illapse

English

WOTD – 14 January 2017

Etymology

From Latin illapsus (“a falling, gliding, or flowing in; an irruption”); from illābor (“to fall, to slide”) + -tus (“suffix forming action nouns from verbs”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪˈlæps/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æps
• Hyphenation: il‧lapse

Noun

illapse (plural illapses)

1. (rare) A gliding in; an immission or entrance of one thing into another.
   • 1677, Matthew Hale, The Primitive Origination of Mankind: Considered and Examined According to the Light of Nature, London: Printed by William Godbid, for William Shrowsbery […] , →OCLC, page 320:

     The illapſe of some pre-existent or animating formative Principle, which we may well call the Soul or Anima, that as in the Generation of Mankind by ordinary procreation we ſee the formative power is ſome refined active Spirit or Soul in ſemine deliteſcens, that faſhions the Matter, and actuates it with vital ſenſible Faculties and Operations; ſo the illapſe of ſome ſuch active ſubſtance or powerful Being, illapſing into Matter and uniting with it, might form it into that conſtitution which it enjoyed.

   • 1714, John Johnson, The Unbloody Sacrifice, and Altar Unvail'd and Supported; in which the Nature of the Eucharist is Explain'd According to the Sentiments of the Christian Church in the Four First Centuries, London: Printed for Robert Knaplock, at the Bishop's-Head, in St. Paul's Church-Yard, →OCLC, page 181:

     Now it is certain, that no Man was more poſitive, as to the Conſecration of the Holy Euchariſt by the Illapſe of the Holy Spirit, than St. Chrysoſtom; and therefore the Reaſon, why he did not come into the Meaſures of Theophilus, muſt be, that he was not convinced, that Origen was guilty of that Error, which Theophilus, and his Friends, imputed to him.

   • 1737, Daniel [Cosgrove] Waterland, A Review of the Doctrine of the Eucharist, as Laid Down in Scripture and Antiquity, 2nd corr. edition, London: Printed for W. Innys and R. Manby at the West End of St. Paul's, and Corn. Crownfield at Cambridge, →OCLC, pages 380 and 410–411:

     […] I ſhall now proceed to consider what the Ancients taught concerning the Deſcent, or Illapſe of the Holy Spirit upon the Symbols, or upon the Communicants in this Holy Solemnity. […] Why ſhould the Illapſe of the Holy Spirit be ſuppoſed to work any greater, or any other Change in the Elements of the Euchariſt, than in the Waters of Baptiſm?

   • 1804, William Gilpin, Sermons Preached to a Country Congregation: To which are Added, a Few Hints for Sermons; Intended Chiefly for the Use of the Younger Clergy, 4th edition, volume I, London: Printed for T[homas] Cadell, and W. Davies, in the Strand, →OCLC, page 346:

     Some indeed pretend to feel the illapſe of the holy ſpirit; and to fix the moment, when it enters the heart.

   • 1807 April, Francis Jeffrey, “A Portraiture of Quakerism, as Taken from a View of the Moral Education, Discipline, Peculiar Customs, Religious Principles, Political and Civil Economy, and Character, of the Society of Friends. By Thomas Clarkson, M.A. Author of several Essays on the subject of the Slave Trade. 8vo. 3 vols. London: 1806 [book review]”, in Contributions to the Edinburgh Review. […] In Three Volumes, 2nd edition, volume III, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, published 1846, →OCLC, pages 385–386:

     They say no graces; but when their meal is on the table, they sit silent and in a thoughtful posture for a short time, waiting for an illapſe of the Spirit. If they are not moved to make any ejaculation, they begin to eat without more ado.

2. (rare) A sudden descent or attack.
   • 1683, John Norris, An Idea of Happiness, in a Letter to a Friend: Enquiring wherein the Greatest Happiness Attainable by Man in this Life does Consist, London: Printed for James Norris at the Kings Arms without Temple Bar, →OCLC, page 22:

     […] That as a piece of Iron red hot by reaſon of the Illapſe of the fire into it appears all over like fire; ſo the Souls of the Bleſſed by this Illapſe of the Divine Eſſence into them ſhall be all over Divine.

   • 1727, James Thomson, Summer: A Poem, London: Printed for J. Millan, →OCLC, page 50:

     […] Thus Life redoubles, and is oft preſerv'd, / By the bold Swimmer, in the ſwift Illapſe / Of Accident diſaſtrous. […]

Translations

gliding in

sudden descent or attack

• Finnish: laskeutuminen (fi) (descent)

Verb

illapse (third-person singular simple present illapses, present participle illapsing, simple past and past participle illapsed)

1. (rare) Usually followed by into: to fall or glide; to pass.
   • 1677, Matthew Hale, The Primitive Origination of Mankind: Considered and Examined According to the Light of Nature, London: Printed by William Godbid, for William Shrowsbery […] , →OCLC, page 320:

     The illapſe of some pre-existent or animating formative Principle, which we may well call the Soul or Anima, that as in the Generation of Mankind by ordinary procreation we ſee the formative power is ſome refined active Spirit or Soul in ſemine deliteſcens, that faſhions the Matter, and actuates it with vital ſenſible Faculties and Operations; ſo the illapſe of ſome ſuch active ſubſtance or powerful Being, illapſing into Matter and uniting with it, might form it into that conſtitution which it enjoyed.

   • 1794, Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho, a Romance; Interspersed with Some Pieces of Poetry. […] In Four Volumes, 2nd edition, volume II, London: Printed for G. G. and J. Robinson, Paternoster-Row, →OCLC, page 117:

     The ſcenes of the Iliad illapſed in glowing colours to her fancy – ſcenes, once the haunt of heroes – now lonely, and in ruins; but which ſtill ſhone, in the poet's ſtrain, in all their youthful ſplendour.

   • 1836 June 11, “The Capuchin. Written by the Comte Peyronnet during his Imprisonment at Ham. Translated from the French.”, in The Parterre of Poetry and Historical Romance; with Essays, Sketches, and Anecdotes, volume IV, number 102, London: Published by Effingham Wilson, Junior [son of Effingham Wilson], 16, King William Street, London Bridge, →OCLC, page 371:

     Peace having been concluded, he returned to the arms of his mother. His life illapsed in a calm and uniform tenour, devoid of strong passion or perturbation of any kind.

   • 1846, Emanuel Swedenborg, translated by Augustus Clissold, The Principia; or, The First Principles of Natural Things, being New Attempts toward a Philosophical Explanation of the Elementary World, volume II, London, Boston, Mass.: W. Newbery, 6, King Street, Holborn; H. Baillière, 219, Regent Street; Otis Clapp, School Street, Boston, United States, →OCLC, page 285:

     That in the highest degree of expansion the elementary particles may become disrupted, and cease to be elementary; but nevertheless the finites, inhering in their surface, and which are now escaping by reason of the disruption, cannot actuate themselves, but must illapse into some of the surfaces of the neighbouring particles; and there like finites continue their motion as before in some other surface; […]

References

• James Augustus Henry Murray, editor (1901), “Illapse, […] sb. […] v.”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles: Founded Mainly on the Materials Collected by the Philological Society, 1st edition, volume V, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, §1, part ii, page 40, column 2.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “illapse”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Anagrams

• Pallies, lip seal, pallies, sapelli

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ilˈlaːp.se/, [ɪlˈlʲäːps̠ɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ilˈlap.se/, [ilˈläpse]

Participle

illāpse

1. vocative masculine singular of illāpsus