▪ I. apostate, n. and a.
(əˈpɒstət)
Forms: 4– apostate, 7 apostat; also 4 apostota, 4–8 -tata, 5–6 appostita, -tata.
[a. Fr. apostate and L. apostata, ad. Gr. ἀποστάτ-ης, n. of agent f. ἀποστα- (see apostasy). The L. apostata was by far the commoner form from 1350 to 1650, with pl. apostata(e)s.]
A. n.
1. One who abjures or forsakes his religious faith, or abandons his moral allegiance; a pervert.
| 1340 Ayenb. 19 Þe heretike and þe apostate þet reneyeþ hire bileaue. c 1380 Wyclif Wycket 1 Infideles papistes and apostates. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 93 To haue brokyn þe cristun feiþ..& to be paynims & apostatais. 1491 Caxton Vitas Patr. (W. de W.) ii. 309 a/1 Julyan thappostata. 1583 Golding Calvin on Deut. cc. 1246 For if we play y⊇ Papistes..we shall be apostataes. 1622 Massinger Virg. Mart. iii. i, In hopes to draw back this apostata..Unto her father's faith. 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 100 High in the midst exalted as a God Th' Apostate in his Sun-bright Chariot sate. 1728 Young Love Fame i. (1757) 80 Polite apostates from God's Grace to Wit. 1808 Scott Marm. ii. iv, For inquisition stern and strict On two apostates from the faith. |
b. R.C. Ch. A member of a religious order who renounces the same without legal dispensation.
| c 1387 Trevisa Higden vii. iv. Rolls Ser. VII. 309 An apostata þat brekeþ his ordre þey fongeþ nevere aȝen. 1401 Pol. Poems II. 19 If you leave your habite a quarter of a yeare, ye should be holden apostataes. 1577 Holinshed Chron. III. 1239/1 One Rafe sometime a moonke of Glastenburie, and now become an apostata. 1855 Milman Lat. Chr. (1864) IX. xiv. i. 26 The renegade who pursued his private interests by sacrificing those of his order..stood alone a despised and hated apostate. |
2. One who deserts his party, or forsakes his allegiance or troth; a turncoat, a renegade.
| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. i. 102 He þat passeþ þat poynt is apostata in þe ordre. [1393 Ys apostata of knyȝt-hod.] 1608 J. Day Hum. out Breath (1881) 53 Should he proue Apostata, denie Loue which he first enforcd vs to profes. a 1687 Petty Pol. Arith. iii. (1691) 58 Apostates, to their own Country, and Cause. 1769 Junius Lett. i. (1804) I. 5 We see him, from every honourable engagement to the public, an apostate by design. 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey vii. ii. 388 No one is petted so much as a political apostate, except, perhaps a religious one. |
B. adj.
1. Unfaithful to religious principles or creed, or to moral allegiance; renegade, infidel; rebellious.
| 1382 Wyclif Ezek. ii. 2 Folkis apostataas, that han broken her religioun. c 1486 Bk. St. Albans Arms C j a, The maruellis deth of Julian thappostita Emproure. 1590 H. Barrow in J. Greenwood Confer. 6 All the parish..were generally apostate. 1592 Nashe P. Peniless 33 b, Those Apostata spirits that rebelled with Belzebub. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 125 So spake th' Apostate Angel. 1758 Jortin Erasmus I. 176 Eggs of heresy, which the apostata Fryer Luther had before laid. 1878 C. Stanford Symb. Christ i. 7 The last witness left for God in the midst of an apostate land. |
2. gen. Deserting principles or party; perverted.
| 1671 Marvell Corr. 198 Wks. 1872 II. 394 The apostate patriots, who were bought off. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 516 ¶7 Those apostate abilities of men. |
▪ II. † aˈpostate, v. Obs.
[f. prec. n.; or a. Fr. apostate-r, ad. late L. apostatā-re to apostatize, f. apostata: see prec.]
= apostatize.
| 1553–87 Foxe A. & M. (1596) 267/2 Some marrieng wiues amongst them [the Saracens]..for hope of honor did apostat to their law. 1633 Bp. Hall Hard Texts 340 But we are not of them which apostate from Christ. 1679 T. Harby Key Sacr. Script. i. 5 Rome..partly Orthodox, but beginning to apostate in practice. |