" Geometry . A circumscribed or inscribed line, especially a tangent of a curve. Now rare and historical", Mid 17th cent.; earliest use found in William Bedwell (bap. 1563, d. 1632), Arabist and mathematician. From classical Latin adscrīptus (also ascrīptus), past participle (in post-classical Latin also used as adjective and noun: see note) of adscrībere.[adscript etymology, adscript origin, 英语词源]