inhere, v.
(ɪnˈhɪə(r))
Also 6 inhære.
[ad. L. inhærēre to stick in or to, adhere to, etc., f. in- (in-2) + hærēre to stick; cf. adhere, cohere.]
1. intr. To stick in; to be or remain fixed or lodged in something. rare or Obs.
| 1608 Topsell Serpents (1658) 594 Little bags of poyson which inhere in their chaps and under their tongues. 1651 Raleigh's Ghost 22 These spots do not inhere in the body of the Sun. 1739 ‘R. Bull’ tr. Dedekindus' Grobianus iv. 36 Do Lumps of Meat between thy Teeth inhere? 1796 Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. 338 Stones of one or more species, inhering in another stone. 1804 Abernethy Surg. Obs. 251 A subtile matter inhering in the brain and nerves. |
2. fig. To remain or abide in something immaterial, as a state or condition; to remain in mystical union with a Divine person. Now rare or Obs.
| a 1617 Bayne Eph. (1658) 123 The third [phrase] noteth Christ the object [and] our inhering in him. 1665 G. Havers P. della Valle's Trav. E. India 27 The Name Seiàh Selim, tenaciously inhering in the memory of people, remains still to him. 1756 Burke Subl. & B. ii. v, So strongly does it inhere in our constitution, that very few are able to conquer it. 1839 Bailey Festus xxiii. (1854) 412 He [Satan] in the Godstate first with all his hosts By fate inhered. |
3. To exist, abide, or have its being, as an attribute, quality, etc., in a subject or thing; to form an element of, or belong to the intrinsic nature of, something. (The current sense; in earlier use chiefly Philos.)
| 1586 J. Ferne Blaz. Gentrie 293 The insignes thereof which like incidents..or inseparable accidents..doe alwaies inhere, and waite on that office, and dignitie of a kinge. 1624 Gataker Transubst. 173 The accidents of bread and wine remaine without actuall inhering and being in their naturall subject. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. ii. xiii. §19 They who first ran into the Notion of Accidents, as a sort of real Beings that needed something to inhere in. 1739 Hume Hum. Nat. i. vi. (1874) I. 324 The particular qualities, which form a substance, are commonly refer'd to an unknown something, in which they are supposed to inhere. 1827 Gentl. Mag. XCVII. ii. 602 If this sentiment..is found to inhere in a feeling so pure and exalted. 1855 Bain Senses & Int. iii. i. §38 (1864) 378 Knowledge and perception inhere in mind alone. |
b. To be vested or inherent in, as a right, power, function, or the like.
| 1840 De Quincey Style i. Wks. 1860 XI. 188 To an Englishman, the right of occupying the attention of the company seems to inhere in things rather than in persons. 1850 Gladstone Glean. V. xlviii. 202 The power of order inhering in the Church. 1890 Century Mag. 112/1 Where agriculture is dependent upon an artificial supply of water, and where there is more land than can be served by the water, values inhere in water, not in land; the land without the water is without value. |
† c. trans. To pertain to; to be an attribute or prerogative of. Obs. rare.
| 1609 F. Grevil (Ld. Brooke) Mustapha v. Chor. i, Creation, we say, still inheres the crowne. |
† 4. intr. To adhere, cleave to. Obs. rare.
| 1563 Winȝet Wks. (1890) II. 73 Twa certane thingis ar gretumlie and diligentlie to be obseruit, to the quhilkis aluterlie thai suld inhere, quha wald nocht be hæretikis. |