a. and sb. [ad. L. adscrīpt-us pa. pple. of adscrīb-ĕre (more commonly ascrībĕre, ascrīptus); see prec.]
A. adj.
1. Written after, as distinguished from subscript.
1875. Lightfoot, Col. & Philem. (1876), 251. The iota adscript was still written.
2. For med.L. adscriptus (glebæ) attached (to the soil). Said of feudal serfs, who were transferred along with the estate to which they hereditarily pertained.
1822. Edin. Rev., XXXII. 291. Consider the men as being in some measure adscript to the glebe.
B. sb.
† 1. Math. A natural tangent, so called because applied to the circumference of a circle. Obs.
1722. G. Mackenzie, Scot. Writers, III. 520. To these Tables of Sines, Bressius added the Table of Natural Tangents, which he call’d Adscripts.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-Bk., Adscripts, sometimes used for the tangents of arcs.
2. = A 2 used subst.
1849. Carlyle, Nigger Quest., 44. The Blacks in Java are already a kind of Adscripts.
1876. Bancroft, Hist. U.S., I. xvii. 496. Not only destitute of political franchises, but mere adscripts to the soil.
