supposititiousadj.

1600 J. Colville Palinod sig. B4^v The said pretended Testament was supposititious, & contriued by such as meant to defraud both the heires female of the said king Henrie the 8. aswell as these of his eldest sister.

1611 T. James Treat. Corruption Script. i. 36 The 97. Treatise... Censured To be supposititious.

a1631 J. Donne Serm. (1954) VII. 130 A supposititious word, which is not in the Text.

1693 J. Dryden Disc. conc. Satire in J. Dryden et al. tr. Juvenal Satires p. xxviii When 'tis made publick, it will easily be seen by any one Sentence, whether it be supposititious, or genuine.

1699 R. Bentley Diss. Epist. Phalaris (new ed.) Pref. p. xi Some Reasons, why I thought Phalaris's Epistles supposititious.

1751 T. Smollett Peregrine Pickle I. xvi. 114 A supposititious letter of recommendation.

1778 T. Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry II. 166 That these distichs are undoubtedly supposititious, and that they could not possibly be written by the very venerable Roman whose name they bear.

1868 H. H. Milman Ann. St. Paul's Cathedral vii. 132 Attempted to be proved by supposititious charters.

1921 T. J. Campbell Jesuits xvi. 521 Besides the pretended letter of Father Ricci, there were other supposititious documents.

2004 D. J. Golby Instrumental Teaching in Nineteenth-cent. Brit. i. ii. 114 The various publications..include the numerous supposititious works bearing Geminiani's name.

1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια 244 Aristotles nice conceited vse therefore is but supposititious and not the true vse of Nature.

1646 Earl of Monmouth tr. G. F. Biondi Hist. Civil Warres Eng. II. ix. 222 Lambert tooke upon him the person of the Earl of Warwick, by the direction of a Priest; and Ralph Wilford (for so was this second supposititious Earl called) by the direction of an Augustine Frier.

1653 T. Gataker Vindic. Annot. Jer. 10.2 85 Who..hath shrewdly shaken the main foundations of their Supposititious Science.

1700 P. Rycaut Hist. Turks III. 513 He hastned away this supposititious Envoy all he could.

1770 G. White Let. 12 Apr. in Nat. Hist. Selborne (1789) 128 You wonder..that the hedge-sparrows, &c. can be induced..to sit on the egg of the cuckoo without being scandalized at the vast disproportioned size of the supposititious egg.

1828 W. Scott Fair Maid of Perth Introd., in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. I. 15 If any Seneschal..had, by means of paint,..endeavoured to palm upon posterity supposititious stigmata [sc. stains of Rizzio's blood].

1830 G. P. R. James Darnley III. ii. 36 Being tall and thin, he had great need of some supposititious contour, to make his height seem less enormous.

1875 R. Hill & F. Hill What we saw in Austral. xiii. 245 It is not difficult to imagine a supposititious uncle or aunt thus getting possession of a young girl, who, on discovering the fraud, might well be at a loss in a strange country.

1913 M. Dana & D. D. Carter Master Mind vii. 75 For a long minute, the supposititious parents and the equally supposititious son exchanged glances of lively curiosity.

1961 J. W. Draper Stratford to Dogberry xx. 177 His [sc. Falstaff's] cowardice above all must have made the runaway hero of Gadshill and the supposititious slayer of Hotspur a rather despicable figure of fun.

1625 F. Bacon Ess. (new ed.) 111 The Succession of the Turks, from Solyman, vntill this day, is suspected to be vntrue, and of strange Bloud; For that Selymus the Second was thought to be Supposititious.

a1631 J. Donne Serm. (1957) III. 131 In a bastardizing a race, by supposititious children.

1652 A. Ross Hist. World i. i. 3 [The] King of Cappadocia..had one son..who died young, but his two supposititious sons..contended for the kingdome.

1690 E. Fowler Answer to Paper delivered by Mr. Ashton at his Execution to Sir Francis Child 14 But Mr. Ashton thinks he hath cleared this matter, when he affirms that he knows there was no Supposititious Birth by unanswerable undoubted Proofs.

1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 189. ¶9 They conclude that the reputed Son must have been Illegitimate, Supposititious, or begotten in Adultery.

1765 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. I. i. xvi. 456 A proceeding at common law, where a widow is suspected to feign herself with child, in order to produce a supposititious heir to the estate.

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 411 Not one person in a thousand doubted that the boy was supposititious.

1875 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) III. 97 A supposititious son, who has made the discovery that his reputed parents are not his real ones.

1927 V. H. Galbraith Anonimalle Chron. 185 The Anonimalle chronicle contains perhaps the most circumstantial account of John of Gaunt's alleged supposititious birth.

1996 H. Nenner in D. Hoak & M. Feingold World of William & Mary 104 The allegations of a supposititious child reopened the national debate about the rule of monarchical succession.

1641 J. Milton Of Prelatical Episc. 9 Imposing upon our belief a supposititious ofspring of some dozen Epistles.

1662 E. Stillingfleet Origines Sacræ ii. ix. 257 This people which are so far from the faith of Abraham, (and therefore are supposititious Children) that no miracles which I do, will convince them.

1781 Monthly Rev. 64 App. 540 But when..we found bets represented as propagating (by substitutions, interpositions, different pronunciations [sic] of consonants, &c.) keichen, cuts,..and some thousands of other such dissimilar and heterogeneous terms, we could not help looking upon these either as supposititious children, or monstrous births.

1812 Parl. Deb. 1st Ser. 14 1001/1 How could he support a measure in which he could not find more than three lines and three quarters of the preamble of the bill which he had introduced?—He should hope, therefore, that the hon. gent. would not shew that he was attached with the fondness of a parent, to this supposititious offspring, this changling forced upon him as his legitimate production.

1886 M. B. Eddy Sci. & Health (ed. 16) xi. 413 God is not the author of evil. The supposititious parent of evil is matter.

1893 J. Oman tr. F. Schleiermacher On Relig. ii. 47 His soul is barren in religious matters, and his ideas are merely supposititious children which he has adopted, in the secret feeling of his own weakness.

1915 F. Bancroft Misrepresentations & Concelaments in Opposition to Reform in Amer. Hist. Assoc. v, in F. Bancroft et al. Why Amer. Hist. Assoc. needs Thorough Reorganization 49 Meantime Prof. McLaughlin, the supposititious father of this enterprise, having heard of the emphatic protests, wrote; [etc.].

1934 H. G. Wells Exper. in Autobiogr. I. v. 265 Russia..is now no longer a Communism nor a democratic Socialism... It is a novel experimental state capitalism... It is the supposititious child of necessity in the household of theory.