Search the Dictionary

The state of holding a benefice; the full possession and exercise of any office. These fines are only to be paid to the bishop during his incumbency. Swift.

A person who is in present possession of a benefice or of any office. The incumbent lieth at the mercy of his patron. Swift.

Impartiality; freedom from prejudice, prepossession, or bias. He . . . is far from such indifference and equity as ought and must be in judges which he saith I assign. Sir T. More.

nstituting an individual; separate or distinct existence; oneness; unity. Arbuthnot. They possess separate individualities. H. Spencer.

To introduce, as to a benefice or office; to put in actual possession of the temporal rights of an ecclesiastical living, or of any other office, with the customary forms and ceremonies. The prior, when inducted into that dignity, took an oath not to alienate any of their lands. Bp. Burnet.

, or of an official into a office, with appropriate acts or ceremonies; the giving actual possession of an ecclesiastical living or its temporalities.

To dwell in; to abide within; to remain in possession. The Holy Ghost became a dove, not as a symbol, but as a constantly indwelt form. Milman.

The act of putting one in possession of an estate in fee. Sir M. Hale.

Exerting or possessing influence or power; potent; efficacious; effective; strong; having authority or ascendency; as, an influential man, station, argument, etc. A very influential Gascon prefix. Earle.

en. Shak. Why should he desire to have qualities infused into his son which himself never possessd Swift.

Possessed of genius, or the faculty of invention; skillful or promp to invent; having an aptitude to contrive, or to form new combinations; as, an ingenious author, mechanic. A man . . . very wise and ingenious in feats of war. Hakluyt. Thou, king, send out For torturers ingenious. Shak. The more ingenious men are, the…

To come into possession of; to possess; to own; to enjoy as a possession. But the meek shall inherit the earth. Ps. xxxvii. 11. To bury so much gold under a tree, And never after to inherit it. Shak.

, blood or relationship by which a person becomes qualified to be an heir, or to transmit possessions by inheritance.

herited; that which is derived by an heir from an ancestor or other person; a heritage; a possession which passes by descent. When the man dies, let the inheritance Descend unto the daughter. Shak.

To have inherent; to contain in itself; to possess. [Obs.] Sir W. Raleigh.

The state or quality of being insatiable; insatiableness. Eagerness for increase of possession deluges the soul, and we sink into the gulfs of insatiability. Rambler.

The art or power of gaining good will by a prepossessing manner. He bad a natural insinuation and address which made him acceptable in the best company. Clarendon.

The act of installing or giving possession of an office, rank, or order, with the usual rites or ceremonies; as, the installation of an ordained minister in a parish. On the election, the bishop gives a mandate for his installation. Ayliffe.

Of or pertaining to an island; of the nature, or possessing the characteristics, of an island; as, an insular climate, fauna, etc.

Intellectual powers; possession of intellect; quality of being intellectual.