Antichrist
(ˈæntɪkraɪst)
Also 4–5 ante-, 4–7 anticrist, (4 ancrist, 5 ancryst), 6 antycryst, antechriste.
[a. OFr. antecrist(e, ad. L. antechrīstus, a. Gr. ἀντίχρῑστος (1 John ii. 18), f. ἀντί against + χρῑστός Christ.]
1. An enemy or opponent of Christ.
| 1340 Hampole. Pr. Consc. 4227 Fals anticristes he sal þam calle. 1382 Wyclif 1 John ii. 18 Now many antecristes ben made. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 54 Ilk one contrary to Crist is anticrist. 1579 Fulke Heskins's Parl. 255 He is defamed of more than heresie, and proued to bee an antichrist. 1646 Gaule Cases Consc. 20 A Witch is an Anticrist. 1751 Chambers Cycl. s.v., Jews, Infidels, etc., may be said to be Antichrists. 1860 Pusey Min. Proph. 587 The first Anti-Christ, Simon Magus, was said to have met his death in some attempt to fly. |
2. The title of a great personal opponent of Christ and His kingdom, expected by the early church to appear before the end of the world, and much referred to in the Middle Ages.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 22006 Nu sal yee her, i wil you rede, Hu þat anticrist [v.r. antecrist] sal brede. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 4065 Anticrist ar þat tyme sal noght com. Ibid. 3996 Of ancrist commyng, and his pousté. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. lxxx. (1495) 914 The egges of adders..ben wonder yelowe, slimy and gleymy: and of thyse egges comyth Cokatrice: and of the venemous juys shall come Antecrist. a 1500 in Wright Voc. 217 Hic antechristus, ancryst. 1509 Fisher Wks. (1876) 192 God shal make shorte the tyme of Antecryst. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. (1839) 552 He handleth the question, whether the Pope be Antichrist? 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., Hippolitus and others held that the devil himself was the true Antichrist. 1791 D'Israeli Cur. Lit. (1834) VI. 247 There were to be three Anti-Christs, and..the last should be born..in the year 1790. 1856 R. Vaughan Mystics I. 143 The Franciscans think..that we live in, or near, the days of Antichrist. |
b. Applied by some to the Pope or Papal power.
| c 1370 Wyclif Agst. Begging Friers (1608) 24 This false heresie and tyrantrie of Antichrist. 1566 Let. Ch. Scot. to Eng. Ch. 27 Dec. 91 The Bishops and Pastors of England, who have renounced the Roman Antichrist. 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. vi. (1851) 123 That irreconcileable schisme of perdition and Apostasy, the Roman Antichrist. 1868 Milman St. Paul's x. 247 Against that antichrist the Pope. |
| fig. 1728 Pope Dunc. ii. 12 Rome in her capitol saw Querno sit, Thron'd on sev'n hills, the Antichrist of wit. |