▪ I. incident, n.1
(ˈɪnsɪdənt)
Also 5 incedent, 5–6 incydent.
[a. F. incident (13th c.), subst. use of incident adj.; see incident a.1]
1. a. Something that occurs casually in the course of, or in connexion with, something else, of which it constitutes no essential part; an event of accessory or subordinate character.
| 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy v. xxxvii, In Troye boke no more of hym I fynde..Fro henceforth I can no processe reade But incydentes that beare no substaunce. 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. xl. 126 Yf an incydent had not ben or this, he had ben farre in the countrey of Hungery. 1533 More Apol. xxvi. Wks. 891/2 The touching of this matter is no part of my principall entent, but happeneth as an incident to fall in my waye. 1556 J. Heywood Spider & F. lxi. 63 This present argument, Is: to principall case, but an incident. 1711 Shaftesbury Charac. (1737) III. iv. ii. 220 Habitations of Defence against the Seasons and other Incidents. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Preserve, Corn, by the Moisture of the Weather, want of turning, and some other Incidents, will grow musty. 1879 Athenæum 6 Sept. 305/1 Failures are inevitable incidents. |
b. An occurrence or event, sometimes comparatively trivial in itself, which precipitates or could precipitate political unrest, open warfare, etc. Also, a particular episode (air-raid, skirmish, etc.) in war; an unpleasant or violent argument, a fracas.
| 1913 Ann. Reg. 1912 i. 441 He had invariably done everything France wanted him to do, and, especially at the time of the Agadir incident, had rejected German..advances. 1920 W. S. Blunt My Diaries ii. v. 138 Bramley..had reported the incident in a serious light, and Cromer had taken it up seriously, seeing in it..a danger to the British occupation. 1920 T. E. Lawrence Let. 8 Aug. (1938) 313 Our communications are very bad, our defence positions all have both flanks in the air, and there seem to have been two incidents lately. 1930 Economist 30 Aug. 392/1 When some special ‘incident’ has occurred, a Mandatory Power frequently furnishes the Commission with additional information. 1937 V. Bartlett This is my Life xiv. 245 There were very few ‘incidents’. I visited almost every district of Berlin,..and I saw no man beaten..but I came back..overwhelmed with shame that people could be proud of so much bullying. 1937 L. Bromfield Rains Came i. iv. 32 One impotent little man from Clapham, who was insolent to the Maharani, received for his pains a dismissal from the Civil Service for having made an ‘incident’. Ibid. lv. 242 It was threatening to become an ‘incident’ which might unsettle the peace of India. 1938 Encycl. Brit. Bk. of Yr. 1938 296/1 Such incidents are bound to form an integral part of large-scale warfare under modern conditions. 1943 Hunt & Pringle Service Slang 40 There are no occasions, occurrences, or events in an airman's life. Anything that happens to him is an ‘incident’..why, nobody knows. 1945 Ann. Reg. 1944 113 They [sc. the Home Guard] had given valuable aid to the Civil Defence Services in dealing with air-raid incidents. 1955 Ann. Reg. 1954 15 The number of ‘incidents’ in the Canal Zone increased. 1959 R. Collier City that wouldn't Die xi. 211 A warden doesn't write off an incident until he has personally made certain there is no one else on the premises. 1960 Partridge Charm of Words i. 23 If a business man speaks of incidents when he means quarrels, he has been influenced by journalism. 1973 G. Greene Honorary Consul i. i. 23 The Governor didn't want any incidents. |
2. a. An occurrence or event viewed as a separate circumstance.
| 1462 J. Paston in P. Lett. No. 439 II. 89 This and what incedentes ye knowe, I preie yow by wrytinge certefie me in all hast. 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1684) III. 861 But of these incidents and occurrents here-after more. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 254 Rarities in nature, and surprising incidents, which foreigners expect. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 154 ¶11 The fortuitous collision of happy incidents. 1802–12 Bentham Ration. Evid. Wks. 1843 VI. 262 To relate incidents as they have really happened, is the work of the memory. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth v, Even the high-swelled hopes with which the late incident had filled him began to quail. 1874 L. Stephen Hours in Library (1892) I. i. 34 This book..shows a skill in selecting telling incidents. |
† b. A matter, an affair. Obs. rare.
| 1485 Caxton St. Wenefr. 21 After many wordes and causes leyd and after Innumerable incidentes and reasons alledged atte last they were al acorded. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 25 ¶4 Upon such Incidents as we decide by Combat. 1761 Hume Hist. Eng. II. xlii. 443 note, This parliament..passed some remarkable incidents. |
3. In the arts: a. A distinct piece of action in a play or poem; † in early use, an event subordinate to the main design (so F. incident).
| 1695 Dryden tr. Du Fresnoy's Art Paint. (J.), No person, no incident in the play, but must be of use to carry on the main design. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 19 ¶3 The Plot and Incidents of the Play are laid with that Subtilty of Spirit. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl., Incident, in a poem, is an episode or particular action, tacked to the principal action, or depending on it. 1863 Mrs. C. Clarke Shaks. Char. xiv. 350 A set-off against the pathetic incidents of the play. 1873 Symonds Grk. Poets vii. 205 The plays of Euripides are more rich in stirring incidents than those of his predecessors. |
b. A single feature in a picture; especially one that does not form part of the main design or scene. rare.
| 1705 Addison Italy 379 The Prospect from the Capucin's Garden, which for the Extent and Variety of pleasing Incidents is, I think, the most charming. 1846 Ruskin Mod. Paint. (1848) I. ii. i. vii. §13. 86 Behind the ‘Sacrifice for the Friends’ of Giotto at Pisa, there is a sweet piece of rock incident. |
† 4. a. Something liable to attach itself to or connect itself with another thing; an accessory circumstance. Const. to, unto (rarely into). Obs. exc. as in b.
| 1649 Bp. Hall Cases Consc. i. iv. (R.), There are two incidents into this practice which may render it not unwarrantable. 1660 R. Coke Power & Subj. 95 Treason does ever produce fatal and final destruction to the offender, and never attaineth to the desired end (two incidents inseparable thereunto). 1755 B. Martin Mag. Arts & Sc. ii. xi. 236 Virgil, from the various Incidents of this Season, gives many singular and notable Epithets thereto. |
b. Law. A privilege, burden, custom, etc. commonly or invariably attaching to an office, estate, or the like.
| 1628 Coke On Litt. 151 b, Incident, a thing appertaining to or following another as a more worthy or principall..And of incidents some be separable, and some inseparable. 1670 Blount Law Dict. s.v. Advowzen, Advowzen Appendant..depends upon a Mannor, as appurtenant to it, termed by Kitchin an Incident that may be separated from the Subject. 1755 Carte Hist. Eng. IV. 301 Their dignities had ceased for some ages to be an incident of their tenures. 1817 Ld. Loughborough in Douglass' Rep. II. 727 A fine to be paid on the change of a tenant is almost a constant incident of a copyhold estate. 1876 Digby Real Prop. i. 48 Some of the ‘incidents’ of tenure by knight-service had their counter⁓part in tenure in socage. |
† c. An incidental charge or expense. Obs.
| 1737 J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. ii. iii. 87 (List Officers Excise) Accomptant for Imprest Money for paying of Incidents. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. v. ii. (1869) II. 495 If the salaries of officers and other incidents, therefore, amount to more than ten per cent. 1776 G. Semple Building in Water 38 An Estimate of the Expence..amounted to twenty thousand Pounds, and..we allowed the five hundred for Incidents. |
5. attrib. and Comb. (also incidents). incident book, a book in which all relevant information is kept at an incident room; incident office, post, room, names for a centre set up by the police close to the scene of a crime, accident, or disaster, from which all operations are controlled and monitored.
| 1967 Baker & Wilkie Police Promotion Handbk. iv. xxiii. 302 It will be clear from the list of duties that the manning of an Incident Post at the scene of a major disaster will call for a sufficiency of staff. 1971 ‘J. Fraser’ Death in Pheasant's Eye xxiii. 132 Three night men on duty in the Incidents Room. Ibid., The Incidents Book was on Inspector Coates' table... The Incidents Book was the Bible of any murder investigation; every action was telephoned to the man who looked after the book. 1972 L. Lamb Picture Frame xviii. 154 Mr. Glover's incident office is in a red corrugated-iron hut. 1973 Times 12 Mar. 1/5 The murder hunt is being led by Detective Superintendent Brian Weight, who set up an incident room at Aylesbury police station. |
▪ II. incident, n.2
see incident a.2
▪ III. incident, a.1
(ˈɪnsɪdənt)
Also 6 incydent(e, insedent, insident.
[a. F. incident or ad. L. incident-em, pres. pple. of incidĕre to fall into or to, fall upon, happen to, etc., f. in- (in-2) + cadĕre to fall. The senses of the English word are derived from med.L. rather than from F.]
I. 1. Liable or apt to befall or occur to; likely to happen; hence, naturally appertaining or attaching. a. Const. to († in, into), rarely on.
| 1488 Will of Statworth (Somerset Ho.), To socour his simple body as they think incident and conuenient to him. 1530 Rastell Bk. Purgat. iii. xii, Punyshment..is incydent to the repentaunce whiche taketh away y⊇ synne. 1534 More Comf. agst. Trib. ii. Wks. 1177/2 Yf we well consyder these twoo thinges, tentation and persecucion, wee maye fynde that eyther of theym is incydente into the tother. 1578 Lyte Dodoens vi. lxxxvii. 771 A kind of corruption or maladie insident to the pine-tree. 1584 Lyly Campaspe v. iv, Commonly we see it incident in artificers to be enamoured of their owne workes. 1657 Austen Fruit Trees i. 46 Which is not incident in this way of grafting. 1685 H. More Para. Prophet. 414 That the Time of the New Jerusalem is comprized in, or, at least, incident into, the Philadelphian Succession. 1744 Warburton Wks. (1811) XI. 407 Deliberation and after-thought are not incident to God. 1773 Reid Aristotle's Log. v. §3 (1806) 119 The fallacies incident to categorical syllogisms. 1859 Lang Wand. India 359 The noise..incident on the striking of the tents and the breaking up of the little camp. 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. II. xxxvii. 43 A State government is a natural growth, which prima facie possesses all the powers incident to any government whatever. |
b. without construction.
| 1570 Dee Math. Pref. 5 Both the one and the other hath fractions incident. 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lviii. §4 Baptisme is farre more necessarie then any such incident Rite or Solemnitie ordained for the better administration thereof. 1649 Milton Eikon. xxvi, æmulations..are incident among military men. 1653 Woodall's Wks. Pref. 9 To instruct them in the uses and dangers incident by mistakes. a 1677 Manton Serm. Ps. cxix. verse 107. Wks. 1872 VIII. 96 Those in the highest station have their incident cares and troubles. 1898 Daily News 23 July 5/3 The Puerto Rico expedition, and the incident aggressive steps taken in the campaign. |
2. Law. Attaching itself, as a privilege, burden, or custom, to an office, position, etc.
| 1491 Act 7 Hen. VII, c. 22 §2 Fees and annuyties incident to every or the same Offices. 1523 Fitzherb. Bk. Surv. 21 b, It is called a rent seeke, bycause there is no distresse insedent nor belongyng to the same. 1574 tr. Littleton's Tenures 21 a, Fealtie is incydent to everye manner of Service. a 1626 Bacon Max. & Uses Com. Law (1636) 35 To this tenure by Knights service in chief, was incident that the King should have a certain summe of money, called aid. 1767 Blackstone Comm. II. xi. 176 Where rent is reserved, it is also incident..to the reversion. 1876 Digby Real Prop. iii. 162 Every freeholder holding lands within the manor had, as of right, common of pasturage on the wastes as incident to his lands. |
† 3. Relating or pertinent to. Obs.
| 1557 Ord. Hospitalls F iij, The Books of this Howse, incident to the matter. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. (1882) 2 Such necessary questions, as are incident to my purpose. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World iii. (1634) 89 It is not my purpose to pursue the historie of the Persians..otherwise than as they shall be incident to the affaires of Greece. |
† 4. Apt to fall into; liable to; subject to. Obs.
| 1603 Drayton Bar. Wars i. lx, Men are not ever incident to losse, When Fortune seemes them frowardly to crosse. 1624 Heywood Gunaik. i. 18 A wicked and irreligious man is subject and incident to fall into many distresses and casualties. 1647 W. Browne tr. Gomberville's Polexander iii. iii. 84 Ah! ingratefull Zabaim, King incident to all crimes! 1676 W. Hubbard Happiness of People 55 Spiritual Pride is an evil, the very best of Gods Children are incident unto. 1760 H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1808) I. 166 This state of mortality is incident to perpetual change and revolution. 1767 Mrs. S. Pennington Lett. Diff. Subj. IV. 16 The little complaints they [children] are incident to. |
5. a. Occurring or liable to occur by the way, or in the course of something else of which it forms no essential part; casual; = incidental 1. Now rare or Obs.
| 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cccxix. 493 The duke of Lancaster was nat in the fauoure of the comen people, wherby dyuers incydents parels fell after in England. 1581 Confer. i. (1584) F iv b, By occasion incident there was talke of a text of Scripture. 1699 Bentley Phal 309 The incident Mistakes, which he has run into, have not fail'd to increase in Number. 1716 M. Davies Athen. Brit. III. Crit. Hist. 53 That Doctrine, which those chance-Propositions or incident Expressions seem to insinuate. |
† b. Of expenses or charges; = incidental 1 b.
| 1652 Act Commw. Sale Est. Ld. Dunbar, etc., The Commissioners shall and may allow all incident charges for the necessary carrying on of this service. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) I. 230 With all the Charges incident. 1756 Washington Lett. Writ. 1889 I. 313 By this means the country loses..the sums of money which each man costs, besides many incident charges, such as horse hire. 1768 Woman of Honor III. 178 He put into my hand a bank note, more than sufficient to defray any incident charges. |
6. Subordinate, subsidiary, accessory. a. Anat. (See quot.)
| 1855 Mayne Expos. Lex., Incident Spinal Nerves..those of the spinal system of nerves which convey any impressions on, or irritation of the integuments, or mucous membranes, to the true spinal marrow. |
† b. incident proposition, a proposition inserted in a principal one, and introduced by a relative pronoun, as ‘bodies, which are transparent, have many pores’ (Watts); a subordinate relative clause.
| 1725 Watts Logic ii. ii. §5 The whole proposition is called the primary or chief, and the additional proposition is called an incident proposition. |
II. 7. Falling or striking upon or against; acting upon anything from without. esp. of light: Falling or striking upon a surface often in photographic contexts. Const. upon.
| 1667 Boyle in Phil. Trans. II. 606 Looking-Glasses..are conspicuous only by the incident beams of the Sun. 1710 J. Clarke Rohault's Phil. (1729) I. 91 If the incident Body A, and the Body CDEF upon which it strikes, are void of all Elasticity [etc.]. 1716 Cheyne Philos. Princ. Relig. i. 78 The Obliquity of the Incident Ray is great. 1831 Brewster Nat. Magic iv. (1833) 59 Mirrors..adjusted not only to one another, but to the light incident upon each. 1842–3 Grove Corr. Phys. Forces (1874) 116 Transparent matter upon which light is incident. 1855 J. Edwards Art Landscape Paint. Water Col. 37 Illuminated by light actually incident upon the picture. 1864 H. Spencer Princ. Biol. §169 That there may be continuous changes of structure in organisms, there must be continuous changes in the incident forces. 1951 G. H. Sewell Amateur Film-Making (ed. 2) ii. 21 The makers of other meters have adopted the Incident-light principle and have provided modifying attachments for their instruments. 1952 J. F. Dunn Exposure Meters i. 22 The term ‘incident light’ is used instead of ‘illumination’ when we wish to consider only the strength of the light being received from the source irrespective of the angle of inclination of the surface receiving it. 1956 Nature 4 Feb. 231/1 Blocks of soil were..directly examined with the aid of the incident-light equipment of a Leitz ‘Ortholux’ microscope. 1962 M. L. Haselgrove Photographer's Dict. 130 Light falling on a surface is said to be incident on the surface. In most photographic writing this term used without qualification refers to the light incident on the subject to be photographed. |
† 8. Opposed to, running counter to. Obs. rare—1. [Cf. L. incidĕre to fall upon, attack, strike or dash against.]
| c 1555 Harpsfield Divorce Hen. VIII (Camden) 74 There is no marriage, but only between the parents and children, of itself and immediately incident and repugnant to natural reason. |
▪ IV. † incident, a.2 and n.2 Obs.
(ɪnˈsaɪdənt)
[ad. L. incīdent-em, pres. pple. of incīdĕre to incide.]
A. adj. That ‘cuts’ the phlegm, etc. B. n. An inciding medicine.
| 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Incidents, or Attenuants, in the materia medica... To this class belong the roots of arum, asarabacca, acorus [etc.]. 1855 Mayne Expos. Lex., Incidens, having power to cut; formerly applied to medicines..supposed to cause the phlegm to be discharged, by cutting, as it were..: incident. |