constitution

Etymology

PIE word *ḱóm From Middle English constitucioun, constitucion (“edict, law, ordinance, regulation, rule, statute; body of laws or rules, or customs; body of fundamental principles; principle or rule (of science); creation”) from Old French constitucion (modern French constitution), a learned borrowing from Latin cōnstitūtiō, cōnstitūtiōnem (“character, constitution, disposition, nature; definition; point in dispute; order, regulation; arrangement, system”), from cōnstituō (“to establish, set up; to confirm; to decide, resolve”). Equivalent to constitute + -ion.

noun

1. The act, or process of setting something up, or establishing something; the composition or structure of such a thing; its makeup.
   the physical constitution of the sun 1876, John Herschel, Outlines of Astronomy
2. (government) The formal or informal system of primary principles and laws that regulates a government or other institutions.
   1693, Edmund Bohun, A Geographical Dictionary They have in their present Constitution a Grand Council of the Nobility, a Senato, a College of Twenty six who give Audience to Ambassadors and report their Demands to the Senate, a Council of Ten; and a Triumvirate (monthly chosen by, and out of, the Ten) of three Inquisitors of State; whose Authority is so absolute, as to extend to the taking away of the Life of the Doge no less than the meanest Artisan, without acquainting the Senate, provided they all three agree in the Sentence.
3. (law) A legal document describing such a formal system.
4. (Catholicism) A document issued by a religious authority serving to promulgate some particular church laws or doctrines.
5. A person's physical makeup or temperament, especially in respect of robustness.
   He has a strong constitution, so he should make a quick recovery from the illness.
   Our constitutions have never been enfeebled by the vices or luxuries of the old world. 1828, Joseph Story, Appeal to the Republic
6. (dated) The general health of a person.
   But when once his constitution began to decline, he broke very fast, and being attacked bya complication of diseases, he at length gave way to fate, May 10, 1733. 1766 May, “The Life of Mr. Barton Booth”, in The Gentleman's and London Magazine: Or Monthly Chronologer, page 281
   Don Manuel de Casafonda the governor, whose countenance bespoke a constitution far gone in a decliner had thrown himself on a sopha in the last state of despair and given way to an effusion of tears: July 18, 1792, “History of Nicholas Pedrosa”, in The Phoenix, volume 1, number 3, page 39
   The physician, to gratify the apothecary, himself obliged to order ten times more physic than the patient really wants, by which means he ruins his constitution, and too often his life; otherwise how is it posible an apothecarty's bill in a fever should amount to forty, or fifty, or more pounds? 1827 July, “On the Mal-organization of the Medical Profession, and of the Necessity of a Medical Reform”, in The Oriental Herald and Journal of General Literature, volume 14, number 43, page 79
   In early life his health was infirm, and his education much interrupted in consequence; but by diligent study, as his constitution improved, he made up his lost ground, and became one of the most accomplished classical and general scholars of his time. 1838, George Godfrey Cunningham, Lives of Eminent and Illustrious Englishmen