‖ depositum Obs.
(dɪˈpɒzɪtəm)
Pl. -a, -ums.
[L. dēpositum; n. use of neuter pa. pple. of dēpōnĕre to lay down: see depone, deposit.]
1. Something placed in a person's charge or laid up in a place for safe keeping; = deposit n. 1. a. lit.
| 1592 West 1st Pt. Symbol. §16 B, The thing left is called Receptum, Commendatum or depositum. 1617 Collins Def. Bp. Ely 81 Two depositums of like nature. 1669 Woodhead St. Teresa ii. 272 She..had foretold of a certain Depositum, that was to be reserved in that place; and the event following declared her meaning concerning her Body. 1673 Lady's Call. ii. §1 ¶2. 57 Testaments and other depositums of the greatest trust were usually committed to their custody. 1745 A. Butler Lives of Saints (1836) I. 527 She was to give to God an account of the least farthing of what was intrusted as a depositum in her hands. |
b. fig. of immaterial things: esp. of the faith or doctrine committed to the keeping of the Church.
| 1582 N. T. (Rhem.) 1 Tim. vi. 20 O Timothee, keepe the depositum [Vulg. custodi depositum]. 1583 Fulke Defence xxi. 569 Affected novelties of terms, such as neither English nor Christian ears ever heard in the English tongue: Scandal, prepuce, neophyte, depositum, gratis, parasceve, paraclete. 1642 Rogers Naaman To Rdr., Unto whose hands, the great depositum of Truth is put. 1656 Hammond Answ. to Schism disarmed viii. ii. §1 That depositum..that the Apostles thus deposited in all Churches, the several articles of the Apostolick faith or Creed. a 1711 Ken Dedicat. Poet. Wks. 1721 I. 7 And rather dye glad Martyrs at the Stake, Than the Depositum he left, forsake. 1732 Stackhouse Hist. Bible (1767) III. v. iii. 348 His life was a sacred depositum of God's. |
2. Something given as a pledge; = deposit n. 1 c.
| 1623 Cockeram, Depositum, a pledge. 1711 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) VI. 704 To pay down..half of that as a depositum for the remaining parts. |
3. A place where things are deposited or stored; a depot, depository, ‘storehouse’ (lit. and fig.).
| 1644 Evelyn Diary 19 Nov., Towards the lower end of the church..is the depositum and statue of the Countess Matilda. 1646 J. Hall Horæ Vac. 78 It is a fit depositum of knowledge. 1756 Nugent Gr. Tour II. 227 By means of these famous fairs, Leipsic is the depositum of a great part of the merchandize of Europe and the Indies. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. iv, The..most complete depositum of facts relating to the history of America, to be found in the United States. |