Incumbent

6 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Incumbent \In*cum"bent\, n.
     A person who is in present possession of a benefice or of any
     office.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           The incumbent lieth at the mercy of his patron.


                                                    --Swift.
     [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Incumbent \In*cum"bent\, a. [L. incumbens, -entis, p. pr. of
     incumbere to lie down upon, press upon; pref. in- in, on +
     cumbere (in comp.); akin to cubare to lie down. See
     {Incubate}.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. Lying; resting; reclining; recumbent; superimposed;
        superincumbent.
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              Two incumbent figures, gracefully leaning upon it.
                                                    --Sir H.
                                                    Wotton.
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              To move the incumbent load they try.  --Addison.
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     2. Lying, resting, or imposed, as a duty or obligation;
        obligatory; always with on or upon.
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              All men, truly zealous, will perform those good
              works that are incumbent on all Christians. --Sprat.
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     3. (Bot.) Leaning or resting; -- said of anthers when lying
        on the inner side of the filament, or of cotyledons when
        the radicle lies against the back of one of them. --Gray.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. (Zool.) Bent downwards so that the ends touch, or rest on,
        something else; as, the incumbent toe of a bird.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  incumbent
       adj 1: lying or leaning on something else; "an incumbent geological
              formation"
       2: currently holding an office; "the incumbent governor"
       n : the official who holds an office [syn: {officeholder}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  89 Moby Thesaurus words for "incumbent":
     addressee, artist-in-residence, beetle, beetle-browed, beetling,
     behooving, benefice-holder, beneficiary, binding, bridging,
     burdensome, chargeable to, commanding, compulsory, cumbersome,
     cumbrous, demanding, denizen, dweller, habitant, hirer, holdover,
     homesteader, house detective, imbricate, impendent, impending,
     incumbent on, inhabitant, inhabiter, inmate, inpatient, ins,
     intern, jack-in-office, jutting, lame duck, lapping, leaseholder,
     lessee, live-in maid, locum tenens, lodger, lowering, lumpish,
     mandatory, massive, necessary, new broom, obligatory, occupant,
     occupier, office-bearer, officeholder, official, onerous,
     oppressive, overarched, overhanging, overhung, overlapping,
     overlying, paying guest, pending, prescribed, president-elect,
     projecting, public official, public servant, renter, required,
     residencer, resident, resident physician, residentiary, resider,
     roomer, shingled, sojourner, spanning, squatter, sublessee,
     subtenant, superincumbent, tenant, tenant at sufferance,
     tenant for life, underlessee, unwieldy
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  INCUMBENT, eccles. law. A clerk resident on his benefice with cure; he is so 
  called because he does, or ought to, bend the whole of his studies to his 
  duties. In common parlance, it signifies one who is in the possession of an 
  office, as, the present incumbent. 
  
  

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  INCUMBENT, n.  A person of the liveliest interest to the outcumbents.