Also 6–7 -at, 7 -sumate. [ad. L. consummāt-us brought to the highest degree, perfect, complete, consummate, pa. pple. of consummāre (see next). As to pronunciation, see the vb.]
A. as pa. pple.
† 1. Completed, perfected, fully accomplished. Obsolescent.
1471. Ripley, Comp. Alch., I., in Ashm. (1652), 133. And alsoe thy Bace perfytly consummate.
1530. Palsgr., 495/2. This worke that hath ben so longe in hande is nowe at the laste consommate.
1615. Chapman, Odyss., XIII. 284. Till righteous fate Upon the Wooers’ wrongs were consummate.
a. 1626. Bp. Andrewes, Serm. (1661), 9 a. Consummate it shall be, but not yet.
1752. Young, Brothers, III. i. Guilt, begun, must fly To guilt consummate, to be safe.
1767. Blackstone, Comm., II. 128. The husband by the birth of the child becomes tenant by the curtesy initiate … but his estate is not consummate till the death of the wife.
1832. Austin, Jurispr. (1879), I. vi. 330. A fraction of a community already consummate or complete.
† 2. Of marriage: = CONSUMMATED. Obs.
c. 1530. in Fiddes, Life Wolsey (1726), II. 171. The Matrymonie was consummate by that Act.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, III. ii. 2. I doe but stay till your marriage be consummate.
1649. Bp. Hall, Cases Consc., IV. v. 434. Not ratified onely, but consummate by carnal knowledge.
1765. Blackstone, Comm., I. 435. Marriages contracted … in the face of the church, and consummate with bodily knowledge.
B. adj.
† 1. Summed up, finished; having in it finality.
c. 1430. trans. T. à Kempis, 107. Holde a short and a consummate worde: Leve all & þou shalt finde all; forsake couetynge and þou shalt finde rest.
2. Complete, perfect: a. of things. arch.
1527. R. Thorne, in Hakluyt, Voy. (1589), 257. There lacke many thinges that a consummate Carde [= map] should haue.
1667. Milton, P. L., V. 481. Last the bright consummate floure Spirits odorous breathes.
1743. Fielding, J. Wild, I. i. A perfect or consummate pattern of human excellence.
1868. M. Pattison, Academ. Org., v. 191. In Oxford … degrees in arts were not final or consummate degrees, but steps on the road … to the doctor’s degree.
b. of persons: Complete; accomplished, supremely qualified.
1643. Milton, Divorce, II. iii. (1851), 69. What a consummat and most adorned Pandora was bestow’d upon Adam.
1725. Pope, Odyss., IV. 283. Form’d by the care of that consummate sage.
1758. Chesterf., Lett., IV. 126. The dignity and importance of a consummate Minister.
1789. Belsham, Ess., I. xvi. 304. Those consummate generals, Condé, Turenne, and Luxemburg.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 50. The consummate hypocrite.
1878. Browning, Poets Croisic, 67. Step thou forth Second consummate songster!
3. Perfect, of the highest degree or quality; supreme; utmost. Usually of qualities, or states, as consummate bliss, skill, wisdom, etc.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 231 b. To knowe the god omnipotent is the consummate iustyce.
1644. Milton, Areop., 56. The most consummat act of his fidelity.
1695. Woodward, Nat. Hist. Earth, II. (1723), 94. The most consummate and absolute Order and Beauty.
1704. Hearne, Duct. Hist. (1714), I. 406. A consummate skill in Arithmetic.
1725. Watts, Logick, II. v. § 4. Consummate folly.
1805. Wordsw., Prelude, IV. (1889), 259/1. That day consummate happiness was mine.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., IV. 271. Conducted with consummate ability.
1880. Beaconsfield, Endym., lxxiii. 340. Little dinners, consummate and select.
1876. M. Davies, Unorth. Lond., 371. It was a consummate sermon.
† 4. ? = CONSUMED 2, CONSUMPT. Obs.
1684. trans. Bonet’s Merc. Compit., VIII. 298. Lixivia [in dropsy] … are proper … but not … for such as are consummate, and make a red deep coloured urine.
