apostle
(əˈpɒs(ə)l)
Forms: α. 1–4 apostol, 2–5 apostel, 4–6 -till, 4–5 appostil(l, 5 -tyle, apostylle, -teyl, 6 apostyl, -tell. β. 2– apostle, 4–5 appostle. γ. Aphetic 3–7 postel, postle, 4 postyll, 5 postill(e.
[Two forms must be distinguished: α. OE. apostol (whence ME. apostel, -yl), ad. Romanic apostol(o or L. apostol-us (a. Gr. ἀπόστολ-ος a messenger, one sent forth, f. ἀπο-στέλλ-ειν to send away). β. the current apostle (found already c1225), a. OFr. (12th c.) apostle (13th c. apostre, mod. apôtre); with the mutescence of final e, the two were confused, and in 16th c. the OFr. spelling prevailed. The popular form in ME. was the aphetized postel, now obs.]
I. A person sent.
† 1. a. (As in Gr.) One sent on an errand, a messenger. (A verbalism of translation.) Obs.
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. John xiii. 16 Nis esne mara drihtne his ne ǽc apostol [Ags. & Hatton, ærendracca, arendrake] mara ðæm seðe sendes hine. c 1382 Wyclif ibid., Neither apostle is more than he that sente him. 1582 Rhem. ibid., Neither is an apostle [1611 he that is sent] greater then he that sent him. ― Phil. ii. 25 Epaphroditus..your Apostle [so Wyclif and Tindale; 1611 messenger]. |
b. Applied in N. T. to Jesus Christ.
| c 1382 Wyclif Hebr. iii. 1 Biholde ȝe the apostle and bischop of oure confessioun, Jhesu. 1611 ibid., The Apostle and high Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. |
2. spec. (Now with capital initial.) The twelve witnesses whom Jesus Christ sent forth to preach his Gospel to the world; also the subsequently-commissioned Barnabas (Acts xiii. 2, xiv. 14), and Paul, the ‘Apostle of the Gentiles.’
| c 975 Rushw. Gosp. Matt. x. 2 Þara twelf apostola noma sindun þas. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 99 Crist ableow þana halȝa gast ofer þa apostlas. Ibid. 93 Of þon apostlum. Ibid. 117 Þe apostel Paulus. Ibid. 133 His halie word..þurh ðere apostlene muðe. c 1230 Ancr. R. 8 Seint Iames..þet was Godes apostle. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 4300 To God mare dere, Þan ever war Cristes appostels here. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 39 Bi autorite of Peter & Poule, princis of postlis. 1549 Coverdale Erasm. Paraphr. Rom. Argt., Some of them, whiche so accused Peter, were of thapostles them selfe. a 1658 Cleveland Parliam. xi, Because th' Apostles Creed is lame, Th' Assembly doth a better frame. Te Deum, The glorious company of the Apostles praise Thee. |
3. a. One who in any way imitates, or may be said to resemble, the Apostles.
| 1377 Langland P. Pl. B. vi. 151 Ne posteles, but þey preche conne, and haue powere of þe bisschop. c 1400 Rom. Rose 6273 If ther be wolves of sich hewe, Amonges these apostlis newe. 1533 More Apol. xxiv. Wks. 1557, 888/1 The new Paule, thys apostle Frith. 1659 Burton Diary (1828) IV. 79 As if the King's booted apostles had been coming to plant the faith among them, by plundering the little that was left. 1751 Chambers Cycl., Apostolici, Apostoli, or Apostles, was a name assumed by two different sects of heretics, on account of their pretending to imitate the manners and practice of the apostles. |
b. esp. The missionary who first plants Christianity in any region. (Also used of certain specially successful ministers of the Gospel.)
| c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. v. xiii. 74 Quhen conwertyd he had þat Land, Ðe Appostil þai cald hym of Ingland. 1844 A. Maclaine Mosheim's Eccl. Hist. viii. i. i. §4 Boniface has gained the title of the Apostle of Germany. 1883 Echo 1 Sept. 4/1 Dr. Macdonald, of Ferintosh..familiarly called the ‘Apostle of the North.’ |
c. The chief advocate of a new principle or system; the leader of a great reform;
e.g. Father Mathew, the ‘Apostle of Temperance.’
| 1810 T. Jefferson Writ. (1830) IV. 137 The first and chiefest apostle of the desolation of men and morals. 1870 Baldw. Brown Eccl. Truth 233 M. Comte is distinctly an apostle of science. 1871 Smiles Character v. (1876) 154 Who has not heard of..Miss Nightingale and Miss Garrett as apostles of hospital nursing? |
d. (With capital initial.) A member of ‘The Apostles’, an exclusive society in the University of Cambridge, founded in 1820 as the Cambridge Conversazione Society, and numbering many subsequently pre-eminent literary and other figures. Freq. in
pl.| 1829 R. M. Milnes Let. 5 Dec. in T. W. Reid Life Ld. Houghton (1891) I. ii. 80 We have had some capital debates in our society called ‘The Apostles’. 1830 A. H. Hallam Let. 23 June in J. F. Maurice Life F. D. Maurice (1884) I. ix. 110 The effect which he [sc. F. D. Maurice] has produced on the minds of many at Cambridge by the single creation of that Society of the Apostles (for the spirit, though not the form, was created by him) is far greater than I can dare to calculate. 1887 R. Fry Lett. (1972) I. 115 As a great secret—I have been made an Apostle. 1902 A. Lyall Tennyson i. 7 Tennyson was numbered among the Apostles at Cambridge. 1914 V. Woolf Let. Apr. (1976) II. 47 We've let it to Keynes for a reading party next week... I gather they are to be mostly Apostles. 1964 C. Mackenzie My Life & Times III. vi. 236 At Cambridge he [sc. Desmond MacCarthy] had been the golden boy of the Apostles, as Hallam had been once upon a time and Rupert Brooke would be presently. 1967 M. Holroyd Lytton Strachey I. v. 157 The Apostles differed from the usual undergraduate societies in the fact that members did not cease to belong once they had graduated or gone down. Ibid. 158 The Apostles had been—and still are—a ‘secret’ body. 1979 A. Boyle Climate of Treason ii. 73 Another attachment between Burgess and Blunt was their common membership of the exclusive club of cultural élitists known as The Apostles. |
† 4. The Acts and Epistles of the Apostles.
Obs.| a 1400 in Rel. Ant. II. 48 Hem that reversyng the aposteyl and seyden, ‘do we yvel thingis that ther comyn gode thingis.’ 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Apostle is also used to denote the book of St. Paul's epistles, or the epistle which was taken out of them. 1794 Paley Evid. i. ix. §3 (1817) 231 The Christian Scriptures were divided into two parts under the general titles of the Gospels and Apostles. |
II. A message. [The non-ecclesiastical L. use of
apostolus, found in the Pandects. Also in
OF.]
† 5. A letter dimissory:
a. pl. in
Rom. Law, A short statement of the case, sent up by a lower to a higher court, when an appeal is made.
b. in
Eccl. Law (see
quot. 1753).
Obs.| 1726 Ayliffe Parerg. 75 The Cause why it is appeal'd, and the Demand or Petition for Apostles. Ibid. 345 This is called a Dimissory Libel, or Letters Dimissory; and, in other Terms, by the Name of Apostles. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. [transl. Du Cange] Apostle..a letter dimissory given by a bishop either to a clerk or a layman, when going into another diocese. |
III. Comb. and
attrib., as
apostle-bird (also
apostle), a name applied to various birds in Australia (see
quots.);
† apostles' ointment, a purifying ointment composed of twelve ingredients;
† apostles' salt, an obsolete medicinal preparation;
apostle skull (see
quot.). Also
apostle-like; and
Apostle spoons,
q.v.| [1901 J. A. North Nests & Eggs of Birds (Austral. Mus., Sydney, Spec. Catal. 1) I. 18 From their habit of associating in flocks, they are known nearly all over New South Wales, and the south-eastern portions of Queensland, as the ‘Twelve Apostles’, a name also shared in some parts with that of ‘Happy Family’ for Pomatostomus Temporalis.] 1934 Webster, Apostle bird, the gray jumper. 1945 S. J. Baker Austral. Lang. xii. 211 The Grey-crowned Babbler is known also as the apostle-bird. 1962 New Scientist 15 Mar. 606/1 They are members of the babbler or apostle-bird family (Timaliidae). 1964 A. Landsborough Thomson New Dict. Birds 442/2 The Apostlebird Struthidea cinerea..is..about 13 inches in length..of grey plumage..and has a short, stout bill. It gets its name from its habit of going about in parties of about twelve. The bird lives in the drier parts of eastern Australia. |
| 1611 Cotgr., Apostolique..apostlelike. |
| 1720 Gibson Disp. xv. (1734) 281 The Apostles Ointment..to deterge and cleanse foul Sores. |
| 1605 Timme Quersit. viii. 34 The Apostles Salt..preserueth the sight to a very great age, clenseth the lunges from tough phleame, etc. |
| 1866 Laing Preh. Rem. Caithn. 70 Very long and narrow skulls, known as ‘Apostle skulls.’ |