preoccupiedadj.

c1598 King James VI & I Basilicon Doron (1944) I. iii. 162 [The people] uill conceaue præoccupied conceatis of the kings inuairde intention.

a1600 J. Melvill Autobiogr. & Diary (1842) 78 Ther was nocht sic a thing as a careing away of anie poinct..by a preoccupied purpose or led course.

1635 D. Person Varieties iii. 110 If you doe but ponder in the ballance of an impartiall and not preoccupied minde.

1677 J. Brown Christ the Way xvi. 258 The dictate of conscience, which really is but the dictat of their own humors, inclinations, preoccupyed mindes, and byassed wills.

1790 R. Pulteney Hist. & Biogr. Sketches Progress Bot. in Eng. I. xx. 281 Linnaeus..established the genus, but more aptly changed it to Rajania, and enumerates three species. He could not adopt the still more analogous term of Raia, since it had long been preoccupied in the animal kingdom.

1807 J. E. Smith Eng. Bot. XXIV. 1715 We should gladly have called it L. Borreri after its discoverer, who is so peculiarly conversant with Lichens, the name intricatus being preoccupied.

1893 T. R. R. Stebbing Hist. Crustacea xviii. 275 Erythrops , ‘the red-eyed,’ was the name given by Sars in 1869 to part of the genus Nematŏpus , a preoccupied name which he had used in 1863.

1898 Engin. & Mining Jrnl. 22 Oct. 491/1 The writer described briefly a new variety of clay found in Wyoming and suggested the name Taylorite... It has since been learned that the name Taylorite is preoccupied; consequently the clay will hereafter be known as Bentonite.

1960 Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer. 71 1809/1 Since publication, we have learned that symmictite is preoccupied because of its use..for a homogenized eruptive breccia.

1967 J. R. Napier & P. H. Napier Handbk. Living Primates iii. 377 The subgeneric name Lyonogale is substituted for the preoccupied Tana.

1999 Nature 15 Apr. 574/1 The generic name Dendrorhynchus is preoccupied by a nemertine, so we propose replacing it with the name Dendrorhynchoides.

1801 Lusignan I. 74 They seemed robbed of attraction, and to her preoccupied mind presented only the voidness of a desert.

1830 S. Morgan France in 1829–30 I. 319 Busy, pre-occupied..London offers nothing approaching to it.

1891 T. Hardy Tess of the D'Urbervilles I. xviii. 227 Something nebulous, preoccupied, vague, in his bearing and regard, marked him as one who probably had no very definite aim or concern about his material future.

a1902 F. Norris Pit (1903) i. 37 Anxious, preoccupied young men,..hurried to and fro, searching for their carriages.

1949 F. Towers Tea with Mr. Rochester (1952) 49 Brenda looked down with a preoccupied expression at the ring on her long pale hand, where it lay on a fold of crepe de Chine she had been sewing.

1974 Times 7 Oct. 8/6 Schools are too busy, too preoccupied, and too unaware to try to communicate with him.

2005 A. Smith Accidental 69 He'd been pacing his study, preoccupied, unable to sleep for nights on end.

1884 J. Hawthorne Pearl-shell Necklace xi ‘Ay, surely..’, said Poyntz, puffing his pipe preoccupiedly.

1985 M. Fabre World of Richard Wright 223 ‘How are you?’ I asked and pushed a chair forward. ‘Very well,’ he mumbled preoccupiedly as he seated himself.