from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Impossibility \Im*pos`si*bil"i*ty\, n.; pl. {Impossibilities}.
[L. impossibilitas: cf. F. impossibilit['e].]
1. The quality of being impossible; impracticability.
[1913 Webster]
They confound difficulty with impossibility.
--South.
[1913 Webster]
2. An impossible thing; that which is not possible; that
which can not be thought, done, or endured.
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Impossibilities! O, no, there's none. --Cowley.
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3. Inability; helplessness. [R.] --Latimer.
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{Logical impossibility}, a condition or statement involving
contradiction or absurdity; as, that a thing can be and
not be at the same time. See {Principle of Contradiction},
under {Contradiction}.
[1913 Webster]
from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
IMPOSSIBILITY. The character of that which. cannot be done agreeably to the
accustomed order of nature.
2. It is a maxim that no one is bound to perform an impossibility. A
l'impossible nul n'est tenu. 1 Swift's Dig. 93; 6 Toull. n. 121, 481.
3. As to impossible conditions in contracts, see Bac. Ab. Conditions,
M; Co. Litt. 206; Roll. Ab. 420; 6 Toull. n. 486, 686; Dig. 2, 14, 39; Id.
44, 7, 31; Id. 50, 17, 185; Id. 45, 1, 69. On the subject of impossible
conditions in wills, vide 1 Rop. Leg. 505; Swinb. pt. 4, s. 6; 6 Toull. 614.
Vide, generally, Dane's Ab. Index, h.t.; Clef des Lois Rom. par Fieffe
Lacroix, h.t.; Com. Dig. Conditions, D 1 & 2; Vin. Ab. Conditions, C a, D
a, E a.