discumbencyn.
/dɪˈskʌmb(ə)nsi/, U.S. /dᵻˈskəmbənsi/ Now rare.
Recumbent position or posture.Chiefly used in discussions of the dining practices of the ancient Jews, esp. with reference to how the apostles were seated at the Last Supper.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > posture > action or fact of lying down or reclining > [noun]
lairc893
lying?c1225
reclination1556
discubation1641
discumbing1641
decumbence1646
decumbency1646
discumbency1646
recubation1646
recumbency1646
discumbiture1655
discubiture1656
discumbence1656
decubation1664
decumbiture1670
recumbence1670
decubitus1879
1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica v. vi. 243 This discumbency at meales was in use in the days of our Saviour. View more context for this quotation
1683 J. Williams Case Indifferent Things Worship of God (new ed.) 11 The Jews..did eat it in the posture of discumbency.
1698 J. Carrington Lancs. Levite Rebuk'd iv. 14 The Apostles Posture was Discumbency; or a kind of Leaning and Lolling in one another's Bosom.
1733 T. Stackhouse New Hist. Bible II. viii. iv. 1407 They used this Posture of Discumbency, and especially at the Paschal Supper no other was allowed.
1740 R. Canning Short Answer to Pamphlet 41 A Posture of Discumbency, or lying along.
1820 J. F. L. Williams Hist. Acct. Inventions & Discov. I. 92 [He], not considering the ancient manner of discumbency, imputeth this gesture of the beloved disciple to rusticity.
1964 Classical Philol. 59 159/1 On another stone three persons are represented reclining on the couch..; the order of discumbency violates the order of age.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1646