., viii. ‘Whilk Covenant is your honour meaning?—is it the Covenant of Works, or the Covenant of Grace?’

96   b.  Applied to the engagement with God which is entered into by believers at their baptism, or admission into the visible church.

97 1552.  Abp. Hamilton, Catech. (1884), 17. The covenand or condition maid in Baptyme.

98 1597.  Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lxiv. § 4. Baptism implieth a covenant or league between God and man.

99 1634.  Canne, Necess. Separ. (1849), 222. Yet have they not any … power to make them members of God’s church (if they be not under the visible covenant).

100 1644.  Direct. Publ. Worship, in Scobell, Acts & Ord., I. li. (1658), 84. To improve and make the right use of their Baptism; and of the Covenant sealed thereby betwixt God and their souls.

101 1786.  Wesley, Wks. (1872), IV. 325. That solemn service, the renewing of our covenant with God.

102 1821.  Wordsw., Eccl. Sonn., III. xxiii. On each head His lawn-robed Servant lays An apostolic hand, and with prayer seals The Covenant.

103 1827.  Keble, Chr. Year, 5th Sun. after Easter, x. The covenant of our second birth.

104 1891.  T. Mozley, The Son, xlviii. 306. Admitted to covenant with God, as in our Catechism all baptised persons are described as children of God.

105   9.  Eccl. a. Sc. Hist. The name given to certain bonds of agreement signed by the Scottish Presbyterians for the defence and furtherance of their religion and ecclesiastical polity.

106   The National Covenant was signed at Edinburgh on 28 Feb. 1638 for the defence of Presbyterianism against the Episcopal system that had been introduced by James I. and Charles I. The Solemn League and Covenant was accepted by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland on 17 Aug. 1643, and by the Westminster Assembly of Divines, and English Parliament, on 25 Sept., as a league between England and Scotland on the basis of the establishment of Presbyterianism in both countries. It is to the latter especially that the name usually refers. It is sometimes given also to the Bonds subscribed at Edinburgh by the Lords of the Congregation and their followers on 3 Dec. 1557, and at Perth on 31 May 1559, the object of which was the carrying out of the Protestant Reformation.

107 1638.  Dk. Hamilton, in H. Papers (Camden), 11. If you uill not be content to admitt the Couenant to remaine, call a generall assemblie uher ye may expeckt the Bishopes to be limited.

108 1643.  Solemn League & Covt., We Noblemen, Barons, Knights, Gentlemen, Citizens, Burgesses, Ministers of the Gospel and Commons of all sorts … after mature deliberation, resolv’d and determin’d to enter into a mutual and solemn League and Covenant.

109 1643.  Evelyn, Diary, 23 July. The Covenant being pressed, I absented myselfe.

110 1650.  Charles II., Oath, in Hist. Chas. II. (1660), 76. I Charles King of Great Britain France and Ireland, do assure and declare by my solemn Oath … my allowance and approbation of the National Covenant, and of the Solemn League and Covenant.

111 1661.  Evelyn, Diary, 22 May. The Scotch Covenant was burnt by the common hangman in divers places in London. Oh prodigious change!

112 1677.  Burnet, Mem. Dks. of Hamilton, 367. The 17th of August, the day in which the Covenant was first made, which from thence some used to call Saint Covenant’s Day.

113 1761.  Hume, Hist. Eng., III. liii. 139. The Earl of Argyle … had at last embraced the Covenant.

114 1848.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 213. He [Lauderdale] had been conspicuous among the Scotch insurgents of 1638, and zealous for the covenant.

115   b.  Church Covenant: the formal agreement made and subscribed by the members of a Congregational Church in order to constitute themselves a distinct religious society. (An important feature of Congregational polity in New England.)

116 c. 1640.  T. Hooker, Ch. Discipline, I. iv. (1648), 45. Of the Formall cause of a Visible Church, the Church Covenant.

117 1702.  C. Mather, Magn. Christi, V. iv. Of the Form of the Visible Church, and of Church Covenants.

118   10.  attrib. and Comb., as covenant ark, blessings, charter, engagement, mercies, right, safety, -servant; covenant-breaker, -closure sbs.; covenant-breaking, -ensuring, -keeping, -making adjs.; covenant-wise adv.

119 1871.  Macduff, Mem. Patmos, xii. 167. The *covenant Ark … will rise buoyant on the waters.

120 1836.  E. Osler, in Palmer, Bk. of Praise (1874), 299. A milder seal than Abraham found Of *cov’nant blessings more Divine.

121 c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 108. *Cumnawnte brekere, fidifragus.

122 1534.  Tindale, Rom. i. 31. Covenaunte breakers, vnlovinge, truce-breakers.

123 1646.  P. Bulkeley, Gospel Covt., I. (1651), 53. He cannot be a covenant breaker.

124 1737.  Waterland, Eucharist, 104–5. The Covenant, or rather, the *Covenant-Charter, was given soon after the Fall, to Mankind in general.

125 1653.  Baxter, Peace Consc., Ep. Ded. Your hearts in their *Covenant-closure with Christ.

126 1881–6.  J. Scott, Chr. Life (1747), III. 200. Unless we perform it upon a *Covenant Engagement.

127 1781.  Cowper, Hope, 150. Bright as the *Covenant-ensuring bow.

128 1685.  J. Howe, in H. Rogers, Life, ix. 231. To that blessed … and *covenant-keeping God.

129 1375.  Barbour, Bruce, I. 561. Sa fell off this *conand making.

130 c. 1750.  Wesley’s Hymns (1831), Suppl. Hymns, No. 748. And make the *cov’nant peace mine own.

131 1660.  Hist. Chas. II., 83. Those hard *Covenant Pills which the Kirkmen made him swallow.

132 1705.  Stanhope, Paraphr. (ed. 2), III. 413. A *Covenant-right to the Promises of God.

133 1871.  Macduff, Mem. Patmos, xii. 168. Let us rejoice in this *covenant safety.

134 1548.  Udall, Erasm. Paraphr. Luke, 131 a. To liue as a *couenaunt seruaunt with so ryche … an housholder.

135 1645.  Rutherford, Tryal & Tri. Faith (1845), 76. An union *covenant-wise could never have been, except God had in a manner bowed to us.

136   b.  Special comb. † Covenant head (Theol.), one who enters into a covenant as a representative of others; † covenant-men, a party to a covenant or contract; a covenanter; † covenant-penny, earnest-money.

137 1758.  S. Hayward, Serm., 15. We did not commit it, but Adam; but it is so reckoned ours, upon our being included in him as our *covenant-head.

138 1769.  Cruden, Concordance (ed. 3), s.v. Covenant, Elect sinners, on whom grace and glory were settled for ever in Christ, their covenant-head.

139 1540.  Will of J. Smyth (Somerset Ho.). To euery of my Joreneymen & *Covenaunt-men.

140 1581.  Dees, Diary (Camden), 11. Helen was hyred at our Lady Day for the yere … she had her *covenant penny.

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