▪ I. extinct, pa. pple. and a.
(ɛkˈstɪŋkt)
Also 5 extincte.
[ad. L. ex(s)tinct-us, pa. pple. of ex(s)tinguĕre: see extinguish. As used by Caxton and writers of the 16th c. it may be regarded as pa. pple. of extinct v.]
A. pple. Extinguished (see senses of extinct, extinguish, vbs.). Now rare.
| 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 219 That fyre was extincte. Ibid. I. 347 This duke Turgesius was perischede and extincte. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 176/4 The more they lyght them [candellys] the more were they extyncte. 1548–9 (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Offices 8 Graunt that al sinne and vice here maie be so extinct. 1598 Rowlands Betraying of Christ 30 They blind his sight, whose soules more blind Had quite extinct the light of grace. 1612 Brerewood Lang. & Relig. iv. 33 The Spanish and Pannonian tongues not extinct by the Romans. 1631 R. Byfield Doctr. Sabb. 99 It tooke fire..but was quickly extinct. 1734 Law Enquiry Space 26 Take away the Things and their respective Order and Distance..may cease and be extinct. 1887 Pall Mall G. 30 Dec. 13/2 As I uttered the last word of my manuscript, the lights were suddenly extinct. |
B. adj. (In early use with distinctly ppl. sense; in mod. use it usually denotes a state without reference to the action from which this results.)
1. a. Of a fire, flame, light: Extinguished, quenched, put out; no longer burning. extinct volcano: a volcano that has ceased eruption; also fig., spec. a person who has lost the considerable energy, etc., he once possessed.
| 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 119 A lawnterne..extincte is drownede in to hit. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 197 b, The lampe of grace in thy soule wyll soone be extinct. 1652 Gaule Magastrom. 355 Neither the husband nor any of the family could be awaked till that torch was extinct. 1784 Cowper Task vi. 684 A spark or two not yet extinct. 1834 Medwin Angler in Wales I. 249 There are some who..when we [cigars] are not half extinct throw us contemptuously away. 1843 Penny Cycl. XXVI. 427/2 Active or extinct volcanoes. 1865 H. C. Robinson Diary 21 Jan. (1967) 314 Allsop, whose name has been long forgotten... An extinct volcano. 1865 J. A. Symonds Let. 20 Aug. (1967) I. 566 My illusions & conceits are Extinct volcanoes. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 193 A group of small extinct volcanoes. 1914 F. M. Ford Let. Jan. (1965) 59 Your list of extinct and semi-extinct volcanoes..is..only window dressing. |
† b. quicksilver extinct [= Fr. mercure éteint]: mercury triturated with fats or chalk, and therefore no longer lustrous. Obs.
| 1610 Markham Masterp. ii. cxxx. 432 Quicke-siluer extinct, and verdigrease, of each an ounce. |
2. Of things comparable to a fire or light (e.g. life, hope, passion, disease, etc.): Quenched; that has ceased to burn or shine.
| 1494 Fabyan Chron. v. cxviii. 94 The feythe..was well nere extyncte thoroughe all the lande. 1591 Troub. Raigne K. John (1611) 67 Young Arthurs eies are blinded and extinct. 1777 Priestley Matt. & Spir. (1782) I. v. 56 Every faculty of the mind..is liable..to become wholly extinct before death. 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey v. xii, Conversation seemed nearly extinct. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xxiv, He was cut down..before life was extinct. 1857 Buckle Civiliz. I. vi. 294 The last hope of the Mohammedans was extinct. |
† 3. Of a person: Cut off; dead; blotted out of existence. Also, passed away, vanished. Obs.
| 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 5/2 All were..deed and extynct. 1530 Heywood Four P.P. in Hazl. Dodsley I. 375 He may at liberty Pass safe..Till that he be from us extinct. 1611 Bible Job xvii. 1 My dayes are extinct. 1654 H. L'Estrange Chas. I (1655) 4 The usuall ceremony ordained to the bodies of extinct princes. 1665 G. Havers P. della Valle's Trav. E. India 93 Nagar..lost together with his life a great part of his Dominions, and became in a manner extinct. 1675 tr. Machiavelli's Prince xi. (Rtldg. 1883) 75 The Pope being dead and Valentine extinct. |
4. That has died out or come to an end. a. Of a family, a class of persons, a race or species of animals or plants: Having no living representative; ‘without progressive succession’ (J.).
| 1683 Brit. Spec. 156 The Line of Henry VIII{supt}{suph}..being extinct. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. 331 My Father was dead, and my Mother, and all the Family extinct. 1748 Jenyns Imit. Hor. Epist. ii. i. 48 Let's try and fix some æra, if we can, When good ones [ministers] were extinct, and bad began. 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. ix. 434 The royal house..was not yet extinct. 1874 Helps Soc. Press. iii. 35 The great book collectors (except in America) seem to be an extinct race. |
b. Of an institution, dignity, office, etc.: Obsolete. Of a title of nobility: Having no qualified claimant.
| 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 51 Y⊇ Supper of the Lord..you have so defiled..that the true use thereof is almost utterly extinct. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxix. 174 The Assembly it selfe is extinct. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) III. 244 The dignities limited to the heirs male of Sir Robert Sydney became extinct. 1836 J. Gilbert Chr. Atonem. iv. (1852) 103 They imagine the office of moral rule in another state to become extinct. 1841 W. Spalding Italy & It. Isl. III. 181 The three extinct republics, Florence, Pisa, and Siena. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 537 His marquisate became extinct. |
c. Law in phr. possibility of issue extinct.
| 1574 tr. Littleton's Tenures 7 b, He..is tenaunt in the tayle after possibilitie of issue extinct. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) I. 154 A person may be tenant in tail, after possibility of issue extinct. |
d. Of a law, legal power or right, etc.
| 1628 Coke On Litt. 147 All the Rent charge is extinct. 1726 Ayliffe Parerg. 156 A Censure inflicted à Jure continues, tho' such Law be extinct. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) VI. 457 Such a power, though extinct at law, would certainly be enforced in equity. |
▪ II. † exˈtinct, n. Obs.
[? ad. L. ex(s)tinct-us (u-stem), f. ex(s)tinguĕre (see extinguish); or f. extinct v.]
= extinction.
| 1606 Ford Honor Tri. iii. To Earl Pembroke, To the vttermost extinct of life. 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. vii. xliv. 364 The extinct of the English Nations renowne. Ibid. ix. xvii. (1632) 877 The vtter extinct of the House of Yorke. |
▪ III. † exˈtinct, v. Obs.
Forms: 5–6 extynct(e, (5 estyncte), 6 extincte, (extinkt), 6– extinct. Pa. tense 5–6 extyncte.
[f. L. ex(s)tinct- ppl. stem of ex(s)tinguĕre to extinguish.]
1. trans. = extinguish v. 1.
| 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 250/1 The blessid laurence had fyue brennynges withoute forthe whiche he al ouercam manly and extyncte them. 1513 Bradshaw St. Werburge ii. 166 The feruent great fire extincted was in-dede. 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1596) 66/2 Eugenia was..put into hot baths, which were extincted, and she preserued. |
2. = extinguish v. 2.
| 1542 Boorde Dyetary 280 Purslane dothe extynct the ardor of lassyuyousnes. 1556 J. Heywood Spider & F. vii. 39 It is more hard, loue to our selues to extinkt. a 1568 Coverdale Hope Faithf. Pref. (1574) A iij b, Not to stirre vp Gods grace in vs..were to..extincte the spirite. |
3. = extinguish v. 3.
| 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour A vij b, The grete good dedes and abstynence that I dyde quenchyd and estyncted al my synnes. 1538 Leland Itin. IV. 16 The name of the Barony of Say is extinctid. 1547 in Cardwell Documentary Ann. (1839) I. 42 They have..utterly extincted and destroyed..all images. 1598 F. Meres in Arb. Garner II. 105 One strain of music extincte the pleasure of another. 1603 H. Crosse Vertues Commw. (1878) 35 Two contraries, cannot ioyntly hold possession, but one will vtterly extinct the other. |
b. To put an end to, make void (a law, legal right, status, ordinance). Also, to cancel (a licence, the claim of a creditor). Cf. extinguish 3 b.
| 1527 in Fiddes Wolsey ii. 142 The jurisdiction of the Prerogative should be extinctyd. 1531 Dial. on Laws Eng. ii. xiv. (1638) 84 He..would extinct former rights by such a fine with proclamation. 1541 Barnes Wks. (1573) 311/2 Gods blessed ordinaunce were rather to bee extincted and abhorred. 15.. R. Morice in Strype Eccl. Mem. III. xxviii. 236 Divers report that Mr. Latimers licence was extincted. 1588 J. Mellis Briefe Instr. G ij, Yee shall extinct the Creditors of the olde book by the contrary of his opposite. a 1626 Bacon Max. & Uses Com. Law ix. (1635) 39 If I had purchased the land myselfe, then I had extincted mine owne condition. |
c. To abolish, suppress (a state of things, custom, institution).
| 1531–2 Act 23 Hen. VIII, c. 20 To extinct and make frustrate the paymentys of the said Annates or first fruytes. 1540 Act 32 Hen. VIII, c. 22 §3 Many chanteries..ben sins y{supt} time vtterly dissolued and extincted. c 1555 Harpsfield Divorce Hen. VIII (1878) 283 Julius Cæsar..extincted the ancient liberty..of the people of Rome. |
d. = extinguish v. 3 e.
| 1545 Joye Exp. Dan. Argt. A vj, Nether the regale famylye nor thee stok of Juda to be extyncted. 1553 Brende Q. Curtius viii. 36 Theyr latter kynges..whose lynage the power of the Romans longe after dyd extinct. |
e. = extinguish v. 3 f.
| 1548 Hall Chron. 38 a, Scater kyng of Scottes..was by Dunwallo..slayn and extincted. 1587 Mirr. Mag., Albanact l, The Britains..Were ready still to fighte at euery call, Till time they had extynct, the monsters all. |
Hence exˈtincted ppl. a. exˈtincting vbl. n.
| 1513 Hen. VIII Let. in Strype Eccl. Mem. I. App. i. 3 Wee..have, for the extincting of the detestable Schisme..entred actual war. 1604 Shakes. Oth. ii. i. 81 He may..Giue renew'd fire to our extincted Spirits. 1631 Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 113 For the..vtter extincting of..power and authoritie. |