a. (sb.). [ad. L. conjunct-us, pa. pple. of conjungĕre: it is thus a doublet of CONJOINT, and virtually of CONJOINED.]
A. as pa. pple. Joined together, conjoined, united, combined in conjunction.
1432–50. trans. Higden (Rolls), I. 313. Scicille was coniuncte somme tyme to Ytaly.
1605. Shaks., Lear, V. i. 12. I am doubtful that you have been conjunct And bosom’d with her.
1606. G. W[oodcocke], trans. Hist. Ivstine, 74 b. Vnder these Captaines was warre coniunct in Sardinia, and a fielde fought against the Affricans.
1622–62. Heylin, Cosmogr., II. (1682), 85. The Isle of Ruden, then conjunct hereto.
1695. Bp. Patrick, Comm. Gen., 302. The Lord himself [was] … conjunct with the Angels whom he imployed in this Embassie.
1877. Mrs. Oliphant, Makers Flor., i. 26. The number nine … the perfect number, conjunct of threes.
B. as adj.
1. Joined together, conjoined, combined.
1650. Baxter, Saint’s R., IV. iii. § 5. They are conjunct causes.
1765. Lond. Chron., 28 April, 416. The conjunct fleets of France and Spain.
1829. T. L. Peacock, Misfort. Elphin, 174. The conjunct … influences of fire and strong drink.
b. Joined or associated with another; esp. in a more or less subordinate capacity; ‘joint.’
1582–8. Hist. James VI. (1804), 171. To send ane ambassador conjunct to Scotland.
1597. Skene, De Verb. Signif., s.v. Feodum, In this case the husband is proprietar, and the wife is conjunct fear, or liferentar.
1649. Jer. Taylor, Gt. Exemp., III. 162. He became a conjunct person relative to the guilt, by undertaking the charges of our nature.
1695. Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), III. 468. The earl of Scarborough is to be conjunct general of the forces … with duke Schonberg.
1753. Scots Mag., Aug., 421/1. Mr. John Flockhart, his conjunct agent.
1885. Life Sir R. Christison, I. 76. The appointment of Dr. Allison in 1821 as conjunct professor and successor.
2. Constituted by conjunction of several elements, or persons; joint, united.
1529. in Burnet, Hist. Ref., II. 96. I have received your Conjunct and several Letters.
1647. Jer. Taylor, Lib. Proph., v. 100. Whose Testimony though conjunct, yet in value is but single.
1759. Robertson, Hist. Scot., I. I. 27. Jealousy and discord were the effects of their conjunct authority.
1840. Mill, Diss. & Disc. (1859), II. 223. It must be ascertained by a conjunct analysis … of the whole of history and the whole of human nature.
1885. Life Sir R. Christison, I. 137. Our conjunct experimental enquiry on poisoning with oxalic acid.
b. Conjunct consonant or letter (also, absol., conjunct): in the Devanāgarī Alphabet, a written character in which two, three, or more consonants (without intervening vowels) are combined, a consonant combination: as [char.] sm, [char.] smy, [char.] tsmy.
1857. Monier Williams, Sanscr. Gramm., 1. The compound or conjunct consonants may be multiplied to the extent of four or five hundred.
1862. F. Hall, in Jrnl. Asiat. Soc. Beng., 14. The conjunct in hastya could not but at once suggest itself.
† 3. Conjunct cause: the immediate or direct cause. Obs.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg. (MS. A.), 64. Þer ben ij. maner of causis þat makiþ blood to blede out of a mannys body; þe oon cause is clepid—cause conjuncte; & þe toþer—cause antecedent.
c. 1643. Maximes Unfolded, 24. The procreant cause which is immediate and conjunct, is the consent of the people.
1683. Salmon, Doron Med., I. 290. The Spirit while Living is the near or Conjunct cause of their Motion.
4. Sc. Law. a. Joint.
(See 1597, 1753 in 1 b.)
b. Belonging to several persons jointly, as conjunct rights, fee, etc.
1494. Acc. Ld. Treas. Scot. (1877), I. 211 (Jam. Supp.). Ane charter of coniunct feftment to Alexander Reid and his wiff.
1535. Sc. Acts Jas. V. (1597), § 14. Conjunct-fee, and life-rentes.
1773. Erskine, Inst. Law Scot., III. viii. § 35 (Jam.). Where an entail is made, or any right conceived, in favour of two strangers, in conjunct fee and liferent.
c. Conjunct person: an associate in an offence or charge; esp. one so nearly related to another as to be liable to the presumption of collusion, or connivence in acts done in view of insolvency.
1621. [see CONFIDENT 7 b].
Cf. 1649. in 1 b.
d. Conjunct proof, probation: evidence (or leading of evidence) restricted to the rebuttal of the averments of the opposing party in an action, but not introducing new points.
1760. in Scotsman, 20 Aug. (1885), 5/3. Allows the city a conjunct probation thereanent.
1864. Daily Tel., 14 June. She was only called for the conjunct proof.
1868. Act 31–2 Vict., c. 101 § 35. Allowing each of the parties … a conjunct probation with reference to the claims of such other parties.
† 5. Math. Conjunct proportion: continued proportion. Obs.
1594. Blundevil, Exerc., I. xviii. (ed. 7), 42. Coniunct [Proportion] differeth not from Geometricall Progression, before taught.
1597. Morley, Introd. Mus., Annot. Coniunct proportion, is when the middle tearme is twice taken thus, as 16 to 8, so are 8 to 4, and 4 to 2, and 2 to 1.
6. Mus. Conjunct degrees: see CONJOINT. Conjunct motion, c. tetrachords: see quots.
1694. W. Holder, Harmony (1731), 97. The Ancients ascended from the Unison to an Octave by two Systemes of Tetrachords or Fourths. These were either Conjunct, when they began the Second Tetrachord at the Fourth Chord, viz. with the last Note of the first Tetrachord … Or else the two Tetrachords were disjunct, the Second taking its beginning at the Fifth Chord.
1721. A. Malcolm, Treat. Mus. (1730), 522. A third Tetrachord was added to the septichord Lyre, which was either conjunct with it, making ten Chords, or disjunct, making Eleven.
1880. Grove, Dict. Mus., II. 377. The motions of a single part are classified according as the successive steps do or do not exceed the limits of a degree of the scale at a time, the former being called ‘disjunct’ and the latter ‘conjunct’ motion.
C. sb. 1. A conjoined whole. Obs.
1581. W. Stafford, Exam. Compl., i. (1876), 23. Profitable or necessary for the coniunct of mans life heare in earth.
2. A person or thing conjoined or associated with another.
1667. Boyle, Orig. Formes & Qual., 7. The Conjuncts of the smallest parts of Matter.
1671. True Nonconf., 182. Absolute Supremacie … incapable either of superior or conjunct.
1682. Creech, Pref. to Lucretius (Jod.). Lucretius, enumerating all the conjuncts and events, or properties and accidents of the Epicurean atoms.
1830. Fraser’s Mag., I. 336. As some of your conjuncts and condisciples would fain persuade us.
a. 1871. Grote, Eth. Fragm., ii. (1876), 38. With all their associated conjuncts and appendages.
† 3. Mus. The singing of a note foreign to the key; an accidental raising or lowering of a note (see ACCIDENTAL A. 5, B. b.). Obs.
1609. Dowland, Ornith. Microl., 24. A Coniunct is this, to sing a Voyce in a Key which is not in it. Or it is the sodaine changing of a Tone into a Semitone, or a semitone into a Tone.
4. = CONJUNCTURE.
1854. Syd. Dobell, Balder, xxviii. 188. I swear that what conjuncts, for bliss or bale, This sovereign hour determines, I accept As doom.
