pretendant, -ent, n. and a.
(prɪˈtɛndənt)
[a. F. prétendant (16th c. in Littré), pr. pple. of prétendre to pretend (also as n.).]
A. n.
† 1. One who purposes: = pretender 1. Obs. rare.
| 1598 Florio, Pretendente, a pretendent, a pretender, an intender, a meaner. |
2. A claimant; esp. to any office or honour, e.g. to a throne. Now rare.
| 1600 E. Blount tr. Conestaggio 59 The pretendants to the succession. 1618–29 in Rushw. Hist. Coll. (1659) I. 382 All the Pretendants were called in upon these proceedings, divers of the Ships and Goods were condemned and divers were released in a legal course. 1652–62 Heylin Cosmogr. ii. (1682) 78 Whether of the two Pretendents had the juster Cause. 1670 G. H. Hist. Cardinals iii. iii. 315 Almost all the pretendants came into the Conclave with an absolute intention to advance every one his own proper interest. 1855 Milman Lat. Chr. VI. 73 All censures, excommunications, interdicts, issued by the two pretendants, were annulled. |
b. A fictitious or fraudulent claimant; a mere pretender.
| 1826 Southey Vind. Eccl. Angl. 189 They..are always heightened in proportion to the attention which the pretendant, whether knave or fanatic, obtains. |
3. A suitor: a. at law; b. a wooer.
| 1652 Wadsworth tr. Sandoval's Civ. Wars Spain 30 It is reported that a certain Pretendent or Petitioner..had presented Xeures with a very handsom Mule. 1655 tr. Com. Hist. Francion ii. 45 By this, and other like subtilties, she screwed..a small summe of Money out of her penurious Pretendant. 1883 Howells Woman's Reason (1884) II. 252 The good-natured slight with which husband and wife always talk over the sorrows of unlucky pretendants. |
† B. adj. That claims to be (somebody); of or pertaining to a claimant. Obs.
| 1594 Parsons Confer. Success. ii. iv. 58 Richard Earle of Cambridge father to this Richard pretendent duke of Yorke. 1595 Daniel Civ. Wars iv. xxxv, How easie had it beene for thee All the pretendant race t' haue laid full low. 1620 Brent tr. Sarpi's Counc. Trent vii. 681 The Cardinall of Loraine came to the Councell as Head of one of the pretendent parties. |