recumbentn.adj.
/rᵻˈkʌmb(ə)nt/, U.S. /rəˈkəmb(ə)nt/, /riˈkəmb(ə)nt/ A. n.† 1. A person who is reliant on another; spec. a person who trusts in and relies on Christ. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > hope > confident hope, trust > [noun] > one who relies
dependera1616
recumbent1642
1642 T. Goodwin Christ set Forth v. x. 196 It is more peculiarly fitted unto a Recumbents Faith.
1681 J. Flavell Method of Grace ix. 210 'Tis a blessed life to live as a poor recumbent, by acts of trust and affiance.
2. A recumbent bicycle. Cf. sense B. 2c.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > vehicle propelled by feet > [noun] > cycle > bicycle
bicycle1868
steed1877
bike1880
jigger1897
push-cycle1905
push bicycle1906
pushbike1910
grid1922
mangle1941
recumbent1968
MTB1988
1968 in H. M. Leete Best of Bicycling! (1970) 263 The recumbent shown..was conceived after a careful study of..a goodly number of previous designs.
1977 Sunday Sun (Lowell, Mass.) 21 Aug. c4/2 The recumbent can readily attain and maintain impressive cycling speeds.
1986 Pop. Mech. Nov. 12/4 The Easy Racers Shop owners hope to see an increase in the popularity of recumbents.
2002 Disability Now Nov. 29/1 For anyone who wants the comfortable option, there were also plenty of recumbents on show.
B. adj.† 1. Reliant or dependent upon God, Christ, etc. Obsolete.
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a1649 G. Abbott Brief Notes Psalms (1651) cxvi. 563 Be thou therefore at peace within thy self, and recumbent upon God.
1767 Spiritual Lett. 148 That makes us more recumbent upon Jesus.
1862 G. Beresford Sorrow (1875) v. 150 These enemies of thine and mine, tho' slain, Live to be seen and fear'd, to keep the heart Recumbent upon God—resting in Him.
2.
a. Of a person, animal, or thing: leaning, reclining; lying down. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > posture > action or fact of lying down or reclining > [adjective]
lyingc1000
couchant1601
prone1610
jacent1611
decumbent1656
cumbentc1660
recumbent1664
recline1667
procumbent1668
discumbent1693
reclining1748
couched1807
Récamier1904
Madame Récamier1913
1664 J. Evelyn Pomona in Sylva v. 16 Many such recumbent Pear-trees bear each of them two, three, yea, even to six or more Hogsheads yearly.
1726 W. Broome in A. Pope et al. tr. Homer Odyssey IV. xvi. 425 With wild tumultuous noise they sate Recumbent on the shining thrones of state.
1743 E. Young Complaint: Night the Fourth 37 What smooth Emollients in Theology, Recumbent Virtue's downy Doctors preach.
1774 T. Pennant Tour Scotl. 1772 16 He lies in alabaster, recumbent in his gown.
1810 M. F. Johnson Orig. Sonnets 20 Calm quiet listens to the lamb's low bleat, The deep drawn breathings of recumbent kine.
1867 E. L. Layard Birds S. Afr. 223 The nostrils..more or less covered by the recumbent plumes.
1876 J. S. Blackie Songs Relig. & Life 180 Happy the bard who weaves his rhyme Recumbent on the purple thyme.
1931 V. Woolf Waves 39 Let him burble on, telling us stories, while we lie recumbent.
1983 ‘J. Gash’ Sleepers of Erin (1984) xxvi. 201 We could hump Joe's recumbent mass over the hill.
2006 Church Times 13 Apr. 32/4 On the night of Holy Saturday, the recumbent figure of the Dead Christ is replaced by a standing one, ready to ‘rise’ slowly on Easter Day.
b. Of posture: leaning, reclining, lying.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > posture > action or fact of lying down or reclining > [adjective] > of posture
recumbent1715
1715 R. Fiddes Preparative to Lord's Supper i. 7 If we were to argue from all the Circumstances wherewith this holy Banquet was first celebrated, we must neither partake of it in a kneeling, nor a sitting, but in a recumbent or leaning Posture.
1799 R. Sickelmore Agnes & Leonora II. 131 A sudden rustling among the trees, against one of which I stood in a recumbent posture.
1816 W. Scott Antiquary II. vi. 166 A flat stone lay upon the ground, bearing upon its surface the effigy of an armed warrior in a recumbent posture, carved in bas-relief.
1886 Northern Echo 15 Mar. 4/1 He would not leave his recumbent position until he was dragged away and given into the custody of the police.
1922 C. A. Hoff Ethical Sex Relations i. 213 It is well for the patient to urinate while she is in a recumbent position, at first.
1969 W. S. Burroughs Wild Boys (1972) 155 Since they believe that the spirit leaves through the back of the head a recumbent position is considered unfavorable.
2007 Christian Sci. Monitor (Nexis) 16 July 19 She feels obliged to rise from her recumbent posture and join in.
c. Designating a type of bicycle ridden in a recumbent position.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > vehicle propelled by feet > [adjective] > of or relating to cycles > of or relating to bicycle > types of bicycle
cushioned1891
cushion-tired1891
free-wheeled1900
sit-up-and-beg1936
recumbent1968
1968 in H. M. Leete Best of Bicycling! (1970) 263 The recumbent bicycle, as such, is not a new idea. Over several generations a number of them have been shown and tried on bike tracks around the world.
1988 New Scientist 7 Jan. 63/1 The first patent for a recumbent design, the ‘Normal Bicyclette’, was taken out in the early 1890s.
1992 Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 7 Nov. 8 One of the benefits of peddling around on a recumbent cycle is that your circulation improves.
2004 Bancroft (Ont.) This Week 29 Oct. 4/2 A recumbent bike and swimming are great exercise but they don't build..bone density.
3. Botany and Zoology. Of part of a plant or animal: leaning on or closely appressed to another part. Also: (of a plant, stem, etc.) growing flat along the ground; prostrate.
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1769 J. Berkenhout Outl. Nat. Hist. Great Brit. & Ireland I. 18 Picus. Bill angular, strait. Nostrils covered with recumbent bristles.
1792 J. Hamilton Culpeper's Eng. Family Physician II. 176 Purple Money Willow-Herb... This is another weak, trailing, and small recumbent plant, native of our forests.
1863 Philos. Trans. 1862 (Royal Soc.) 152 1110 The spicular portions of the skeleton do not emanate immediately from the basal membrane, but are recumbent on it in the form of disjoined fasciculi of spicula.
1880 Bull. Torrey Bot. Club. 7 59 When the corolla expands, the stamens are recumbent on the ovary and closely applied to it.
1906 T. Shaw Clovers x. 297 Burr clover is not a good hay plant. Owing to the recumbent character of the growth, it is not easily mowed.
1961 Times 23 June 14/6 Like most Alpine and Arctic plants, it is of recumbent habit.
1985 Copeia No. 3. 587/1 Cusps of lower jaw teeth in both sexes not fully recumbent, their tips forming a saw-like edge.
1998 Int. Jrnl. Plant Sci. 159 813/1 The culms..are recumbent under snow cover, but they spring back upon snowmelt.
4. Archaeology. In a megalithic monument: designating a stone which is not in an upright position, either having been deliberately placed flat on the ground, or having fallen from a previously upright position. recumbent stone circle n. a type of stone circle, found chiefly in north-east Scotland, containing a large recumbent stone lying on its side on the ground, typically flanked by the two tallest upright stones.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > record > memorial or monument > [noun] > structure or erection > stone > circle > specific
hurler1607
pond-barrow1845
sun circle1856
recumbent stone circle1933
1818 T. Walford Sci. Tourist I. at Guernsey L'Ancresse, a Druidical monument of five recumbent stones of great magnitude.
1886 Times 5 Sept. 10/6 Numerous rabbits have erected burrows under the recumbent stones.
1933 V. G. Childe in Proc. Soc. Antiquaries Scotland 67 51 Recumbent Stone Circles may have been erected in late Hallstatt times.
1963 Field Archaeol. (Ordnance Surv.) (ed. 4) 40 There is an eccentric type found in North-east Scotland... This is the ‘Recumbent’ stone circle which has more than seventy examples in this area.
1998 Folklore 109 7/2 The parish church..occupies part of the area of a stone circle, the recumbent stone and pillars of which are still standing.
5. Geology. Designating a fold or similar structure whose axial plane is nearly horizontal.
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the world > the earth > structure of the earth > structural features > fold or dip > [adjective] > arrangement of axis
recumbent1895
syntactic1904
plunging1905
syntaxial1931
1895 G. A. J. Cole Open-air Stud. x. 284 Where one side of an anticlinal or a synclinal comes thus to lie upon the other, we may call the whole a recumbent fold... In the case of a recumbent synclinal, the reversal takes place in the upper flank of the fold.
1910 Q. Jrnl. Geol. Soc. 66 617 The sliding is not confined to the lower limbs of recumbent anticlines.
1976 S. Judson et al. Physical Geol. vii. 158 (caption) Large recumbent structures, such as are found in fold mountain belts, are called nappes.
2006 O. A. Pfiffner in S. Mazzoli & R. W. H. Butler Styles of Continental Contraction ix. 163 (caption) The lower unit consists essentially of Jurassic cover rocks that are isoclinally folded into recumbent and even plunging anticlines.
Derivatives
reˈcumbently adv. in or to a recumbent or reclining position; so as to be recumbent.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > posture > action or fact of lying down or reclining > [adverb]
recumbently1803
1803 Curtis's Bot. Mag. 17 643 Lachenalia Lanceæfolia..Stem round. attentuated downwards, weak, generally recumbently assurgent.
1879 W. Synge Tom Singleton III. x. 189 Dr. Blandy's sympathetic drops..must be taken recumbently.
1954 O. H. K. Spate India & Pakistan i. 23 Palaeozoic and Mesozoic sediments thrust and recumbently folded onto the back of the main root.
2006 J. Ford Don't worry, be Happy xxiii. 316 Each time they came over to clear their plates, they'd lean back recumbently in their chairs blowing cigarette smoke in their faces.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1642