Also -fœt (7 -fæt-). [ad. late or mod.L. superfētātio, n. of action f. superfētāre to SUPERFETE. Cf. F. superfétation, It. superfetazione, etc.]
1. Phys. A second conception occurring after (esp. some time after) a prior one and before the delivery; the formation of a second fetus in a uterus already pregnant: occurring normally in some animals, and believed by some to occur exceptionally in women.
1603. Holland, Plutarch’s Mor., 843. Erasistratus attributeth it [sc. engendering of twins] unto divers conceptions and superfætations, like as in brute beasts.
1615. Crooke, Body of Man, 314. This superfætation is … a second conception, when a woman already with child … conceiueth againe.
1661. Lovell, Hist. Anim. & Min., Isag. b 2 b. The hare is often troubled with superfetation.
1754–64. Smellie, Midwif., II. 86. What you have writ me seems to favour the notion of superfoetation.
1836–9. Todd’s Cycl. Anat., II. 469/1. The quadrupeds in which superfœtation … is said to occur possess a uterus with two horns.
1871. A. Meadows, Man. Midwifery (ed. 2), 103. Cases of double or bihorned uteri are probably quite as rare as genuine cases of superfœtation.
b. Bot. In early use, applied to processes supposed to be analogous to superfetation in animals, e.g., the growth of a parasite, or an excessive production of ears of corn; in mod. use, the fertilization of the same ovule by two different kinds of pollen.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 556. The Misseltoe … is a Plant, vtterly differing from the Plant, vpon which it groweth. Two things therfore may be certainly set downe: First, that Super-fœtation must be by Abundance of Sap, in the Bough that putteth it forth: Secondly, that that Sap must be such, as the Tree doth excerne, and cannot assimilate.
1651. in Hartlib’s Legacy (1655), 107. Such a super-fœtation of ears must necessarily proceed from an improvement by the Root.
1707. Curios. in Husb. & Gard., 156. ’Tis a sort of Superfetation, by which one Grain of Corn conceives and brings forth several Young, that in the common Course … ought to be born successively.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v., We meet with something like a Superfetation in Plants too; there being a kind of Lemon found to grow inclosed in the Body of another.
1816. Keith, Phys. Bot., II. 368. The other species of superfetation in which one seed is supposed to be the joint issue of two males.
1885. Goodale, Physiol. Bot. (1892), 9. The formation of two or more embryos, occurs occasionally as a kind of superfoetation in some seeds.
1900. B. D. Jackson, Gloss. Bot. Terms, Superfoetation, the fertilization of an ovary by more than one kind of pollen.
2. fig. Additional production; the growth or accretion of one upon another; superabundant production or accumulation.
1641. H. L’Estrange, God’s Sabbath, 13. Consider the Law it self, and you shall see the positive accrue to the naturall by way of superfœtation.
1675. Plume, Life Hacket, in Cent. Serm., p. v. That one School [sc. Westminster] furnishing two entire Colledges of great size in Cambridg and Oxon, besides whom it does send to other places by way of Superfetation.
1684. Case of Cross in Baptism, 6. The Superfoetation of Ceremonies … began to be very burdensom.
a. 1703. Burkitt, On N. T., Ded. to Ld. Fitzwalter. Plays and Romances, and such-like Corrupting and Effeminating Trash, which the Superfœtation of the Stage furnishes the Nation with.
1840. De Quincey, Mod. Superst., Wks. 1854, III. 341. Mark the superfetation of omens—omen supervening upon omen, augury engrafted upon augury.
1882. Stallo, Mod. Physics, 114. In this endless superfetation of ætherial media upon space and ordinary matter.
b. In particularized sense: An instance of this; an additional product; an accretion, excrescence; a superabundant or superfluous addition.
1642. Chas. I., Answ. 19 Prop., 4 These humble Desires … are intended to make way for a Superfetation of a (yet) higher nature.
1654. H. L’Estrange, Chas. I. (1655), 6. Those dismall calamities which befel his son, were doubtlesse ampliated by a superfetation of causes.
1675. V. Alsop, Anti-Sozzo, III. ii. 257. This Distinction was but the Superfoetation of his own Parturient Brain.
1725. Pope, Shaks. Wks., I. Pref. 8. The most [of Shakespeare’s errors] are such as are not properly Defects, but Superfœtations.
1817. Coleridge, Biog. Lit., xxiii. (1907), II. 206. The play may conclude as it began, viz. in a superfetation of blasphemy upon nonsense.
1820. Lamb, Elia, Ser. I. South-sea House. Layers of dust have accumulated (a superfœtation of dirt!) upon the old layers.
1861. M. Pattison, Ess. (1889), I. 30. He has thrown this superfetation of his historical work into twelve essays.
1903. Athenæum, 28 Feb., 275/2. His [G. B. Hill’s] masterly Oxford edition of Boswell (1887) suffered from a superfetation of notes.
Hence † Superfetatious a., of the nature of superfetation.
1673. [R. Leigh], Transp. Reh., 24. The superfetatious Miracles of Art.
