Definition of "constitution"

the physical constitution of the sun

1876, John Herschel, Outlines of Astronomy

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.

1693, Edmund Bohun, A Geographical Dictionary

Our constitution had begun to exist in times when statesmen were not much accustomed to frame exact definitions.

1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 10, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volumes (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans

Our constitutions have never been enfeebled by the vices or luxuries of the old world.

1828, Joseph Story, Appeal to the Republic

He defended himself with [...] less passion than was expected from his constitution.

1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, “(please specify |book=I to XVI)”, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the Theater, published 1707

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:

1792 July 18, “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