Emily Dickinson Lexicon

QUAL-I-FI-CA'TION, n. [Fr. See Qualify.]

1. Any natural endowment or any acquirement which fits a person for a place, office or employment, or enables him to sustain any character with success. Integrity and talents should be considered as indispensable qualifications for men intrusted with public affairs; but private interest and party-spirit will often dispense with these and all other qualifications. There is no qualification for government but virtue and wisdom, actual or presumptive. – Burke.
2. Legal power or requisite; as, the qualifications of electors.
3. Abatement; diminution. – Ralegh.
4. Modification; restriction; limitation. Words or expressions may be used in a general sense, without any qualification.