The Tolerance Project Archive

tolerance, n.
SECOND EDITION 1989
(tlrns) Also 5-6 toll-. [a. F. tolérance (14th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), ad. rare L. tolerntia, f. tolerre to TOLERATE: see -ANCE. But from 16th c. prob. directly referred to the L.]
    1.    a. The action or practice of enduring or sustaining pain or hardship; the power or capacity of enduring; endurance. Obs.
1412-20 LYDG. Chron. Troy II. 7014 Rit so convenient Is to e wyse..with suffraunce, In al his port to haue tolleraunce. 1603 HOLLAND Plutarch's Mor. 230 Sage counsell and wisdome..in dangers and travels, we tearme tolerance, patience and fortitude. a1626 BACON Apophthegm. 138 in Resuscitatio (1661) 311 Diogenes, one terrible frosty Morning, came into the Market-place; And stood Naked shaking to shew his Tolerance. 1650-3 tr. Hales' Dissert. de Pace in Phenix (1708) II. 366 [They] have omitted nothing to the most certain Hope of Salvation, and to all the toil of a pious Life, and to the tolerance of Christ's 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. Phys. 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 a. c, TOLERATE v. 1b, TOLERATION 1b.
1875 H. C. WOOD Therap. (1879) 153 By the aid of opiates and careful dilution a species of tolerance was often obtained for these heroic doses. 1876 BARTHOLOW Mat. Med. (1879) 236 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 BILLINGS Nat. Med. Dict., 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. 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 a. d. orig. U.S.
1898 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.]. Ibid. 23 All species..are not equal in their tolerance of shade, their resistance to storm and disease [etc.]. Ibid. 30 Black Cherry stands about midway in the scale of tolerance among the trees in the Park. 1932 FULLER & CONARD tr. Braun-Blanquet's 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. XXXVI. 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 and small 26°C acclimated bluegill sunfish warmed at 0·1 and 1·0° C min-1.
    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 GIBBS & HARRISON Plant Virology 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.
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 PASSMORE & 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 Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 571 Na persoun sould intromet thairwith..without his rycht licence and tollerance had thairto. 1580-81 Ibid. 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 COLERIDGE Friend (1865) 56 The only true spirit of tolerance consists in our conscientious toleration of each other's intolerance. 1841 MYERS Cath. Th. 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 HELPS Realmah vi. (1876) 89 Tolerance, or to use a more Christian word, charity. 1902 C. LENNOX J. Chalmers xiv. (1905) 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 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. Ibid. 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 coin, and amounts to 15 grains for the fineness, plus or minus, or 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.
1909 Cent. Dict. Supp. s.v., A tolerance of ·00025 [= ] of an inch is allowed above or below the exact dimension in fine machine parts. 1916 Yorkshire Post 28 Mar. 8/1 Permissible margins of error in workmanship are known as tolerances. 1937 Times 13 Apr. (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 Reproduction of 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. 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.
    5. attrib. and Comb.: tolerance dose Med., a dose, esp. of radiation, believed to be received or taken without harm; tolerance level, the level that can be tolerated or is acceptable; spec. in Med. = tolerance dose above; tolerance limit, a limit laid down for the permitted variation of a parameter of a product.
1925 Amer. Jrnl. Röntgenol. XIII. 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.

1947 Radiology XLIX. 364/2 What are the first changes produced by exposures just above the tolerance level? 1964 F. G. W. & 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 leveldecide what it's receptive to, what it can take.

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 BEGEMAN & AMSTEAD Manuf. Processes (ed. 5) xv. 356 The tolerance limits for a part are placed outside of the control limits.

DRAFT ADDITIONS DECEMBER 2007
    tolerance, n.
   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 prostitutesas well as inveighing against the spiralling costs of the new parliament building.
(tlrns) [f. the n.]
    trans. To specify a tolerance for (a machine part, etc.). So toleranced ppl. a., tolerancing vbl. n.
1950 W. STANIAR Plant Engin. Handbk. ii. 45 (caption) Quality-control chartcorrect tolerancing of operations. 1953 F. ZOZZORA Engin. Drawing viii. 126/2 As a general rule, nonmating members are toleranced bilaterally, while mating surfaces are toleranced unilaterally. 1959 B.S.I. News Aug. 13 British proposals on dimensioning and tolerancing of tapers were generally approved. 1971 J. H. SMITH Digital Logic ii. 19 The designs are well toleranced and the reader will find that almost any small-signal transistor will function quite satisfactorily. 1973 A. PARRISH Mech. Engineer's Ref. Bk. III. 18 The concept of geometrical tolerancing is complex. Ibid. 19 The feature toleranced is indicated by a leader line.

(tlrnt) [a. F. tolérant (16th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), pr. pple. of tolérer to TOLERATE, ad. L. tolernt-em, pr. pple. of tolerre.]
A. adj. a. Disposed or inclined to tolerate or bear with something; practising or favouring toleration.
1784 JOS. WHITE Bampton Lect. iii. 145 His [Gibbon's] eagerness to throw a veil over the deformities of the Heathen theology, to decorate with all the splendor of panegyric the tolerant spirit of its votaries. 1792 BURKE Let. to Sir H. Langrishe Wks. VI. 318 A tolerant government ought not to be too scrupulous in its investigations. 1796 MORSE Amer. Geog. I. 429 The religion of this Commonwealth [Massachusetts] is established..on a most liberal and tolerant plan. All persons, of whatever religious profession or sentiments, may worship God agreeably to the dictates of their own consciences, unmolested. 1838 LYTTON Alice I. xi, His own early errors made him tolerant to the faults of others. 1841 MACAULAY in Four C. Eng. Lett. (1880) 537 You were less tolerant than myself of little mannerisms. 1875 MANNING Mission H. Ghost ix. 237 Though we are to be tolerant towards the persons of heretics, we are intolerant of the heresies themselves.
b. transf. Of a thing: Capable of bearing or sustaining. Const. of.
1864 J. H. NEWMAN Apol. ii. 169 How far the Articles were tolerant of a Catholic, or even of a Roman interpretation.

Secret weapon

There is a tendency among the faithful to introduce metaphysical
Dimensions to the fighting people going through the dead terrified of
Recognizing I am the matriarch Rachel lying in the streets with families
Kissing their faces go this way strewn with arms feet shoes we have
Enormous power I keep restraining for some reason the soldiers
Listen to her etched Palestinian man holding a swaddled baby
Swamped with demands for the names of soldiers to pray for
Outside destroyed buildings old man kneeling I divided the
Family to try and save some carrying two books for double I think
The baby’s dead but doctors are having a hard time gathering the right
Body 6106 of clearness 2892 parts and the floor filled with 1818 blood
Crieth unto me from the ground East Jerusalem is not Gaza Israel was deeply
Deeply sorrowful in Qana God willing the merit of being united in prayer
Despite our children barely breathing next to mothers’ corpses
Brings closer the final redemption in a donkey cart

Zolf

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