flagellant, n. and a.
(fləˈdʒɛlənt, ˈflædʒələnt)
[ad. L. flagellant-em, pr. pple. of flagellāre to whip, f. flagellum: see flagelle n.]
A. n.
1. One who scourges himself by way of religious discipline or penance; esp. one of a sect of fanatics (L. flagellantes) that arose in the 13th c. Usually pl.
| 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1596) 139/2 Flagellants going bare⁓foot in long white linen shirts, with an open place in the backe. 1664 H. More Myst. Iniq. 323 In their Ninevites or Flagellants. 1782 Priestley Corrupt. Chr. II. ix. 213 There arose..a sect..called the Flagellants, or whippers. 1857 S. Winkworth Tauler's Life & Serm. 126 Then appeared the ghastly processions of the Flagellants. |
2. In wider sense (chiefly
transf. from 1): One who flagellates (himself or others).
| 1785 Burke Sp. Nabob Arcot's Debts 9 These modern flagellants are sure..to whip their own enormities on the vicarious back of every small offender. 1855 J. R. Planché tr. C'tess D'Aulnoy's Fairy Tales, Gracieuse & Percinet (1858) 8 The flagellants so fatigued themselves, that they could no longer lift their arms. 1879 Geo. Eliot Theo. Such ii. 29 That modern sect of Flagellants who make a ritual of lashing—not themselves but—all their neighbours. |
| fig. 1849 Bp. of Exeter in Croker Papers (1884) III. xxvi. 194 This coincidence of opinion avowed by his [Macaulay's] intending panegyrist with that of his actual flagellant. |
| Comb. 1876 Grant Burgh. Sch. Scotl. ii. v. 199 The unhappy teacher had sometimes to perform the duties of a flagellant-general. |
B. adj. Given to flagellation, flagellating.
| 1880 Swinburne Study Shaks. i. 27 The broad free sketches of the flagellant head-master of Eton. |
| fig. 1891 G. Meredith One of our Conq. II. x. 253 So flagellant of herself was she. |
Hence
flaˈgellantism.
| 1855 Milman Lat. Chr. (1864) IX. xiv. i. 8 Wretched peasantry..maddened to Flagellantism. 1856 Kingsley Misc., Froude's Hist. Eng. II. 74 The philosopher..may look on wars as in the same category with flagellantisms. |