decomposite, a. and n.
(diːˈkɒmpəzɪt)
[ad. late L. dēcompositus, a Latin rendering of Gr. παρασύνθετος used by Priscian in the sense ‘formed or derived from a compound word’, by mediæval and modern L. writers as ‘further or more deeply compounded’. Cf. decompone. Hence a series of senses, found also in decompound, decomposition, in which de- is used differently from the more ordinary sense in decompose and derivatives. See de- I. 5.]
A. adj. Further compounded; formed by adding another element or constituent to something already composite.
| 1655 Gouge Comm. Heb. Epist., Simple, compound, or decomposite notions. 1869 Latham s.v., The decomposite character of such words is often concealed or disguised. |
B. n. A decomposite substance, word, etc.; a compound formed from something already composite.
| 1622 T. Jackson Judah 48 That elegant metaphoricall decomposite of the Apostle unto Timothie [2 Tim. i. 6, ἀναζωπυρεῖν ‘rekindle’]. a 1626 Bacon Minerals Wks. 1857 III. 807 The decomposites of three metals or more, are too long to enquire of. 1678 Phillips, Decomposite, a term in Grammar, signifying a word equally compounded, that is by the addition of two other words, as In-dis-positio. 1706 ― (ed. Kersey), Decomposite (in Grammar), a Word doubly compounded; as In-dis-position; also, a Term us'd by Apothecaries, when a Physical Composition is encreas'd. 1848 Latham Eng. Lang. §299 Compounds wherein one element is Compound are called Decomposites. 1863 W. Smith tr. Curtius' Gr. Gram., Eng. Index, Decomposites, Augm[ent] in, §239 [Some verbs, which are not merely compounded with prepositions, but derived from already compound nouns (Decomposita), have the Augment at the beginning]. |