inconsumable en · ADJ
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Italic *n̥- Latin in-bor. Middle English in- English in- Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Italic *kom Proto-Italic *kom- Latin con- Proto-Indo-European *upó Proto-Italic *supo Latin sub Latin sub- Proto-Indo-European *h₁em- Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *h₁émeti Proto-Italic *emō Latin emō Latin sūmō Latin cōnsūmōder. Old French consumerbor. Middle English consumen English consume Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlom Proto-Italic *-ðlom Proto-Italic *-ðlis Latin -bilis Latin -ābilis Old French -ablebor. Middle English -able English -able English consumable English inconsumable From in- + consumable.
Meanings
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(not-comparable) Not consumable; ▸ Incapable of being consumed, wasted, or spent by normal use.
All things that do not lose their substance by use are classified as inconsumable.
1912, Andrew Stephenson, A History of Roman Law:An importance of this classification to Lithuanian property law can be illustrated by the example that has already been mentioned in the context of the classification of things into immovables and movables—only inconsumable movables may be the object of the usufruct.
2021, Andrius Smaliukas, Property and Trust Law in Lithuania:WHEN the identical loan is to be returned, as a book, a horse, a harpsichord, it is called inconsumable; in opposition to corn, wine, money, and those things which perish
1785, William Paley, The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy:It indeed seems that compliments, words, and endearments, just like hoardable goods and inconsumable goods, can be considered here in terms of objects in circulation, caught up in a general system of exchange, be that system societywide or between individuals.
1993, Algirdas Julien Greimas, The Semiotics of Passions, page 70:
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(not-comparable) Not consumable; ▸ Incapable of being consumed by any destructive or neutralizing force or act; indestructable; persistent.
ever still Burning, yet ever inconsumable:
1821, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Epipsychidion:Among some rarities which Benjamin had taken with him from Philadelphia, was a purse made of asbestos, or, as it is sometimes called, amianthus; a kind of stone, which is not only inconsumable by fire , but so fibrous as to be separable into threads flexible enough to be compactly and smoothly woven; and the webs made of it, when soiled by use, are cleaned by putting them into the fire, instead of a wash-tub.
1848, Orville Luther Holley, The Life of Benjamin Franklin, page 91:As long as the Lord remains unchangeable, we are inconsumable.
2013, Zuriel Ann Murphy, The Spoken Word: 365 Days of Rhema, page 287:This, of course, is due to the countless and thirsty drought demons, who, with a thirst which is inconsumable, drink up all the moisture, so that the streams run low, the rain-fed water holes shrink to puddles, the green juicy foliage shrivels, and the earth herself gets baked, and parched, and hot.
1906, Arthur Glyn Leonard, The Lower Niger and Its Tribes, page 122:The only thing inconsumable is the surface of the earth.
1770, Sir James Steuart, An Inquiry Into the Principles of Political Oeconomy, page 360:
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(not-comparable) Not consumable; ▸ That one cannot consume; unusable.
We must think of that which is beyond what we can think, beyond what thinking can consume and beyond what is the inconsumable for thinking.
2004, T. Morton, Cultures of Taste/Theories of Appetite, page 178:This possibility, in turn—one through which all impressions are left virulent and amorphous—would mark an extreme breaking point whereby knowledge itself is cast toward the inconsumable (i.e., an irreconcilable collapse of consciousness).
2010, J. Mohaghegh, New Literature and Philosophy of the Middle East:Thus, so much of every product as is rendered by excessive abudance inconsumable, becomes useless, valueless, unexchangeable,—consequently, unfit to be given in payment for anything whatever, and is no longer a product.
2016, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, What is Property?: