word-forming element making nouns meaning "place for, art of, condition of, quantity of," from Middle English -erie, from Latin -arius (see -ary). Also sometimes in modern colloquial use "the collectivity of" or "an example of."

"artistic quality," 1837, from artist + -ry; as chemistry from chemist, etc.

"poetry in ballads," 1590s, from ballad + -ry.

"the activities or practices of bandits," 1861, from bandit + -ry.

1825, "the art or craft of making cabinets;" 1857, "cabinets collectively;" from cabinet + -ry.

1703, in ethics, "the solution of special problems of conscience by application of general principles or theories;" see casuist + -ry. Even in the earliest printed uses the sense was pejorative.

c. 1600, "alchemy," from chemist + -ry; also see chemical (adj.). The meaning "natural physical process" is from 1640s; the sense of "scientific study of the composition of material things and the changes they undergo" is by 1788. Chemistry in the European mind disengaged itself from alchemy in the mid-1600s; The Academy del Cimento was established in Italy in 1657, the Royal Society in London in 1660, and the Academy of Sciences in Paris in 1666.

The figurative sense of "instinctual attraction or affinity" is attested slightly earlier, from the alchemical sense.

"plan or system of electrical circuits," 1946, from circuit (n.)+ -ry.

"citizens collectively," 1795, from citizen + -ry.

"component parts of a device or system," 1956, from component + -ry.