Noun

(en noun)

The act of passing or flowing out; a moving out from any enclosed place; egress; as, the issue of water from a pipe, of blood from a wound, of air from a bellows, of people from a house.

The act of sending out, or causing to go forth; delivery; issuance; as, the issue of an order from a commanding officer; the issue of money from a treasury.

That which passes, flows, or is sent out; the whole quantity sent forth or emitted at one time; as, an issue of bank notes; the daily issue of a newspaper.

Progeny; a child or children; offspring. In law, sometimes, in a general sense, all persons descended from a common ancestor; all lineal descendants.

* 1599 ,

Why had I not with charitable hand

Took up a beggar's issue at my gates

Produce of the earth, or profits of land, tenements, or other property; as, A conveyed to B all his right for a term of years, with all the issues, rents, and profits.

A discharge of flux, as of blood.

* {{quote-book

, year = 1611 , title = , section = , passage = And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment: }}

An opening or outlet, providing for an exit or egress.

* 1881 , :

How if there were no centre at all, but just one alley after another, and the whole world a labyrinth without end or issue ?

(medicine) An artificial ulcer, usually made in the fleshy part of the arm or leg, to produce the secretion and discharge of pus for the relief of some affected part.

The final outcome or result; upshot; conclusion; event; hence, contest; test; trial.

* Shakespeare

Come forth to view / The issue of the exploit.

* Shakespeare

While it is hot, I'll put it to the issue .

A point in debate or controversy on which the parties take affirmative and negative positions; a presentation of alternatives between which to choose or decide.

(legal) In pleading, a single material point of law or fact depending in the suit, which, being affirmed on the one side and denied on the other, is presented for determination.

(finance) A financial instrument in a company, such as a bond, stock or other security; the emission of such an instrument.

(euphemistic) A problem or concern, usually of a mental nature.

He has issues .

An instalment of a periodical; a specific instance of a regular publication

The July issue of the magazine is in shops now.

Noun

(uncountable) The quality of being different.

(countable) A characteristic of something that makes it different from something else.

* {{quote-magazine, title=Towards the end of poverty

, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838, page=11, magazine=(The Economist) citation , passage=But poverty’s scourge is fiercest below $1.25 (the average of the 15 poorest countries’ own poverty lines, measured in 2005 dollars and adjusted for differences in purchasing power): people below that level live lives that are poor, nasty, brutish and short.}}

(countable) A disagreement or argument.

We have our little differences , but we are firm friends.

* Shakespeare

What was the difference ? It was a contention in public.

* T. Ellwood

Away therefore went I with the constable, leaving the old warden and the young constable to compose their difference as they could.

(countable, uncountable) Significant change in or effect on a situation or state.

* 1908 , (Kenneth Grahame), (The Wind in the Willows)

The line of the horizon was clear and hard against the sky, and in one particular quarter it showed black against a silvery climbing phosphorescence that grew and grew. At last, over the rim of the waiting earth the moon lifted with slow majesty till it swung clear of the horizon and rode off, free of moorings; and once more they began to see surfaces—meadows wide-spread, and quiet gardens, and the river itself from bank to bank, all softly disclosed, all washed clean of mystery and terror, all radiant again as by day, but with a difference that was tremendous.

(countable) The result of a subtraction; sometimes the absolute value of this result.

(obsolete) Choice; preference.

* Spenser

That now be chooseth with vile difference / To be a beast, and lack intelligence.

(heraldry) An addition to a coat of arms to distinguish two people's bearings which would otherwise be the same. See augmentation and cadency.

(logic) The quality or attribute which is added to those of the genus to constitute a species; a differentia.

(logic circuits) A Boolean operation which is TRUE when the two input variables are different but is otherwise FALSE; the XOR operation ($\backslash scriptstyle\; A\; \backslash overline\; B\; +\; \backslash overline\; A\; B$).

(relational algebra) the set of elements that are in one set but not another ($\backslash scriptstyle\; A\; \backslash overline\; B$).