prosaist
(ˈprəʊzeɪɪst)
[f. as prec. + -ist.]
1. One who writes in prose; a prose author.
| 1803 W. Taylor in Ann. Rev. I. 322 Known to the public as a poet, and a prosaist of eloquence and erudition. 1827 De Quincey in Blackw. Mag. XXI. 20 The prosaist is satisfied if he impresses clear and distinct ideas. 1879 M. Pattison Milton vi. 70 There is no other prosaist who possesses anything like Milton's command over the resources of our language. |
2. A prosaic or unpoetic person.
| 1831 Carlyle Schiller in Misc. Ess. (1872) III. 71 A man who denied that Schiller was a Poet, would himself be, from every side, declared a Prosaist. 1853 Clough Poems, etc. (1869) I. 396 How that first of English prosaists was inspired with them [poetic lines], remains a problem. |