a. [ad. late L. subreptīvus, f. subrept-, pa. ppl. stem of subripĕre. Cf. OF. subreptif.] Surreptitious; spec. in Kantian Philos. (see quot. 1877).
1611. Cotgr., Subreptif, subreptiue.
1877. E. Caird, Philos. Kant, I. 151. ‘Many conceptions,’ he [Kant] says, ‘arise in our minds from some obscure suggestion of experience, and are developed … without any clear consciousness of the experience that suggests or the reason that developes them. These conceptions … may be called subreptive.’
