SG Heritage Dictionary

Continency [\N] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. CONTINENCE, CONTINENCY noun [Latin , to hold, or withhold; con and teneo, to hold. See Tenet .]

2. In a general sense, the restraint which a person imposes upon his desires and passions; self-command.

3. Appropriately, the restraint of the passion for sexual enjoyment; resistance of concupiscence; forbearance of lewd pleasures; hence, chastity. But the term is usually applied to males, as chastity is to females. Scipio the younger exhibited the nobles example of continence recorded in Pagan history; an example surpassed only by that of Joseph in sacred history.

4. Forbearance of lawful pleasure.

5. Content without lawful venery, is continence; without unlawful, is chastity.

6. Moderation in the indulgence of sexual enjoyment.

7. Chastity is either abstinence or continence; abstinence is that of virgins or widows; continence, that of married persons.

8. Continuity; uninterrupted course. [Not now used.]

Continency [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. Self-restraint; self-command.

2. The restraint which a person imposes upon his desires and passions; the act or power of refraining from indulgence of the sexual appetite, esp. from unlawful indulgence; sometimes, moderation in sexual indulgence.

3. Uninterrupted course; continuity.