convulsionist
(kənˈvʌlʃənɪst)
[f. convulsion + -ist.]
1. = convulsionary B; also used of other religious enthusiasts.
| 1865 Baring-Gould Werewolves iv. 40 As insensible to pain as the Jansenist convulsionists of S. Medard. 1879 Mrs. Oliphant Reign Geo. II, II. 59 Wesley and his brethren threw themselves on their knees round the Convulsionist. |
2. Geol. One who holds that the great geological changes were produced by violent convulsions or upheavals; = catastrophist.
| 1880 A. R. Wallace Isl. Life 216 Upholding the soundness of the views of the ‘Uniformitarians’ as opposed to the ‘Convulsionists’. 1881 Geikie in Macm. Mag. July 229/2. 1888 Q. Rev. CLXVI. 113. |