FromLatinextantia,exstantia.
extancy (pluralextancies)
- (obsolete) Thestate ofrising above others; aprojection.
1663,Robert Boyle, “Title IX. Experiments in Consort, Touching the Bubbles from which the Levity of Ice is Supposed to Proceed.”, inNew Experiments and Observations Touching Cold, or, An Experimental History of Cold, Begun. […], London: […] Richard Davis, […], published1683,→OCLC, paragraph 1,page95:[W]hereas in ſmall fragments or plates, the Ice, though it ſink not to the bottom of the water, will oftentimes ſink so low in it, as ſcarce to leave any part evidently extant above the ſurface of the water, in vaſt quantities of Ice, thatextancy is ſometimes ſo conſpicuous, that Navigators in their Voyages toIſland,Greenland, and other frozen Regions, complain of meeting with lumps, or rather floating rocks of Ice, as high as their main Maſts.
1697,J[ohn] Evelyn, “Instructions How to Collect, and Procure such Medals as are Antique, and Rare; and to Distinguish the True from the False, for the Prevention of Frauds and Impostures”, inNumismata. A Discourse of Medals, Antient and Modern. […], London: […] Benj[amin] Tooke […],→OCLC,page201:Moreover, a perfectMedal has itsProfile and out-ſtroaks ſharp (Nummus aſper) and by no means rugged; theFigures clean and well poliſh'd; theContours neatly trimm'd, and exactly round and carefully preſerv'd; that theExtancy andRelievos correſpond with the Ingraving, and have not ſuffer'd inPercuſſion; in all which, there is a certain Spirit of Antiquity and Excellency to be diſcern'd in AntientMedals almoſt inimitable.
Fromextant +-cy; ultimately the same formation as Etymology 1.
extancy (uncountable)
- (obsolete) The state of beingextant;existence.
