denouncer
(dɪˈnaʊnsə(r))
[f. denounce v. + -er1; = OF. denonceor, -eur.]
One who denounces, in various senses of the verb. a. One who announces, proclaims, declares, threatens.
| 1490 Caxton Eneydos xxii. 82 The owle is a byrde mortalle or otherwyse denouncer of mortalite. 1611 Cotgr., Predicateur..denouncer of things to come. 1690 Dryden Don Sebastian v. Wks. (1883) VII. 466 Here comes the sad denouncer of my fate. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) VIII. xli. 164, I undertook to be the denouncer of her doom. 1824–9 Landor Imag. Conv. (1846) II. 39 Denouncer of just vengeance, recall the sentence! |
b. One who informs against, accuses, delates.
| 1533 More Debell. Salem Wks. 1013/1 So dooeth euery denouncer, euerye accuser, and in a maner euerye witnesse too. 1648 Milton Observ. Art. Peace (1851) 576 These illiterate denouncers. 1867 Smiles Huguenots Eng. x. 159 Detected fugitives were..condemned to the galleys..while their denouncers were..rewarded with half their goods. |
c. One who publicly inveighs against, or expresses condemnation of (a person, practice, etc.).
| 1664 Evelyn Sylva (1776) 568, I am no advocate for iron⁓works, but a Declared Denouncer. 1821 Examiner 1 Apr. 193/1 Not to be lost sight of..by the denouncers of corruption. 1878 Morley Carlyle Crit. Misc. Ser. i. 185 The chief denouncer of phantasms and exploded formulas. |
d. One who denounces a mine in order to obtain possession of it. (Mexico and Spanish America.)