Adamite, n.1 and a.
(ˈædəmaɪt)
[f. Adam1 + -ite.]
A. n.
1. A descendant or child of Adam, a human being; also, b. with some, a name for that section of the human race which alone they derive from Adam.
| 1635 Howell Lett. (1650) II. 9 Error therefore entring into the world with sin among us poor Adamites. 1821 Byron Heaven & Earth i. iii, I ne'er thought till now To hear an Adamite speak riddles to me. 1865 Reader 28 Jan. 98/1 That the Adamites or Caucasians were created, as the Bible tells us, about 6,000 years ago. |
2. An imitator of Adam in his nakedness, an unclothed man; in Eccl. Hist. the name of sects, ancient and modern, who affected to imitate Adam in this respect.
| 1628 Bp. Hall Hon. of Maried Clergie i. §4. 743 We know well what the..Adamites, and Apostoliques, held of matrimonie. 1657 S. Colvil Whig's Supplic. (1751) 143 Some Adamits, who as the speech is, Cast off their petticoats and breeches. 1713 Guardian No. 134 (1756) II. 205 There was a sect of men among us, who called themselves Adamites, and appeared in publick without clothes. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. (1858) 34 An enemy to Clothes in the abstract. A new Adamite. |
B. adj. Descended from Adam; human. Cf. A. 1.
| 1860 Ruskin Mod. Paint. V. ix. i. §11, 203 Two states of this image..both Adamite, both human, both the same likeness. 1870 Athenæum 14 May 642 The black Turanian who uniting with the white Aryan..gave rise to a third or Adamite race. |