▪ I. competent, a.
(ˈkɒmpɪtənt)
Also 5 conpetent, 5–6 competente, 6 compu-, -po-, -pytent.
[a. F. compétent ‘terme de droit’ (15th c. in Littré), and ad. L. competent-em suitable, fitting, proper, lawful, pr. pple. of competĕre in its neuter senses: see compete v.1]
† 1. Suitable, fit, appropriate, proper. Obs. in general sense.
| c 1400 Apol. Loll. 34 Euer bi oportunite, or conpetent acordauns, to be redi to fil it. c 1430 Lydg. Bochas vi. i. (1554) 146 b, What maner torment..Wer competent, couenable, or condigne To him. a 1450 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 445 And to kepe hir fest in competent place be the alderman and maistres assigned. 1534 More Passion Wks. 1284/2 God in the creacion of man, gaue to hym two states: one, competent and conuenient for hys mortal nature. 1547 Boorde Introd. Knowl. i. (1870) 127 Good vytales, good meate, wine, and competent Ale. 1667 N. Fairfax in Phil. Trans. II. 549 A common Sudorifick..in competent time relieved him. 1791 Smeaton Edystone L. (1793) §192 Materials..very competent to our purpose. |
2. Suitable to a person's rank or position; suitable or sufficient for comfortable living. arch.
| 1440 Close Roll 23 Hen. VI, A competent annuite for lyff. 1463 Bury Wills (1850) 33 A competent bed with ij peyre shetys. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 18 A competent liuing, and honestly had, makes such as are godlie both thankfull and glad. 1651 Nicholas Papers (1886) I. 242 To have a competent Joynter for her and estate for her children. 1667 E. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. i. iii. x. (1743) 244 Officers..who have all competent salaries. 1865 Grote Plato I. iii. 128 Leaving a competent property. 1876 Digby Real Prop. iii. §1. 115 If she [a widow] depart from the castle, then a competent house shall be provided for her. |
3. a. Suitable, adequate, or sufficient, in amount or extent.
| c 1440 Gesta Rom. lxi. 257 (Harl. MS.) A semly yonge knyȝte.. he wolle fiȝt for yow..yf ye wolle yeve to him competente salarye. 1491 Act 7 Hen. VII, c. 14 As muche therof..as shuld be competent or nedefull to the seid reparacion. 1571 Digges Pantom. i. xxxv. L j b, Draw a streight line of competente length. 1626 Bacon Sylva §108 Harmony requireth a competent distance of Notes. 1664 Evelyn Pomona vi. (1729) 68 A competent while before Christmas. 1791 Smeaton Edystone L. (1793) §272 A competent quantity being put down to the bottom of the hole. 1817 Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. ix. 705 Mr. Pitt's bill..being now supported by a competent majority, was passed into an act. |
† b. Sufficient but not going beyond this: fair, moderate, reasonable, enough. Obs.
| 1535 J. Mason in Ellis Orig. Lett. ii. II. 55 Vitaylls be of a competent pryce: all other things as cloth, lether, books, etc. be unresonable dere. 1581 Mulcaster Positions xxxiii. (1887) 120 Such as be newly recouered from sicknes..must content themselues with small and competent exercise. 1625 Bacon Ess., Vicissitude (Arb.) 576 They grew to rest upon Number, rather Competent, then Vast. 1780 Harris Philolog. Enq. Wks. (1841) 409 Greek was spoken with competent purity in Constantinople even to the fifteenth century. |
4. Adequate or sufficient in quality or degree.
| 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. 76 You haue giuen me a competent reason. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. vii. ii. §4 Had brought their work to some competent perfection. 1683 Burnet tr. More's Utopia Pref. 1 He that undertakes it, has a competent skill of the one Tongue, and is a Master of the other. 1691 Ray Creation i. (1704) 78 Necessary to define with competent certainty. 1798 Ld. Auckland Corr. (1862) III. 387 Impossible to form any competent notion of what we are doing. 1817 Keatinge Trav. I. 63 A model of this mountain..would supply infinitely the most competent idea of it. |
5. Possessing the requisite qualifications for, or to; properly qualified. a. Of persons.
| 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. (1843) 7/2 The King asked him only of the Journey..of which he might be a competent councellour. 1692 Bentley Boyle Lect. iv. 128 A matter..allowed by all competent Judges. 1787 T. Jefferson Writ. (1859) II. 207 The merchant..will be competent to this measure whenever he finds it a necessary one. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Ability Wks. (Bohn) II. 41 If all the wealth in the planet should perish..they..know themselves competent to replace it. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. ii. 13 We engaged a strong and competent guide. |
b. transf.
| 1660 Jer. Taylor Duct. Dubit. i. ii, Religion is our competent guide. 1794 J. Hutton Philos. Light, etc. 57 Our sight..is not always competent for determining the absolute want of light. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 127 A river is competent to effect its own purification unless overtaxed with pollution. |
c. Of a stream: capable of transporting fragments of a certain size. (Cf. quot. 1878 s.v. sense 5 b.)
| 1877 [see competence 4 d]. 1960 B. W. Sparks Geomorphology v. 81 If a stream is not competent to move load of the calibre available. |
d. Geol. Of a stratum of rock: able to transmit lateral pressure and, when formed in an anticline, to bear weight.
| 1893 B. Willis in U.S. Geol. Surv. Ann. Rep. ii. 250 If we describe the sufficiently firm stratum by the word competent, we may formulate the law of anticlinal development... In strata under load an anticline arises along a line of initial dip, when a thrust, sufficiently powerful to raise the load, is transmitted by a competent stratum. The resulting anticline supports the load of an arch, and being adequate to that duty it may be called a competent structure. 1953 E. S. Hills Outl. Struct. Geol. (ed. 3) iv. 82 Relatively strong (‘competent’) beds. 1965 A. Holmes Princ. Physical Geol. (ed. 2) x. 234 Strong competent beds of rocks like quartzite cannot readily change their thicknesses. |
e. Biol. Of a cell: having a latent ability to develop in reaction to a stimulus.
| 1932 [see competence 4 e]. 1935 Discovery May 136/2 The ectoderm is continually changing through internal causes and is only reactive or ‘competent’ during a certain period of its existence, but within this period several different substances can cause a nervous differentiaton. |
6. Law. Legally qualified or sufficient. a. Of a judge, court, etc.: Possessing jurisdiction or authority to act; b. Of a witness, evidence, etc.: Capable of being brought forward, admissible; c. Of a case, etc.: Within the jurisdiction of a court.
| 1483 Caxton Cato A viij, Make thy self redy for to answere before thy competent juge. 1536 Act 28 Hen. VIII, c. 14 §6 Any competente courte, hauynge iurysdiction in the place. 1581 Lambarde Eiren. iii. ii. 345 Whereof the Justices of Peace bee competent Judges. 1643 5 Years Jas. I, in Select. Harl. Misc. (1793) 310 Some few words touching the nature of the proofs, which in such a case are competent. 1708 J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. ii. ii. vi. (1743) 389 The causes competent to the Admiralty Court of Scotland, are these among others. 1768–78 Blackstone Comm. III. iii. xxiii. (ed. 8) 369 All witnesses..except such as are infamous or such as are interested in the event of the cause..are competent witnesses. 1883 Law Rep. Q. Bench Div. XI. 597 It has been held..that..an action for damages was not competent against a supreme judge for a censure passed by him..on a counsel. |
7. More generally. Of things, etc.: a. Belonging to as a rightful possession or property; proper, appertaining, due. b. Within one's rights, legally or formally open or permissible. c. Admissible by rule, legitimate.
| 1614 Selden Titles Hon. 118 Som abstracts are proper notes of Soueraigntie: as Maiestie which is now competent to none but supreme Princes. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. ii. i. §10 That, perhaps, is the Privilege of the infinite Author and Preserver of things..but is not competent to any finite Being. 1765–9 Blackstone Comm., It is not competent to the defendant to allege fraud in the plaintiff. 1794 Paley Evid. iii. ii. (1817) 286, I think that it is competent to the Christian apologist to return this answer. 1845 Stephen Laws Eng. I. 104 Though it is competent to Parliament to legislate for the colonies. 1850 T. S. Baynes New Anal. Logical Forms 76 Having particular conclusions where universal are competent. 1850 Sir W. Hamilton in Ibid. 154 Two arrangements are competent. |
† 8. Compatible, congruous with. Obs. rare.
| a 1670 Hacket Abp. Williams i. (1692) 138 'Tis no more competent with obedience than light with darkness. |
† 9. ? Requiring competence. Obs.
| 1720 Swift Mod. Educ. Wks. 1755 II. ii. 33 How..so great share in the most competent parts of publick management hath been..entrusted to commoners. |
† 10. quasi-adv. In circumstances of competence.
| 1557 F. Seager Sch. Vertue in Babees Bk. 354 Ye that are poore, with your state be contente, Not hauinge wherwith to lyue competente. |
† 11. quasi-n. A competency. Obs.
| 1575 Brieff Disc. troub. Franckford 156 Their are not paste 17 or 18 whiche haue competent ynoughe to liue vpon. 1614 Selden Titles Hon. 235 An annuall summe and competent. |
Senses 5 d, e in Dict. become 5 e, f. Add: [5.] d. Med. Of a valve or sphincter: functioning normally; able to prevent reflux. Opp. incompetent a. 2 b.
| 1881 G. Steell Physical Signs Cardiac Dis. 16 Tricuspid incompetency may exist without this sign, if the venous valves remain competent. 1915 A. E. Barclay Alimentary Tract xii. 124 This [ileo-cæcal] valve was found to be perfectly competent at the operation. 1977 Jrnl. Cardiovasc. Surg. XVIII. 506/2 Only 4 out of ten pulmonary valves were competent at 20 mm of Hg pressure and all were incompetent at a mean pressure of 100 mm of Hg. 1982 Brit. Heart Jrnl. XLVII. 473 Relief of left ventricular outflow tract obstruction was achieved in a majority of cases and the valves were entirely competent. |
▪ II. ˈcompetent, n. Eccl. Hist.
Pl. also -entes.
[ad. L. competens (in Augustine, Jerome, etc.; ‘competens vocatur qui post instructionem fidei competit gratiam Christi’, Isidore Orig. vii. xiv. §8), pr. pple. of competĕre in its active sense, ‘to strive after something in company’, usually in pl. competentes as a name of the class.]
A candidate for baptism.
| a 1655 Vines Lord's Supp. (1677) 413 Men and women, competents or candidates of this Sacrament. 1659 H. L'Estrange Alliance Div. Off. 260 Infants and competents. 1702 C. Mather Magn. Chr. iv. iv. (1852) 73 Men, who were catechumens and competentes. 1729 W. Reeves Serm. 115 In the first, the Competent professed to this effect, I renounce Satan, etc. |