▪ I. incarnate, a.
(ɪnˈkɑːnət)
[ad. L. incarnāt-us made flesh (common in 4th c. in Christian writers), pa. pple. of incarnāre: see incarn. In sense 3 corresp. to F. incarnat, -ate, It. incarnato incarnate, flesh-coloured.]
1. Clothed or invested with flesh; embodied in flesh; in a human (or animal) bodily form. a. Of a person, soul, or spirit. (Sometimes const. as pa. pple., esp. when used of Christ.)
In phr. a devil incarnate, applied hyperbolically to a person (cf. devil n. 4), the true meaning is often more or less lost sight of, and the adj. becomes nearly = ‘out-and-out’, ‘arrant’.
| 1395 Purvey Remonstr. (1851) 53 A sone of perdicioun, and a devil incarnat othir in flesh. a 1420 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 3333 Mercy Crist caused to ben incarnate. 1494 Fabyan Chron. iii. liii. 34 In the season that he was Kynge our Sauyour Criste Ihesus was incarnat of that moste blessyd virgyne our Lady. 1534 More On the Passion Wks. 1315/1 By his goinge fro the father, was nothynge ment, but his beynge incarnate in the worlde. 1548–9 (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Commun. (Nicene Creed), And was incarnate by the holy Ghoste, of the Virgin Mary. 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. li. §2 The nature of God..in the onely person of the Sonne is incarnate. 1609 Rowlands Knaue of Clubbes 31 Incarnate deuils, such as do Assume a humane shape. 1612–15 Bp. Hall Contempl., N.T. i. ii, That God should be incarnate of a virgin was an abasement of His maiestie, and an exaltation of the creature beyond all example. 1738 Wesley Ps. ii. ii, And slay th' incarnate Deity. 1820 Scott Abbot xvii, Whether there be a devil incarnate in you or no. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. i. iv. (1872) 21 You look on him almost with a shudder, as on some incarnate Mephistopheles. 1896 Gladstone Will §2 Commending myself to the infinite mercies of God in the Incarnate Son as my only and sufficient hope. |
b. Of a quality or other abstraction: Embodied in human form; impersonated.
(In quot. a 1652 in extended sense: Put into a form adapted to human nature or comprehension; expressed ‘after the manner of men’.)
| c 1532 G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 1056 We juge her a thought or understandynge incarnate. a 1652 J. Smith Sel. Disc. vi. 183 Divine truth becomes many times in Scripture incarnate, debasing itself to assume our rude conceptions. 1839 Carlyle Chartism v. (1858) 27 The quack is a Falsehood Incarnate. 1874 Green Short Hist. ii. §2. 64 Liberty and independence itself seemed incarnate in his [the Confessor's] name. 1880 Ouida Moths III. 269 In his eyes Vere was purity incarnate. |
c. Vaguely used: Enshrined.
| a 1533 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) Nn iij, The hertes incarnate in loue are lyttel satisfied with syluer. 1871 Tylor Prim. Cult. II. 98 To remain incarnate in the memory of friends is something. |
¶ Erron. used, as if f. in-3 (= not).
| 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) V. 46 (D.), I fear nothing..that devil carnate or incarnate can fairly do against a virtue so established. |
† 2. Consisting of flesh; fleshy. Obs. rare.
| 1597 A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 13 b/1 All incarnate or fleshye partes of the bodye. |
3. Flesh-coloured; light pink or crimson. Obs. exc. in Bot. as a rendering of L. incarnātus.
| a 1533 Ld. Berners Gold Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) Nn iv b, Well colowred face, incarnate tethe, ruddye lyppes. 1552 in Strype Eccl. Mem. (1721) II. xiv. 359, 4 Yards of Turkey silk incarnate. 1567 Mary Stuart Let. in Lamartine's M. Stuart App. (1859) 174 Send to me half elle of incarnat Satin. 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. xiii. 21 Butter burre..putteth forth a hollow stalke of a span long, set full of small incarnate floures at the toppe. 1656 Blount Glossogr. s.v. Incarnation, An Incarnate colour is a Carnation colour, a flesh color, or of the colour of our Damask Rose. 1791 W. Bartram Carolina 104 The flowers..are of a pale incarnate colour. 1859 Darwin Orig. Spec. iv. (1861) 99 The common red and incarnate clovers (Trifolium pratense and incarnatum). |
Hence inˈcarnately adv., in a bodily form.
| 1856 Mrs. Browning Aur. Leigh vi. 46 Freedom's self..Fixed in a feudal form incarnately To suit our ways of thought and reverence. |
▪ II. incarnate, v.
(ɪnˈkɑːneɪt)
Also 6 en-.
[f. prec., or f. ppl. stem of L. incarnāre: see incarn.]
1. trans. To render incarnate; to embody in flesh. In pass. to be embodied; to assume, or exist in, a bodily (esp. a human) form.
| 1533 Tindale Supper of Lord Wks. (Parker Soc.) III. 245 They believed in Christ to be incarnated, and to suffer death. a 1556 Cranmer Wks. (Parker Soc.) I. 74 We say, that they [fathers and prophets of the old testament] did eat his body and drink his blood, although he was not yet born nor incarnated. 1598 R. Barckley Felic. Man iii. (1603) 227 That old Serpent..can by God's sufferance..incarnate himselfe, or possesse infants. Ibid. iv. 317 An English man italianated is a devil incarnated. 1624 Donne Serm. ii. 16, I must not ask why God took this way to incarnate his Son. 1715 De Foe Fam. Instruct. i. i. (1841) I. 20 He incarnated, by a miraculous birth, the divine nature into the human. 1844 Marg. Fuller Wom. 19th C. (1862) 18 The All-Sustaining incarnated himself to guard..the destinies of this world. |
2. transf. and fig. a. To put into, express or exhibit in, a concrete or definite form; to realize, actualize, embody (an idea or other abstraction).
| 1591 Harington Orl. Fur. i. lviii, There shall no foolish plaints, nor fained ire Hinder me to encarnat my desire. 1856 Kingsley Misc., Froude's Hist. Eng. II. 74 Forces which we can no more stop, by shrieks at their absurdity, from incarnating themselves in actual blood, and misery, and horror than [etc.]. 1878 Dowden Stud. Lit. 9 A political doctrine..expecting to be incarnated in institutions. 1885 Clodd Myths & Dr. i. vii. 122 The ennobling qualities incarnated in some hero..meet with admiring response. |
b. To exhibit (in oneself) in bodily or human form; to be the living embodiment or type of; to impersonate, embody (a quality, etc.).
| 1806 R. Cumberland Mem. (T.), If quick conception, true discrimination, and the happy faculty of incarnating the idea of his poet, are properties essential in the..composition of a great..actor. 1849 Fraser's Mag. XXXIX. 395 The truest artist..must be he who incarnates best the age's artistic tendencies. 1886 Symonds Renaiss. It., Cath. React. (1898) VII. x. 85 This friar incarnated the Venetian spirit. |
† c. To cause to exist, or represent as existing, in a particular mode of being, or as a part of something else. † d. To entertain as an indwelling presence; to enshrine. Obs.
| 1643 Milton Divorce ii. iii, Nay this is..to incarnat sin into the unpunishing and well pleas'd will of God. a 1711 Ken Hymns Festiv. Poet. Wks. 1721 I. 213 O may I thee incarnate in my Heart. |
† 3. To cause flesh to grow upon or in (a wound or sore); to heal over: = incarn 1. Obs.
| 1543 Traheron Vigo's Chirurg. ii. ii. 16 After mundification ye must incarnate the place, after thys forme. 1577 Frampton Joyfull Newes ii. (1596) 38 The Tabaco..doth make them [wounds] cleane, and incarnate them. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 223 The other Ointment is better to incarnate and consolidate all sorts of wounds. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Lucatellus Balsam, It is used externally to deterge and incarnate green Wounds and Ulcers. |
† b. absol. = incarn 1 b. Obs.
| 1563 T. Gale Antidot. ii. 13 Thys Unguent..incarnateth verye well. 1686 W. Harris tr. Lemery's Course Chym. (ed. 3) 628 Its Tincture..is discutient, detersive, good against Gangrenes, and to incarnate. |
† c. intr. for refl. = incarn 1 c. Obs.
| 1674–7 J. Molins Anat. Obs. (1896) 17 As the adjacent parts mundified, soe it incarnated. 1759 Sterne Tr. Shandy II. v, My uncle Toby's wound was near well..the surgeon..told him, 'twas just beginning to incarnate. |
† 4. To make fleshly or carnal; to degrade from spiritual nature, despiritualize. Obs.
| 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 166 That I..am now constrained Into a Beast, and mixt with bestial slime, This essence to incarnate and imbrute. a 1683 Whichcote Aphorisms, Bad men [study] to incarnate their souls. |
† 5. To enclose or insert in the flesh. Obs. rare.
| 1662 J. Chandler Van Helmont's Oriat. 282 They cut off part of the garment, that they may incarnate a thread or rag thereof, within the skin of the forehead of every one that is bitten by a mad dog. |
6. To convert (vegetable matter) into flesh.
| 1882 Playfair in Macm. Mag. XLV. 335 As is said in the west, it is cheaper to ‘incarnate’ Indian corn [i.e. by feeding cattle with it] than to send that bulky grain by railways. |
Hence inˈcarnated ppl. a.; inˈcarnating vbl. n. and ppl. a. (in various senses of the verb).
| 1549–62 Sternhold & H. Ps., Quicunque vult, Of the incarnating of Christ, our Lord, believe aright. 1576 Baker Jewell of Health 148 a, In every incarnating and closing togyther and healing. 1597 A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 12/1 That newe incarnated fleshe, which, after the trepaninge, groweth therin. Ibid. 49 b/1 Any incarnatinge medicamentes. 1671 J. Flavel Fount. Life v. 14 He hath laid the foundation thereof so deep, in the Incarnating of his own Son. 1872 Ouida Genl. Matchmaking (Tauchn.) 72 Little Fay was delightful—for all the world like a bit of incarnated sunshine. 1878 Bayne Purit. Rev. vi. 224 The love of romantic young men for their incarnated ideals. |