a. In 5 -pyssible. [a. F. concupiscible (14th c.), ad. L. concupiscibil-is (Jerome), f. concupisc-ĕre: see -BLE.]
† 1. Vehemently to be desired; worthy to be longed for or lusted after. Obs.
1490. Caxton, Eneydos, ii. 16. All thynges concupyssible to thappetyte of theyr desire. Ibid. (1491), Vitas Patr. (W. de W., 1495), V. iv. 338 a/2. The vertue of contynence consysteth … also in absteynyng hym selfe to see & beholde worldly thynges & concupyscyble.
1683. E. Hooker, Pref. Pordage’s Mystic Div., 93, note. A state of pleaceur is … eligibl and concupiscibl.
1762. Sterne, Tr. Shandy, V. 47 (D.). Never did thy eyes behold … anything in this world more concupiscible.
2. Vehemently desirous; characterized by desire or longing: of the nature of concupiscence.
Concupiscible appetite, faculty, etc.: one of the two parts of our ‘irrational’ nature, the other being the irascible. [= Plato’s τὸ ἐπιθυμητικόν, in his tripartite division of the soul.]
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., III. vi. (1495), 53. Joye and Hope come of the vertue concupiscibl.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 112 b. Sensualite is called of doctours, the appetyte concupyscible.
1603. Shaks., Meas. for M., V. i. 98. By gift of my chaste body To his concupiscible intemperate lust.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., 110. The Irascible passions doe follow the temper of the heart, but the concupiscible distractions the crasis of the liver.
1722. Wollaston, Relig. Nat., ix. 171. All his affections, concupiscible and irascible.
1850. Newman, Diffic. Anglic., 259. The irascible or the concupiscible principle is ever insurgent against reason.
† b. quasi-sb. The concupiscible faculty or principle. Obs.
1594. Carew, Huarte’s Exam. Wits, xiv. (1596), 250. Our first parents … lost this qualitie, and the irascible and concupiscible remained.
1653. H. More, Conject. Cabbal. (1713), 21. The Concupiscible began to be so immoderate as to resolve to do any thing that may promote pleasure.
Hence Concupiscibleness. rare–0.
1730–6. Bailey, Concupiscibleness, fitness or readiness to desire or be desired earnestly.
1775. in Ash; and in mod. Dicts.
