naturist
(ˈneɪtjʊərɪst)
[f. nature n. + -ist; cf. F. naturiste.]
1. An adherent or follower of, or believer in, nature, in various applications. Also attrib.
| 1685 Boyle Enq. Notion Nat. 34 Those that admit and applaud the Vulgar Notion of Nature: whom..I shall hereafter many times call Naturists. 1851 Dunglison Med. Dict., Naturist, a physician who scrupulously investigates, interprets and follows the indications presented by nature in the treatment of disease. 1892 Harper's Mag. LXXXIV. 803/1 Words that must have gone hard sometimes with the ‘naturist’ he happened to be praising. 1900 Nation (N.Y.) 19 July 52/3 Hence, realists, naturalists, and ‘naturists’, and decadents,..and a host of other ephemeridae. 1950 G. Brenan Face of Spain v. 113 He is a vegetarian and a firm adherent of the Naturist clinic in Malaga, with its theories of opposites and harmonies in foods. 1971 M. McCarthy Birds of America 184 A naturist diet of fruit and raw vegetables. |
2. A practitioner of naturism (sense 4). Also attrib.
| 1929 M. Parmelee Nudity in Modern Life i. 15 We have all heard of so-called ‘naturists’, who insist that man..should discard everything artificial such as..clothing, books, cooked food, etc. 1930 Observer 27 Apr. 12/5 Advocates of the health cure of complete nudity..spent a holiday in a naturist colony on an island in the Seine. 1958 New Statesman 15 Mar. 330/3 Nudist clubs (‘actually we prefer the word {oqq}naturist{cqq}’) were in violent competition. 1963 Daily Tel. 20 Mar. 22/5 The description ‘a nudist camp’, according to the naturist terminology, is defunct... Instead club members are asked to use the expression ‘sun club’ or ‘naturist club’. 1973 [see naturism 4]. |