gospeller
(ˈgɒspələ(r))
Forms: 1–3 godspellere, 3 godspellare, 4 gods speller, god(d)speller, gospello(u)r, gosspel(l)er(e, 4–5 gospel(l)ere, 4–7 gospeler, 5 gospel(l)eer, 6, (in sense 4) 9 gospellar, (6 ghospeller, gospiller, 7 godspeler), 4– gospeller.
[f. gospel n. and v. + -er1.]
1. One of the four evangelists.
| 971 Blickl. Hom. 35 We sceoldan..healdan..þa lara þara feower godspellera. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 89 Lucas þe godspellere. a 1225 Ancr. R. 94 ‘Hit is a derne halewi’ seið sein Johan ewangeliste [C. godspellere] in þe Apocalipse. a 1300 Cursor M. 13434 Þis ilk was ion þe gospeller. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 397, Oo gospelere expowneþ anoþer. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) IV. 339 Þre gospellours that telleþ þe doynge of Crist after þe prisonynge of Iohn Baptiste. 1623 Lisle ælfric on O. & N. Test., Mark, Marke the Gospeller, who followed Peter for instruction. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 142 We read from one Gospeller, That after the Lord had spoken he was received up. 1933 V. McNabb Nazareth or Social Chaos iv. 18 This phrase of S. John is all the more striking because he more than the other three gospellers is insistent upon the Will of God. |
2. A preacher of the Gospel; a missionary. rare.
| 1673 [R. Leigh] Transp. Reh. 102 The itinerant Gospellers that travel up and down with two penny books. 1847–9 Sir J. Stephen Eccl. Biog. (1850) I. 114 The migratory gospellers, who in every land toiled, and preached and died. |
3. One who reads the Gospel in the Communion Service.
| 1506 Mem. Hen. VII (Rolls 1858) 290 The bishop of Chichester gospeller, the bishop of Norwich epistoler. a 1529 Skelton Ware Hauke 120 These be my gospellers, These be my pystillers. 1579 Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees 1860) 18 To the gospeller and pistoler 6s. 8d. a pece. 1667 Answ. West to North 9 Gospelers, Epistelers, Virgers. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Gospeller, he that reads the Gospel in a Cathedral, or Collegiate Church. 1778 Eng. Gazetteer (ed. 2) s.v. Peterborough, Besides the dean and chapter..here are 8 petty canons,..1 epistler, 1 gospeller. 1849 Rock Ch. of Fathers IV. xii. 186 The deacon and subdeacon [at mass] were sometimes called the ‘gospeller’ and ‘epistoler’. 1874 J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Par. Churches 52 The gospeller having received the textus or gospel-book. 1891 S. Mostyn Curatica 12, I was gospeller at my Ordination. |
† 4. A book containing the Gospels (see gospel n. 3); a gospel-book. Obs.
| 1440 in Eng. Ch. Furniture (1866) 184 Item a gospeler and a epistolere a year with a plate on them of Copper and gilt. c 1530 in Gutch Coll. Cur. II. 338 Item oone Booke callid the Gospiller. 1885 Athenæum 15 Aug. 215/1 The silver-cased Gospel is placed upon the lectern when the Word is read from the modern Gospellar. |
5. a. One who professes the faith of the gospel, or who claims for himself and his party the exclusive possession of gospel truth; in 16–17th c. often applied derisively to Protestants, Puritans, and sectaries. † Also, one learned in the Scriptures.
| 1533 More Apol. i. Wks. 846/1 They find a great fault that I handle Tindall and Barns their two newe ghospellers, with no fayrer woordes nor in no more courtes maner. 1547 Homilies i. Agst. Contention i. (1859) 134 He is a Pharise, he is a Gospeller, he is of the new sort. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Matt. xx. 29–34 With whiche affeccion euery gospeller ought to be sory for other mens harmes. 1552 Latimer Serm. at Bexterly (1607) 273 b, A great number of people pretend the Gospell, and beare the name of Gospelleres, because it is a new thing. 1561 J. Daus tr. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573) 125 The Gospellers haue once or twise fought vnluckely, and abide euery houre great persecutions: the Papistes ouercome and reioyse. 1615 Wadsworth in Bedell Lett. (1624) 10 Murders which Knoxe and the Geneua Gospellers caused in Scotland. 1674 Hickman Hist. Quinquart. (ed. 2) 191 His first attempt is to disgrace the Calvinists, by calling them Gospellers. 1638 Bunyan Jerus. Sinner Saved (1886) 72 Nor is [God] so willing to save as some pretended gospellers imagine. 1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. I. 586 Thornden..was a great Gospeller and seemed to all to be an hearty Protestant. 1715 Rowe Lady Jane Grey iii. i, These Gospellers have had their golden Days..Have trodden down our Holy Roman Faith. 1820 Scott Monast. xxiii, He began to suspect that he was now in company with one of the gospellers, or heretics. 1837 Hawthorne Twice-t. T. (1851) II. xvi. 238 Bearing on his breast this label—A Wanton Gospeller. 1858 Sat. Rev. V. 273/1 The gentlemanly churchman..did not care to welcome ‘the bragging soldier’ [Hutten], who might perhaps be followed by a troop of Gospellers. 18.. Blackie (Ogilvie), The solemn sepulchral piety of certain North Eastern gospellers. |
b. hot gospeller: see as main entry.