▪ I. exigent, a. and n.1
(ˈɛksɪdʒənt)
Also 5 -ente, 6–7 exegent(t, 7 exgigent.
[ad. L. exigent-em, pr. pple. of exigĕre, f. ex- out + agĕre to drive: see exact v. Cf. OF. exigent.]
A. adj.
1. Requiring immediate action or aid; pressing, urgent.
| 1670 Clarendon Contempl. on Ps. Tracts (1727) 617 That exigent cry for help. 1796 Burke Lett. Noble Ld. Wks. VIII. 46 At this exigent moment the loss of a finished man is not easily supplied. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Univ. Wks. (Bohn) II. 94 A fop..in exigent circumstances, will play the manly part. 1882 T. Mozley Remin. II. lxxxiii. 98 There were other and more exigent demands [upon Denison's means]. |
2. Requiring a great deal; demanding more than is reasonable; exacting, pressing.
| 1828 A. W. Fonblanque Engl. under 7 Administr. (1837) I. 144 It was said of some exigent man, that, etc. 1842 Sir H. Taylor Edwin the Fair ii. ii, A love that clings not, nor is exigent, Encumbers not the active purposes, Nor drains their source. 1870 Emerson Soc. & Solit., Clubs Wks. (Bohn) III. 92 Varied foods, climates, beautiful objects..are the necessity of this exigent system of ours. 1871 Morley Voltaire (1878) 76 His restlessness..was never tyrannical and exigent. |
b. Const. of.
| 1834 Sir H. Taylor Artevelde ii. i. ii, But now this body, exigent of rest, Will needs put in a claim. 1871 Morley Vauvenargues Crit. Misc. 20 An age when the intellect is usually most exigent of supremacy. |
B. n.1
† 1. A state of pressing need; a time of extreme necessity; a critical occasion, or one that requires immediate action or remedy; an emergency, extremity, strait. to bring, drive, put, etc. to, to take (an) exigent. Obs.
| c 1430 Lydg. Ord. Fools 4 Bacus and Iuno hath set abroche a tonne, [And] Brouthe the[r] braynys vn-to exigente. a 1548 Hye way to Spyttel Hous 1011 in Hazl. E.P.P. IV. 67 In theyr fury they be so vyolent, That they wyll bryng one to an exegent. 1577 Holinshed Chron. II. 3 The duke seeing himselfe to be driuen to such an exigent. 1580 Sidney Arcadia iv. (1622) 413 In steed of doing any thing as the exigent required, he began to make circles. a 1639 W. Whately Prototypes i. xvi. (1640) 162 God will have a well in store, and shew it us at the exigent. 1729 G. Shelvocke Artillery iv. 300 In such Exigents this Manipulus may be recurred to. 1755 in Johnson. 1818 in Todd. |
b. Last pinch; end, extremity.
| 1586 A. Day Eng. Secretary ii. (1625) 92 Here by degrees is passed to the last exigent. 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, ii. v. 9 These Eyes..Waxe dimme, as drawing to their Exigent. 1600 Dr. Dodypoll iv. iii. in Bullen O. Pl. III. 146, I feare my barbarous rudenesse to her Hath driven her to some desperate exigent. 1631 Heywood Eng. Eliz. (1641) 141 What a dangerous exigent must she needs come to, whose life was thus assaulted? |
† 2. pl. Needs, requirements. Obs.
| 1609 Bible (Douay) 2 Esdras vii. 65 He is bountiful, because he wil geve according to exigentes. 1641 Chas. I in Rushw. Hist. Coll. iii. (1692) I. 536 Most effectual and proper for the present exigents of the Kingdom. 1677 Hale Contempl. ii. 11 Because it is not accommodate to all Uses and Exigents. |
b. A required amount; a needed quantity.
| 1840 Browning Sordello iii. 337 His enterprise Marked out anew, its exigent of wit Apportioned. |
Hence ˈexigently adv., in an exigent manner.
| 1889 W. Sharp in Academy 30 Nov. 352/3, I..cannot but hope that he will not pursue too exigently his latest method. |
▪ II. † ˈexigent, n.2 Law. Obs.
Also 5–6 exigend.
[In 15th c. exigend, a. AF. exigende, ad. med.L. exigenda, gerundial pple. of exigĕre: see prec.]
A writ commanding the sheriff to summon the defendant to appear and deliver up himself upon pain of outlawry; also called writ of exigent.
| [1292 Britton i. ii. §8 Et si le pleyntif face defaute a nuli Counté, adunc cessent les exigendes jekes a nostre venue en le pays.] 1464 Paston Lett. No. 491. II. 161 He hath taken suerte that ye schall appere in the crastino animarum upon the exigents returnable. 1491 Act 7 Hen. VII, c. 24 By reason of eny processe or exigend made within the same Countie. 1502–3 Plumpton Corr. 173 On tewsday last was the court..and then was ther none exegent called agaynst you. c 1508 Ibid. 204 If I wold suffer the exigend, which I had agaynst you, not to goe out agaynst you. 1670 Vaughan Bushell's Case in Phenix (1721) I. 429 The Party came into Court and demanded Oyer of the Exigent. 1678 Butler Hudibras iii. i. 1036 What Charms [must that Lady have], that can..null Decree and Exigent. 1768 Blackstone Comm. III. 283 If a non est inventus is returned upon all of them, then a writ of exigent or exigi facias may be sued out. 1848 in Wharton Law Lex. |
b. Phrases: Clerk of the Exigents; to put in exigent; to sue to (an) exigent.
| a 1577 Sir T. Smith Commw. Eng. ii. xiv. (1609) 61 The Clarke of the Exigent is to frame all manner of Processes of Exigi facias. 1628 Coke On Litt. 114 a, Goods and chattels of those that be put in exigent. 1657 Burton's Diary (1828) II. 146 This Beavor, in Michaelmas term, had caused him to be sued to exigent. 1677 Lond. Gaz. No. 1209/4 Benjamin Hill, late Clerk of the Exigents. 1690 in Picton L'pool. Munic. Rec. (1883) I. 300 John Hodgson is sued to an Exgent by one John Brier..in Trespasse. |
▪ III. ˈexigent, v.
(ˈɛksɪdʒənt)
[f. exigent n.1 and n.2]
trans. † a. To subject (a person or thing) to. b. To carry out a writ of exigent against.
| 1656 S. H. Gold. Law 4 [They] forfeit their faith..to their Lord, the Publike Welfare, by exigenting it to intolerable sufferings and dangers. 1837 Palgrave Merch. & Friar iv. 241 Were you by the Coroner in County Court duly exigented and proclaimed? |