[f. L. type *circumstantiāre: see -ATE. Cf. F. circonstancier (Cotgr., 1611).]
† 1. ‘To place in certain circumstances, to invest with particular accidents or adjuncts’ (J.), to define or limit by imposed conditions. Obs.
1638. Penit. Conf., v. (1657), 72. [A] man not circumstantiated with any office.
1657. Burton’s Diary (1828), II. 118. A Committee to consider how that title [Lord Protector] may be bounded, limited, and circumstantiated.
1698. Norris, Pract. Disc., IV. 70. We take Care so to Time, Accommodate, and Circumstantiate our good Discourses that they may really do good.
a. 1711. Ken, Edmund, Poet. Wks. 1721, II. 342. God … So circumstantiated the Black Designs.
2. To set forth, narrate, or support, with circumstances or particulars. (Not in J.)
1658–9. Onslow, in Burton’s Diary (1828), III. 297. You ought first to have a charge before you, that may circumstantiate time and place.
1769. Mrs. Montagu, Lett., IV. 298. The story … dwelt upon, circumstantiated, and as it were represented … deviates into the comic.
1841. De Quincey, Homer, Wks. VI. 383. De Foe … has so plausibly circumstantiated his false historical records as to make them pass for genuine, even with critics.
Hence Circumstantiating vbl. sb. and ppl. a.
a. 1652. J. Smith, Sel. Disc., ix. 465. Those circumstantiating and straitening conditions of time and place.
1675. Baxter, Cath. Theol., II. II. 33. The comparative circumstantiating of that action.
1768. Phil. Trans., LIX. 503. Symbols, not characterized by the farther circumstantiating lines.
