De*pend"en*cy (?), n.; pl.
Dependencies (&?;). 1. State
of being dependent; dependence; state of being subordinate;
subordination; concatenation; connection; reliance; trust.
Any long series of action, the parts of which have
very much dependency each on the other.
Sir J.
Reynolds.
So that they may acknowledge their dependency
on the crown of England.
Bacon.
2. A thing hanging down; a
dependence.
3. That which is attached to something else
as its consequence, subordinate, satellite, and the like.
This earth and its dependencies.
T. Burnet.
Modes I call such complex ideas which . . . are
considered as dependencies on or affections of
substances.
Locke.
4. A territory remote from the kingdom or
state to which it belongs, but subject to its dominion; a colony; as,
Great Britain has its dependencies in Asia, Africa, and
America.
&fist; Dependence is more used in the abstract, and
dependency in the concrete. The latter is usually restricted
in meaning to 3 and 4.
