Christ
(kraɪst)
Forms: 1–5 Crist, 4 Criste, 5 Cryst, 6 Christe, Chryst, 4, 6– Christ.
[OE. crist = OS. and OHG. crist, krist (OHG. also christ), ad. L. Chrīst-us, a. Gr. Χρῑστός Christ, n. use of χρῑστός anointed (f. χρῑ́ειν to anoint), a translation of Heb. māshīaχ, Messiah, ‘anointed’, more fully m'shīaχ yahweh the Lord's Anointed. This word and its derivatives and cognates (including chrism and its derivatives) were very rarely (and perh. only accidentally) spelt with ch- in ME., but this has been the regular fashion since 1500; in French it began in the preceding century.]
1. The Messiah or ‘Lord's Anointed’ whose advent was the subject of Jewish prophecy and expectation. (Only in versions of the N.T. and direct references to it; in the Geneva and 1611 versions often preceded by the.)
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xxiv. 24 Arises forðon wiðer⁓wearde crist & lease witᵹo. c 1160 Hatton Gosp. ibid., Lease Cristes, & lease witegen. Ibid. Luke iii. 15 Hwæder he crist wære. a 1300 Cursor M. 12780 Elias or christ, queþer es he. 1382 Wyclif Matt. xxiv. 24 False Cristis and false prophetis. 1557 Bible (Genev.) John x. 24 If thou be the Christe, tel vs playnly. 1882 Farrar Early Chr. II. 425 The word Antichrist..may mean..either those who try to pass themselves off as Christs, or those who set themselves in open array against him. |
2. a. The title given to Jesus of Nazareth, as embodying the fulfilment of Messianic prophecy and expectation; since the earliest Christian times treated as a proper name.
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. i. 16 Hælend þe is ᵹenemned crist. a 1225 Ancr. R. 50 Te soðe sunne, þet is Jesu Crist. a 1300 Cursor M. 118 (Cott.) How crist birth bigan to brew. c 1394 P. Pl. Crede 37 For Cristes loue. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. v. ii. 103 Eftyr þe Resurrectyoune of Cryst and his Ascensyoune. 1539 Tonstall Serm. Palm Sund. (1823) 23 The obedience of Isaac is farre beneth Chrystis obedience. 1881 Stanley Chr. Inst. iii. 65 An antistrophic hymn to Christ as God. |
b. Used as a common noun with reference to the character or office of the Christ as a divinely appointed Ruler and Saviour.
| 1850 Tennyson In Mem. cvi. viii, Ring in the Christ that is to be. 1855 T. Parker Disc. Religion v. v. (1875) 308–9 A Christ outside the man is nothing..Each man must be his own Christ, or he is no Christian. |
c. An image or picture representing Christ.
| a 1666 Evelyn Diary 13 Feb. an. 1645 (1955) II. 356 Good pieces of Paynting, principally the Christ of Correggio, with this Painters owne face admirably don by himselfe. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. I. ii. iii. 39 A Christ breaking bread over the mantelpiece. 1931 G. Greene Rumour at Nightfall i. 6 Wooden crosses bearing bloodstained and contorted Christs. |
d. Used as (part of) an oath or as a strong exclamation of surprise, disbelief, dismay, or the like.
| 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. I. xiv. 105 ‘O Ch-st! O Ch-st! fat a saight is here?’..he stared at me, and repeated, ‘O Ch-st!’ 1923, etc. [see Jesus 1 b]. 1933 E. O'Neill Ah Wilderness! iii. i. 84 Christ, what a dump! 1961 Amer. Speech XXXVI. 40 Holy God is softened into holy gee, Holy Christ into holy cow. 1962 D. Lodge Ginger, you're Barmy iii. 88 Fugging Christ, Higgins... You march like a WRAC walking through these barracks—with her legs crossed. 1986 A. Price For Good of State ii. i. 24 ‘Look what you've done to me!’ She surveyed herself. ‘Christ!’ |
† 3. Used in versions of the
O.T. as a rendering of L.
chrīstus (
Heb. māshīach, Messiah) applied to divinely-appointed rulers;
= anointed 3.
Obs.| c 1000 Ags. Ps. lxxxiii[i.] 9 Oncnaw onsyne cristes þines. a 1310 E.E. Psalter civ. [cv.] 15 Nil yhe negh min cristes nou. 1382 Wyclif Isa. xlv. 1 These thingus seith the Lord to my crist, Ciro [1388 to my crist, Cirus; 1535 Coverdale, vnto Cirus his anoynted]. 1609 Bible (Douay) Isa. xlv, Because al kinges that reigned among the Jewes were anointed with oyle, Cyrus is called christ. |
4. Comb., as
Christ-consciousness,
Christ-dividing adj.,
Christ-truth, etc. (In early
ME., and
esp. in northern
dial.,
crist was often used in the genitive without inflexion, as
crist lai,
crist lore, etc.)
(the) Christ-child [after G.
Christkind, -kindchen], Christ as a child; also
Christ-figure, (
a) the figure of Christ; (
b) a figure such as Christ was;
Christ-dust (
U.S.), see
quot.;
† Christ-maker, an opprobrious term for the priest who consecrated the host. See also
Christ-like, -likeness, -tide,
-ward.
| 1840 G. S. Faber Regenerat. 224 A God-bearer or a *Christ-bearer. |
| 1833 Cruse Eusebius viii. x. 330 These *Christ-bearing martyrs. 1885 H. S. Holland Logic & Life (ed. 3) 261 One side of the Christ-bearing Character. |
| 1842 W. Howitt Rural & Dom. Life Germany xii. 167 The *Christ-kindschen is no other than the Christ of the old legends—Christ in his boyhood... This is exactly the Christ-child of Germany. 1857 National Mag. I. Christmas No., Suppl. 1 The Christ-child (bringer, according to German legend, of Christmas gifts and blessings to children). 1887 F. E. Weatherley Christ-Child x, They fold their hands, and whisper, ‘The Christ-Child has been here.’ 1898 ‘A. De Burgh’ Eliz., Empr. Austria 296 The benevolent Christ-child has already visited me. 1903 Daily Chron. 9 Dec. 3/3 The Christ-child of many painters. |
| 1649 J. Cardell Morbus Epidem. (1650) 35 Christianity is *Christ-conformity. |
| 1858 Bushnell Serm. New Life 101 A kind of *Christ-consciousness is opened in us. |
| 1854 W. Waterworth Eng. & Rome 101 The decision of the Fathers against the *Christ-dividing Nestorius. |
| 1884 L. W. Baldwin Yankee Sch. Teacher vii. 49 Making up some *Christ-dust for supper. (This is the common name for flour, signifying its rarity in the daily fare [of the negroes].) |
| a 1711 Ken Poet. Wks. (1721) I. 420 'Twas sung with *Christ-enamoured Heat. |
| Ibid. I. 422 Which *Christ-enamourments reviv'd. |
| 1905 Westm. Gaz. 14 Aug. 3/2 One of the few great paintings..illustrating the *Christ-figure's final human appearance. 1916 D. H. Lawrence Twilight in Italy 20 There are great gashes on..the Christ-figure. 1964 English Studies XLV. 361 He sees himself as a Christ figure. |
| a 1711 Ken Poet. Wks. (1721) I. 123 *Christ-hymning Verse. |
| Ibid. I. 408 The *Christ-imitating Race. |
| 1647 J. Berkenhead Assembly Man (1662–3) 14 Larded with fine new words, as Savingable, Muchly, *Christ-Jesusness, etc. |
| 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 437 b This *Christe-maker taking upp..this hoste. |
| 1659 Baxter Key Cath. xxxv. 257 A *Christ-Representative, or Vicar General. |
| 1884 Chr. World 21 Feb. 140/2 *Christ-truth has struggled..against various forms of wrong. |
5. Possessive combs., as
† Christ's-curse, ? a curse in the name of Christ. Esp. in names of plants, as
Christ's-eye,
Inula Oculus-Christi;
Christ's-hair,
Scolopendrium vulgare;
† Christ's herb, the Christmas Rose;
† Christ's ladder, the Centaury,
Erythræa Centaurium;
Christ's thorn, a name given to several thorny shrubs, fabled or supposed to have formed Christ's crown of thorns;
† Christ's-wort = Christ's herb.
| c 1500 Cocke Lorell's B. (1843) 2 Therfore he hath many a *crystes curse. |
| 1878 Britten & Holland Eng. Plant-n. *Christ's Hair. Scolopendrium vulgare. —Guernsey, ‘because of the single black fibrovascular bundle in the leaf-stalk’.—Mr. W. G. Piper. |
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens 350 *Christes herbe hath great thicke greene leaues, cut into seuen or eyght parts. |
| 1486 Bk. St. Albans C v. a, Take an herbe callid *cristis lardder. 1879 Prior Plant-n., Christ's Ladder, an old name, for we find it as Christis leddere in catalogues of the fourteenth century. |
| 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 115 a Rhamnus..was called *Christes thorne, as though Christe had bene crouned with rhamnus. 1578 Lyte Dodoens 696. 1794 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xvi. 207 [Rhamnus] Paliurus or Christ's Thorn..Being very common in Palestine..is supposed to be the thorn with which our Saviour was crowned. 1866 Treas. Bot. 837 Two common eastern plants usually bear the name of Christ's Thorn: one the Zizyphus Spina-Christi, and the other the [Paliurus aculeatus]. 1878 Britten & Holland Eng. Plant-n. Christ's Thorn. (1) Cratægus Pyracantha..Ches., from a local tradition that our Saviour's crown of thorns was made from this plant. |
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens 351 *Christes wurte flowreth al bytimes about Christmas, in Januarie and almost vntill March. |
¶ The existing derivatives of
Christ (
Christendom,
Christian, etc.) are now always written with a capital, except
christen v.