Also 5 -ente, 6–7 exegent(t, 7 exgigent. [ad. L. exigent-em, pr. pple. of exigĕre, f. ex- out + agĕre to drive: see EXACT v. Cf. OF. exigent.] A. adj.
1. Requiring immediate action or aid; pressing, urgent.
1670. Clarendon, Contempl. Ps., Tracts (1727), 617. That Exigent cry for Help.
1796. Burke, Lett. Noble Ld., Wks. VIII. 46. At this exigent moment the loss of a finished man is not easily supplied.
1856. Emerson, Eng. Traits, Univ., Wks. (Bohn), II. 94. A fop … in exigent circumstances, will play the manly part.
1882. T. Mozley, Remin., II. lxxxiii. 98. There were other and more exigent demands [upon Denison’s means].
2. Requiring a great deal; demanding more than is reasonable; exacting, pressing.
1828. A. W. Fonblanque, Engl. under 7 Administr. (1837), I. 144. It was said of some exigent man, that [etc.].
1842. Sir H. Taylor, Edwin the Fair, II. ii. A love that clings not, nor is exigent, Encumbers not the active purposes, Nor drains their source.
1870. Emerson, Soc. & Solit., Clubs, Wks. (Bohn), III. 92. Varied foods, climates, beautiful objects … are the necessity of this exigent system of ours.
1872. Morley, Voltaire (1886), 105. It [his restlessness] was never tyrannical and exigent.
b. Const. of.
1834. Sir H. Taylor, Artevelde, II. I. ii. But now this body, exigent of rest, Will needs put in a claim.
1871. Morley, Crit. Misc., Vauvenargues, 20. An age when the intellect is usually most exigent of supremacy.
B. sb.1
† 1. A state of pressing need; a time of extreme necessity; a critical occasion, or one that requires immediate action or remedy; an emergency, extremity, strait. To bring, drive, put, etc., to, to take (an) exigent. Obs.
c. 1430. Lydg., Ord. Fools, 4. Bacus and Iuno hath set abroche a tonne, [And] Brouthe the[r] braynys vn-to exigente.
a. 1548. Hye way to Spyttel Hous, 1011, in Hazl., E. P. P., IV. 67. In theyr fury they be so vyolent, That they wyll bryng one to an exegent.
1577. Holinshed, Chron., II. 3. The duke seeing himselfe to be driuen to such an exigent.
1580. Sidney, Arcadia, IV. (1622), 413. In steed of doing any thing as the exigent required, he began to make circles.
a. 1639. W. Whateley, Prototypes, I. xvi. (1640), 162. God will have a Well in store and shew it us at the exigent.
1729. Shelvocke, Artillery, IV. 300. In such Exigents this Manipulus may be recurred to.
1755. in Johnson.
1818. in Todd.
b. Last pinch; end, extremity.
1586. A. Day, Eng. Secretary, II. (1625), 92. Here by degrees is passed to the last exigent.
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., II. v. 9. These Eyes … Waxe dimme, as drawing to their Exigent.
1600. Dr. Dodypoll, IV. iii. in Bullen, O. Pl., III. 146. I feare my barbarous rudenesse to her Hath driven her to some desperate exigent.
1631. Heywood, Eng. Eliz. (1641), 141. What a dangerous exigent must she needs come to, whose life was thus assaulted?
† 2. pl. Needs, requirements. Obs.
1609. Bible (Douay), 2 Esdras vii. 65. He is bountiful, because he wil geve according to exigentes.
1641. Charles I., in Rushw., Hist. Coll., III. (1692), I. 535. Most effectual and proper for the present exigents of the Kingdom.
1676. Hale, Contempl., II. 11. Because it is not accommodate to all Uses and Exigents.
b. A required amount; a needed quantity.
1840. Browning, Sordello, III. 337. His enterprise Marked out anew, its exigent of wit Apportioned.
Hence Exigently adv., in an exigent manner.
1889. W. Sharp, in Academy, 30 Nov., 352/3. I … cannot but hope that he will not pursue too exigently his latest method.
