subsistent, a. and n. Now rare or Obs.
(səbˈsɪstənt)
[ad. L. subsistens, -ent-, pr. pple. of subsistĕre to subsist. Cf. F. subsistant.]
A. adj.
1. Existing substantially or really; existing of or by itself.
| 1617 Collins Def. Bp. Ely ii. viii. 294 Things essentiall, or subsistent, not Chimeraes onely. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. i. x. 42 Those which deny there are spirits subsistent without bodies. a 1688 Cudworth Immut. Mor. (1731) 17 The Modes of all Subsistent Beings..are immutably and necessarily what they are. 1701 Norris Ideal World i. iii. 145 Since God is very subsistent being nothing of the perfection of being can be wanting to him. 1911 Webster, Subsistent form, Schol., a form capable of existing apart from matter. |
† 2. Inherent or residing in. Obs.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 197 b, How and after what maner those iii persones be subsistent in one deite. 1607 Schol. Disc. agst. Antichr. i. ii. 114 A gesture of prayer either explicit or implicit at the least, and that not by it selfe existent, but subsistent in prayer. 1692 Bentley Serm. ii. (1724) 62 No sensible Qualities, as Light, and Colour, and Heat, and Sound, can be subsistent in the Bodies themselves absolutely consider'd, without a relation to our Eyes, and Ears, and other Organs of Sense. |
† 3. Continuing in existence, lasting. Obs.
| 1603 Florio Montaigne ii. xii. 350 Seeing all things are subject to passe from one change to another; reason..findes hir selfe deceived, as vnable to apprehend any thing subsistant and permanent. |
4. Subsisting at a specified or implied time.
| 1832 Carlyle Misc. Ess., Death of Goethe (1840) IV. 120 Men whose Impulse had not completed its development till after fifteen hundred years, and might perhaps be seen still individually subsistent after two thousand. 1849 Blackw. Mag. LXV. 206 Such words must be accepted as serious indications of subsistent evil. |
5. Having means of subsistence. nonce-use.
| 1751 H. Walpole Lett. (1846) II. 383 The Prince's servants could no longer oppose, if they meant to be consistent. I told this to Mr. Chute, who replied instantly, ‘Pho! he meant subsistent.’ |
B. n.
† 1. A subordinate, inferior. Obs.
| 1598 Barret Theor. Warres v. ii. 151 Hee hath subsistants and ministers to performe their office. |
2. A being or thing that subsists.
| 1656 Stanley Hist. Philos. viii. (1687) 433/2 The place of significats is divided into Phantasies, and subsistents on phantasie, dicibles, axioms, &c. 1694 R. Burthogge Reason 244 It becomes a Suppositum or Subsistent by it self. 1906 Athenæum 17 July 204/1 These primary facts fall into three orders: the orders of physical and psychical existents, and objects of thought (such as relations, numbers, &c.), which may be called objective subsistents. |
† 3. Theol. = subsistence 6. Obs.
| 1671 J. Flavel Fount. Life v. 11 The second person or subsistent in the glorious Godhead. a 1705 Howe Let. to Friend Wks. 1724 II. 586 To say that all Perfection is in each subsistent; which I like better than Subsistence, as more expressive of the Concrete. a 1802 T. Bell View Cov. Wks. & Grace (1814) 434 The Father is a person, a subsistent in the Godhead. |