hagiographer
(hægɪˈɒgrəfə(r))
[f. med.L. hagiograph-us, (f. Gr. ἅγιος holy, saint + -γραϕος writing, writer; cf. prec.) + -er1.]
1. A sacred writer; spec. one of the writers of the Hagiographa.
| 1656 Blount Glossogr., Hagiographer, he that writes holy things [citing Raleigh]. 1703 Whitby Paraphr. N.T. Gen. Pref. 5 They were hagiographers, who are supposed to be left to the use of their own words. 1805 Edin. Rev. VII. 95 The Jews..ranked him [Daniel] only among the number of their hagiographers. |
2. A writer of saints' lives; a hagiologist.
| 1849 Sir J. Stephen Eccl. Biog. (1850) I. 91 Which chronicle..has alway been held in much esteem by the hagiographers. 1864 J. H. Newman Apol. App. 36 [He] by no means assumes that he is an historian because he is a hagiographer. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. I. v. 390. |