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censure, n.
Pronunciation:  /ˈsɛnsjʊə//ˈsɛnʃ(j)ʊə/
Forms:  Also ME–16 sensure, ME sensour, 15 censoure, censer.
Frequency (in current use):
Etymology: < French censure, < Latin censūra (compare Italian censura, Provençal censura, Spanish censura, Portuguese censura) censorship, judgement, < cens- participial stem of censēre.
†1.

 a. A judicial sentence; esp. a condemnatory judgement. Obsolete.
c1470   J. Hardyng Chron. clxiii. iii   He should it haue by execucion due, By sensours of theyr churche and hole sentence.
1567   T. Palfreyman Baldwin's Treat. Morall Phylos. (new ed.) iii. vi. 102v   According to ye infallyble censure of god.
1637   W. Laud (title)    A speech delivered in the Starr-chamber... At the censure, of Iohn Bastwick, Henry Burton & William Prinn.
1647   T. May Hist. Parl. ii. vi. 115   He was brought to..the House of Lords to receive his Censure.
1712   Bp. T. Wilson in J. Keble Life T. Wilson: Pt. I (1863) ix. 295   A person..is ordered to be dragged after a boat at Douglas..and the Governor is desired to give his order for soldiers and a boat to execute this censure.
1726   Swift Gulliver I. i. vii. 125   The Council thought the loss of your Eyes too easy a Censure.

 b. spec. ‘A spiritual punishment inflicted by some ecclesiastical judge.’ Ayliffe. (The earliest recorded sense.)
138.   Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 361   Censures þat þe fend blowiþ, as ben suspendingis, enterditingis, cursingis, and reisingis of croiserie.
a1513   R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) I. clxvi. f. lxxxxv   He purchasyd agayne hym the Censures of Holy Churche & accursed the sayde Bawdewyn.
a1694   J. Tillotson Serm. I. xxv. (R.)   The publick censures of the church.
1726   J. Ayliffe Parergon Juris Canonici Anglicani 155.
1845   Graves in Encycl. Metrop. 784/1   The deprivation of spiritual advantages, and the censures of the Church.

†2. A formal judgement or opinion (of an expert, referee, etc.). Obsolete.
a1575   N. Harpsfield Treat. Divorce Henry VIII (1878) (modernized text) 81   Reasons..to underprop.. the Censures..of the said universities.
1625   J. Ussher Answer to Jesuite 305   The Interlinearie Bible approued by the Censure of the Vniversitie of Louain.

†3. gen. Judgement; opinion, esp. expressed opinion; criticism. Obsolete or archaic.
1576   W. Raleigh in G. Gascoigne Steele Glas sig. A4   To write, my censure of this booke.
1597   Shakespeare Richard III ii. ii. 114   Madame..will you go, To giue your censures in this waighty busines.
?1611   G. Chapman tr. Homer Iliads xiii. 655   But, for me, I'll relate Only my censure what's our best.
1624   T. Heywood Γυναικεῖον v. 251   Give me thy free and true censure.
1649   Bp. J. Hall Resol. & Decisions 500   Though unworthy to passe my censure on such a subject.
1715   Pope tr. Homer Iliad I. iii. 288   Our Ears refute the Censure of our Eyes.
1805   J. Foster Ess. ii. iv. 164   The collective censure of mankind.

 4. spec. An adverse judgement, unfavourable opinion, hostile criticism; blaming, finding fault with, or condemning as wrong; expression of disapproval or condemnation. (The usual sense.)
a1616   Shakespeare Measure for Measure (1623) iii. i. 445   No might, nor greatnesse in mortality Can censure scape.
1630   Bp. J. Hall Occas. Medit. §x   They that vpon the hearing of one part, rashly passe their sentence, whether of acquitall, or censure.
1702   Eng. Theophrastus 23   An author ought to receive with an equal modesty both the Praise and censure of other People.
1735   Swift Author upon Himself in Wks. II. 344   Vices of the graver Sort, Tobacco, Censure,..Pride, and Port.
1748   G. Anson Voy. round World (ed. 4) ii. x. 334   The whole conduct of this navigation seems liable to very great censure.
1844   R. W. Emerson Young Amer. in Lect. in Wks. (1906) II. 306   Our sensitiveness to foreign and especially English censure.
 5. Censorship; the office or action of a censor.

 a. Of the ancient Roman censors (= Latin censūra): also concrete (obsolete).
a1533   Ld. Berners tr. A. de Guevara Golden Bk. M. Aurelius (1546) sig. C.iij   The Censure, whoe gouerned Rome.
1598   R. Barckley Disc. Felicitie of Man v. 513   Plinie said to his maister Traian, the life of a Prince is a censure, that is to say, the rule, the squyre, the line, & the forme of an honest life.
1856   C. Merivale Hist. Romans under Empire IV. xxxiii. 40   The censure of Camillus..was celebrated.
1865   C. Merivale Hist. Romans under Empire (new ed.) IV. xxxv. 200   The censure or prefecture of manners.

 b. Of any official supervisor, e.g. of the censor of the press.
1663   B. Gerbier Counsel to Builders 48   The Clarke of the works, ought to be subject to the censure of the Surveyor.
1887   Pall Mall Gaz. 15 Nov. 14/1   It is..not easy to get one's papers sent on without censure.

 6. Correction; esp. critical recension or revision of a literary work. rare.
1604   R. Cawdrey Table Alphabet.   Censure, correction, or reformation.
1837   H. Hallam Introd. Lit. Europe I. vi. 526   So arduous a task as the thorough censure of the Vulgate text.
†7.

 a. An assessment, a tax. Obsolete. (Cf. cense n.2)
1641   Sched. Grievances in J. Rushworth Hist. Coll.: Third Pt. (1692) I. 221   By reason..of extream Usage and Censures, Merchants are beggar'd.

 b. (See quot.) ? Obsolete.
a1547   Cust. Manors Braunton (MS in possession of R. Dymond, Esq.)    Tenants having ther chyldern in howshold with theym under their governaunce and charge not to be presented for a Censur tyll tyme that they do be of full age by statute and put owte in huys from theem for wagys or otherwise to be maried then after that they be presented for censur.
1691–1713   T. Blount Law Dict.
1729–62   G. Jacob New Law-dict.   Censure, a custom called by this name, observed in divers manors in Cornwall and Devon, where all persons residing therein above the age of sixteen are cited to swear fealty to the lord, and to pay iid. per poll, and id. per ann. ever after; and these thus sworn are called censers.
1768   E. Buys New & Compl. Dict. Terms Art I
1797–   T. E. Tomlins Jacob's Law-dict.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1889).

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