1520 R. Whittington Uulgaria sig. I.iij^v Beniuolent, lyberall, obsequet [read obsequent; 1533 obsequent].

1543 Necessary Doctr. Christen Man sig. Nij^v The greate parte of the lerned men that were there, were..obsequente to the pleasure and wyll of the bysshoppes of Rome.

1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. Pref. to Rdr. sig. Aiij^v The tongue in an Englishmans head is framed so flexible and obsequent, that it can pronounce naturally any other language.

a1620 M. Fotherby Atheomastix (1622) ii. i. §6. 181 Plyant, and obsequent to his pleasure.

a1639 J. Spottiswood Hist. Church Scotl. (1677) 131 He and the rest..should in all other things be most obsequent.

1828 N. Webster Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang. Obsequent, Obedient; submissive to.

1862 T. Carlyle Hist. Friedrich II of Prussia III. xi. v. 110 Your..most obsequent servant, Georgius Ludovicus.

1993 R. Griffin Teaching in Secondary School 154 It may work in the short run to be servile and obsequent around students.

1895 W. M. Davis in Geogr. Jrnl. 5 134 Its escarpment face sheds short, back-flowing streams into the longitudinal subsequent valley that has been developed along the weak underlying stratum: and, even at the risk of multiplying terms unduly, I would suggest that these streams be called obsequent, as their direction is opposed to that of the initial consequent streams.

1939 Econ. Geogr. 15 169/2 The continuity of the ranges is..broken by the transverse valley of the Lech, and by its obsequent tributary, the Vils.

1954 W. D. Thornbury Princ. Geomorphol. v. 114 Obsequent valleys drain in a direction opposite to the original consequent valleys.

1968 R. W. Fairbridge Encycl. Geomorphol. 288/2 (caption) Evolution of subsequent (plus obsequent and resequent) drainage system.

1988 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) B. 318 580 During this time the series of obsequent northern valleys draining into the Demer river were probably established.

1913 W. M. Davis in Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer. 24 198 If it descends toward the relatively uplifted side, as must be the case when weaker rocks occur on that side, it may be called an obsequent scarp.

1954 W. D. Thornbury Princ. Geomorphol. x. 260 If..the erosional topography is opposite to the original fault-produced topography, the mountain blocks would be obsequent tilt block mountains, the basins would be obsequent tilt block valleys, and the bounding scarps would be obsequent fault-line scarps.

1970 R. J. Small Study of Landforms iii. 103 An ‘obsequent’ fault-line scarp faces in the opposite direction to the original fault-scarp.

1895 W. M. Davis in Geogr. Jrnl. 5 145 Such obsequents are represented by the Ousel and Ivel farther east.

1902 H. J. Mackinder Brit. & Brit. Seas 121 The Little Ouse of East Anglia is also an obsequent.

1968 R. W. Fairbridge Encycl. Geomorphol. 1187/1 Obsequents were originally defined as streams having a direction opposite to that of the consequent streams in their vicinity. Usually, however, the term is interpreted to mean merely a stream flowing against the direction of dip.