(Also 8–9 erron. succeedaneum.) Pl. -ea, -eums. [mod.L., neut. sing. of L. succēdāneus SUCCEDANEOUS.]
1. A thing that (rarely, a person who) replaces or serves in the place of another; a substitute.
1662. Petty, Taxes, 82. Almost all commodities haue their substitutes or succedanea.
1679. J. Goodman, Penit. Pard., II. ii. (1713), 182. Others … will part with a sin without a succedaneum, or entertaining any other in its room.
a. 1734. North, Examen, III. viii. § 63 (1740), 632. Where Reason and Justice is wanted, a Face of Assurance is the Succedaneum.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1824), I. xv. 103. A kind of succedaneum which has been lately conceived to answer the purpose of fresh water.
1774. H. Walpole, Lett. (1857), VI. 124. In lieu of me, you will have a charming succedaneum, Lady Harriet Stanhope.
1844. Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 193. But independent of all succedanea, which may be given to horses at times as a treat,… there should be a regular feed prepared for farm-horses.
1860. Kingsley, Limits Exact Sci., 17. They are … apt … to patch them where they are weakest, by that most dangerous succedaneum of vague and grand epithets.
1911. J. A. MacCulloch, Relig. Anc. Celts, ix. 162. As kings were represented by a substitute, so the sacred tree, regarded as too sacred to be cut down, may also have had its succedaneum.
b. Const. for.
1662. H. Stubbe, Indian Nectar, iii. 56. It is impossible to provide any succedanea, or substitutes for these kind of Commodities.
1699. Phil. Trans., XXI. 311. How the Arabians fell first into the use of Coffee is hard to tell, perhaps ’twas their Succedaneum for Wine.
1772–84. Cook’s Voy. (1790), V. 1620. Green plantains are an excellent succedaneum for bread.
1806. A. Hunter, Culina (ed. 3), 227. A Succedaneum for green Pease in Winter.
1834. Pringle, Afr. Sk., iii. 165. A pan of live charcoal or embers from our wooden fires was the usual succedaneum for a blazing hearth.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, xxiii. A pair of dreadnought pilot-trousers, whereof the waistband was so very broad and high, that it became a succedaneum for a waistcoat.
1891. ‘Roy Tellet,’ Draught of Lethe, II. 225. If you cannot afford a conscience, the best succedaneum for it is a keen sense of professional propriety.
† c. Const. to.
1667. Phil. Trans., II. 516. The continual motion of their Gills, a Succedaneum to Lungs.
1733. Tull, Horse-Hoeing Husb., vii. 56. This is but an Imitation of the Hand-Hoe, or a Succedaneum to it.
1755. H. Walpole, Lett. (1857), II. 477. He has contracted for a succedaneum to the Mingotti.
1802–12. Bentham, Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827), III. 143. Self-inculpative discourse … can never be an adequate succedaneum to judicial confession.
d. Const. of. (rare.)
1651. French, Distill., vi. 183. This Oil may be the Succedaneum of true gold.
1791. W. Gilpin, Forest Scenery, I. 81. The most beautiful succedaneum of the stone-pine, which these climates afford is the pinaster.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. II. i. Paper; which in many ways is the succedaneum of Gold.
2. Med. A drug, frequently of inferior efficacy, substituted for another.
c. 1643. Ld. Herbert, Autobiog. (1824), 45. It being the manner of Apothecaries so frequently to put in the Succedanea that no man is sure to find with them Medicines made with the true drugs.
a. 1661. Fuller, Worthies, Brecknockshire (1662), IV. 21. Physicians have their Succedanea, or Seconds, which well supply the place of such Simples, which the Patient cannot procure.
1748. Smollett, Rod. Rand., xix. The most expert man at a succedaneum, of any apothecary in London.
1822–7. Good, Study Med. (1829), IV. 461. In such cases, we must find out, by trial, what is its best succedaneum.
1866. A. Flint, Princ. Med., II. I. xi. 258. For this end the succedanea of opium, viz., conium, belladonna, and hydrocyanic acid may be prescribed.
† 3. Misused for: A remedy, cure. Obs.
1737. Ld. Chesterf., in Gentl. Mag., VII. 498. Their Case is certainly above Comfort, and, I own, I am at a Loss what to recommend to ’em. Succedaneums there are none, I shall only endeavour to suggest Lenitives.
1785. H. Walpole, Lett. to Mann, 24 June. Italian summers are a good succedaneum, and, I hope, will be more efficacious than our north-easterly winds.
1789. J. Williams, Min. Kingd., I. 179. I am politician enough to be able to suggest the proper remedy or succedaneum for all these difficulties.
