a. [ad. late L. superjacent-, -ens, pr. pple. of superjacēre: see SUPER- 2 and JACENT. Cf. F. surjacent.] Lying above or upon something else; overlying, superincumbent. (Now chiefly in technical use.)

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1610.  Guillim, Heraldry, III. xxiii. (1611), 171. Such was the coat before the addition of the superiacent canton.

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1664.  Power, Exp. Philos., II. 108. As 32. foot of Superjacent water would raise up a Mercurial Cylinder of 29. inches.

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1831.  R. Knox, Cloquet’s Anat., 314. The muscles of the arm are dissected by removing the superjacent skin [etc.].

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1867.  Murchison, Siluria, i. (ed. 4), 13. The superjacent crystalline rocks … of Lower Silurian age.

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1897.  Allbutt’s Syst. Med., II. 1077. The superjacent skin is freely moveable, but the tumour cannot be slipped over the subjacent tissues.

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