anointed, ppl. a.
(əˈnɔɪntɪd)
[f. prec. + -ed.]
1. Smeared or rubbed with any unctuous matter; esp. having had oil poured on, as a sacred rite.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. ii. iii. 36 Þise ben faire þinges and enoyntid wiþ hony swetnesse of rethorike and musike. c 1440 Morte Arth. 50 He..Mad of his cosyns kyngys ennoyntede. 1528 More Heresyes iii. Wks. 1557, 222/2 Priest..in our owne tongue hath alway sygnified an enoynted parson. 1595 Shakes. John iii. i. 136 Haile you annointed deputies of heauen. 1727 Pope Dunc. iii. 2 On Dulness' lap th' Anointed head repos'd. 1735 Bolingbroke Parties 14 That anointed Pedant. 1827 Keble Chr. Year S. Matthias x, By Thine anointed heralds duly crown'd. |
2. fig. Consecrated, sacred. rare.
| 1597 Daniel Civ. Wars iii. xxiii, Barring th' Anointed Liberty of Laws. |
3. absol. (formerly as n. with pl.) A consecrated one. the Lord's Anointed: Christ or the Messiah; also, a king by ‘divine right.’
| 1529 Frith Epist. Chr. Reader (1829) 467 False prophets and false Christs (that is to say, false anointed). 1535 Coverdale 2 Sam. i. 14 To laye thine hande vpon the Lordes anointed [Wyclif, to slee the crist of the Lord]. 1602 T. Fitzherbert Defence 25 Thou art Messias, that is to say, the anoynted, or as we commonly say, Christ. 1611 Bible Is. xlv. 1 Thus saith the Lord to his Anointed, to Cyrus. a 1641 Bp. R. Montagu Acts & Mon. 30 Christ carries royaltie upon the back, above all Anointeds. 1727 Pope Hor. Ep. ii. i. 389 No Lord's anointed, but a Russian Bear. 1883 Daily News 14 Feb. 5/4 If he went through Western France, and was acclaimed..as the Lord's anointed. |