SG Heritage Dictionary

Combination [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. Intimate union, or association of two or more persons or things, by set purpose or agreement, for effecting some object, by joint operation; in a good sense, when the object is laudable; in an ill sense, when it is illegal or iniquitous. It is sometimes equivalent to league, or to conspiracy. We say, a combination of men to overthrow government, or a combination to resist oppression.

2. An assemblage; union of particulars; as a combination of circumstances.

3. Commixture; union of bodies or qualities in a mass or compound; as, to make new compounds by new combinations.

4. Chimical union; union by affinity.

5. Mix dry acid of tartar with dry carbonate of potash; no combination will ensue, till water is added.

6. In mathematics, the union of numbers or quantities in every possible manner; or the variation or alteration of any number of quantities, letters, sounds, or the like, in all the different manners possible. The number of possible changes or combinations is found by multiplying the terms 1.2.3.4.5 continually into each other. Thus 1x2=2: 2x3=6: 6x4=24: 24x5=120. etc. So the permutations of five quantities amount to 120. The changes that may be rung on twelve bells amount to 479,001,600. And the twenty four letters of the alphabet admit of 62,044,840,173,323,943,936,000 changes or combinations.

Combination [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. The act or process of combining or uniting persons and things.

2. The result of combining or uniting; union of persons or things; esp. a union or alliance of persons or states to effect some purpose; -- usually in a bad sense.

3. The act or process of uniting by chemical affinity, by which substances unite with each other in definite proportions by weight to form distinct compounds.

4. The different arrangements of a number of objects, as letters, into groups.

Combinations Encyclopedia Britannica

COMBINATIONS among workmen for the purpose of raising their wages, or otherwise altering the terms of their service, were for a long time expressly prohibited by statute. While the state attempted to interfere in the regulation of wages, any combination to defeat the statutory rate would naturally be looked upon with disfavour; and we need hardly be surprised to find that in 1425 a statute was actually passed, making it felony for masons to confederate together to raise their wages above the amount fixed for them by the law. The spirit of such legislation survived to times in which economical principles might be supposed to have been better understood. The Act of 39 and 40 Geo. III. c. 106 (repealing an Act of the previous session on the same subject) made illegal all contracts for obtaining advance of wages or for altering the hours of work, except contracts made between masters and men; and every workman entering into any such contract was liable to be committed to the common jail for three months on conviction before two justices of the peace. The same punishment was reserved for workmen entering into any combination for the same purpose. For the more effectual suppression of combinations among workmen, it was enacted that persons attending any meeting for the furtherance of such contracts and combinations, or persuading or intimi dating persons into attending such meetings, or collecting subscriptions for such purposes, should also be liable to be sent to jail for three months by two justices. A law so severe and so one-sided had its natural effect in promoting secret combinations and provoking acts of violence. In 1825, after an inquiry by a committee of the House of Commons, the 6 Geo. IV. c. 129 (repealing an Act on the same subject in the previous session) was ...

9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 6, p. 181
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