repentant, a. and n.
(rɪˈpɛntənt)
Also 5 repend-.
[a. F. repentant (12th c.), pres. ppl. of repentir: see repent v. and -ant.]
A. adj.
1. Experiencing repentance; sorrowful for past sins, penitent.
| c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 174/2377 Heo weren echone repentaunt; ne miȝten none men more. c 1315 Shoreham i. 752 Ryȝt repentaunt and ryȝt deuout Take hys deaþ in þy meende. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 149 He..Moost repentaunt for-sook the world. 1495 Act 11 Hen. VII c. 57 Preamble, Your seid Suppliaunt is as sorrowfull and repentant as any creature may be. 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 525/2 As those repentaunte sinners bee a parte of the churche predestynate. 1635–56 Cowley Davideis iv. 771 Kind Heav'n..does long since relent, And with repentant Saul it self repent. 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 1 Thus they in lowliest plight repentant stood. 1823 Scott Peveril xlix, Charles entered, leaning on the shoulder of his repentant peer. 1876 Farrar Marlb. Serm. xxv. 249 He will cleanse from your repentant souls this daily assoilment. |
| absol. as pl. 14.. in Tundale's Vis. (1843) 97 Sothfast kyng whos regne is inmutabull To repentaunt by rygour not vengeable. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 264 It is my guyse, Alle repentaunt to bryng hem to my blys. |
b. Const.
of,
for.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 5917 Elfred..Of ire trespas biuore ire deþ repentant was. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 363 No man þat dooþ dedelly synne schal be i-saued, but he be verrey repentaunt at his lifes ende of al his mysdedes. c 1400 tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. 65 Men awe to praye..and be rependant of hir synnes. 1556 Olde Antichrist 175 b, Them that are hartily repentaunt for their synnes. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 550 Penitent also and repentant, for that which he had done in his furious madnesse. 1817 Keats Woman! when I, etc. 4 The downcast eye, repentant of the pain That its mild light creates to heal again. |
2. Expressing or indicating repentance.
| 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, i. ii. 216 After I haue solemnly interr'd..this Noble King, And wet his Graue with my Repentant Teares. 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 87 Some of them have not spared to commit repentant error, to please the Pope. 1717 Pope Eloisa 17 Relentless walls! whose darksome round contains Repentant sighs. |
B. n. One who repents, a penitent. ?
Obs.| 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 554/1 Though he haue made a true faithfull promise of pardone, to al true repentauntes and penitentes. 1624 R. Skynner in Ussher's Lett. (1686) 350 Let not a Man that is a true Repentant think [etc.]. 1657 Reeve God's Plea 21 Dumb gestures are fitter for repentants, then high phrased bablings. a 1814 Gonzanga iv. vi. in New Brit. Theatre III. 142 This last design of thy vengeful cruelty has made a sincere repentant of me. |
| transf. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xix. (Arb.) 224, I following the Greeke originall [metanoia] choose to call him the penitent or repentant. |