▪ I. † ˈcolet Obs.
Also 5 -ette, -yte, -ytte, collect, 6 collet.
[Shortened form of acolyte, q.v. It is not clear whether the loss of the a was due to aphesis, or to mistaking it for the indefinite article: cf. a natomie.]
= acolyte.
| 1382 Wyclif 2 Thess. Prol., By Titicus, a dekene, and Honesym, a colyt [1388 Onesimus, the acolit]. a 1400–50 Alexander 1549 Clerkez & colettes at to þe kirke longen. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. iv. (1520) 38/2 Fyrst benet, than colet, subdecon, deacon, and than preest. 1500 Ortus Voc., Accolitus, serviens in missâ habens ordinem, a collect. 1530 Palsgr. 207/1 Collet, the seconde order, acolite. 1563 Foxe A. & M. (1570) II. 1681/1 The lowest vesture, which they had onely in takyng Benet and Collet. 1760–5 Burn Eccl. Law (1785) I. 2 Acolythus, ἀκολουθος, in our old English called a colet. |
▪ II. colet, -ette
obs. ff. collect, collet.