Muscovite, n.1 and a. Now chiefly Hist. or arch.
(ˈmʌskəvaɪt)
Also 6 Moschovite, Muscovit, 6–8 Moscovite.
[ad. mod.L. Mus-, Moscovīta, f. Mus-, Moscovia Muscovy: see -ite. Cf. F. Muscovite.]
A. n. A native or an inhabitant of Muscovy or Moscow; a Russian.
| 1555 Eden Decades 256 b, They were cauled Moscouites of the chiefe citie of al the prouince named Moscouia or Mosca. 1570 Dee Math. Pref. a iv, The wide Empire of the Moschouite. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 121, 303 Muscouites. Ibid. 265 Twentie adieus my frozen Muscouits [rimes with ‘wits’]. 1635 E. Pagitt Christianogr. (1639) 47 Of the Greeke Communion are the Muscovites, the Russes in Poland [etc.]. 1700 Prior Carmen Seculare 272 The young Muscovite, the mighty Head, Whose Sov'reign Terror forty Nations dread. 1788 Priestley Lect. Hist. v. lxv. 523 The Moscovites..were as jealous as any people in the south. 1877 D. M. Wallace Russia xxv. 386 No wonder the Muscovites were scandalized by his conduct. 1905 Daily Chron. 11 Mar. 4/4 These may have been part and parcel of the plans of the Japanese commanders, deliberately devised to throw dust in the eyes of the Muscovite. 1961 in Webster. 1973 J. Shub Moscow by Nightmare x. 113 Are you one of those Muscovites who feel Leningrad is just a provincial town? 1975 Times 8 Mar. 13/3 Muscovites expect journalists to strengthen good will between our countries. |
B. adj. Of or pertaining to Muscovy or its inhabitants, Russian.
| 1601 R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 168 Certaine English men sayling by the Moscouite sea,..haue pierced euen to Cathaia. 1657 North's Plutarch, Add. Lives (1676) 80 The Moscovite Language. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVI. 574/1 The Muscovite priests use exorcisms at the administration of baptism. 1821 Shelley Hellas 528 That Christian hound, the Muscovite Ambassador. 1835 Alison Hist. Europe (1847) IV. 54 The frontier of the Muscovite dominions. |