▪ I. superˈannuate, a. and n. Now rare.
[ad. mod.L. *superannuātus, altered f. superannātus superannate.]
A. adj. = superannuated.
| 1647 Ward Simple Cobler 21 As if former Truths were grown superannuate and saplesse, if not altogether antiquate. 1654 Gayton Pleas. Notes i. iv. 13, I believe Rosinante was a Gelding, or else a Stallion super-annuate. 1765 Blackstone Comm. i. xiii. 421 Sailors,..when maimed, or wounded, or superannuate. 1866 Mansfield School Life Winchester Coll. (1870) 237 Superannuate—a boy who was obliged [c 1840] to leave at Election, owing to his being past eighteen years of age. ‘Founders’ were not ‘Superannuate’ till they were twenty-five. 1869 Lowell Cathedral 647 Superannuate forms and mumping shams. |
B. n. A superannuated person; spec. at Winchester School (see quot. 1866 in A.).
| 1816 Hist. Colleges Winchester, Eton & Westminster 46 Boys between eighteen and nineteen years old, called superannuates. 1822 Jefferson Writ. (1830) IV. 351 Two ancient servants, who..have a reasonable claim to repose..in the sanctuary of invalids and superannuates. 1855 Potts Liber Cantabr. i. 416 Funds out of which exhibitions..are given to superannuates of the foundation [of Winchester College]. 1901 Westm. Gaz. 25 July 2/2 The prison service is no longer a refuge for the superannuates of the Army and the Navy. |
▪ II. superannuate, v.
(s(j)uːpəˈrænjuːeɪt)
[Back-formation from next.]
† 1. trans. To render antiquated or obsolete: said of the lapse of time, etc. Also, to set aside or reject as antiquated or out-of-date. Obs.
| 1649 E. Marbury in Spurgeon Treas. David xxxiv. 22 No age shall ever superannuate them [sc. God's promises], or put them out of full force and virtue. 1660 H. More Myst. Godl. To Rdr. 10 That bold Enthusiast..who seems to endeavour to superannuate Christianity..and to introduce another Evangelie. 1680 ― Apocal. Apoc. 220 Nor does this season, being Regnum Spiritus, superannuate this Sacrament, but rather call for it. 1691 Norris Pract. Disc. 119 None shall be thought worthy to be retained in it but only these Two, Praise and Love; all the rest shall be superannuated and cease. 1830 Mackintosh Eth. Philos. Wks. 1846 I. 59 Two centuries have not superannuated probably more than a dozen of his [Hobbes's] words. 1865 Spectator 18 Feb. 176 The Railway companies..have killed the coaches, superannuated the barges. |
† b. To put off for a time. Obs. rare—1.
| 1654 H. L'Estrange Chas. I (1655) 125 Not to delay and super-annuate longer this expectation. |
2. To dismiss or discharge from office on account of age; esp. to cause to retire from service on a pension; to pension off.
| 1692 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) II. 557 Collonel Murray..is superannuated, and a pension given him of 250{pstlg} for life. 1758 Case of Authors by Prof. Stated 57 Being super-annuated with a lucrative Sine-Cure. 1835 Marryat Jacob Faithful xlvi, The governors..thought it necessary to superannuate him with a pension. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. xxxv, This isn't the first time you've talked about super⁓annuating me. 1885 M. E. Braddon Wyllard's Weird I. vii. 196 Why do you not superannuate poor old Gretton, and let Bothwell be your steward? |
3. pass. and intr. To become too old for a position or office; to reach the age at which one leaves a school, retires from an office, etc.
| 1814 G. Hardinge Let. in Nichols Lit. Anecd. 18th C. (1814) VIII. 543 He was educated at Eton school,..but superannuated, and became a member of St. John's College in Cambridge. 1817 J. Evans Excurs. Windsor, etc. 352 At nineteen years of age the scholars [at Eton] are superannuated, when they pass off some to Cambridge, and others to Oxford. 1904 Daily News 18 Apr. 3 [He] will superannuate at the forthcoming Wesleyan Conference, and retire from the editorship of the Connexional publications. |
b. trans. To cause to be too old. rare.
| 1893 W. G. Collingwood Life Ruskin i. ix. 96 Ruskin could not now go in for honours, for his lost year had superannuated him. |
4. To outlast, outwear. rare.
| 1820 Hazlitt Lect. Dram. Lit. 294 The passion of curiosity had in him [sc. Sir T. Browne] survived to old age, and had superannuated his other faculties. |
† 5. intr. To be a year out in date. Obs. nonce-use.
| 1655 H. L'Estrange Chas. I Pref. A 4, In assigning all both Things and Actions their proper times, no one of which..is so in these Annals mislaid, as to super-annuate, and not many to vary from the very day of their prime existence. [Cf. super- 8 (b).]. |
¶The alleged sense ‘to last beyond the year’, copied in mod. Dicts. from Johnson, is founded on an alteration, in later editions of Bacon, of superannate (q.v., sense 1).
Add: [2.] b. To make provision for (an employee) under a superannuation scheme; also, to provide (a post) with pension benefits, make pensionable.
| 1892 J. A. Spender State & Pensions in Old Age viii. 136 A Committee of the House of Commons was appointed in February, 1891, to..report generally upon the whole question of superannuating elementary teachers in England and Wales. 1928 Robertson & Samuels Pension & Superannuation Funds viii. 79 Pension schemes are growing up not only in industry proper; many institutions..have their own schemes of superannuating those in their service. 1973 Nature 31 Aug. p. xiv/1 (Advt.), The post is superannuated with contributions offset by a non pensionable allowance of 5½{pcnt} of gross salary. 1973 Times 18 June 15/5 She is not superannuated and has no paid holiday. |