[f. L. locāt-, ppl. stem of locāre to place, let for hire, f. loc-us place.]
1. trans. To appoint the place or situation of (the lands referred to in a grant); to fix the site of (a building, etc.). Chiefly U.S.
1765. C. Colden, in C. Papers (1878), II. 10. Your Lordships Commands to give my assistance in locating their Lands on any part between New York and Albany.
1773. Washington, Writ. (1889), II. 375. I have also taken the liberty of writing to the Governor of West Florida expressing my hopes of obtaining this land (and more) in case you should think proper to locate it in that government.
1780. Virginia Stat., X. 317. Be it enacted … That the ground to be appropriated to the purpose of building thereon a capitol … shall be located on Shockoe hill.
2. To survey and define the limits of (a tract of land); to lay out (a road); to mark the position or boundaries of, to enter on or take possession of (a land-claim, a gold-mine, etc.). U.S.
1739. Hist. Pelham (Mass.) (1898), 26. Voted … the Making a Road … and John Gray and James Allexander are appointed a Comittee To see ye same located in the most Suitable place for Publick Advantage.
1754. H. Sharpe, Corr. (1888), I. 58. The method … of Locating Land Warrants by selecting the most rich and fertil Spots.
1780. Virginia Stat., X. 317. An act for locating the publick squares, to enlarge the town of Richmond.
a. 1817. T. Dwight, Trav. New Eng., etc. (1821), I. 192. Such, as attended, drew for their lots; and located them at their pleasure.
1857. Thoreau, Maine W. (1894), 303. If you want an exact recipe for making such a road,… send a family of musquash through to locate it.
1877. Raymond, Statist. Mines & Mining, 332. The Golden Queen Mine was located in the latter part of September, 1873.
1885. F. B. Van Vorst, Without a Compass, 10. He … located a valuable claim near the Pyramid Mountains.
3. To fix or establish in a place; to settle; pass. to be settled, stationed or situated. Chiefly U.S.
1807. R. Cumberland, Mem., II. 186. This was amongst the motives that led me to locate myself at Tunbridge Wells, &c.
1813. in J. Maclean, Hist. Coll. N. Jersey (1877), II. 153. The Assembly passed an act locating the Theological Seminary permanently at Princeton.
1819. Frances Wright, Views (1821), 176. The Dutch and the German [emigrants] invariably thrive the best, locate themselves, as the phrase is here, with wonderful sagacity.
1823. Stat. Massach., 10 Feb. Said insurance company shall be located and kept in the town of Salem.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Charmed Sea, iii. 25. To work in the silver mine by the mouth of which they were located.
1836. Marryat, Japhet, I. xi. 133. When the gathering dispersed we packed up and located ourselves about two miles from the common.
1840. W. L. Garrison, in Life, II. 386. I shall do what I can to locate him [N. P. Rogers] in New York.
1841. Marryat, Poacher, xlv. As soon as Mary was located, she wrote a letter.
1844. Dickens, Pictures fr. Italy (1846), 38. Albaro, the suburb of Genoa where I am now, as my American friends would say, ‘located.’
1853. J. H. Newman, Hist. Sk., Ser. II. (1873), 216. They suffered themselves to be diffused and widely located through the great empire of the Caliphs.
1856. G. Davis, Hist. Sk. Stockbridge & Southbr., 173. The stocks, which were a terror to evil doers, were located in the rear of the church.
1896. H. Porter, in Century Mag., Dec., 218. He said he would locate his headquarters near those of Meade.
b. U.S. In the Methodist Episcopal Church: To appoint (a minister) to a fixed pastoral charge, as distinguished from the position of a ‘circuit-rider.’
a. 1814. T. Coke, in Southey, Wesley (1820), II. 464. It is most lamentable to see so many of our able married preachers … become located merely for the want of support for their families.
1838. Haliburton, Clockm., Ser. II. ii. I never heerd you preach so well, says one, since you was located heer.
1894. H. Gardener, Unoff. Patriot, 46. He had asked the presiding elder to locate him as a married man for the next year since he was about to marry.
c. To place in an office or position. rare.
[1769: see LOCATED ppl. a.]
a. 1816. Bentham, Offic. Apt. Maximized, Introd. View (1830), 5. His wish will … be, to see located, in each situation, the individual in whose instance the maximum of appropriate aptitude has place. Ibid. (1828–9), On Militia (1830), 5. Persons holding command in this body—to whom does it belong to locate them? To the monarch…. To whom to dislocate them, and that at pleasure? To the same.
d. pass. Of a quality, faculty, etc.: To ‘reside,’ have its ‘seat.’
1829. T. L. Peacock, Misfort. Elphin, iv. 57. Even the tenth part of those homely virtues … are matters of plebeian admiration in the persons of royalty; and every tangible point in every such virtue so located, becomes a convenient peg for the suspension of love and loyalty.
1865. Tylor, Early Hist. Man., ii. 32. Placing the hand on the stomach, in accordance with the natural and wide-spread theory that desire and passion are located there.
4. intr. for refl. To establish oneself in a place; to settle.
This is the earliest recorded use, unless, as is not unlikely, the first quot. is absol. from sense 2.
1652. Virginia Mag. Hist. & Biog., V. 35. Divers Indians … have … suffered us to locate upon their land.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., xviii. Beneath whatever roof they locate, they disturb the peace of mind and happiness of some confiding female.
1858. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XIX. I. 62. Scarcely any have more than two bedrooms, in which the whole family have to locate.
1883. Mrs. H. M. Plunkett, in Harper’s Mag., Jan., 236/2. I … shall be the guest of Molly Porter, just while I’m locating. Ibid., H. P. Wells (1887), Feb., 458/1. Their wanderings become more and more restricted, and they locate on the north or northwest faces of the highest mountains the country affords.
5. To allocate, allot, apportion.
1816. Bentham, Offic. Apt. Maximized, Extract Const. Code (1830), 13. Remuneration thus located is a premium on inaptitude.
1828. Edin. Rev., XLVII. 88. The banks of these rivers are fast filling with settlements,—those of the Hunter … being, we understand, entirely located.
6. To refer or assign (in thought or statement) to a particular place; to state the locality of.
1807. R. Cumberland, Mem., 476. Under this roof the biographer of Johnson … passed many jovial joyous hours; here he has located some of the liveliest scenes … in his entertaining anecdotes of … Samuel Johnson.
1842. J. H. Newman, trans. Fleury’s Eccl. Hist., Ess. Miracles, p. cxxix. As if inspired Scripture itself were so precise in dating, locating, and naming the sacred persons and sacred things which it introduces. Ibid. (1852), Scope Univ. Educ., 153. That large Philosophy which embraces and locates truth of every kind.
1856. Thoreau, Autumn (1894), 72. I locate there at once all that is simple and admirable in human life.
1865. Mozley, Mirac., vii. 157. These extraordinary actions of omnipotence are conveniently located in the past.
7. To discover the exact place or locality of (a person or thing).
1882. B. Harte, Flip, i. He contented himself … with endeavouring to locate that particular part … from which the voices seemed to rise.
1896. ‘H. S. Merriman,’ in Cornh. Mag., July, 55. ‘We had a fire in the hold, and the skipper he would go down alone to locate it.’
1898. Daily News, 2 Sept., 5/2. The gunboats yesterday made a river reconnaissance and located the enemy’s position at Kerreri.
¶ 8. Civil Law. Used to render L. locāre in the sense: To let out, hire out. rare.
1880. Muirhead, Gaius, II. § 50. A thing that has been lent or located to … the deceased. Ibid., III. § 145. When a thing is located in perpetuity, as happens in the case of lands belonging to a municipality granted by it in lease.
