pensileadj.

Brit.

/ˈpɛnsʌɪl/, U.S.

/ˈpɛns(ə)l/

Forms: 1600s pensill, 1600s–1700s pensil, 1600s– pensile.

Origin: A borrowing from Latin. Etymon: Latin pēnsilis.

Etymology: < classical Latin pēnsilis hanging down, pendent < pēns- , past participial stem of pendēre to hang (see pend v.³) + -ilis -ile suffix. Compare Middle French pensile (1559; also as pensil, pensille), Spanish pensil (1540–50 or earlier), Portuguese pensil (16th cent.), Italian pensile (14th cent.).

a. Suspended; held in place from above; hanging down.

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the world > space > relative position > support > hanging or suspension > [adjective] > hanging down

pendent?a1300

dependentc1420

pendular1596

pensile1604

propending1642

pendulent1650

pendilatory1653

pendulous1656

depending1735

pendulant1804

hang-down1906

1604 B. Jonson His Pt. Royall Entertainem. 35 Ouer her state twoo Crownes hanging, with pensile shieldes thorow them.

1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §15 The Water being made pensile, and ther being a great Weight of Water in the Belly of the Glasse, sustained by a small Pillar of Water in the Neck of the Glasse.

1697 J. Evelyn Numismata iii. 87 A pensile Cataracta or Portcluse and Coronet between the Chains.

1726 J. Mawer Progr. Lang. 11 There pensile libraries..all their treasures shew.

1780 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Painting (ed. 2) IV. ii. 41 Gothic architecture, with all its airy embroidery and pensile vaults.

1854 J. D. Hooker Himalayan Jrnls. I. ii. 39 The pensile nests of the weaver bird were abundant.

1931 H. S. Williams Bk. Marvels 117 Of our hundreds of species of birds, the vireos alone vie with the oriole in making pensile nests.

1997 Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.) (Nexis) 23 Feb. c11 Often the pensile structure isn't seen until late fall when the foliage is gone.

†b. Situated on a steep downward slope. Obsolete.

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the world > space > relative position > high position > overhanging > [adjective]

hangingc1330

pendentc1425

beetled1509

bending1567

prependent1592

propendent1593

overwhelming1599

pendulous1608

impendent1611

incumbent1719

imminent1727

impending1730

beetling1744

pensilec1750

pending1756

superincumbent1785

shelvy1811

overbrowing1814

propensive1819

oversailing1833

beetle-browed1842

overhung1845

overhanging1860

overleaning1865

overreaching1890

cantilevered1910

c1750 W. Shenstone Elegies xxi. 11 Or pensile grove or airy cliff ascend.

a1763 W. Shenstone Wks. Verse & Prose (1764) I. 308 His azure stream, with pensile woods enclos'd.

1832 J. Bree St. Herbert's Isle 69 No pensile wood that on thy hills recline.

1857 J. A. Heraud Judgem. of Flood (rev. ed.) i. v. i. 141 Far away the woods, Pensile, or level, stretch their shadows broad, On upland slope, in valley serpentine.

2. Hanging in the air or in space; suspended on arches, with empty space beneath; vaulted.

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the world > space > relative position > high position > [adjective] > elevated in position > on arches or a wall

hangingc1170

pendentc1600

pensile1605

the world > space > relative position > support > absence of support > [adjective] > held up without support > in the air

poising?1473

pendentc1600

pensile1605

pendulous1608

hovering1630

1605 [see pensileness n. at Derivatives].

1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 56 I might here also tell of those Pensile gardens, borne vp on arches, foure square, each square contayning foure hundred foote.

1677 J. Crowne Destr. Jerusalem i. iii. i. 27 Like the Babylonian Pensile Bowers, They are born aloft on never yielding Towers.

1703 Universal Dict. at Babylon Babylon..was then the wonder of the world for its walls and pensile gardens.

1738 Gentleman's Mag. June 315/2 Some cold Saturnian, when the lifted tube Shows to his wond'ring eye our pensile globe, Pities our thirsty soil, and sultry air.

1779 H. Cowley Who's the Dupe? ii. 25 Yon lucid orb, in æther pensile, irradiates th'expanse.

1830 W. Phillips Mt. Sinai i. 678 Pensile upon space Hang countless planets.

1953 Times 4 Dec. 9/3 No flowers have bloomed, these many centuries, in the Pensile Gardens of Semiramis.

3. Zoology. Denoting birds or other animals that construct a hanging nest. Cf. penduline adj. 1. Now rare.

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the world > animals > by habitat > [adjective] > that builds nests

nest-composing1601

pensile1791

nest-building1826

branch-building1868

1791 Nat. Hist. Birds III. 79 The Pensile Grosbeak, which inhabits Madagascar, composes its nest of straw and reeds, interwoven in the shape of a bag, fastened above to the twig of a tree, which overhangs the water.

1868 J. G. Wood Homes without Hands x. 194 Pensile Mammalia. There are not many mammalia which make pensile nests.

1901 Daily News 19 Feb. 4/7 Another pensile bird, the Baya sparrow of India.

Derivatives

† pensileness n. Obsolete rare the quality or state of being pensile.

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the world > space > relative position > support > hanging or suspension > [noun] > quality or state of

pensileness1605

pensility1640

pendulosity1646

pendency1652

suspensiveness1816

1605 F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning i. sig. H2^v In that excellent Booke of Iob,..wherein the pensilenesse of the earth,..and the..conuexitie of Heauen are manifestly touched.

† pensility n. [compare post-classical Latin pensilitas (1620 in a British source)] Obsolete rare = pensileness n.

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