providence 
The world was all before them, where to choose 
Their place of rest, and Providence their guide. 
Milton, P. L-.xll. 647. 
Who finds not Providence all good and wise. 
Alike in what it gives, and what denies? 
Pope, Essay on Man, i. 87. 
5. Something due to an act of providential in- 
tervention ; an act or event in which the care 
of God is directly exhibited. 
A remarkable providence appeared In a case which was 
tried at the last court of assistants. 
Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. SSO. 
Special providence, the special intervention in or admin- 
istration of the laws of nature and life by God, for special 
ends; specifically, a particular act of divine Interposition 
in favor of one or more individuals. 
There 's a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. 
Shale., Hamlet, v. 2. 281. 
= Syn. 1 and 2. Prudence, Discretion, etc. See wisdum. 
provident (prov'i-dent), . [< F. provident = 
Sp. Pg. providcnte, < L. providen(t-)s, ppr. of 
procidere, foresee, provide: see provide. Cf. 
prudent, of same ult. formation.] 1. Foresee- 
ing wants and making pro vision to supply them ; 
forecasting; cautious; prudent in preparing for 
future exigencies; having an anticipatory per- 
ception of something: sometimes followed by 
of. 
First crept 
The parsimonious emmet, provident 
Of future. Milton, P. L., vii. 485. 
A Parent who, whilst provident of his whole family 
watches over every particular child. 
Channing, Perfect Life, p. 83. 
The little Maid again, provident of her domestic destiny 
takes with preference to Dolls. Carlyle, Sartor Resartus. 
Suppose your savings had to be made, not, as now, out 
of surplus income, but out of wages already Insufficient 
for necessaries ; and then consider whether to be provident 
would be as easy as you at present find it. 
H. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 252. 
2. Frugal; economical. -provident societies. 
Same us friendly societies. 
While the Briton does not make as a rule those sacri- 
Itces for the benefit of all those about him which are made 
by tho poorly-paid Hindoo, who, In a country of low wages 
in which a poor law is unknown, invariably provides for 
his old people and keeps them in greater comfort than he 
keeps himself, Englishmen and colonists alike are re- 
markable for the extent to which they have carried the 
system of provident societies. 
Sir C. W. Dilke, Probs. of Greater Britain, vi. 2. 
providential (prov-i-den'shal), . [< F. provi- 
deutiel = Sp. Pg. providential, < L. provideittia, 
foresight: see providence.'] Effected by the 
providence of God; proceeding from divine di- 
rection ; referable to divine providence. 
This thin, this soft contexture of the air, 
Shows the wise author's providential care. 
Sir A. Blackinore. 
1 claim for ancient Greece a marked, appropriated, dis- 
tinctive place in the providential order of the world. 
Gladstone, Might of Right, p. 107. 
providentially (prov-i-deu'shal-i), adv. In a 
providential manner; by mean's of God's provi- 
dence. 
providently (proy'i-dent-li), adv. In a provi- 
dent manner; with prudent foresight; with 
wise precaution in preparing for the future. 
4805 
and contributions as the Romans saw fit to im- 
pose. The earliest Roman province was Sicily. 
Judea now, and all the Promised Land, 
Reduced a province under Roman yoke, 
Obeys Tiberius. Milton, P. H., III. 158. 
A province, In the Roman system, was a subject land, a 
land beyond the bounds of Italy, a land of which the Ro- 
man People was the corporate sovereign. 
E. A. Freeman, Amer. Lects.. p. 320. 
2. (a) An administrative division of a country : 
as, the provinces ot Spain; the former provinces 
of France ; more loosely, any important admin- 
istrative unit, as one of the governments of 
Russia or of the crownlands of Austria. 
Galilee is one of the Provynees of the Holy Lond ; and 
in that Provynce is the Cytee of Naym and Caphanmum 
and Chorosaym and Bethsayde. 
Mamtenlle, Travels, p. 110. 
Over each province Is placed a Governor, who Is assisted 
In his duties by a Vlce-Governor and a small council. 
II. M. Wallace, Russia, p. 19U. 
(b) A part of a country or state as distinguished 
from the capital or the larger cities; the coun- 
try: usually in the plural: as, an actor who is 
starring in the provinces, (c) Eccles., the terri- 
tory within which an archbishop or a metropoli- 
tan exercises jurisdiction: as, the province of 
Canterbury ; the province of Illinois, (d) In the 
Horn. Cath. Ch., one of the territorial divisions 
of an ecclesiastical order, as of the Franciscans, Provincial^ (pro-vin'shal), a. [< ML. /'rum- 
or of the Propaganda, (e) A region of country ; rialin, Provencal: see Provencal.] Pertaining 
to Provence ; Provencal. 
Provyncial of is dyvers kynde of vynys. 
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 69. 
proving 
His [Shakespeare's] patriotism was too national to be 
provincial. Svinburne, .Shakespeare, p. 113. 
Provincial congresses. See congress. Provincial 
Letters, the name by which a celebrated collection of 
letters written In French by Hlaise Pascal In 1656-7, In 
condemnation of the Jesuits, is ordinarily known. The 
phrase, which appears as the title of English translations 
of the letters, representing the popular French Provinci- 
ales, is a misnomer the actual title being Letters to a 
Provincial. 
II. M. 1. A person belonging to a province; 
one from any part of the country except the 
metropolis or one of the larger cities. The name 
Provincials was often applied to the Inhabitants of the 
American colonies before the revolution, especially to their 
contingents engaged In military service. 
The land law of the Gracchi was well intended, but It 
bore hard on many of the leading prvnnciaU, who had 
seen their estates parcelled out. Frovde, C'ajsar, p. 58. 
Vulgarized by the constant Influx of non-Italian pra- 
vtnciats into Rome. Kncye. Brit., XIV. 333. 
2. In some religious orders, a monastic superior 
who has the general superintendence of his fra- 
ternity in a given district called a province. 
Oure prouinciall hath power to assollen 
Alle sustreu <fc bretheren that belli of our order. 
Piers Plomnan't Crede(E. E. T. 8.), 1. 828. 
Two years after this event, he was elected provitieial of 
his order in Castile, which placed hlin at the head of Its 
numerous religious establishments. 
Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., II. 5. 
a tract; a large extent. 
Over many a tract 
Of heaven they march 'd, and many a province wide. 
o rp, , MS ^ m > P - k. vL 77. Provincial rose, (a) The cabbage-rose. (6) A rosette of 
o. 1 lie proper duty, office, or business of a per- ribbons formerly worn on a shoe; a shoe-rose, 
son : snhere of tu-t.inn fnnoHnn wlth two provincial roses on my razed shoes. 
sphere of action; function. 
I have taken all knowledge to be my province. 
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, Pref., p. iv. provincialism (pro-vin'slml-izm), H. 
The family is the proper province for private women to rinciali. 
> Addison, Party Patches. 
The most difficult province In friendship Is the letting a 
man see his faults and errors. Budgctt, Spectator, No. 385. 
Within the region of religious activity Itself there are 
provinces which demand varying degrees of distinctness in 
definition and graduation of discipline. 
Stidibs, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 293. 
4. A division in any department of knowledge 
or activity ; a department. 
Their understandings are ... cooped up in narrow 
bounds, so that they never look abroad into other provinces 
of the Intellectual world. 
If alts, Improvement of Mind, I. xiv. g 10. 
5. In :oiil., a prime division of animals; a phy- 
lum; a subkingdom; a branch; a type: as, in 
Owen's classification, tho four proviiicex Ver- 
tebrata, Articulata, Mollitxca, and Radiata. The 
prime divisions of a province are called sub- 
provinces. 6. In zooyeog., a subregion; a 
faunal area less extensive than a region. Thus, 
the Nearctic or North American region is zoologically di- 
vided into the eastern, middle, and western provinces. 
Shak., Hamlet, ill. 2. 288. 
. al-izm), M. [<F.pro- 
'XIHC = Sp. Pg. It. provincialwmo ; as pro- 
1 + -isnj.J 1. That which characterizes a 
province or a provincial person; a certain nar- 
rowness or localism of thought or interest, or 
rudeness of manners, characteristic of the in- 
habitants of a province as distinguished from the 
metropolis, or of the smaller cities and towns 
as distinguished from the larger; lack of polish 
or enlightenment. 
But proeincialutn is relative, and where It has a flavor 
of Its own, as In Scotland, It is often agreeable in propor- 
tion to its very Intensity. Lotccll, Study Windows, p. 94. 
2. Specifically, a word or manner of speaking 
peculiar to a province; a local or dialectal 
term or expression. 
The Inestimable treasure which lies hidden In the an- 
cient Inscriptions might l>e of singular service, particu- 
larly in explaining the provincialisms. 
H. Marsh, tr. of Michaells (1793). 
provincialist (pro-vin'shal-ist), . [<j>/wt'n- 
Thus, oi/l 4- -i<.] 1. An inhabitant of a province; 
a provincial. Imp. Diet. 2. One who uses pro- 
Boreal province, niyrian provinces, Peruvian "prov- vincialisnis. Imp. Diet. 
Ince. see the adjectives. Province of distribution, provinciality (prd-vin-shi-al'i-ti), n. 
Slll rflO/W/H, *,*>.! f - t * n.. '' 
See distributwn. 
province-rose (prov'ins-roz), . An erroneous 
form of Proving rose, the cabbage-rose. 
provincial 1 (pro-vin'shal), a. ana n. [< ME. 
provinciaH (n.)'; < OF'.' provincial. F. provin- 
He that doth the ravens feed, 
Yea, providently caters for the sparrow, 
Be comfort to my age ! - - 
Shak., As you Like It, II. 8. 44. 8*81 = Pr. Sp. Pg. provincial = It. provinciate, < 
providentness (prov'i-dent-nes), H. The qual- L .' Pjovinciali^^perta.mmg to a province, < pro- 
ity of being provident ; foresight ; carefulness ; 
prudence ; providence. 
Companions of shootinge be providentness, good heede 
geving, true meetinge, honest comparison, which thinges 
agree with vertue verye well. 
provider (pro-vi'der), . 
furnishes, or supplies. 
Here 's money for my meat ; 
I would have left It on the board so soon 
As I had made my meul, and parted 
With prayers for the provider. 
Shak., Cymbeline, III. 6. 53. 
A $OOd provider, one who is liberal in supplying pro- 
visions, etc. , for his family. [Collon. ) Lion's provider 
See lion. 
providetoret, . Same as proveditor. 
providore (prov'i-dor), n. Same as provedor. 
'rinciaft + -i-fy.} 'The cbaracter'of being pro- 
vincial. 
That circumstance must have added greatly to thepro- 
vincialitij and ... the unintelliglblllty of the poem. 
T. Warton, Enquiry Into the Authenticity of the Poems 
[attributed to Thomas Rowley, p. 46. 
provincialize (pro-vin'shal-iz), v. t. ; pret. and 
pp. provincialized, ppr. provincializing. [< pro- 
nnciafl- + -ize.] To render provincial. 
a pro- 
Ascham, Toxophilus, I. 
One who provides, 
rincta, a province: see province.] I. a. 1. Of 
or pertaining to a province ; existing in a prov- 
ince ; characteristic of a province : as, a pro- prpvincially (pro-vin'shal-i), adv. 
vincial government; a provincial dialect. vincial manner. 
A nobleman of Plcardy, . . . a man of considerable pro- prOVincialship (pro-vin'shal-ship), M. [(pro- 
vincial distinction, sought and obtained a commission as rinciaf 1 + -ship.) The post or diiniitv of a Dro- 
lord of the unknown Norlmbega. vincin.1 SPP nrnrinriafl n 9 
Bancroft, Hist. U. 8., I. 16. 6C P roltnctal > n -> * 
ket-towns, that 
2. Forming a province or territory appendant to 
a principal kingdom or state : as, provincial ter- 
ritory. 3. Pertaining to an ecclesiastical prov- 
province (prov'ins), n. [< ME. provynce, < OF. 
province, F. province = Pr. proensa, proliensa = 
Sp. Pg. prorincia = It. provincia = D. MLG. 
pnifincie = G.provinteic, provints, now proving 
= Sw. Dan. provinx, a province, < L. provincia, 
a territory outside of Italy brought (chiefly 
by conquest) under Roman dominion, also of- 
ficial duty, office, charge, province, < pro, be- 
fore, in front of, + vincrre, conquer.] 1. Origi- 
nally, a country of considerable extent which, 
being reduced under Roman dominion, was re- 
modeled, subjected to the rule of a governor 
sent from Rome, and charged with such taxes 
302 
e might ask them fdr votes"of 'moiTe^T " a " ' "" UTOn -' L 88> 
B. Spencer, Prln. of SocloL, | 501. provinciatet (pro-vin'shi-at), v. t. [< province 
(L. provincia) + -ate'*.] To convert into a prov- 
ince. 
There was a design to provinciate the whole kingdom. 
lli'U-ell, Vooall Forrest, 
lay a 
iropago 
2. The 
F. form provigner simulates rtyne'a vine.] To 
bury a stock or branch of a vine in the ground 
and bring up the end at a distance from the 
root, to form a bearing plant for the next sea- 
son. This system is extensively practised in 
the viticulture of several regions of France. 
Stubtx, Medieval and Modern Hist, p. 307. 
4. Exhibiting the manners of a province; char- 
acteristic of the inhabitants of a province, or 
of the country as distinguished from the me- 
tropolis or larger cities; countrified; rustic; 
hence, not polished ; narrow; unenlightened. 
. 
Fondofexhibitingprorincurfairsaudgraces. Macaulay. Proving (prS'ving), H. [Verbal n. of prove, .] 
A society perfectly provincial, with no thought, with no ' Testjng or trying in any way.- 2. In law, 
probation; leading of proofAction of proving 
the tenor, in Scots lair, an action peculiar to the Court of 
Session, by which the terms of a deed which has been lost 
or destroyed may be proved. 
hope, beyond its narrow horizon. 
J. II. Shorthotae, Countess Eve, 
5. Restricted to a province ; local. 
