preoccupancyn.
/prɪˈɒkjᵿp(ə)nsi/, /priːˈɒkjᵿp(ə)nsi/, U.S. /priˈɑkjəpənsi/ 1. The action or fact of occupying previously; previous or earlier occupation. Also in extended use (cf. preoccupied adj. 2).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > [noun] > occupancy > beforehand
preoccupation1658
preoccupancy1755
1755 S. Johnson Dict. Eng. Lang. Preoccupancy, the act of taking possession before another.
1796 J. Morse Amer. Universal Geogr. (new ed.) I. 632 The Indians had an undisputed title to the..territory, either from pre~occupancy or conquest.
1832 C. Lyell Princ. Geol. (ed. 2) II. 167 That powerful barrier against emigration [of plants]—pre-occupancy.
1857 H. E. Bishop Floral Home xvii. 83 A friendly hen, unwilling to relinquish her claim, on the ground of preoccupancy, daily placed a token of her industry in the corner.
1935 Condor 37 92/1 Our Gray Titmouse will have to be called, again, Parus inornatus ridgwayi Richmond, because of the preoccupancy of the name Parus griseus.
1986 Isis 77 12 Darwin read in Lyell's Principles of Geology that a new species cannot be introduced into a country because of the preoccupancy power of the old species.
2. The state or condition of being preoccupied or mentally absorbed; = preoccupation n. 4.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > attention > earnest attention, concentration > [noun] > condition of
whole-mindedness1528
intentiveness1561
intentness1642
undistractedness1660
fascination1768
concentrativeness1823
preoccupancy1830
absorbedness1833
concentratedness1835
engrossment1838
raptness1856
fixedness1863
absorbancy1909
1830 L. Beecher Let. 8 July in Autobiogr. (1865) II. xii. 224 Preoccupancy in the education of the rising generation.
1893 Argosy Sept. 202 An endless restless preoccupancy vaguely followed by fear of satiety.
1898 Daily News 22 Jan. 2/6 He..declined repeated offers of a seat in Parliament..on the ground of his preoccupancy in the administration of Owens College.
1909 Internat. Jrnl. Ethics 19 187 In the innocent purity of his devout preoccupancy he has inadvertently overlooked its companion injunction to ‘be harmless as the dove’.
1940 Social Forces 18 352/1 To this must be added the preoccupancy of science with empirical verification.
2002 Santa Fe New Mexican (Nexis) 27 Sept. p16 Dali executed a series of paintings detailing sexual preoccupancy that included The Great Masturbator.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1755