▪ I. Pharisee, n.
(ˈfærɪsiː)
Forms: α. 1–2 fari-, phariseus, 3 pharisewus, farisew, 4 phariseu, -isew, -ysu, farizeu, 5 pharysew. β. (3 pharise), 4 far-, 4–6 pharise, -isey; 4– pharisee. γ. pl. 5 pharisen, -ysen.
[αOE. fari-, phariseus (gen. sing. -ees, pl. -eas), in 13th c. pharisewus; thence ME. farisew, pharisew, -eu, etc. (cf Hebrew). βME. pharise, -ee, a. OF. pharise (13th c. in Godef.). The OE. and OF. were both ad. L. pharisæus, -ēus, a. Gr. ϕαρῑσαῖος, pl. -αῖοι, ad. Aramaic p'rīshaiyā emph. pl. of p'rīsh = Heb. pārūsh, separated, hence separatist.]
1. One of an ancient Jewish sect distinguished by their strict observance of the traditional and written law, and by their pretensions to superior sanctity.
| α c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xlvii. 362 Ða Fariseos ᵹeliefdon ðære æriste. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke vii. 37 He sæt on þæs fariseus [c 1160 Hatton farisees] huse. Ibid. xi. 43 Wa eow fariseum [Hatt. fariseen, xiv. 3 farisean]. Ibid. xviii. 11 Ða stod se fariseus [Hatt. phariseus]. c 1200 Ormin 16862 Forr Farisew bitacneþþ uss Shædning onn Ennglissh spæche. Ibid. 19658 Þa laþe Farisewess. a 1225 Ancr. R. 328 Nout ase was þe Pharisewus þet tolde his god deden. a 1300 Cursor M. 13588 Þaa phariseus [v.rr. -eseus, -aseus] þat war ful fell. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 11647 Do nat as þe pharysu Preyde Gode aȝens hys pru. 1340 Ayenb. 175 Zuyche weren þe farizeus of þe godspelle. c 1450 Cov. Myst. xxiii. 215 Herke, sere pharysew, and sere scrybe. |
| β [c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 365/27 A-mong men of pharise þat luþere weren, he cam.] c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 223 Cunne we wel Goddis lawe, and loke wher Fariseis grounden hem in it. Ibid. II. 36 Essey, Saducey and Pharisey. 1382 ― Luke xviii. 10 Oon a Pharise [1388 a Farisee] and the tothir a pupplican. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 14 The Scribe and ek the Pharisee. ? a 1500 Chester Pl. xiii. 117 (MS. 1607) To the pharisies these wordes say [v.rr. pharaseres, pharasittes]. 1526 Tindale Luke vii. 36 He cam in to the pharises housse. 1590 Greenwood Collect. Sclaund. Art. E iv b, He was a Pharisey. Ibid. F iij b, Blynde Pharesies. 1673 Milton True Relig. 6 The Pharisees and Saduces were two Sects. 1841 Trench Parables, Two Debtors, The true spirit of a Pharisee betrays itself. |
| γ c 1400 Rom. Rose 6893 Upon the chaire of Moyses..Sitte Scribes and Pharisen. |
2. A person of Pharisaic spirit or disposition; a self-righteous person; a formalist; a hypocrite.
| 1589 G. Harvey Advt. Pappe Hatchet Wks. (Grosart) II. 168 Reprobates,..tyrants, pharises, hypocrites, false prophets. 1593 Nashe Four Lett. Confut. Wks. (Grosart) II. 193 Though he play the Pharisie neuer so in iustifying his owne innocence, theres none will beleeue him. 1599 Broughton's Let. ii. 8 Not the nation, but the affection makes a Pharisee. 1682 Tate Abs. & Achit. ii. 788 Whom laws convict, and only they, shall bleed, Nor Pharisees by Pharisees be freed. 1781 Cowper Truth 59 The peacock, see—Mark what a sumptuous Pharisee is he! 1901 ‘Lucas Malet’ Sir R. Calmady ii. iii, I was a self-righteous little Pharisee—forgive me. |
3. Usu. in pl.: app. a dialectal alteration of fairies, pl. of fairy n.
| [1807 Southey Lett. from Eng. III. liv. 37 The man observed..that the fairies were never seen now, as they used to be in old times... The man persisted [to the priest], —‘It is no longer ago than last Sunday you read about the Scribes and Pharisees.’] 1850 H. Ellis Brand's Observations on Pop. Antiquities (ed. 4) II. 504 The calf is rid every night by the farisees. 1852 J. Allies Antiquities & Folk-Lore Worcestershire (ed. 2) xii. 418 According to tradition,..Oseberrow..Rock..was a favourite haunt of the fairies (vulgo pharises). 1854 M. A. Lower Contributions to Lit. 157 It's very hard to say how them rings do come, if it isn't the Pharisees that makes 'em. 1884 Contemp. Rev. Aug. 329 Among the peasants of the South Downs a belief in the existence of fairies, or as they call them, ‘Pharisees’, has not died out. 1906 Kipling Puck of Pook's Hill 264 ‘Pharisees,’ cried Una. ‘Fairies? Oh, I see!’ 1930 M. Allingham Mystery Mile iv. 49 Seven Whistlers... No one knows if they be ghosts or Pharisees—that be fairies. 1947 E. Meynell Sussex ix. 243 The belief in fairies—though few of the old Sussex people would dream of using such an ‘outland’ word, it is as pharisees they are known—also continued late in the county. 1948 L. Spence Fairy Tradition in Brit. iv. 82 ‘Pharisees’, a term used to denote the fairies in Suffolk. |
4. attrib. and Comb.
| 1611 Cotgr., Pharisien, hypocriticall, Pharisie-like. 1822 J. MacDonald Mem. J. Benson 153 Did he Pharisee-like bless God that he was not as other men? 1874 Pusey Lent. Serm. 24 His may have been a respectable, decorous, Pharisee religion. 1900 G. Swift Somerley 25 Perhaps..I did not mix the ingredients in their proper quantities: a little too much Pharisee-tincture, I expect. |
▪ II. † ˈPharisee, v. Obs. rare.
[f. prec. n.]
intr. To play the Pharisee; refl. to take credit to oneself for piety.
| 1598 Tofte Alba (1880) 51. I loue not I to pharisie, nor praise My selfe, for to her owne selfe I appeale. 1648 C. Walker Hist. Independ. i. 30 Some of them..acknowledge the Scripture, but..only..to Pharisee themselves, and Publican all the world besides. |