▪ I. initiate, v.
(ɪˈnɪʃɪeɪt)
[f. L. initiāt-, ppl. stem of initiāre to begin, initiate, f. initi-um beginning. Cf. F. initier (14th c. in Godef. Compl.).]
1. a. trans. To begin, commence, enter upon; to introduce, set going, give rise to, originate, ‘start’ (a course of action, practice, etc.).
| 1604 R. Cawdrey Table Alph., Initiate, to begin, instruct, or enter into. 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. x. i. §44. 1231 They feared (for the present) to initiate their attempt. a 1674 Clarendon Life (1759) III. 554 Many secret Designs only initiated then and not executed till long after. 1855 H. Spencer Princ. Psychol. (1872) I. ii. ii. 177 Feelings initiated within the body, including appetites, pains [etc.]. 1872 Yeats Growth Comm. 326 This king..initiated a trade with S. America. 1883 Lely Wharton's Law-Lex. (ed. 7) 224 The husband's title to the curtesy is initiated at the birth of issue, and consummated at the death of his wife. |
b. intr. To take its beginning, commence.
| a 1618 Sylvester Mem. Mortality i, The Grave..Where, end our Woes; our Joyes initiate. a 1681 Wharton Festiv. & Fasts Wks. (1683) 2 The Neomeniæ, or Feasts of New-Moons, Celebrated the First day of every Month, initiating with the New-Moons. 1842 Grove Corr. Phys. Forces 73 While magnetism is thus progressive, some other force is acting, and therefore it does not initiate. 1963 S. Tolansky Introd. Atomic Physics (ed. 5) xxv. 423 If pure deuterium gas can be raised to a temperature of the order of 500 million degrees C., then a thermonuclear reaction should initiate. 1971 Nature 8 Jan. 111/2 Neutrons with incident wave vectors initiating within the cross-hatched area of the example shown satisfy the conditions for diffraction. |
2. trans. To admit (a person) with proper introductory rites or forms into some society or office, or to knowledge of or participation in some principles or observances, esp. of a secret or occult character; hence more generally, To introduce into acquaintance with something, to instruct in the elements of any subject or practice. Const. into, in († to).
| 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 1288 Those who are initiated and professed in this divine religion. a 1617 Bayne On Coloss. i. and ii. 168 To initiate and to enter men into Christ. a 1635 Naunton Fragm. Reg. (Arb.) 40 My Lord of Essex..though initiated to Armes, and honoured by the General in the Portugal expedition..loved him not in sincerity. 1683 Dryden Plutarch 41 Our author in his old age..initiated himself in the sacred rites of Delphos. 1704 Hearne Duct. Hist. (1714) I. Pref. 3 In Initiating young Students, nothing is more to be respected than Method. 1759 Johnson Rasselas viii, At length my father resolved to initiate me in commerce. 1853 Lytton My Novel viii. xiii, The..father..had him frequently at his house—initiated him betimes into his own high-born society. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 184 He is being initiated into the mysteries of the sophistical ritual. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. Pref., To initiate young people in the elements of Physical Science. |
3. intr. a. To perform the first rite; to take the initiative. b. To undergo or receive initiation.
| 1725 Pope Odyss. iii. 564 The king himself initiates to the power; Scatters with quivering hand the sacred flour, And the stream sprinkles. 1896 Daily News 16 June 6/3 Initiation into the ‘Mysteries’ was certainly a source of consolation to many of the greatest spirits of the ancient world. Cicero, who had initiated, said that they enabled man ‘to live happily and die with a fairer hope’. |
Hence iˈnitiating vbl. n. = initiation (in quot. attrib.)
| 1750 Warburton Julian Wks. 1811 VIII. 59 note, He descended into the initiating cave. |
▪ II. initiate, ppl. a. and n.
(ɪˈnɪʃɪət)
[ad. L. initiāt-us, pa. pple. of initiāre to initiate; also treated as pa. pple. of the latter (? as short for initiated).]
A. ppl. a. = initiated.
1. Admitted into some society, office, or position; instructed in some secret knowledge: see initiate v. 2.
| a 1610 Healey Theophrastus (1636) To Rdr., The Athenians were..initiate or matriculated into these orders. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. iii. xv. (1651) 135 We..that are initiate Divines. 1742 Young Nt. Th. vi. 95 Initiate in the secrets of the skies! 1791 E. Darwin Bot. Gard. i. 89 With pointing finger guides the initiate youth. 1825 Coleridge Aids Refl. (1848) I. 204 The symbolic meaning was left to be decyphered as before, and sacred to the initiate. |
† b. transf. Pertaining to one newly initiated; of or belonging to a novice or unpractised person.
| 1605 Shakes. Macb. iii. iv. 143 My strange and self-abuse Is the initiate feare, that wants hard vse. |
2. Begun, commenced, introduced: see initiate v. 1. tenant by the Curtesy initiate: see quot. 1767, and cf. initiate v. 1 (quot. 1883).
| 1767 Blackstone Comm. II. viii. 127 As soon..as any child was born, the father began to have a permanent interest in the lands,..and was called tenant by the curtesy initiate. 1855 Milman Lat. Chr. iii. vii. I. 467 This worship [of the Virgin] already more than initiate, contributed..to the violence with which the Nestorian controversy was agitated. |
B. n.
1. A person who has been initiated: see initiate v. 2. Hence, A beginner, a novice.
| 1811 Coleridge Ess. Own Times (1850) 931 The merest initiate in reasoning will reply. 1833 Fraser's Mag. VIII. 204 When they see a respectable initiate losing his money. 1839 Ibid. XIX. 453 These alchemical initiates still hold themselves singularly high. 1873 Hale In His Name viii. 73 The significance of which among the initiates he well knew. 1893 Nation (N.Y.) 12 Jan. 32/3 Sulla, Antony, Cicero and his friend Atticus were initiates. |
† 2. ? Something initiated or newly introduced: see initiate v. 1. Obs.
| 1603 Harsnet Pop. Impost. 106 Having many new initiats to advaunce that stood you in more stead. |