▪ I. exhort, v.
(ɛgzˈhɔːt, ɛgˈzɔːrt)
Forms: 4–6 exort(e, -horte, 4– exhort.
[ad. L. exhort-āri, f. ex- intensive + hortāri to encourage: see hortatory. Cf. F. exhorter and enhort. Not now in colloquial use.]
1. trans. To admonish earnestly; to urge by stimulating words to conduct regarded as laudable. Said also of circumstances, etc.: To serve as an incitement. a. simply.
| c 1400 Apol. Loll. 30 If prestis ouerwile exort or monest þe peple. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon lxxxi. 247 He soo exorted me that at the houre of mydnyghte he made me to aryse hastely. 1538 Starkey England i. i. 25 To the wych purpos..the tyme exhortyth us. 1548–9 (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Offices 19 Then shall the minister exhort the sicke person after this fourme. 1604 Shakes. Ham. iv. iv. 46 (Qq.) Examples, gross as earth, exhort me. 1825 Lytton Falkland 40 Write to me..exhort me, admonish me. |
| absol. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 31 Þe prest be miȝti to exort in al doctrin. 1526–34 Tindale 2 Tim. iv. 2 Exhorte with all longe sufferinge and doctryne. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxv. 131 The words..of him that Exhorteth. a 1845 Barham Ingol. Leg., Jerry Jarvis, Whether the Rev. Mr. Hyandry exhorted or made way for the Rev. Mr. Tearbrain. 1881 Bible (R.V.) Rom. xii. 8 He that exhorteth, to his exhorting. |
b. Const. to with inf. or subord. clause.
| 1490 Caxton Eneydos iv. (1890) 19, I the exhorte and counceylle that thou ne defoylle nomore thyn hondes wyth my bloode. 1532 Thynne's ed. of Chaucer's L.G.W. Hyps. & Medea 73 That he in his neuewe Iason wolde exhorte To saylen to that londe. 1535 Coverdale Neh. ix. 26 Thy prophetes (which exhorted them so earnestly, that they shulde conuerte vnto the). 1611 Bible Tit. ii. 6 Yong men likewise exhort, to bee sober minded. 1735 Berkeley Def. Free-think. in Math. §37, I have long ago done what you so often exhort me to do. 1860 Hook Lives Abps. (1869) I. v. 226 The bishops were exhorted not to engage in secular affairs more than was necessary. |
c. Const. to an action or course, a condition.
| 1529 More Dyaloge i. Wks. 162/2 To call and exorte the worlde from all pleasure of the fleshe to the puritie and clennes of the body and soule. 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. i. x. (1611) 25 The Apostle, in exhorting men to contentment. 1747 Johnson Plan Eng. Dict. Wks. IX. 185 Commonly..we exhort to good actions, we instigate to ill. a 1785 Glover Athenaid ii. 45, I through each city..Have pass'd, exhorting..Greece To bold defence. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 79 The people would be exhorted to liberality. |
2. With obj. a thing: To recommend earnestly; to insist upon.
| c 1500 New Not-br. Mayd in Poet. Tracts (Percy Soc.) 47 What I exhorte Not herde is. 1526–34 Tindale 1 Tim. vi. 2 These thynges teache and exhorte. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 179 While we..Designing or exhorting glorious Warr. 1771 Franklin Autobiog. Wks. 1840 I. 8 Exhorting the repeal of those laws, so contrary to charity. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. ii. 96 He..again exhorted a reform. |
▪ II. † exˈhort, n. Obs.
[f. prec. vb.]
= exhortation.
| c 1475 Partenay 3972 By the exort of vntrew man. 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. Pref., The princely exhorte, whiche..our foresaid gracyous soueraygne gaue me. 1590 Lodge Euphues Gold. Leg., Did he make a large exhort unto concord? c 1611 Chapman Iliad xi. 183 Everywhere he breathed exhorts. 1715–20 Pope Iliad xii. 324 Drown Hector's Vaunts in loud Exhorts of Fight. 1829 A. W. Fonblanque Engl. under 7 Administr. (1837) I. 238 Perpetual exhorts to a new birth unto Toryism. |