a. and sb. [ad. L. anticipānt-em, pr. pple. of anticipā-re (see ANTICIPATE a.); or a. its Fr. repr. anticipant.]

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  A.  adj.

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  1.  Operating in advance, prevenient, ‘preventing.’

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1626.  Donne, Serm., lxvii. 675 a. By antecedent and anticipant without concomitant and auxiliant grace.

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c. 1828.  Southey, Life & Corr. (1850), V. 364. It was not forged by unseen hands, Anticipant of Jove’s commands.

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1854.  B. Taylor, Poems of Orient, 171. Exercising power anticipant.

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  2.  Apprehending beforehand, looking forward, expectant.

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1798.  Southey, Rose, Wks. VI. 107. The first pangs Of wakening guilt, anticipant of Hell. Ibid. (1825), in Q. Rev., XXXII. 386. His [Chevalier Bayard’s] mind … was retrospective rather than anticipant.

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  B.  sb. One who anticipates; an anticipator.

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1854.  B. Taylor, L’Envoi, in Poems of Orient (1866), 396. The sweet anticipant of dawn.

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1877.  M. Arnold, Gipsy Child, Poems I. 55. O meek anticipant of that sure pain.

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