a. ? Obs. [ad. L. jacēnt-em, pr. pple. of jacēre to lie.] Lying; recumbent; fig. sluggish.
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., V. i. § 12. 4. Countryes and Kingdomes farre iacent and remote.
1624. Wotton, Archit., in Reliq. (1651), 224. Brick or squared Stones laid in their lengths with sides and heads together, or their Points conjoyned are more apt in swagging down to pierce with their points then in the jacent posture.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Jacent, lying along, slow, sluggish.
1668. H. More, Div. Dial., II. xxvi. (1713), 174. My palate is something more surd and jacent.
1682. Wheler, Journ. Greece, III. 282. A jacent Figure, holding a Reed in his right hand.
b. Her. = JESSANT 1.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Jessant, or Jacent, usd when in a Coat of Arms a Lion or other Beast is born over some Ordinary, as over a Chief Bend, or Fesse.