▪ I. advocate, n.
(ˈædvəkət)
Forms: 4–5 avocat, avoket; 5 advoket, -ette; 5–7 advocat; 5– advocate. Aphetic 5–6 voket, vocate.
[a. OFr. avocat, ad. L. advocātus, one summoned or ‘called to’ another, esp. one called in to aid one's cause in a court of justice; prop. pa. pple. of advocā-re, f. ad to + vocāre to call. The OFr. living descendant of advocātus was avoët, avoé, avoué (see advowee); avocat was a semi-popular adaptation of the L. title. In 14–16th c. it was often still further conformed to the L. as advocat, an artificial spelling, afterwards abandoned in Fr., which has caused in Eng. a permanent refashioning of the word. See ad- 2.]
lit. One called in, or liable to be called upon, to defend or speak for.
1. One whose profession it is to plead the cause of any one in a court of justice; a counsellor or counsel. (The technical title in the Roman law courts, and in those countries which retain the Roman law, as Scotland and France; also in the Admiralty Courts, and many special tribunals existing or historical; but not in ordinary English law courts.)
Faculty of Advocates: the collective body of members of the bar in Scotland. Lord Advocate, formerly King's (or Queen's) A., the principal law-officer of the crown in Scotland, answering to the Attorney-General in England. Judge-Advocate, the officer who manages the prosecution before a court-martial, the supreme officer for the whole army being the Judge-Advocate-General. advocate is also in the city of Aberdeen a local title for a solicitor. devil's advocate: seedevil n. 25 b.
| 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 6084 For-why þai sal þan na help gett Of sergeaunt, ne auturne, ne avoket. 1382 Wyclif Acts xxiv. 1 Tertulle, sum oratour, or fair speker, or avocat. 1387 Trevisa Higden Rolls Ser. II. 373 For þe delyueraunce of þe advoketes and ditoures. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. iii. 61 Foragers and vytailers · and vokettus of þe Arches [v.r. voketts, vocates, a-uoketes, B. vokates]. c 1400 Rom. Rose 5724 Phiciciens and advocates Gone right by the same yates. They selle her science for wynnyng. 1483 Caxton Cato b j, b, They may selle their scyence and kunnyng for siluer..As done these grete auocates. c 1538 Starkey Eng. 118 Thes hungry Aduocatys and cormorantys of the law. 1635 Quarles Emblems i. v. (1718) 21 There was no client then to wait The leisure of his long-tail'd advocate. 1679 Indictment, Trial of Langhorn 3 The Place and Office of Advocate General of the Army aforesaid. 1768 Blackstone Comm. iii. iii, Of advocates or (as we generally call them) counsel, there are two species or degrees, barristers and sergeants. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 168 The college or faculty of advocates..may be called the seminary of Scotch lawyers. 1810 Bentham Packing (1821) 48 The duty of an advocate is to take fees, and in return for those fees to display to the utmost advantage whatsoever falshoods the solicitor has put into his brief. 1825 ― Reward 93 At Rome, if certain travellers may be believed, it is the custom when a saint is about to be canonized, to allow an advocate, who in familiar language is called the advocate of the devil, to plead against his admission. 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey i. viii. 18 To succeed as an advocate, I must be a great lawyer: and, to be a great lawyer, I must give up my chance of being a great man. 1862 Ld. Brougham Brit. Constitn. xvii. 281 A Scotch Judge making a vacancy on that Bench removed the Lord Advocate. 1876 Bancroft Hist. U.S. VI. l. 373 The advocate-general Segur having drawn up the most minatory indictment. |
2. fig. and gen. One who pleads, intercedes, or speaks for, or in behalf of, another; a pleader, intercessor, defender.
| 1340 Ayenb. 127 Bidde we mid al oure herte þane holy gost..þat he by oure auocat. c 1405 Lay Folks Mass-Bk., B. Pr. ii. 66 Pray specialy til oure lady saynt mary that sche becum oure auoket. 1460 in Pol. Rel. & Love Poems 148, I loke for loue of man my broþir, I am his avoket on euery wise. a 1535 W. de Worde Communycacyon B iij, Mercy was thyn aduocat chefe. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, i. iii. 87 An earnest aduocate to plead for him. 1612 Drayton Polyolbion A ij, I have (but as an Advocat for the muse) argued. 1735 Pope Eth. Ep. ii. 30 The Frail one's advocate, the Weak one's friend. 1774 Mrs. Chapone Improv. Mind II. 8 He will find an advocate in every human heart. 1828 Macaulay Hallam's Const. Hist. 40 The advocates of Charles have very dexterously contrived to conceal..the real nature of this transaction. |
b. Specially, applied to Christ as the Intercessor for sinners.
| 1382 Wyclif 1 John ii. 1 We han auoket anentis the fadir, Ihesu Crist just [1388 an aduocat]. 1509 Fisher Wks. 282 Jesus is..a suffycyent vocate for vs. 1611 Bible 1 John ii. 1 We haue an Aduocate with the Father, Iesus Christ the righteous. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 33 Let me Interpret for him, me his advocate And propitiation. a 1788 C. Wesley Hymn ‘Light of those,’ Come, thou Advocate and Saviour, Manifest thy wondrous grace. 1826 Binney Hymn ‘Eternal Light,’ A Holy Spirit's energies, An Advocate with God. |
3. One who defends, maintains, publicly recommends, or raises his voice in behalf of a proposal or tenet. Const. of (for ? obs.).
| c 1735 Pope Hor. Ep. ii. i. 34 Advocates for folly dead and gone. 1756 Lucas Ess. on Waters III. 318 The advocates for brimstone will here triumph. 1792 Anecd. W. Pitt I. xx. 332 Truth will continue to have her worshippers; and it may be presumed that they will..survive the advocates of Falsehood. 1810 Coleridge Friend (1865) 128 The most respectable English advocate for the theory. 1858 Max Müller Chips (1880) II. xxvii. 349 The priests were..the strongest advocates of the system of caste. 1860 Maury Phys. Geog. Sea ii. §92 The advocates of the trade-wind theory. |
† 4. The secular defender or ‘patron’ of a church or religious house; an advowee. Obs.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden Rolls Ser. I. 283 Þe Romayns chees hym afterwardes for to be Seynt Petres aduokett [tr. 1432–50 aduocate]. 1751 Chambers Cycl., Advocate is more particularly used, in church-history, for a person appointed to defend the rights and revenues of a church, or religious house. |
▪ II. ˈadvocate, v.1
Pa. pple. Sc. advocat.
[f. L. advocāt- ppl. stem of advocā-re to call to; f. ad to + vocā-re to call.]
† 1. To call (to oneself), summon, invite. Obs.
| 1555 Harpsfield Divorce of Hen. VIII (1878) 271 The emperor, minding to advocate to himself another wife. |
2. Sc. Law. To call to a higher tribunal; to advoke. See also avocate.
| 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. 55 The pley sould not be advocat fra the inferiour court, except it be proven that wrang was done in it to the persewer. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. By these letters [of Advocation], the lords of session advocate, that is call that cause from the incompetent judge to themselves. |
▪ III. advocate, v.2
(ˈædvəkeɪt)
[f. advocate n. on analogy of minister, cf. pilot, carpenter, doctor, etc.]
† 1. intr. To act as advocate, to plead for. arch.
| 1641 Milton Animadv. §1 (1847) 58/2 It had been advocated and moved for by some honourable and learned gentlemen of the house. 1659 Fuller App. Inj. Innoc. (1840) 339 I wonder that the Animadvertor will advocate for their actions, so detrimental to the church. 1661 Heylin Ref. i. ii. 37, I will not take upon me to Advocate for the present distempers and confusions of this wretched Church. 1872 F. Hall False Philol. 75, I am not going to advocate for this sense of actual [i.e. as = present]. |
† 2. trans. To defend (by action). Obs.
| 1666 Pepys Diary 1 Dec., Ready..to part with all his estate in these difficult times to advocate the King's service. |
3. trans. To plead or raise one's voice in favour of; to defend or recommend publicly.
| ? 1767 Burke Ref. Represent. (T.) This is the only thing distinct and sensible that has been advocated. 1789 Franklin Lett. to N. Webster 26 Dec. Wks. 1840 X. 414 During my late absence in France, I find that several new words have been introduced into our parliamentary language. For example I find a verb..from the substantive advocate; the gentleman who advocates or has advocated that motion..If you should happen to be of my opinion with respect to these innovations you will use your authority in reprobating them. 1821 W. Taylor in Month. Rev. XCVI. 450 The interests of justice, of liberty, and of independence are advocated. 1850 Merivale Rom. Emp. III. xxiii. 29 They advocated its publication for their own private interests. 1860 Tyndall Glac. ii. §28. 396 Dr. Whewell, who advocates this view, thus expounds it. |