‖ locum tenens
(ˈləʊkəm ˈtiːnɛnz)
[med.L., = ‘one who holds the place (of another)’, a lieutenant: L. locum, accus. of locus place; tenens, pr. pple. of tenēre to hold.]
a. One who holds office temporarily in place of the person to whom the office belongs, or who undertakes another's professional duties during his absence; a deputy, substitute.
In Great Britain now chiefly applied to the deputy of a medical practitioner or of a clergyman.
| [1463 Rolls of Parlt. V. 499/1, & dicti Locumtenentis mandato, declarabat, qualiter idem Locumtenens..Parliamentum voluit prorogare.] 1641 ‘Smectymnuus’ Answ. v. (1653) 22 Leaving Titus as his Locum tenens. 1683 in Strype Stowe's Surv. Lond. (1720) II. v. xviii. 391/2 The Lord Maiors Locumtenens. 1755 Carte Hist. Eng. IV. 410 They ordered him to appoint a locum tenens and upon his declining to do so, they required..the three eldest aldermen, one after another, to assume the post. 1764 Foote Mayor of G. ii. Wks. 1799 I. 187 D'ye mean..Master Jeremy's deputy?.. Ay, ay, his locum tenens. 1838 Lytton Alice iii. ii, The old driveller will be my locum tenens, till years and renown enable me to become his successor. 1883 S. C. Hall Retrospect I. 326 He not being on the spot, a locum tenens became a necessity. |
| transf. 1832 G. Downes Lett. Cont. Countries I. 461 A house wherein Petrarch was born, or perhaps its locum⁓tenens. |
| attrib. 1887 Pall Mall G. 16 Nov. 7/1 Dr. S., the locum tenens body physician of his Imperial and Royal Highness. 1889 Ibid. 13 Nov. 3/1 Young medical men..who are taking locum tenens work. |
b. The post of a locum tenens; a locum-tenency.
| 1899 Lancet 5 Aug. 86/2 (Advt.), Locum Tenens or good Assistantship by doubly-qualified man. 1908 A. S. M. Hutchinson Once aboard Lugger vi. vi. §2. 437 There's this locum tenens I was going to take up in the North. |