Noun

(en noun)

The proportion of different parts to make a whole.

The general makeup of something.

(obsolete) An agreement or treaty used to settle differences; later especially, an agreement to stop hostilities; a truce.

* , I.40:

It will stoope and yeeld upon better compositions to him that shall make head against it.

* 1630 , John Smith, True travels , in Kupperman 1988, p.50:

with an incredible courage they advanced to the push of the Pike with the defendants, that with the like courage repulsed, that the Turks retired and fled into the Castle, from whence by a flag of truce they desired composition .

(obsolete) An agreement to pay money in order to clear a liability or obligation; a settling.

* 1745 , Edward Young, Night-Thoughts , II:

Insidious death! should his strong hand arrest, / No composition sets the prisoner free.

(legal) an agreement or compromise by which a creditor or group of creditors accepts partial payment from a debtor.

A mixture or compound; the result of composing.

An essay.

(linguistics) The formation of compound words from separate words.

A work of music, literature or art.

* 1818 , (Jane Austen), A letter dated 8 September 1818:

and how good Mrs. West could have written such books and collected so many hard words, with all her family cares, is still more a matter of astonishment. Composition seems to me impossible with a head full of joints of mutton and doses of rhubarb.

(printing) Typesetting.

(label) Applying a function to the result of another.

(obsolete) Consistency; accord; congruity.

* Shakespeare

There is no composition in these news / That gives them credit.

Synthesis as opposed to analysis.

* Sir Isaac Newton

The investigation of difficult things by the method of analysis ought ever to precede the method of composition .

Noun

(en noun)

The work involved in performing an activity; exertion.

* , chapter=23

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=The slightest effort made the patient cough. He would stand leaning on a stick and holding a hand to his side, and when the paroxysm had passed it left him shaking.}}

* {{quote-news, year=2011, date=June 22, author=Press Association, work=The Guardian

, title= Manchester United offer Park Ji-sung a new two-year contract , passage=The 30-year-old South Korean, who joined United in 2005, retired from international duty after last season's Asian Cup in an effort to prolong his club}}

* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=(Henry Petroski)

, title= Geothermal Energy , volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame.}}

An endeavour.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-03, author=William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter

, volume=100, issue=2, page=87, magazine=(American Scientist) , title= The British Longitude Act Reconsidered , passage=But was it responsible governance to pass the Longitude Act without other efforts to protect British seamen? Or might it have been subterfuge—a disingenuous attempt to shift attention away from the realities of their life at sea.}}

A force acting on a body in the direction of its motion.

(Rankine)