superincumbent

English

Etymology

From Latin superincumbentem, present participle of superincumbere. By surface analysis, super- +‎ incumbent.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /suːpəɹɪnˈkʌmbənt/

Adjective

superincumbent (comparative more superincumbent, superlative most superincumbent)

1. (chiefly sciences) Lying or resting on something else; overlying.
   • 1791, Erasmus Darwin, The Economy of Vegetation, J. Johnson, page 61:

     As the vapour cooled the water would be precipitated, and an ocean would surround the spherical nucleus with a superincumbent atmosphere.

   • 1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “ch. I, Phenomena”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book III (The Modern Worker):

     […] alas, on the contrary, what troops and populations of Phantasms, not God-Veracities but Devil-Falsities, down to the very lowest stratum, — which now, by such superincumbent weight of Unveracities, lies enchanted in St. Ives’ Workhouses, broad enough, helpless enough!

   • 1874, Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC:

     Then a superincumbent bundle rolled down, with a whisking noise, flames elongated, and bent themselves about with a quiet roar, but no crackle.

   • 2004, Richard Fortey, The Earth, Folio Society, published 2011, page 87:

     The older Verrucano must have travelled to its present position as it slid and ground its way on the back of the oppressed Lochseiten limestone, which buckled and churned under the superincumbent load.