canonist
(ˈkænənɪst)
[a. F. canoniste (15th c. in Littré), in med.L. canonista: see -ist.]
1. A professor of, or one skilled in, the canon law; a canon-lawyer.
| 1542 Brinklow Complaynt xxiv. (1874) 71 The greasy canonistes nosel the peple in idolatry. 1549 Latimer Serm. Ploughers 38 A cannoniste, that is to saye, one that is broughte up in the studie of the Pope's lawes and decrees. 1643 Milton Divorce (1851) Introd. 10 The shallow commenting of Scholasticks and Canonists. 1761 Sterne Tr. Shandy (1802) IV. xxiii. 99, I am a vile canonist, replied Yorick. 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. App. 652 It offended against the strict laws of the Church as understood by continental canonists. |
2. One who makes or upholds canons in science, criticism, etc.
| 1786–1805 H. Tooke Purley i. vi. (1829) 93 If the etymological canonists..had not been so remarkably inattentive to the causes..of those literal changes of which they treat. |