inofficious

English

Etymology

From Latin inofficiōsus. Compare French inofficieux. See in- (“not”) +‎ officious.

Adjective

inofficious (comparative more inofficious, superlative most inofficious)

(obsolete) Indifferent to obligation or duty.
- 1604 March 25 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), B[en] Jon[son], “The Pegme at Fen-church”, in B. Jon: His Part of King James His Royall and Magnificent Entertainement through His Honorable Cittie of London, Thurseday the 15. of March. 1603. […], London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] [and George Eld] for Edward Blount, published 1604, →OCLC, signature B3, verso:
  Vp thou tame River, vvake; / And from the liquid limbes this ſlumber ſhake: / Thou drovvn'st thy ſelfe in inofficious ſleepe; / And theſe thy ſluggiſh vvaters ſeeme to creepe, / Rather than flovv.
(obsolete) Not officious; not civil or attentive.
(obsolete, law) Contrary to one's natural obligation or duty, as of a testament by which a child is unjustly deprived of inheritance.
- 1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC:
  the inofficious testament
- 1785, William Paley, The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy:
  an inofficious disposition of his fortune

Derived terms

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 The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.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 “inofficious”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)