▪ I. incumbent, n.
(ɪnˈkʌmbənt)
[ad. L. incumbent-em: see next. The use of the term in senses 1 and 2 is peculiar to English, and app. belongs to a med.L. sense of L. incumbĕre = ‘obtinere, possidere, ut est apud Jurisconsultos’ (Du Cange).]
1. The holder of an ecclesiastical benefice.
| 1425 Rolls Parlt. IV. 306/1 As if the Benefice were voide, be dethe of yencumbent of ye same. 1534 Act 26 Hen. VIII, c. 3 §17 Any incumbent of any of the dignitees, benefices, or promocions spirituall afore especified. 1573 Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees 1835) I. 392 Also I giue to ye Incombent two cowbords a sidbord an almerie. 1641 Termes de la Ley s.v., Who is..called the Incumbent of that Church, because he doth bend all his study to the discharge of the cure there. 1739 Whitefield in Life & Jrnls. (1756) 147 The Incumbent lent me the Church. 1784 J. Potter Virtuous Villagers II. 137 The present incumbent on the living..is..in a dangerous state of illness. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) IV. 17 Every parson, vicar, or other incumbent of any ecclesiastical benefice, is enabled to exchange parsonage houses and glebe lands, with the consent of the patron and bishop, for other houses and lands. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. xxiv, An incumbent of this diocese. |
2. In general sense: The holder of any office.
| 1672 Marvell Reh. Transp. i. 243 They [kings] are the Incumbents of whole Kingdoms, and the Rectorship of the..People..rests upon them. 1700 J. A. Astry tr. Saavedra-Faxardo II. 21 'Tis necessary besides to settle a competent Salary upon each Office, such as the incumbent may live handsomely upon. a 1832 Bentham Offic. Aptitude Wks. 1843 V. 339 Who is there that does not know, that the value of an office to the incumbent is directly as the emolument, and inversely as the labour? a 1852 Webster Wks. (1877) II. 49 We protest against doctrines which regard offices as created for the sake of incumbents. 1884 Law Times LXXVII. 1/2 The incumbents, for the time being, of the various coronerships. 1904 W. Osler Aequanimitas v. 82 His son..held the chair for nearly the same length of time, and the remainder of the period has been covered by the occupancy of John Goodsir, and his successor..the present incumbent. 1940 W. Faulkner Hamlet i. iii. 61 They had waited about the store to see what would happen when he arrived who..must have still believed himself the incumbent. Ibid. ii. i. 95 The incumbent, the Professor at that time, was an old man. 1966 P. Green tr. Escarpit's Novel Computer vii. 92 The training division of A.I.M.R. was still at Brive, and boasted a general manager's office; but the incumbent was in fact a low-ranking deputy-manager. 1971 Nature 17 Sept. p. x (Advt.), Applications are invited for the Harry Bolus Chair of Botany... It is required that the incumbent should promote work in both experimental and field botany. 1972 Daily Tel. 29 Nov. 8 The victory by Mr James Conway..in a ballot for general secretary of the Engineering Union is being challenged... Mr Conway, the incumbent, received 169,806 votes. |
3. One who leans over something. nonce-use.
| 1719 Free-Thinker No. 143 ¶5 Indocil Incumbents over Folios. |
▪ II. incumbent, a.
(ɪnˈkʌmbənt)
[ad. L. incumbent-em, pres. pple. of incumbĕre to lie upon, to lean or press upon, to apply oneself to, etc., f. in- (in-2) + cumbĕre to lie: cf. cumbent.]
1. a. That lies, leans, rests, or presses with its weight upon something else. Const. on.
| 1624 Wotton Archit. in Reliq. (1672) 61 Two Incumbent Figures gracefully leaning upon it towards one another. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 226 With expanded wings he stears his flight Aloft, incumbent on the dusky Air. 1782 Pennant Journ. fr. Chester to Lond. 88 His figure..is engraven on the incumbent alabaster slab. 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mech 96 The wheel, with its incumbent apparatus, weighs about 20 tons. 1853 Lytton My Novel v. iv, Rising from his incumbent posture. 1853 Herschel Pop. Lect. Sc. iv. §18 (1873) 156 It goes to add to the weight incumbent on the polar. |
| fig. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. xxx. III. 161 The nations..must have pressed with incumbent weight on the confines of Germany. 1862 Merivale Rom. Emp. (1865) III. xxvi. 230 All support was withdrawn, and the incumbent mass of the conquerors rushed headlong over the bodies of their adversaries. |
b. poet. Of things which lean or hang over something else: also of darkness, breaking waves, etc.
| 1719 Young Paraphr. Job Wks. 1757 I. 207 Death's in⁓most chambers didst Thou ever see?..and wade To the black portal thro' th' incumbent shade? 1728–46 Thomson Spring 41 Incumbent o'er the shining shore The master leans. 1740 Somerville Hobbinol 1 209 Like some huge Rock he stands, That breaks th' incumbent Waves. 1810 Southey Kehama xxi. i, The Ship shot through the incumbent night. 1810 Scott Lady of L. iii. xxvi, Many a rock..in random ruin piled..frowned incumbent o'er the spot. |
2. spec. a. Physics. Of air, fluid, or other weight, with reference to the downward pressure exerted by it.
| 1660 Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. ii. 38 The Atmosphere incumbent upon the upper part of the same key or stopple. 1794 G. Adams Nat. & Exp. Philos. I. 53 The lower air presses the palm of the hand as much upwards, as the incumbent column presses the back part downwards. 1831 Lardner Pneumat. iii. 243 The elasticity of the air which surrounds us is equal to the weight of the incumbent atmosphere. |
b. Geol. Overlying and resting (upon); superimposed, superincumbent, as a stratum.
| 1789 Mills in Phil. Trans. LXXX. 79 The whole is incumbent on regular basalt pillars, of various dimensions. 1811 Pinkerton Petral I. 569 Coal sometimes contains..crystals of calcareous spar, perhaps infiltrated from incumbent limestone. 1839 Murchison Silur. Syst. i. xxxi. 411 The Lower Ludlow shale or mudstone is as uniformly incumbent on the Wenlock limestone. 1874 Lyell Elem. Geol. xiii. 190 The shells of the Incumbent yellow sand of the same territory. |
c. Bot. Said of an anther when it lies flat against the inner side of the filament; of cotyledons when the back of one is applied to the radicle.
| 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. ii. xix. (1765) 112 The Antheræ incumbent. 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 38 Anthers incumbent, with contiguous lobes. 1851 Balfour Bot. §601. 288 The cotyledons are applied to each other by their faces, and the radicle is folded on their back, so as to be dorsal, and the cotyledons are incumbent. 1872 Oliver Elem. Bot. ii. 139 Compare. Sisymbrium, with the radicle curved over the back of one of the cotyledons (incumbent). |
d. Entom. Applied to wings which at rest lie horizontally upon the body, as those of most moths.
| 1826 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. IV. 337 Incumbent..wings which when at rest cover the back of the insect. 1856–8 W. Clark Van der Hoeven's Zool. I. 321 Wings incumbent. |
e. Zool. Of hairs, spines, etc.: Lying along the surface on which they grow.
f. Ornith. Of the hallux or hind toe of a bird: Resting on the ground or other support with its whole length, its insertion being on a level with the anterior toes (Cent. Dict.).
3. a. Resting or falling upon a person as a duty or obligation. Const. on, upon, (also † to).
| 1567 in Row Hist. Kirk (Wodrow Soc.) 35 The host of God..shall doe all incumbent to them for the establishing of the true religion. 1637–50 Row ibid. 344 The first thing incumbent to be done there was to have deposed and excommunicat their Lordships. 1653 Cromwell Sp. 4 July in Carlyle, That there was a duty incumbent upon us. 1713 Berkeley Hylas & Phil. iii. Wks. 1871 I. 348 It would still be incumbent on you to shew those words were not taken in the vulgar acceptation. 1851 Gladstone Glean. IV. i. 1, I have come home with a deep sense of the duty incumbent upon me. 1865 Reader 14 Jan. 39/1 Our author thinks that it is the incumbent duty of England to promote emigration to such a country. |
† b. Falling as a charge or pecuniary liability.
| 1670 G. H. Hist. Cardinals i. i. 23 As to debts, obligations, and incumbent charges, they speak not a word. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. (1869) I. Introd. 4 Defraying the expenses incumbent on the whole society. |
† c. Resting or vested as a right. Obs.
| 1652 Persuasive to Compliance 13 The decision of all controversies lay incumbent in the person of the King onely. |
† 4. Weighing upon the mind or feelings. Obs.
| 1651 Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxvii. 155 Ambition, and Covetousnesse are Passions..that are perpetually incumbent, and pressing. 1711 Shaftesbury Charac. (1737) II. i. ii. §3. 30 Things are no less active and incumbent on the Mind, at all Seasons, and even when the real Objects themselves are absent. |
† 5. Impending, imminent, threatening. Obs.
| 1646 Bp. Maxwell Burd. Issach. in Phenix (1708) II. 295 God's Judgments are incumbent and imminent upon Church and Kingdom. 1682 W. Evats Grotius' War & Peace 82 When the danger incumbent is past, restitution is to be made, if we are able. 1793 Gouv. Morris in Sparks Life & Writ. (1832) II. 383 The proselytes will return to their original sentiments as soon as the incumbent terror is removed. |
† 6. Bending or applying one's energies to some work; closely occupied with something. Const. on (upon), over, to. Obs.
| 1548 Udall Erasm. Par. Luke xix. 149 a, Lowe men spiritually are suche, as are incumbent and dooe rest on filthie or vile and transitory thynges. 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. 78 What she is most incumbent upon, and which she alwayes beholds, are those things which appertain to action and utility. 1668 Clarendon Vindicat. Tracts (1727) 39 Everybody remembers the multiplicity of business the king was incumbent to at that time. 1814 Scott Wav. (ed. 1) iii, He was losing for ever the opportunity of acquiring habits of firm and incumbent [later edd. assiduous] application. |
7. † a. In occupation of a benefice; holding the position of an incumbent. Const. on. Obs.
| 1604 N. D. 3rd Pt. Three Convers. Eng. 193 He had byn depriued..from a certayne benefice, that he vnjustly..was incumbent vpon. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. ii. ii. §68 Parishes..places bounded in regard of the Profits from the people therein, payable onely to a Pastour incumbent there. a 1661 ― Worthies (1840) III. 210 He was never incumbent on any living with cure of souls. |
b. Occupying or having the tenure of any post or position.
| 1972 Nature 28 Apr. 417/2 The incumbent head of the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy would..expect to have more than an equal say in the appointment of his partner. 1972 Science 22 Sept. 1087/3 The MSU trustees..appointed the Pontiac school's incumbent dean..to be dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine at MSU. 1973 Sci. Amer. Mar. 43 (Advt.), Well beyond buffhood is the incumbent partisan of astronomy's cause at the Kodak Research Laboratories. |
Hence inˈcumbently adv. rare, in an incumbent manner, after the manner of an incumbent weight.
| 1817 J. Scott Paris Revisit. (ed. 4) 229 A duty..which presses most incumbently on all those who stand by the wheel that shapes the course of the state. |