Index
1. The fore-finger: so called because used in pointing. Now chiefly Anat.
Also, in Comp. Anat., the corresponding digit of the fore-limb of a quadruped, or of the wing of a bird.
1398 TREVISA Barth. De P.R. V. xxix. (1495) 140 The seconde fyngre hyght Index..for by hym is moche shewynges made. 1594 PLAT Jewell-ho. III. 43 The index or forfinger of your right hand. 1620 SKELTON Quix. IV. iv. 27 He..clapt the Index of his right Hand upon his Nose and Eye~brows. 1644 BULWER Chiron. 79 Both the Indexes joyn'd, and pyramidically advanced. 1758 J. S. Le Dran's Observ. Surg. (1771) 269, I thrust the Index of my Left-Hand into the Cavity. 1825 Sporting Mag. XVII. 36 Our hero longed to have his index upon the trigger. 1844 MRS. BROWNING Lady Geraldine's Courtship xxx, And the left hand's index droppeth from the lips upon the cheek. 1893 NEWTON Dict. Birds 459 Index..in Birds always the best developed of the digits of the fore-limb.
2. a. A piece of wood, metal, or the like, which serves as a pointer; esp. in scientific instruments, a pointer which moves along a graduated scale (or which is itself fixed while a graduated scale moves across its extremity) so as to indicate movements or measurements. Cf. INDEX v. 5.
1594 PLAT Jewell-ho. III. 11 Let there be a sharpe index, that may point vpon a table of wood. 1613 M. RIDLEY Magn. Bodies 115 So that his broad Index..may be set to point out the degrees of the altitude of the pole. 1667 R. TOWNELEY in Phil. Trans. II. 458 Marking above 40,000 Divisions in a Foot, by the help of two Indexes. 1715 DESAGULIERS Fires Impr. 121 To know at sight in what manner the Holes are open..have an Index which takes up but little room. 1726 tr. Gregory's Astron. I. 263 Having brought the Place of the Sun to the Meridian, bring the Index to twelve a Clock. 1727-41 CHAMBERS Cycl., Index of a Globe, is a little style fitted on to the north-pole and turning with it, pointing to certain divisions in the hour~circle. 1833 J. HOLLAND Manuf. Metal II. 296 The graduated arch passes through the loop, until the index on the edge of the loop is opposite zero. 1860 TYNDALL Glac. I. xxv. 190 The magnet to arrange the index of the thermometer. 1863 J. WATSON Theory & Pract. Art of Weaving vi. 209 After the wheel is turned, the next process is to divide its circumference into as many divisions as will make up the number of teeth required; this is done by an index which is fixed on the spindle of the lathe. 1879 J. J. HOLTZAPFFEL Turning & Mech. Manipulation IV. v. 118 The index, is a steel spring or rod terminating in a point, which is inserted in any required series of holes, in any of the circles of the division plate, to retain the mandrel for the time, at rest, in certain relative positions. For example, to divide the work into 12 parts; the point of the index is placed successively in the holes 8. 16. 24. 32. etc. of the 96 circle..and while the mandrel is arrested at these points, the work is marked.
b. The arm of a surveying instrument; an alidade.
1571 DIGGES Pantom. G. iij, Laye the line fiduciall of your index vppon the beginning of the degrees in your Quadrant. 1682 Providence Rec. (1894) VI. 80, 2 sights for sirveiors worke belonging to an Jndex. 1712 J. JAMES tr. Le Blond's Gardening 81 Two Rulers or Indexes, one immoveable..and the other moveable. 1793 SMEATON Edystone L. §97 To the index of the Theodolite was screwed a ruler..this index-ruler being carried horizontally round..the index would mark the degree and minute of the circle in which it is placed. 1807 HUTTON Course Math. II. 54 An index, which is a brass two-foot scale, with either a small telescope, or open sights set perpendicularly on the ends. These sights and one edge of the index are in the same plane, and that is called the fiducial edge of the index.
3. a. The hand of a clock or watch; also, the style or gnomon of a sun-dial. Now rare.
1594 BLUNDEVIL Exerc. III. II. x. (1636) 390 Untill the Index do justly touch the prick of some perfect houre. 1623 FEATLY Fisher catch'd Oij*, No man can perceiue the index in a Watch, or finger in a Diall to wagge or stirre. 1677 HALE Prim. Orig. Man. IV. iv. 324 If I should see a curious Watch..and should observe the exact disposition of the Spring, the String, the Wheels, the Ballance, the Index. 1817 T. L. PEACOCK Melincourt xxxii, There was a sun-dial in the centre of the court; the sun shone on the brazen plate, and the shadow of the index fell on the line of noon. 1822 J. IMISON Sc. & Art I. 87 The showing the time is contrived by the motion of the indices or hands on the dial-plate.
fig. 1635 SWAN Spec. M. ii. §2 (1643) 31 The Sunne (who is the Index of time, by whose revolution we account for years). 1742 YOUNG Nt. Th. IX. 1324 Pointing out Life's rapid..flight, With such an Index fair, as none can miss.
b. slang. The nose (cf. GNOMON 1c); or ? ‘the face’ (Farmer; cf. DIAL n. 6c).
1817 Sporting Mag. L. 53 He put in a sharp blow on the bridge of Randall's nose, so that it pinked the index of Paddy in an instant. 1818 Ibid. (N.S.) II. 280 The handy work of Martin upon his opponent's index was now apparent. 1828 EGAN Finish to Tom & Jerry 48 (Farmer) Kind~hearted Sue! Bless her pretty index. [Cf. 4b, quot. 1616.]
4. a. That which serves to direct or point to a particular fact or conclusion; a guiding principle.
1598 DRAYTON Heroic. Ep. I. 103 Lest when my lisping guiltie Tongue should hault, My Lookes might prove the Index to my Fault. 1640 LAUD Let. to Chas. I in Biblioth. Reg. 41 This is the only index to us whereby that the blessing of God is present with you. 1747 Scheme Equip. Men of War 26 His Services would be Indexes denoting his Merit. c1750 SHENSTONE Elegies ii. 36 And readers call their lost attention home Led by that index where true genius shines. 1803 J. PORTER Thaddeus viii. (1831) 76 His uniform being black, he needed no other index than his pale and mournful countenance to announce that he was chief mourner. 1859 HOLLAND Gold F. i. 13 The proverbs of a nation furnish the index to its spirit and the result of its civilization. 1888 BRYCE Amer. Commw. II. xxxviii. 52 They [amendments] are so instructive..as an index to present tendencies of American democracy. 1880 Nature 19 Sept., One of the first indices to the solution of the question lies in the situation of the oil-bearing regions.
b. A sign, token, or indication of something.
1607 TOPSELL Four-f. Beasts 151 The square and flat Nose is the best signe and index thereof. 1616 R. C. Times Whistle ii. 632 Man is to man a subject of deceite; And that olde saying is vntrue ‘the face Is index of the heart’. 1677 GALE Crt. Gentiles II. III. 193 Diodorus saith that Isis was wont to appear by night and to inject dreams..giving manifest indices of her presence. 1779 J. MOORE View Soc. Fr. (1789) I. xlii. 363 A sensible manly countenance..the true index of his character. 1878 HUXLEY Physiogr. 211 A raised beach is therefore an index of elevation of the land. 1887 STEVENSON Misadv. J. Nicholson i. 3 His son's empty guffaws..struck him with pain as the indices of a weak mind.
5. a. A table of contents prefixed to a book, a brief list or summary of the matters treated in it, an argument; also, a preface, prologue. Obs. b. An alphabetical list, placed (usually) at the end of a book, of the names, subjects, etc. occurring in it, with indication of the places in which they occur.
One work may have several indexes, e.g. an index of names of persons and places, of subjects, of words, etc. For these the Latin phrases index nominum, locorum, rerum, verborum are often employed as headings.
[1578 LYTE Dodoens (heading), Index Latinorum nominum. Ibid., Index appellationum et nomenclaturarum omnium Stirpium [etc.]. Ibid., The Englishe Table conteyning the names and syrnames [etc.].] 1580 FLEMING in Baret's Alv. Aaaaj, Which words, though expressed in this Index, are notwithstanding omitted..in this Aluearie. Ibid. Nnnnij (heading), A briefe note touching the Prouerbiall Index. Ibid., Such Prouerbes as we haue..reduced into an Abecedarie Index or Table. a1593 MARLOWE Hero & Leand. II. 129 As an index to a book So to his mind was young Leander's look. 1604 SHAKES. Oth. II. i. 263 An Index and obscure prologue to the History of Lust. 1606 Tr. & Cr. I. iii. 343 In such Indexes, although small prickes To their subsequent Volumes [etc.]. 1632 MASSINGER & FIELD Fatal Dowry IV. i, The index tells us the contents of stories, and directs to the particular chapters. 1699 BENTLEY Phal. Pref. 79 No Learning..no Knowledge in Books, except Index's and Vocabularies. [1750-1 JOHNSON Let. to Richardson 9 Mar. in Boswell, I wish you would add an index rerum, that when the reader recollects any incident, he may easily find it.] 1858 CARLYLE Fredk. Gt. I. i. §3. 9 Books..which want all things, even an Index. [1888 Athenæum 28 Jan. 112/3 The Royalist Composition Papers..of which Mr. Phillimore supplies a capital index nominum.]
fig. 1641 HINDE J. Bruen xviii. 57 He became as a very profitable Index to the family, to call to minde what they had learned. 1663 J. SPENCER Prodigies (1665) 71 God hath appointed..all the labors of Nature, as a kind of Indices to this great Volume of the World. a1680 BUTLER Rem. (1759) II. 188 He is but an Index of Things and Words, that can direct where they are to be spoken with, but no further.
c. A reference list. Obs.
1660 WILLSFORD Scales Comm. 209 Some men of very great Commerce and trading keep a Kalender, Register, or an Alphabeticall Index, of the names of Men, Wares, Ships. a1734 NORTH Lives (1826) I. 12 The master employed him to make an alphabetical index of all the verbs neuter.
d. Computers. A set of items each of which specifies one of the records of a file and contains information about its address.
1962 Gloss. Terms Automatic Data Processing (B.S.I.) 27 Index, a sequence or array of items with keys, used to identify or locate records. 1970 O. DOPPING Computers & Data Processing xvi. 261 The index can contain the addresses of all individual records, but if the file is ordered, it is usually more economic to make the index cruder. 1971 R. L. BOYES et al. Introd. Electronic Computing viii. 201 An index is simply a shorthand substitute for the original information and is used to assist in the location of a given record... The general form of an index..will contain these two items: 1. The index term. This is the shorthand description of a stored record... 2. Record identification or location. This may be a document number or the physical address of the record described by the index term.
6. a. spec. (short for Index librorum prohibitorum). The list, published by authority, of books which Roman Catholics are forbidden to read, or may read only in expurgated editions.
Rules for the formation of such an Index (Regulæ Indicis) were formulated by the Council of Trent, in accordance with which an Index librorum prohibitorum (Index of prohibited books) was published by authority of Pius IV in 1564, and, with an Appendix, by Clement VIII in 1596; new editions, augmented with the names of later authors and books, have been published from time to time down to the present. This is the official ‘Index’. In its current form, it is a list, not only of works entirely prohibited to the faithful, but also of works not to be read, unless or until they are corrected (nisi or donec corrigantur); in the case of the latter, the portions to be deleted or altered are sometimes indicated.
(In first quot., short for Index expurgatorius: see b.)
1613 PURCHAS Pilgrimage (1614) 90 L. Vives..when he telleth tales out of Schoole, the good mans tongue is shortned, and their Index purgeth out that wherewith hee seeketh to purge their leaven. 1640 SIR E. DERING Sp. on Relig. 23 Nov. iii. 7 The Roman Index is better then are our English Licences. 1676 MARVELL Mr. Smirke 10 We seem to have got an Expurgatory Press, though not an Index. 1791-1823 D'ISRAELI Cur. Lit., Licensers of Press, The simple Index is a list of condemned books which are never to be opened. 1839 [see CONGREGATION 10]. 1857 CHURCH Misc. Writ. (1891) I. 79 They [Montaigne's Essays] were..put in the Index. 1886 FARRAR Hist. Interpret. 320 His [Erasmus's] Colloquies were burnt in Spain and put on the Index at Rome.
fig. 1882 Spectator 7 Oct. 1289 She..read by stealth Shakespeare, at that time on the Index of a religiously narrow village opinion.
b. index expurgatorius (Lat.), Expurgatory Index, an authoritative specification of the passages to be expunged or altered in works otherwise permitted. Also transf. and fig.
The Regulæ of the Council of Trent provided for the expurgation of such books, and in accordance therewith an Index Expurgatorius was printed at Antwerp, under the authority of Philip II, in 1571 (reprints of which are referred to in quot. 1611), another under the authority of the Inquisitor General Quiroga at Madrid in 1584 (see quot. 1625), and others with the same or similar titles in various Roman Catholic states. A bull of Sixtus V (1585-90) also authorized the Cardinals chosen to deal with prohibited books to prepare ‘indices expurgatorios’. Such a work on a large scale was commenced at Rome 1607 (Bergamo 1608), with the title ‘Indicis librorum expurgandorum in studiosorum gratiam confecti Tomus I., in quo 50 auctorum libri præ cæteris desiderati emendantur, per F. Jo. Mariam Brasichell., Sacri Palatii Apostol. Magistrum’. This (which never proceeded beyond the first volume) is the work referred to in quot. 1620. (See, on the whole subject, Rev. J. Mendham Account of the Indexes, both prohibitory and expurgatory, 1826, Literary Policy of the Church of Rome, 1830 and 1844). In English use, the name Index Expurgatorius has often been applied to the Index librorum prohibitorum (cf. quot. 1845), especially in transf. and fig. uses.
1611 CORYAT Crudities 521 The Index expurgatorius printed at Geneua and Strasbourg. 1620 BRENT tr. Sarpi's Counc. Trent (1676) 875 In the year 1607, they printed in Rome with publick authority, a Book intituled Index Expurgatorius. 1625 USSHER Answ. to Jesuit 513 Their old Expurgatory Index..set out by Cardinall Quiroga. 1691 T. BROWNE Reas. Mr. Bays, etc. 13 (Stanf.) To prevent, Sir, all storms that might have issued from that quarter, I presently set me up an Index expurgatorius. 1788 H. WALPOLE Remin. v. 42, I acquainted him with it..why he had been put into the queen's Index expurgatorius. 1845 THACKERAY Pict. Gossip in Misc. Ess. (1885) 260 Knowing well that Fraser's Magazine is eagerly read at Rome, and not..excluded in the Index Expurgatorius.
7. a. Music. = DIRECT n. 2. Obs.
1597 MORLEY Introd. Mus. 20 Phi. What is that which you haue set at the end of the Verse? Ma. It is called an Index or director; for looke in what place it standeth, in that place doth the first note of the next Verse stand. 1869 NUTTALL Dict. Sci. Terms 189 Index..in music, a character or director at the end of a stave to direct to the first note of the next stave.
b. Printing. = HAND 18b. ?Obs.
1727 W. MATHER Yng. Man's Comp. 38 Index is a Note like a Hand, with the Forefinger pointing out at something that is remarkable, thus . 1807 CRABBE Library 186 Till every former note and comment known, They mark'd the spacious margin with their own; Minute corrections proved their studious care; The little index, pointing, told us where.
8. Math. a. Alg. A number or other symbol placed above and to the right of a quantity to denote a power or root: = EXPONENT 2a.
An integral index, as in x2, denotes a power; a fractional index, as in x, a root; a negative index, the reciprocal of a power, as x-2 = unity divided by x2.
1674 S. JEAKE Arith. (1696) 191 Mark their Indices, or how many degrees the Number you would produce is removed from the Root, as whether it be second, third, fourth, etc. 1748 HARTLEY Observ. Man. I. iii. 279 Algebraic Signs for Addition, Subtraction, Indexes, Coefficients. 1810 HUTTON Course Math. I. 163 So 3 is the index of the cube or 3d power, and.. is the index of the cube root. 1859 BARN. SMITH Arith. & Algebra (ed. 6) 198 The figures 2, 3,..m, denoting the number of factors which produce the powers, are called Indices.
b. The integral part, or characteristic, of a logarithm. Obs.
1678 PHILLIPS (ed. 4) s.v., In Logarithmical Arithmetick Index is that which represents the distance of the first figure of any whole number from Unity. 1727-41 CHAMBERS Cycl., Index, in arithmetic, is the same with what is otherwise called the characteristic, or exponent of a logarithm. 1795 HUTTON Math. Dict. II. 46/1 The Index is also called the Characteristic of the Logarithms, and is always an integer, either positive or negative, or else = 0. 1828 J. H. MOORE Pract. Navig. (ed. 20) 25 Whatever index you make represent unity, omit it in the sum of the indices.
c. Applied to the number which is characteristic of a particular member, or group of members, of a class of geometrical or algebraical concepts; as the index of a point, line, or plane, relatively to a quadric surface. discriminantal index: see DISCRIMINANTAL.
d. Computers. A quantity which is fixed in relation to the set of operations laid down by a program but which assumes a prescribed sequence of values as the program is run; spec. (a) one held in an index register and used to modify the addresses of instructions; (b) one in a DO statement (in Fortran) or a FOR statement (in Algol) that is used to control the number of repetitions of a sequence of instructions. Freq. attrib., esp. denoting the portion of an instruction specifying the appropriate index register (see also index register in 11 below).
1957 D. D. MCCRACKEN Digital Computer Programming viii. 99 Instructions which call for an index to be added are written with the one or two following the address. 1959 J. W. CARR in E. M. Grabbe et al. Handbk. Automation, Computation & Control II. ii. 51 When the values of the bound variables (usually indices) that assume a sequence of different values during the course of a problem solution change..such variables are changed in actual, although not notational value. By a change in such an index, therefore, no change is made in the flow diagram notation, although the actual value of free or floating variables will change. Ibid. 55 Many artificial instruction codes..use such index registers to speed up hand programming. A certain portion of every instruction word is used to designate just how that particular instruction is to be modified with respect to one or more such special locations, which have been filled with specified values of an index. 1961 LEEDS & WEINBERG Computer Programming Fund. vi. 177 Flow diagrams will be generally easier to follow if we can represent our control logic in enumerative terminology. To do this we make use of an index rather than an actual computed quantity on the flow diagram to show the count. 1962 Y. CHU Digital Computer Design Fund. xii. 454 The amount of change of an address, called the index value, is stored in an index register. Ibid., The number in the index field [of an instruction] designates the index register selected. 1962 HUSKEY & KORN Computer Handbk. xx. 29 The index is not always added, so there is an address modifier..which determines whether the index is to be added to the address or not. 1966 B. A. M. MOON Computer Programming vii. 117 Within the range of the DO no statement is permitted which alters the value of the index. 1969 V. J. CALDERBANK Course on Programming in FORTRAN IV iv. 36 The DO statement automatically causes execution of all the statements following it up to and including the statement labelled n for values of i from m1 in steps of m3... The counter i is sometimes referred to as the index of the loop. 1969 Index bit [see INDEX v. 6]. 1969 C. W. GEAR Computer Organization & Programming ii. 53 There are four items of information to be specifiedthe start of the loop in memory (X), the initial value of the index (o), the increment (1), and the end condition on the index (999). 1970 O. DOPPING Computers & Data Processing vi. 101 The character..in the last position means that the content of the corresponding index register is to be added to the address... The last position of the instruction can be called the ‘index tag’.
e. Computers. One of a continuous sequence of numbers each of which specifies one of an ordered set of items.
1962 R. V. OAKFORD Introd. Electronic Data Processing Equipment iv. 101 Assume that 15 independent quantities are stored in memory registers 0016 through 0030 and that another 15 independent quantities are stored in registers 0031 through 0045. The location of the ith register in the first set may be designated as Ai, while that of the second set may be designated as Bi; then i can be considered as an index that assumes the values 1, 2, 3,..., 14, 15. Thus Ai is equal to 0016. 1972 H. S. STONE Introd. Computer Organization vi. 120 The FORTRAN statement DIMENSION x(100) creates an array named x with 100 elements such that the first has index 1 and the last has index 100.
9. In various sciences, a number or formula expressing some property, form, ratio, etc. of the thing in question. a. Optics. index of refraction or refractive index (of a medium), the ratio between the sines of the angles of incidence and refraction of a ray of light passing from some medium (usually air) into the given medium.
1829 Hand-bk. Nat. Philos., Optics ii. 4 The number 1.336, which regulates the refraction of water, is called its index, or exponent, or co-efficient of refraction, and some~times its refractive power. 1871 TYNDALL Fragm. Sc. (1879) I. xi. 340 The media must possess different refractive indices.
b. In Craniometry, A formula expressing the ratio of one diameter or other dimension of the skull to another, as alveolar or basilar, cephalic, facial, gnathic, nasal, orbital, vertical index. Also, generally, in Anthropometry, The ratio of two dimensions of an organ or part to each other.
1866 HUXLEY Preh. Rem. Caithn. 83 The term cephalic index..indicates the ratio of the extreme transverse to the extreme longitudinal diameter of a skull, the latter measurement being taken as unity. 1882 QUAIN Anat. (ed. 9) I. 82 The proportion of this [the height of the skull] to the length..is the index of height. Ibid. 83 The nasal index of Broca. Ibid., The orbital index is the ratio of the vertical height of the base of the orbit to the transverse width.
c. Cryst. Each of the three (or, in Bravais' notation, four) whole numbers which define the position of a face of a crystal.
1868 DANA Min. Introd. 28 Miller..uses the letters h, l, k, as ‘indices’ referring to the axes. 1878 GURNEY Crystallogr. 18 The three numbers h, k, and l are called the indices of the plane, and the three together hkl is called its symbol. 1895 STORY-MASKELYNE Crystallogr. 472 The introduction of the fourth index [in Bravais' notation].
d. Dynamics. index of friction, the coefficient of friction: see COEFFICIENT 2b.
e. Econ. A number showing the variation (increase or decrease) in the prices or value of some specified set of goods, shares, etc., since a chosen ‘base’ period (often represented by the number 100), as a retail price index, a cost-of-living index, etc. Cf. DOW-JONES.
1886 Rep. Brit. Assoc. Adv. Sci. 1885 872 The index for quantity is the same as that for value in the standard year (1883); that for 1884 is arrived at by dividing the value index by the price index, and is shown in the last column. 1922 Encycl. Brit. XXX. 759/1 Suppose that the modification of diet (margarine instead of butter, decrease of sugar and eggs and increase of other foods) reduces the food index to 260,..and the index is 200 instead of 305. 1927 [see COST n.2 1e]. 1942 J. R. HICKS Social Framework xv. 160 The most famous of all British index-numbers is the cost-of-living index published by the Ministry of Labour. The basket of goods on which this index is based is supposed to be that consumed in a week by a representative working-class family. It is thus an index of very fundamental importance... It covers a large part of the field which would be covered by the ideal index which we should desire to have for measuring the national income in real terms. 1955 Times 31 Aug. 9/3 Their members have expressed lack of confidence in the index as a measurement of their living costs. 1958 Spectator 22 Aug. 261/2 Industrial equity shares touched bottom161·5 for the index. 1969 Daily Tel. 13 June 3 The index would have dropped say 12 points, War Loan would have continued its downhill march. 1972 Accountant 28 Sept. 398/1 When the heaviest Index fall in a day is accompanied by a reduction in the number of Stock Exchange recorded bargains to under 8,000, it can only be assumed that the vast bulk of the 8,000 deals was the same selling way. 1973 Daily Tel. 12 Apr. 21/3 The provisional price index of goods manufactured for the home market rose by just over 0·25 p.c., compared with 0·5 p.c. in both January and February.
10. [f. INDEX v. 5.] A movement from one predetermined position to another during the indexing of a work-piece.
1962 G. H. DEGROAT Metalworking Automation v. 120 (caption) Another ‘homemade’ automated machine is this eight-spindle Borematic with two banks of four spindles each. This one bores, chamfers, and grooves servo valve bodies, finishing two parts per index at 100 pieces per hour. 1964 Automobile Engineer LIV. 200/2 After each index, the table is positively locked.
11. attrib. and Comb., as index-face, -maker, -making, -map, -point, -ruler; index arm, crank, pin, spindle (all parts of an index head or used in indexing (sense 2)); also index-arm = sense 2b; index board, a type of heavy paper as used for index cards; index card, a card for a card-index file; index centre Engin., each of the centres (sense 5) that support work for indexing; index circle Engin., one of the circles of holes on an index plate; index constituency, a constituency in which the result of an election is considered a good indication of the state of parties in the country; index-correction, a correction for index-error; index-digit = sense 1; index-error, the constant error in the reading of a mathematical instrument, due to the zero of the index not being exactly adjusted to that of the limb; index figure Econ. = sense 9e above; index-finger, (a) = sense 1; (b) = sense 2; index fossil = guide fossil (GUIDE n. 14); index-gauge, a measuring instrument in which the distance between the measuring-points is shown by an index; index-glass, a mirror at the fixed point of the index-arm in an astronomical or surveying instrument, from which the light is reflected to the horizon-glass; index-hand = senses 2 and 3; index head Engin., an attachment used with a milling machine or gear-cutting machine that holds the work and enables it to be readily and accurately indexed between successive operations; index horizon Geol., a horizon distinguished by certain groups of fossils found within it, or other characteristics which make it an indicator of a particular stratigraphic position; index-hunter, one who acquires information by consulting indexes; so index-hunting; index-knowledge, index-learning, information gained by means of indexes, superficial knowledge; index law (Alg.): see quot. 1859; index-linked a., designating bonds, pensions, etc., of which the value is adjusted according to the level of the cost-of-living index or some other economic indicator; cf. INDEXATION; also [as back-formation] index-link v. trans., to make dependent on such an index; index-linking vbl. n.; index machine, a machine for fancy-weaving, being a modification of the Jacquard loom; index map, a relatively small-scale map which is so marked as to act as an index to a series of more detailed maps; index number, (a) = sense 9e above; (b) a number in an index; spec. the registration number of a motor vehicle; index-pip, a miniature indication of the denomination of a playing-card, placed in the left-hand corner for convenience in sorting; index plate, (a) (see quot. 1825); (b) Engin., a disc that contains regularly spaced holes arranged in concentric circles, which represent different divisions of a circle and determine the possible angular positions of work being indexed; (c) a plate bearing the registration number of a motor vehicle; index-raker = index-hunter; index register Computers, a register whose contents may be added to or subtracted from the address portion of an instruction before the instruction is executed and then (by means of a second instruction) increased or decreased by a prescribed amount, so enabling the first instruction to be used for a series of identical operations on a series of different operands.
1879 NEWCOMB & HOLDEN Astron. 92 The *index-arm carries the index-glass. 1919 H. THOMPSON Mod. Engin. Workshop Pract. xi. 173 By turning this index arm and spindle, motion is given to the worm and worm-wheel.
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1937 E. J. LABARRE Dict. Paper 160/1 *Index board or Bristol also termed Fourdrinier Bristol is (1) (card-) board resembling a heavy ledger specially adapted for this purpose...(2) also a size of board 30´´ × 25´´. 1962 F. T. DAY Introd. to Paper 116/2 Index boards are made in white and tints with an even and well-finished surface...Stock size is 20 in. × 35 in., also cut sizes.
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1928 Funk's Stand. Dict., *Index card. 1947 Partisan Rev. XIV. 469 He placed the books down on the main desk, stuck the envelope of index cards and cross-references under his arm and walked out. 1971 Jrnl. Gen. Psychol. LXXXV. 52 Ss were supplied with 3 × 5 inch white unlined index cards.
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a1884 KNIGHT Dict. Mech. Suppl. 434/1 The tool-post can be removed from the sliding table, and *index centers, milling vise, or any milling fixture put on, required for milling. 1913 Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin. (ed. 4) 439 Index centres, the head, and the tail stock between which work is carried to be pitched or indexed. 1953 L. E. DOYLE Metal Machining ix. 214 Index centers provide means for spacing cuts accurately around a workpiece.
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1902 Internat. Library of Technol. II. §15. 23 For convenience of measuring fractional parts of a turn of different values, as of a turn, of a turn,..etc., the index plate is provided with several concentric *index circles, each circle having a different number of holes. 1950 J. MARTIN in A. W. Judge Machine Tools & Operations III. iii. 142 In ordinary plain indexing, the use of 30 holes in a 42-hole index circle would give 42/30 × 40 = 56 divisions in work.
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1888 Pall Mall G. 13 Nov. 4/1 Aston Manor is not only a Midland constituency, but it is emphatically an *index constituency.
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1905 T. R. SHAW Machine Tools vi. 415 Forty revolutions of the *index crank are required to make one complete revolution of the spindle. 1964 S. CRAWFORD Basic Engin. Processes vi. 172 Indirect Indexing... When using this method of indexing the worm is permanently engaged with the worm wheel, and the workpiece is rotated by means of the index-crank.
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1843-55 OWEN Anat. Vertebr. (L.), The Pottos..offer an anomaly, in the fore~hand, by the stunted phalanges of the *index digit.
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1851-9 AIRY in Man. Sci. Enq. 1 The *index-error of the sextant must be carefully ascertained. 1875 BEDFORD Sailor's Pocket Bk. v. (ed. 2) 152 Taking the angles off and on the arc, adding them together, and dividing by 2, gives an angle free of index error.
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1664 BUTLER Hud. II. iii. 284 Quote Moles and Spots, on any place O' th' body, by the *Index-face.
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1927 *Index figure [see COSTING vbl. n.]. 1930 Engineering 3 Jan. 23/3 The index figure of 100 being given to Great Britain in both cases.
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1849 THACKERAY Pendennis II. i, Jeames simply pointed with his *index finger to the individual. 1875 R. ROUTLEDGE Discov. (1876) 12 The index-finger and graduated scale are seen, protected by a glass plate.
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1900 C. R. EASTMAN tr. Zittel's Text-bk. Palaeontol. I. 4 Having determined the chronological succession of the clastic rocks by means of their super~imposition and their characteristic or *index-fossils, they may be divided up into still smaller series. 1933 R. C. MOORE Historical Geol. xiv. 186 In precise correlation of fossil-bearing strata it is important to recognize and differentiate species that appear only in a given bed, or a short succession of beds, for the occurrence of the same species elsewhere points to equivalence in age of the containing strata. Such fossils may be termed index fossils. 1968 J. R. BEERBOWER Search for Past (ed. 2) viii. 207 Relatively few groups of organisms provide most of the index fossils.
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1773 Gentl. Mag. XLIII. 390 The *index-glass being bent by the brass frame that contains it. 1828 J. H. MOORE Pract. Navig. (ed. 20) 152 If the arch seen direct, together with its reflected image, appear to be in one line, the Index-glass is truly adjusted.
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1742 POPE Dunc. IV. 140 A Spectre rose, whose *index-hand Held forth the virtue of the dreadful wand. 1812 WOODHOUSE Astron. viii. 53 The index-hand of the sidereal clock.
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1902 *Index head [see INDEXING vbl. n. 2]. 1923 R. C. H. HECK Mechanics of Machinery: Mechanism v. 234 Indexing is done mostly on the milling machine and on gear cutting machines. For general service a distinct appliance called the index head is used. 1961 L. E. DOYLE et al. Manuf. Processes xxiv. 586 A dividing or index head is a mechanical device for dividing a circle accurately into equal parts.
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1956 W. EDWARDS in D. L. Linton Sheffield 13 No marine horizons are known, but a widespread *index-horizon with Euestheria, the Low ‘Estheria’ Band, overlies a split-off lower leaf of the Silkstone Coal. 1969 BENNISON & WRIGHT Geol. Hist. Brit. Isles ix. 224 The marine horizons (called marine bands) are sometimes of great lateral extent and act as vitally important index horizons.
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1751 SMOLLETT Per. Pic. xlii. (1779) II. 57 He rated him in his own mind as a mere *index-hunter.
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1699 BENTLEY Phal. xii. 381 Mr. B. declares more than once, that he despises the mean Employment of *Index-hunting.
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1859 G. BOOLE Different. Equations 373 The *index law, expressed by the equation ma mb = ma+b.
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1728 POPE Dunc. I. 279 How *index-learning turns no student pale, Yet holds the eel of science by the tail.
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1974 Daily Tel. 8 Aug. 6/2 If it becomes necessary..to *index-link a large proportion of their deposits some form of index linking of mortgages would have to be considered. 1975 Economist 4 Jan. 67 The Shah has long advocated that oil prices..should be index-linked, preferably to the prices of 20 to 30 key commodities. 1984 Which? Jan. 3/1 They may also have persuaded you to swap to a new-for-old policy, and they've probably index-linked the amount you're insured for.
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1970 Guardian Weekly 14 Nov. 9/5 The scope for cutting any kind of tax is therefore limited unless some incentive to save can be invented. An *index-linked bond might provide such an incentive. 1976 Listener 15 Jan. 41/1 There are more than one would think, in the private sector, who also have index-linked pensions. 1986 Economist 3 May 31/2 Index-linked capital from Nationwide building society is financing an Oxford scheme for the homeless.
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1974 Daily Tel. 14 June 19/8 *Index-linking is one of a number of propositions being considered by the Government to attract and retain National Savings. 1985 Investors Chron. 8-14 Nov. 33/2 The 3rd issue..pay a tax-free compound rate of 3.54 per cent over five years, on top of index-linking of capital.
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1831 MACAULAY Johnson Misc. 1860 II. 273 Starving pamphleteers and *index-makers.
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1869 DUNKIN Midn. Sky 1 The assistance of the corresponding *index-maps. 1932 Discovery May 153/1 As large a selection of the recorded information as the smaller scales will carry is issued on the standard scale of one inch, and with further selection and reduction, on the inch scale of the ‘index map’.
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1875 W. S. JEVONS Money & Mechanism of Exchange xxv. 332 A table containing the Total *Index Number of prices, or the arithmetical sum of the numbers expressing the ratios of the prices of many commodities to the average prices of the same commodities in the years 1845-50. 1886 Rep. Brit. Assoc. Adv. Sci. 1885 871 The index number for the price of each article in 1883 is 1 or 100, according to the use or otherwise of the decimal point. 1887 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 466/1 The only matter connected with price which it is necessary to refer to here is the theory of the index number. 1893 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 3 Feb. 211/2 This total index number..merged all prices high and low in a single figure. 1900 A. L. BOWLEY Wages in U.K. in 19th Cent. xii. 95 (caption) Index numbers, showing rate of Change of Wages in the London Building Trades. 1928 J. W. F. ROWE Wages in Pract. & Theory 14 Index numbers based on changes in the nominal weekly rates in these industries afford a general guide to the character of wage fluctuations. 1942 [see sense 9e above]. 1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. III. 233/1 The distribution of coal by rank, geologic age, and district is indicated in Fig. 4. The index numbers, which refer to coal districts, are grouped by continent and country in the accompanying list. 1973 Daily Tel. 11 July 6/6 He admitted owning a car which had an index number identical to one Miss Mallalieu had noted.
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1905 T. R. SHAW Machine Tools vi. 413 If the *index pin does not come exactly opposite a hole, there is an adjustment by means of two screws.
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1899 Let. fr. T. De La Rue & Co., [For these] Playing Cards, the proper term is ‘with *index-pips’.
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1825 *Index plate [see index-point below]. 1879 Jrnl. Franklin Inst. CVIII. 106 The making of practically perfect index plates for gear cutting machines is a different matter from graduating circles for astronomical instruments. 1902 Index plate [see index circle]. 1923 R. C. H. HECK Mechanics of Machinery: Mechanism v. 235 At the other end of the worm shaft [of the index head] is the index crank C, with handle H and plunger pin Q which can be let into any hole in index plate P. 1950 J. MARTIN in A. W. Judge Machine Tools & Operations III. iii. 131 By the use of worm-gearing, the indirect dividing head can space work up to 360 divisions, using standard index plates. 1973 Daily Tel. 15 Sept. 2/5 He noticed that the index plates..had been hurriedly removed from another vehicle.
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1825 J. NICHOLSON Operat. Mechanic 526 A change of place in the *index-point on the graduated arch or index-plate.
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1676 R. DIXON Two Testam. To Rdr. 15 Not stuffing my Margin, as *Index-Rakers do, with Quotations of Divines, Philosophers, Lawyers, Historians, etc.
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1955 R. K. RICHARDS Arithmetic Operations in Digital Computers xi. 348 In these machines..each instruction specifies an *index register as well as an operation and an address. For each operation, the number stored in the indicated index register is automatically added to the address, and the sum is then the actual address which is used. 1957, 1970 Index register [see INDEXING vbl. n. 3]. 1970 O. DOPPING Computers & Data Processing vi. 101 In most modern computers address modification and counting is facilitated by index registers.
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1793 *Index-ruler [see 2b above].
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a1884 KNIGHT Dict. Mech. Suppl. 494/2 The centers are shown..attached to the *index-spindle.
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Also, in Comp. Anat., the corresponding digit of the fore-limb of a quadruped, or of the wing of a bird.
1398 TREVISA Barth. De P.R. V. xxix. (1495) 140 The seconde fyngre hyght Index..for by hym is moche shewynges made. 1594 PLAT Jewell-ho. III. 43 The index or forfinger of your right hand. 1620 SKELTON Quix. IV. iv. 27 He..clapt the Index of his right Hand upon his Nose and Eye~brows. 1644 BULWER Chiron. 79 Both the Indexes joyn'd, and pyramidically advanced. 1758 J. S. Le Dran's Observ. Surg. (1771) 269, I thrust the Index of my Left-Hand into the Cavity. 1825 Sporting Mag. XVII. 36 Our hero longed to have his index upon the trigger. 1844 MRS. BROWNING Lady Geraldine's Courtship xxx, And the left hand's index droppeth from the lips upon the cheek. 1893 NEWTON Dict. Birds 459 Index..in Birds always the best developed of the digits of the fore-limb.
2. a. A piece of wood, metal, or the like, which serves as a pointer; esp. in scientific instruments, a pointer which moves along a graduated scale (or which is itself fixed while a graduated scale moves across its extremity) so as to indicate movements or measurements. Cf. INDEX v. 5.
1594 PLAT Jewell-ho. III. 11 Let there be a sharpe index, that may point vpon a table of wood. 1613 M. RIDLEY Magn. Bodies 115 So that his broad Index..may be set to point out the degrees of the altitude of the pole. 1667 R. TOWNELEY in Phil. Trans. II. 458 Marking above 40,000 Divisions in a Foot, by the help of two Indexes. 1715 DESAGULIERS Fires Impr. 121 To know at sight in what manner the Holes are open..have an Index which takes up but little room. 1726 tr. Gregory's Astron. I. 263 Having brought the Place of the Sun to the Meridian, bring the Index to twelve a Clock. 1727-41 CHAMBERS Cycl., Index of a Globe, is a little style fitted on to the north-pole and turning with it, pointing to certain divisions in the hour~circle. 1833 J. HOLLAND Manuf. Metal II. 296 The graduated arch passes through the loop, until the index on the edge of the loop is opposite zero. 1860 TYNDALL Glac. I. xxv. 190 The magnet to arrange the index of the thermometer. 1863 J. WATSON Theory & Pract. Art of Weaving vi. 209 After the wheel is turned, the next process is to divide its circumference into as many divisions as will make up the number of teeth required; this is done by an index which is fixed on the spindle of the lathe. 1879 J. J. HOLTZAPFFEL Turning & Mech. Manipulation IV. v. 118 The index, is a steel spring or rod terminating in a point, which is inserted in any required series of holes, in any of the circles of the division plate, to retain the mandrel for the time, at rest, in certain relative positions. For example, to divide the work into 12 parts; the point of the index is placed successively in the holes 8. 16. 24. 32. etc. of the 96 circle..and while the mandrel is arrested at these points, the work is marked.
b. The arm of a surveying instrument; an alidade.
1571 DIGGES Pantom. G. iij, Laye the line fiduciall of your index vppon the beginning of the degrees in your Quadrant. 1682 Providence Rec. (1894) VI. 80, 2 sights for sirveiors worke belonging to an Jndex. 1712 J. JAMES tr. Le Blond's Gardening 81 Two Rulers or Indexes, one immoveable..and the other moveable. 1793 SMEATON Edystone L. §97 To the index of the Theodolite was screwed a ruler..this index-ruler being carried horizontally round..the index would mark the degree and minute of the circle in which it is placed. 1807 HUTTON Course Math. II. 54 An index, which is a brass two-foot scale, with either a small telescope, or open sights set perpendicularly on the ends. These sights and one edge of the index are in the same plane, and that is called the fiducial edge of the index.
3. a. The hand of a clock or watch; also, the style or gnomon of a sun-dial. Now rare.
1594 BLUNDEVIL Exerc. III. II. x. (1636) 390 Untill the Index do justly touch the prick of some perfect houre. 1623 FEATLY Fisher catch'd Oij*, No man can perceiue the index in a Watch, or finger in a Diall to wagge or stirre. 1677 HALE Prim. Orig. Man. IV. iv. 324 If I should see a curious Watch..and should observe the exact disposition of the Spring, the String, the Wheels, the Ballance, the Index. 1817 T. L. PEACOCK Melincourt xxxii, There was a sun-dial in the centre of the court; the sun shone on the brazen plate, and the shadow of the index fell on the line of noon. 1822 J. IMISON Sc. & Art I. 87 The showing the time is contrived by the motion of the indices or hands on the dial-plate.
fig. 1635 SWAN Spec. M. ii. §2 (1643) 31 The Sunne (who is the Index of time, by whose revolution we account for years). 1742 YOUNG Nt. Th. IX. 1324 Pointing out Life's rapid..flight, With such an Index fair, as none can miss.
b. slang. The nose (cf. GNOMON 1c); or ? ‘the face’ (Farmer; cf. DIAL n. 6c).
1817 Sporting Mag. L. 53 He put in a sharp blow on the bridge of Randall's nose, so that it pinked the index of Paddy in an instant. 1818 Ibid. (N.S.) II. 280 The handy work of Martin upon his opponent's index was now apparent. 1828 EGAN Finish to Tom & Jerry 48 (Farmer) Kind~hearted Sue! Bless her pretty index. [Cf. 4b, quot. 1616.]
4. a. That which serves to direct or point to a particular fact or conclusion; a guiding principle.
1598 DRAYTON Heroic. Ep. I. 103 Lest when my lisping guiltie Tongue should hault, My Lookes might prove the Index to my Fault. 1640 LAUD Let. to Chas. I in Biblioth. Reg. 41 This is the only index to us whereby that the blessing of God is present with you. 1747 Scheme Equip. Men of War 26 His Services would be Indexes denoting his Merit. c1750 SHENSTONE Elegies ii. 36 And readers call their lost attention home Led by that index where true genius shines. 1803 J. PORTER Thaddeus viii. (1831) 76 His uniform being black, he needed no other index than his pale and mournful countenance to announce that he was chief mourner. 1859 HOLLAND Gold F. i. 13 The proverbs of a nation furnish the index to its spirit and the result of its civilization. 1888 BRYCE Amer. Commw. II. xxxviii. 52 They [amendments] are so instructive..as an index to present tendencies of American democracy. 1880 Nature 19 Sept., One of the first indices to the solution of the question lies in the situation of the oil-bearing regions.
b. A sign, token, or indication of something.
1607 TOPSELL Four-f. Beasts 151 The square and flat Nose is the best signe and index thereof. 1616 R. C. Times Whistle ii. 632 Man is to man a subject of deceite; And that olde saying is vntrue ‘the face Is index of the heart’. 1677 GALE Crt. Gentiles II. III. 193 Diodorus saith that Isis was wont to appear by night and to inject dreams..giving manifest indices of her presence. 1779 J. MOORE View Soc. Fr. (1789) I. xlii. 363 A sensible manly countenance..the true index of his character. 1878 HUXLEY Physiogr. 211 A raised beach is therefore an index of elevation of the land. 1887 STEVENSON Misadv. J. Nicholson i. 3 His son's empty guffaws..struck him with pain as the indices of a weak mind.
5. a. A table of contents prefixed to a book, a brief list or summary of the matters treated in it, an argument; also, a preface, prologue. Obs. b. An alphabetical list, placed (usually) at the end of a book, of the names, subjects, etc. occurring in it, with indication of the places in which they occur.
One work may have several indexes, e.g. an index of names of persons and places, of subjects, of words, etc. For these the Latin phrases index nominum, locorum, rerum, verborum are often employed as headings.
[1578 LYTE Dodoens (heading), Index Latinorum nominum. Ibid., Index appellationum et nomenclaturarum omnium Stirpium [etc.]. Ibid., The Englishe Table conteyning the names and syrnames [etc.].] 1580 FLEMING in Baret's Alv. Aaaaj, Which words, though expressed in this Index, are notwithstanding omitted..in this Aluearie. Ibid. Nnnnij (heading), A briefe note touching the Prouerbiall Index. Ibid., Such Prouerbes as we haue..reduced into an Abecedarie Index or Table. a1593 MARLOWE Hero & Leand. II. 129 As an index to a book So to his mind was young Leander's look. 1604 SHAKES. Oth. II. i. 263 An Index and obscure prologue to the History of Lust. 1606 Tr. & Cr. I. iii. 343 In such Indexes, although small prickes To their subsequent Volumes [etc.]. 1632 MASSINGER & FIELD Fatal Dowry IV. i, The index tells us the contents of stories, and directs to the particular chapters. 1699 BENTLEY Phal. Pref. 79 No Learning..no Knowledge in Books, except Index's and Vocabularies. [1750-1 JOHNSON Let. to Richardson 9 Mar. in Boswell, I wish you would add an index rerum, that when the reader recollects any incident, he may easily find it.] 1858 CARLYLE Fredk. Gt. I. i. §3. 9 Books..which want all things, even an Index. [1888 Athenæum 28 Jan. 112/3 The Royalist Composition Papers..of which Mr. Phillimore supplies a capital index nominum.]
fig. 1641 HINDE J. Bruen xviii. 57 He became as a very profitable Index to the family, to call to minde what they had learned. 1663 J. SPENCER Prodigies (1665) 71 God hath appointed..all the labors of Nature, as a kind of Indices to this great Volume of the World. a1680 BUTLER Rem. (1759) II. 188 He is but an Index of Things and Words, that can direct where they are to be spoken with, but no further.
c. A reference list. Obs.
1660 WILLSFORD Scales Comm. 209 Some men of very great Commerce and trading keep a Kalender, Register, or an Alphabeticall Index, of the names of Men, Wares, Ships. a1734 NORTH Lives (1826) I. 12 The master employed him to make an alphabetical index of all the verbs neuter.
d. Computers. A set of items each of which specifies one of the records of a file and contains information about its address.
1962 Gloss. Terms Automatic Data Processing (B.S.I.) 27 Index, a sequence or array of items with keys, used to identify or locate records. 1970 O. DOPPING Computers & Data Processing xvi. 261 The index can contain the addresses of all individual records, but if the file is ordered, it is usually more economic to make the index cruder. 1971 R. L. BOYES et al. Introd. Electronic Computing viii. 201 An index is simply a shorthand substitute for the original information and is used to assist in the location of a given record... The general form of an index..will contain these two items: 1. The index term. This is the shorthand description of a stored record... 2. Record identification or location. This may be a document number or the physical address of the record described by the index term.
6. a. spec. (short for Index librorum prohibitorum). The list, published by authority, of books which Roman Catholics are forbidden to read, or may read only in expurgated editions.
Rules for the formation of such an Index (Regulæ Indicis) were formulated by the Council of Trent, in accordance with which an Index librorum prohibitorum (Index of prohibited books) was published by authority of Pius IV in 1564, and, with an Appendix, by Clement VIII in 1596; new editions, augmented with the names of later authors and books, have been published from time to time down to the present. This is the official ‘Index’. In its current form, it is a list, not only of works entirely prohibited to the faithful, but also of works not to be read, unless or until they are corrected (nisi or donec corrigantur); in the case of the latter, the portions to be deleted or altered are sometimes indicated.
(In first quot., short for Index expurgatorius: see b.)
1613 PURCHAS Pilgrimage (1614) 90 L. Vives..when he telleth tales out of Schoole, the good mans tongue is shortned, and their Index purgeth out that wherewith hee seeketh to purge their leaven. 1640 SIR E. DERING Sp. on Relig. 23 Nov. iii. 7 The Roman Index is better then are our English Licences. 1676 MARVELL Mr. Smirke 10 We seem to have got an Expurgatory Press, though not an Index. 1791-1823 D'ISRAELI Cur. Lit., Licensers of Press, The simple Index is a list of condemned books which are never to be opened. 1839 [see CONGREGATION 10]. 1857 CHURCH Misc. Writ. (1891) I. 79 They [Montaigne's Essays] were..put in the Index. 1886 FARRAR Hist. Interpret. 320 His [Erasmus's] Colloquies were burnt in Spain and put on the Index at Rome.
fig. 1882 Spectator 7 Oct. 1289 She..read by stealth Shakespeare, at that time on the Index of a religiously narrow village opinion.
b. index expurgatorius (Lat.), Expurgatory Index, an authoritative specification of the passages to be expunged or altered in works otherwise permitted. Also transf. and fig.
The Regulæ of the Council of Trent provided for the expurgation of such books, and in accordance therewith an Index Expurgatorius was printed at Antwerp, under the authority of Philip II, in 1571 (reprints of which are referred to in quot. 1611), another under the authority of the Inquisitor General Quiroga at Madrid in 1584 (see quot. 1625), and others with the same or similar titles in various Roman Catholic states. A bull of Sixtus V (1585-90) also authorized the Cardinals chosen to deal with prohibited books to prepare ‘indices expurgatorios’. Such a work on a large scale was commenced at Rome 1607 (Bergamo 1608), with the title ‘Indicis librorum expurgandorum in studiosorum gratiam confecti Tomus I., in quo 50 auctorum libri præ cæteris desiderati emendantur, per F. Jo. Mariam Brasichell., Sacri Palatii Apostol. Magistrum’. This (which never proceeded beyond the first volume) is the work referred to in quot. 1620. (See, on the whole subject, Rev. J. Mendham Account of the Indexes, both prohibitory and expurgatory, 1826, Literary Policy of the Church of Rome, 1830 and 1844). In English use, the name Index Expurgatorius has often been applied to the Index librorum prohibitorum (cf. quot. 1845), especially in transf. and fig. uses.
1611 CORYAT Crudities 521 The Index expurgatorius printed at Geneua and Strasbourg. 1620 BRENT tr. Sarpi's Counc. Trent (1676) 875 In the year 1607, they printed in Rome with publick authority, a Book intituled Index Expurgatorius. 1625 USSHER Answ. to Jesuit 513 Their old Expurgatory Index..set out by Cardinall Quiroga. 1691 T. BROWNE Reas. Mr. Bays, etc. 13 (Stanf.) To prevent, Sir, all storms that might have issued from that quarter, I presently set me up an Index expurgatorius. 1788 H. WALPOLE Remin. v. 42, I acquainted him with it..why he had been put into the queen's Index expurgatorius. 1845 THACKERAY Pict. Gossip in Misc. Ess. (1885) 260 Knowing well that Fraser's Magazine is eagerly read at Rome, and not..excluded in the Index Expurgatorius.
7. a. Music. = DIRECT n. 2. Obs.
1597 MORLEY Introd. Mus. 20 Phi. What is that which you haue set at the end of the Verse? Ma. It is called an Index or director; for looke in what place it standeth, in that place doth the first note of the next Verse stand. 1869 NUTTALL Dict. Sci. Terms 189 Index..in music, a character or director at the end of a stave to direct to the first note of the next stave.
b. Printing. = HAND 18b. ?Obs.
1727 W. MATHER Yng. Man's Comp. 38 Index is a Note like a Hand, with the Forefinger pointing out at something that is remarkable, thus . 1807 CRABBE Library 186 Till every former note and comment known, They mark'd the spacious margin with their own; Minute corrections proved their studious care; The little index, pointing, told us where.
8. Math. a. Alg. A number or other symbol placed above and to the right of a quantity to denote a power or root: = EXPONENT 2a.
An integral index, as in x2, denotes a power; a fractional index, as in x, a root; a negative index, the reciprocal of a power, as x-2 = unity divided by x2.
1674 S. JEAKE Arith. (1696) 191 Mark their Indices, or how many degrees the Number you would produce is removed from the Root, as whether it be second, third, fourth, etc. 1748 HARTLEY Observ. Man. I. iii. 279 Algebraic Signs for Addition, Subtraction, Indexes, Coefficients. 1810 HUTTON Course Math. I. 163 So 3 is the index of the cube or 3d power, and.. is the index of the cube root. 1859 BARN. SMITH Arith. & Algebra (ed. 6) 198 The figures 2, 3,..m, denoting the number of factors which produce the powers, are called Indices.
b. The integral part, or characteristic, of a logarithm. Obs.
1678 PHILLIPS (ed. 4) s.v., In Logarithmical Arithmetick Index is that which represents the distance of the first figure of any whole number from Unity. 1727-41 CHAMBERS Cycl., Index, in arithmetic, is the same with what is otherwise called the characteristic, or exponent of a logarithm. 1795 HUTTON Math. Dict. II. 46/1 The Index is also called the Characteristic of the Logarithms, and is always an integer, either positive or negative, or else = 0. 1828 J. H. MOORE Pract. Navig. (ed. 20) 25 Whatever index you make represent unity, omit it in the sum of the indices.
c. Applied to the number which is characteristic of a particular member, or group of members, of a class of geometrical or algebraical concepts; as the index of a point, line, or plane, relatively to a quadric surface. discriminantal index: see DISCRIMINANTAL.
d. Computers. A quantity which is fixed in relation to the set of operations laid down by a program but which assumes a prescribed sequence of values as the program is run; spec. (a) one held in an index register and used to modify the addresses of instructions; (b) one in a DO statement (in Fortran) or a FOR statement (in Algol) that is used to control the number of repetitions of a sequence of instructions. Freq. attrib., esp. denoting the portion of an instruction specifying the appropriate index register (see also index register in 11 below).
1957 D. D. MCCRACKEN Digital Computer Programming viii. 99 Instructions which call for an index to be added are written with the one or two following the address. 1959 J. W. CARR in E. M. Grabbe et al. Handbk. Automation, Computation & Control II. ii. 51 When the values of the bound variables (usually indices) that assume a sequence of different values during the course of a problem solution change..such variables are changed in actual, although not notational value. By a change in such an index, therefore, no change is made in the flow diagram notation, although the actual value of free or floating variables will change. Ibid. 55 Many artificial instruction codes..use such index registers to speed up hand programming. A certain portion of every instruction word is used to designate just how that particular instruction is to be modified with respect to one or more such special locations, which have been filled with specified values of an index. 1961 LEEDS & WEINBERG Computer Programming Fund. vi. 177 Flow diagrams will be generally easier to follow if we can represent our control logic in enumerative terminology. To do this we make use of an index rather than an actual computed quantity on the flow diagram to show the count. 1962 Y. CHU Digital Computer Design Fund. xii. 454 The amount of change of an address, called the index value, is stored in an index register. Ibid., The number in the index field [of an instruction] designates the index register selected. 1962 HUSKEY & KORN Computer Handbk. xx. 29 The index is not always added, so there is an address modifier..which determines whether the index is to be added to the address or not. 1966 B. A. M. MOON Computer Programming vii. 117 Within the range of the DO no statement is permitted which alters the value of the index. 1969 V. J. CALDERBANK Course on Programming in FORTRAN IV iv. 36 The DO statement automatically causes execution of all the statements following it up to and including the statement labelled n for values of i from m1 in steps of m3... The counter i is sometimes referred to as the index of the loop. 1969 Index bit [see INDEX v. 6]. 1969 C. W. GEAR Computer Organization & Programming ii. 53 There are four items of information to be specifiedthe start of the loop in memory (X), the initial value of the index (o), the increment (1), and the end condition on the index (999). 1970 O. DOPPING Computers & Data Processing vi. 101 The character..in the last position means that the content of the corresponding index register is to be added to the address... The last position of the instruction can be called the ‘index tag’.
e. Computers. One of a continuous sequence of numbers each of which specifies one of an ordered set of items.
1962 R. V. OAKFORD Introd. Electronic Data Processing Equipment iv. 101 Assume that 15 independent quantities are stored in memory registers 0016 through 0030 and that another 15 independent quantities are stored in registers 0031 through 0045. The location of the ith register in the first set may be designated as Ai, while that of the second set may be designated as Bi; then i can be considered as an index that assumes the values 1, 2, 3,..., 14, 15. Thus Ai is equal to 0016. 1972 H. S. STONE Introd. Computer Organization vi. 120 The FORTRAN statement DIMENSION x(100) creates an array named x with 100 elements such that the first has index 1 and the last has index 100.
9. In various sciences, a number or formula expressing some property, form, ratio, etc. of the thing in question. a. Optics. index of refraction or refractive index (of a medium), the ratio between the sines of the angles of incidence and refraction of a ray of light passing from some medium (usually air) into the given medium.
1829 Hand-bk. Nat. Philos., Optics ii. 4 The number 1.336, which regulates the refraction of water, is called its index, or exponent, or co-efficient of refraction, and some~times its refractive power. 1871 TYNDALL Fragm. Sc. (1879) I. xi. 340 The media must possess different refractive indices.
b. In Craniometry, A formula expressing the ratio of one diameter or other dimension of the skull to another, as alveolar or basilar, cephalic, facial, gnathic, nasal, orbital, vertical index. Also, generally, in Anthropometry, The ratio of two dimensions of an organ or part to each other.
1866 HUXLEY Preh. Rem. Caithn. 83 The term cephalic index..indicates the ratio of the extreme transverse to the extreme longitudinal diameter of a skull, the latter measurement being taken as unity. 1882 QUAIN Anat. (ed. 9) I. 82 The proportion of this [the height of the skull] to the length..is the index of height. Ibid. 83 The nasal index of Broca. Ibid., The orbital index is the ratio of the vertical height of the base of the orbit to the transverse width.
c. Cryst. Each of the three (or, in Bravais' notation, four) whole numbers which define the position of a face of a crystal.
1868 DANA Min. Introd. 28 Miller..uses the letters h, l, k, as ‘indices’ referring to the axes. 1878 GURNEY Crystallogr. 18 The three numbers h, k, and l are called the indices of the plane, and the three together hkl is called its symbol. 1895 STORY-MASKELYNE Crystallogr. 472 The introduction of the fourth index [in Bravais' notation].
d. Dynamics. index of friction, the coefficient of friction: see COEFFICIENT 2b.
e. Econ. A number showing the variation (increase or decrease) in the prices or value of some specified set of goods, shares, etc., since a chosen ‘base’ period (often represented by the number 100), as a retail price index, a cost-of-living index, etc. Cf. DOW-JONES.
1886 Rep. Brit. Assoc. Adv. Sci. 1885 872 The index for quantity is the same as that for value in the standard year (1883); that for 1884 is arrived at by dividing the value index by the price index, and is shown in the last column. 1922 Encycl. Brit. XXX. 759/1 Suppose that the modification of diet (margarine instead of butter, decrease of sugar and eggs and increase of other foods) reduces the food index to 260,..and the index is 200 instead of 305. 1927 [see COST n.2 1e]. 1942 J. R. HICKS Social Framework xv. 160 The most famous of all British index-numbers is the cost-of-living index published by the Ministry of Labour. The basket of goods on which this index is based is supposed to be that consumed in a week by a representative working-class family. It is thus an index of very fundamental importance... It covers a large part of the field which would be covered by the ideal index which we should desire to have for measuring the national income in real terms. 1955 Times 31 Aug. 9/3 Their members have expressed lack of confidence in the index as a measurement of their living costs. 1958 Spectator 22 Aug. 261/2 Industrial equity shares touched bottom161·5 for the index. 1969 Daily Tel. 13 June 3 The index would have dropped say 12 points, War Loan would have continued its downhill march. 1972 Accountant 28 Sept. 398/1 When the heaviest Index fall in a day is accompanied by a reduction in the number of Stock Exchange recorded bargains to under 8,000, it can only be assumed that the vast bulk of the 8,000 deals was the same selling way. 1973 Daily Tel. 12 Apr. 21/3 The provisional price index of goods manufactured for the home market rose by just over 0·25 p.c., compared with 0·5 p.c. in both January and February.
10. [f. INDEX v. 5.] A movement from one predetermined position to another during the indexing of a work-piece.
1962 G. H. DEGROAT Metalworking Automation v. 120 (caption) Another ‘homemade’ automated machine is this eight-spindle Borematic with two banks of four spindles each. This one bores, chamfers, and grooves servo valve bodies, finishing two parts per index at 100 pieces per hour. 1964 Automobile Engineer LIV. 200/2 After each index, the table is positively locked.
11. attrib. and Comb., as index-face, -maker, -making, -map, -point, -ruler; index arm, crank, pin, spindle (all parts of an index head or used in indexing (sense 2)); also index-arm = sense 2b; index board, a type of heavy paper as used for index cards; index card, a card for a card-index file; index centre Engin., each of the centres (sense 5) that support work for indexing; index circle Engin., one of the circles of holes on an index plate; index constituency, a constituency in which the result of an election is considered a good indication of the state of parties in the country; index-correction, a correction for index-error; index-digit = sense 1; index-error, the constant error in the reading of a mathematical instrument, due to the zero of the index not being exactly adjusted to that of the limb; index figure Econ. = sense 9e above; index-finger, (a) = sense 1; (b) = sense 2; index fossil = guide fossil (GUIDE n. 14); index-gauge, a measuring instrument in which the distance between the measuring-points is shown by an index; index-glass, a mirror at the fixed point of the index-arm in an astronomical or surveying instrument, from which the light is reflected to the horizon-glass; index-hand = senses 2 and 3; index head Engin., an attachment used with a milling machine or gear-cutting machine that holds the work and enables it to be readily and accurately indexed between successive operations; index horizon Geol., a horizon distinguished by certain groups of fossils found within it, or other characteristics which make it an indicator of a particular stratigraphic position; index-hunter, one who acquires information by consulting indexes; so index-hunting; index-knowledge, index-learning, information gained by means of indexes, superficial knowledge; index law (Alg.): see quot. 1859; index-linked a., designating bonds, pensions, etc., of which the value is adjusted according to the level of the cost-of-living index or some other economic indicator; cf. INDEXATION; also [as back-formation] index-link v. trans., to make dependent on such an index; index-linking vbl. n.; index machine, a machine for fancy-weaving, being a modification of the Jacquard loom; index map, a relatively small-scale map which is so marked as to act as an index to a series of more detailed maps; index number, (a) = sense 9e above; (b) a number in an index; spec. the registration number of a motor vehicle; index-pip, a miniature indication of the denomination of a playing-card, placed in the left-hand corner for convenience in sorting; index plate, (a) (see quot. 1825); (b) Engin., a disc that contains regularly spaced holes arranged in concentric circles, which represent different divisions of a circle and determine the possible angular positions of work being indexed; (c) a plate bearing the registration number of a motor vehicle; index-raker = index-hunter; index register Computers, a register whose contents may be added to or subtracted from the address portion of an instruction before the instruction is executed and then (by means of a second instruction) increased or decreased by a prescribed amount, so enabling the first instruction to be used for a series of identical operations on a series of different operands.
1879 NEWCOMB & HOLDEN Astron. 92 The *index-arm carries the index-glass. 1919 H. THOMPSON Mod. Engin. Workshop Pract. xi. 173 By turning this index arm and spindle, motion is given to the worm and worm-wheel.
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1937 E. J. LABARRE Dict. Paper 160/1 *Index board or Bristol also termed Fourdrinier Bristol is (1) (card-) board resembling a heavy ledger specially adapted for this purpose...(2) also a size of board 30´´ × 25´´. 1962 F. T. DAY Introd. to Paper 116/2 Index boards are made in white and tints with an even and well-finished surface...Stock size is 20 in. × 35 in., also cut sizes.
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1928 Funk's Stand. Dict., *Index card. 1947 Partisan Rev. XIV. 469 He placed the books down on the main desk, stuck the envelope of index cards and cross-references under his arm and walked out. 1971 Jrnl. Gen. Psychol. LXXXV. 52 Ss were supplied with 3 × 5 inch white unlined index cards.
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a1884 KNIGHT Dict. Mech. Suppl. 434/1 The tool-post can be removed from the sliding table, and *index centers, milling vise, or any milling fixture put on, required for milling. 1913 Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin. (ed. 4) 439 Index centres, the head, and the tail stock between which work is carried to be pitched or indexed. 1953 L. E. DOYLE Metal Machining ix. 214 Index centers provide means for spacing cuts accurately around a workpiece.
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1902 Internat. Library of Technol. II. §15. 23 For convenience of measuring fractional parts of a turn of different values, as of a turn, of a turn,..etc., the index plate is provided with several concentric *index circles, each circle having a different number of holes. 1950 J. MARTIN in A. W. Judge Machine Tools & Operations III. iii. 142 In ordinary plain indexing, the use of 30 holes in a 42-hole index circle would give 42/30 × 40 = 56 divisions in work.
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1888 Pall Mall G. 13 Nov. 4/1 Aston Manor is not only a Midland constituency, but it is emphatically an *index constituency.
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1905 T. R. SHAW Machine Tools vi. 415 Forty revolutions of the *index crank are required to make one complete revolution of the spindle. 1964 S. CRAWFORD Basic Engin. Processes vi. 172 Indirect Indexing... When using this method of indexing the worm is permanently engaged with the worm wheel, and the workpiece is rotated by means of the index-crank.
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1843-55 OWEN Anat. Vertebr. (L.), The Pottos..offer an anomaly, in the fore~hand, by the stunted phalanges of the *index digit.
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1851-9 AIRY in Man. Sci. Enq. 1 The *index-error of the sextant must be carefully ascertained. 1875 BEDFORD Sailor's Pocket Bk. v. (ed. 2) 152 Taking the angles off and on the arc, adding them together, and dividing by 2, gives an angle free of index error.
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1664 BUTLER Hud. II. iii. 284 Quote Moles and Spots, on any place O' th' body, by the *Index-face.
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1927 *Index figure [see COSTING vbl. n.]. 1930 Engineering 3 Jan. 23/3 The index figure of 100 being given to Great Britain in both cases.
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1849 THACKERAY Pendennis II. i, Jeames simply pointed with his *index finger to the individual. 1875 R. ROUTLEDGE Discov. (1876) 12 The index-finger and graduated scale are seen, protected by a glass plate.
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1900 C. R. EASTMAN tr. Zittel's Text-bk. Palaeontol. I. 4 Having determined the chronological succession of the clastic rocks by means of their super~imposition and their characteristic or *index-fossils, they may be divided up into still smaller series. 1933 R. C. MOORE Historical Geol. xiv. 186 In precise correlation of fossil-bearing strata it is important to recognize and differentiate species that appear only in a given bed, or a short succession of beds, for the occurrence of the same species elsewhere points to equivalence in age of the containing strata. Such fossils may be termed index fossils. 1968 J. R. BEERBOWER Search for Past (ed. 2) viii. 207 Relatively few groups of organisms provide most of the index fossils.
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1773 Gentl. Mag. XLIII. 390 The *index-glass being bent by the brass frame that contains it. 1828 J. H. MOORE Pract. Navig. (ed. 20) 152 If the arch seen direct, together with its reflected image, appear to be in one line, the Index-glass is truly adjusted.
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1742 POPE Dunc. IV. 140 A Spectre rose, whose *index-hand Held forth the virtue of the dreadful wand. 1812 WOODHOUSE Astron. viii. 53 The index-hand of the sidereal clock.
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1902 *Index head [see INDEXING vbl. n. 2]. 1923 R. C. H. HECK Mechanics of Machinery: Mechanism v. 234 Indexing is done mostly on the milling machine and on gear cutting machines. For general service a distinct appliance called the index head is used. 1961 L. E. DOYLE et al. Manuf. Processes xxiv. 586 A dividing or index head is a mechanical device for dividing a circle accurately into equal parts.
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1956 W. EDWARDS in D. L. Linton Sheffield 13 No marine horizons are known, but a widespread *index-horizon with Euestheria, the Low ‘Estheria’ Band, overlies a split-off lower leaf of the Silkstone Coal. 1969 BENNISON & WRIGHT Geol. Hist. Brit. Isles ix. 224 The marine horizons (called marine bands) are sometimes of great lateral extent and act as vitally important index horizons.
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1751 SMOLLETT Per. Pic. xlii. (1779) II. 57 He rated him in his own mind as a mere *index-hunter.
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1699 BENTLEY Phal. xii. 381 Mr. B. declares more than once, that he despises the mean Employment of *Index-hunting.
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1859 G. BOOLE Different. Equations 373 The *index law, expressed by the equation ma mb = ma+b.
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1728 POPE Dunc. I. 279 How *index-learning turns no student pale, Yet holds the eel of science by the tail.
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1974 Daily Tel. 8 Aug. 6/2 If it becomes necessary..to *index-link a large proportion of their deposits some form of index linking of mortgages would have to be considered. 1975 Economist 4 Jan. 67 The Shah has long advocated that oil prices..should be index-linked, preferably to the prices of 20 to 30 key commodities. 1984 Which? Jan. 3/1 They may also have persuaded you to swap to a new-for-old policy, and they've probably index-linked the amount you're insured for.
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1970 Guardian Weekly 14 Nov. 9/5 The scope for cutting any kind of tax is therefore limited unless some incentive to save can be invented. An *index-linked bond might provide such an incentive. 1976 Listener 15 Jan. 41/1 There are more than one would think, in the private sector, who also have index-linked pensions. 1986 Economist 3 May 31/2 Index-linked capital from Nationwide building society is financing an Oxford scheme for the homeless.
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1974 Daily Tel. 14 June 19/8 *Index-linking is one of a number of propositions being considered by the Government to attract and retain National Savings. 1985 Investors Chron. 8-14 Nov. 33/2 The 3rd issue..pay a tax-free compound rate of 3.54 per cent over five years, on top of index-linking of capital.
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1831 MACAULAY Johnson Misc. 1860 II. 273 Starving pamphleteers and *index-makers.
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1869 DUNKIN Midn. Sky 1 The assistance of the corresponding *index-maps. 1932 Discovery May 153/1 As large a selection of the recorded information as the smaller scales will carry is issued on the standard scale of one inch, and with further selection and reduction, on the inch scale of the ‘index map’.
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1875 W. S. JEVONS Money & Mechanism of Exchange xxv. 332 A table containing the Total *Index Number of prices, or the arithmetical sum of the numbers expressing the ratios of the prices of many commodities to the average prices of the same commodities in the years 1845-50. 1886 Rep. Brit. Assoc. Adv. Sci. 1885 871 The index number for the price of each article in 1883 is 1 or 100, according to the use or otherwise of the decimal point. 1887 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 466/1 The only matter connected with price which it is necessary to refer to here is the theory of the index number. 1893 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 3 Feb. 211/2 This total index number..merged all prices high and low in a single figure. 1900 A. L. BOWLEY Wages in U.K. in 19th Cent. xii. 95 (caption) Index numbers, showing rate of Change of Wages in the London Building Trades. 1928 J. W. F. ROWE Wages in Pract. & Theory 14 Index numbers based on changes in the nominal weekly rates in these industries afford a general guide to the character of wage fluctuations. 1942 [see sense 9e above]. 1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. III. 233/1 The distribution of coal by rank, geologic age, and district is indicated in Fig. 4. The index numbers, which refer to coal districts, are grouped by continent and country in the accompanying list. 1973 Daily Tel. 11 July 6/6 He admitted owning a car which had an index number identical to one Miss Mallalieu had noted.
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1905 T. R. SHAW Machine Tools vi. 413 If the *index pin does not come exactly opposite a hole, there is an adjustment by means of two screws.
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1899 Let. fr. T. De La Rue & Co., [For these] Playing Cards, the proper term is ‘with *index-pips’.
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1825 *Index plate [see index-point below]. 1879 Jrnl. Franklin Inst. CVIII. 106 The making of practically perfect index plates for gear cutting machines is a different matter from graduating circles for astronomical instruments. 1902 Index plate [see index circle]. 1923 R. C. H. HECK Mechanics of Machinery: Mechanism v. 235 At the other end of the worm shaft [of the index head] is the index crank C, with handle H and plunger pin Q which can be let into any hole in index plate P. 1950 J. MARTIN in A. W. Judge Machine Tools & Operations III. iii. 131 By the use of worm-gearing, the indirect dividing head can space work up to 360 divisions, using standard index plates. 1973 Daily Tel. 15 Sept. 2/5 He noticed that the index plates..had been hurriedly removed from another vehicle.
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1825 J. NICHOLSON Operat. Mechanic 526 A change of place in the *index-point on the graduated arch or index-plate.
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1676 R. DIXON Two Testam. To Rdr. 15 Not stuffing my Margin, as *Index-Rakers do, with Quotations of Divines, Philosophers, Lawyers, Historians, etc.
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1955 R. K. RICHARDS Arithmetic Operations in Digital Computers xi. 348 In these machines..each instruction specifies an *index register as well as an operation and an address. For each operation, the number stored in the indicated index register is automatically added to the address, and the sum is then the actual address which is used. 1957, 1970 Index register [see INDEXING vbl. n. 3]. 1970 O. DOPPING Computers & Data Processing vi. 101 In most modern computers address modification and counting is facilitated by index registers.
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1793 *Index-ruler [see 2b above].
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a1884 KNIGHT Dict. Mech. Suppl. 494/2 The centers are shown..attached to the *index-spindle.
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