inhabitant, a. and n.
(ɪnˈhæbɪtənt)
Also 5 en-; n. pl. 5–7 -ans, 6 erron. -ance.
[a. AF. and OF. inhabitant, ad. L. inhabitānt-em, pr. pple. of inhabitāre to inhabit.]
A. adj. Inhabiting, dwelling, resident. arch. or Obs., exc. in inhabitant householder, occupier, etc. (where perh. rather an attrib. use of the n.).
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (1531) 61 b, Wherin he myght be inhabytaunt and dwell for euermore. 1531–2 Act 23 Hen. VIII, c. 9 §1 Where suche men..ben inhabitant and dwelling. 1625 Gonsalvio's Sp. Inquis. 3 Specially if he be there inhabitant. 1724 Lond. Gaz. No. 6324/4 John Wicksteed..(formerly..Inhabitant on Horse-lie-down). 1824 Macaulay St. Dennis & St. George Misc. Writ. (Rtldg.) 47 The rates were levied by select vestries of the inhabitant householders. 1897 Bill for Women's Franchise (Ho. Comm. 3 Feb.), Every woman who is the inhabitant occupier as owner or tenant of any dwelling-house, tenement, or building within the borough or county where such occupation exists. |
B. n. One who inhabits; a human being or animal dwelling in a place; a permanent resident. Const. of († in). (In early use only in pl., the sing. rarely occurring until late in 16th cent.
In 15–16th c. the pl. was often, as in F., inhabitans, which being also spelt inhabita(u)nce, was confounded in form with inhabitance above.)
| [1378 Act 2 Rich. II, c. 1 Les enhabitantz et en franchises en ycelles.] 1462 Edw. IV in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. I. 129 All the howsholdars and inhabitaunts within yowre Warde. 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. i. viii. 20 Nethre gold ne siluer nor precyous stones make not the enhabytans to lyue in peas. 1538 Starkey England i. iii. 72 Ruyn and dekey..the wych chefely I attrybute to the lake of inhabytans. 1552 Huloet, Inhabitauntes of a litle walled towne, castel[lan]i. 1588 R. Parke tr. Mendoza's Hist. China 345 They did baptise certaine of the inhabitance. 1593 Tell-Troth's N.Y. Gift (1876) 42 Holes..vsed.. by the inhabitantes of that citie. Ibid., This citie..hath so dispersed her inhabitaunce into the other partes of the cuntrey. 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 408 If we consider both the house and the inhabitant, wee shall see that [etc.]. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 217 Frequented with Leopards, Bores, Iaccalls, and such like sauage inhabitants. 1784 R. Bage Barham Downs II. 161, I have been an inhabitant with your Lordship. 1871 Freeman Norm. Conq. IV. xvii. 11 He had won the land by force..without the good will of a single English-born inhabitant of England. |
| fig. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones iv. ii, Such was the outside of Sophia; nor was this beautiful frame disgraced by an inhabitant unworthy of it. |
b. U.S. (See quots.)
| 1789 Constit. U.S. i. §2 No person shall be a representative who shall not..be an inhabitant of that state in which he shall be chosen. 1834 Congressional Election Cases 411 An inhabitant of a state within the meaning of the Constitution, is one who is bona fide a member of the State, subject to all the requisitions of its laws, and entitled to all the privileges which they confer. 1883 E. Channing Town & County Govt. Eng. Col. N. Amer. (1884) 12 To this [parish] meeting all those who had benefit of the things there transacted might come; that is to say, all householders, and all who manured land within the parish. Such were technically termed inhabitants, even though they dwelt in another town. |