Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Instance

In′stance (ĭn′stans), n. [F. instance, L. instantia, fr. instans. See Instant.]

1. The act or quality of being instant or pressing; urgency; solicitation; application; suggestion; motion.

Undertook at her instance to restore them. Sir W. Scott.

2. That which is instant or urgent; motive. [Obs.]

The instances that second marriage move Are base respects of thrift, but none of love. Shak.

3. Occasion; order of occurrence.

These seem as if, in the time of Edward I., they were drawn up into the form of a law, in the first instance. Sir M. Hale.

4. That which offers itself or is offered as an illustrative case; something cited in proof or exemplification; a case occurring; an example.

Most remarkable instances of suffering. Atterbury.

5. A token; a sign; a symptom or indication. Shak.

Causes of instance, those which proceed at the solicitation of some party. Hallifax. — Court of first instance, the court by which a case is first tried. — For instance, by way of example or illustration. — Instance Court (Law), the Court of Admiralty acting within its ordinary jurisdiction, as distinguished from its action as a prize court.

Syn. — Example; case. See Example.

In′stance (ĭn′stans), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Instanced; p. pr. & vb. n. Instancing.] To mention as a case or example; to refer to; to cite; as, to instance a fact. H. Spenser.

I shall not instance an abstruse author. Milton.

In′stance, v. i. To give an example. [Obs.]

This story doth not only instance in kingdoms, but in families too. Jer. Taylor.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.