publican, n.1
(ˈpʌblɪkən)
Forms: α. 3–4 pupp-, puplicane, 4–5 -an. β. 4 publycan, 4–7 publicane, 5– publican.
[a. F. publicain (12th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), ad. L. pūblicān-us a farmer-general of the revenues, later a tax-gatherer, f. pūblicum the public revenue, neut. of pūblic-us public. In the ME. form puplican, a. OF. poplican, a by-form influenced by pople, puple, people n.]
1. Rom. Hist. One who farmed the public taxes; hence, a tax-gatherer. (Chiefly in Scriptural quotations or allusions.)
| α c 1200 Ormin 9295 Puplicaness comenn þær, Att himm to wurrþenn fullhtnedd. a 1225 Ancr. R. 328 Schrift schal beon edmod, ase was þe Pupplicanes, & nout ase was þe Pharisewus. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 397 Whi etiþ your Maistir wiþ puplicans? c 1440 York Myst. xxv. 414 Of puplicans sen prince am I. |
| β 1340 Ayenb. 175 Þe farizeus..onworþede þane publycan. c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶912 (Harl.) Such was þe confessioun of þe publican [so 3 texts; Ellesm., Lansd., Seld. Puplican, -e]. 1548 Udall Erasm. Par. Luke iii. 12 Publicans, that is to saye, the customers and takers vp of tolles. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. i. iii. 42 How like a fawning publican he lookes. 1600 Holland Livy xxv. i. 545 The captaine..had beene aforetime a Publicane or farmer of the citie reuenues. 1853 Robertson Serm. Ser. ii. 191 The publicans were outcasts among the Jews, because, having accepted the office under the Roman government of collecting the taxes imposed by Rome upon their brethren, they were regarded as traitors to the cause of Israel. 1855 J. H. Newman Callista xvi. (1881) 181 A clerk..in the Officium of the society of publicans or collectors of annona. |
b. transf. Any collector of toll, tribute, customs, or the like. Also
fig.| 1644 Milton Areop. (Arb.) 64 Nothing writt'n but what passes through the custom-house of certain Publicans that have the tunaging and the poundaging of all free spok'n truth. 1650 Jer. Taylor Holy Living ii. v. §4. 122 We are not angry with Searchers and Publicans..; but when they break open trunks, and pierce vessels, and unrip packs, and open sealed letters. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xi. III. 37 Outrages and exactions such as have, in every age, made the name of publican a proverb for all that is most hateful. 1893 Westm. Gaz. 25 Apr. 2/1 Next to Drink, the greatest Publicans of the British Exchequer are Death and Gambling on the Stock Exchange. |
† 2. transf. One who is regarded as ‘a heathen man and a publican’ (
Matt. xviii. 17); one cut off from the church; an excommunicated person.
| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 11649 A publycan ys, yn oure sawe, A synful man, oute of þe lawe. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints x. (Mathou) 12 Quha in hopyne syne is tane, Þe ewangell callis ‘publicane’. a 1651 Calderwood Hist. Kirk (Wodrow Soc.) II. 81 We, not one or two, but the whole church, must hold him as a publicane; that is, as one cutt off frome the bodie of Christ. |
3. One who keeps a public house; a licensed victualler; a keeper of an ale-house or tavern.
| 1728 Bailey, Publican,..also a Keeper of a publick House, a Victualler or Alehouse-keeper. 1744 N. Salmon Pres. St. Universities I. 416 It seems now to be the Business of most Publicans to propagate Vice and Disorder. 1817 W. Selwyn Law Nisi Prius II. 1033 An action by a publican, for beer sold. 1861 Sat. Rev. 23 Nov. 536 A profound politician in the eyes of a metropolitan publican. 1880 M{supc}Carthy Own Times IV. lxi. 354 A large proportion of the publicans carried on a respectable trade. |
4. attrib. and
Comb., as
publican † lede (
= race),
publican sin,
publican state,
publican tenant;
publican-ridden adj.| a 1300 Cursor M. 13292 (Cott.) O puplicane lede was he, And als a man o gret pouste. a 1652 J. Smith Sel. Disc. viii. 382 No extortioner, nor unjust, nor guilty of any publican-sins. 1685 Bunyan Pharisee & Publican Wks. (1845) 103 Love..did cover with silence this his publican state. 1894 Westm. Gaz. 11 May 8/1 ‘A priest-ridden people is to be pitied, but a publican-ridden people is to be despised.’ 1906 Ibid. 28 Mar. 2/1 To say..that the publican-tenant is in any sense a free agent is absurd. |
Hence
† ˈpublican v. trans. nonce-wd., to treat or regard as a publican. (
Cf. Luke xviii. 10, 11.)
| 1648 C. Walker Hist. Independ. i. 2 To Pharisee themselves, and Publican all the world besides [cf. Pharisee v.]. |