runagate, n. (and a.) Now arch.
(ˈrʌnəgeɪt)
Forms: 6 ron(ne)agate, 7 ronnagat; 6 runne-, 6–9 runn-, 6– runagate; 6–8 runne-, 7 runni-, 8 runegate.
[Alteration of renna-, rennegate, renegate, by association with ren(ne run v. and agate adv. In common use from c 1550 to 1700, sometimes as a vague term of abuse.]
† 1. An apostate. Obs. = renegade n. 1.
| c 1530 Exam. W. Thorpe (Tindale) G iij, The lustie lyuyng and the slyding fro the treuth of these runagates shall be to me..an example [etc.]. 1554 Lydgate's Bochas viii. xiii. 185 An Idolater and runneagate in dede. 1589 Nashe Martin Marprelate Wks. (Grosart) I. 156 Lucian the Atheist, was neuer so irreligious; nor euer Iulian the runnagate so blasphemous. 1632 Lithgow Trav. iii. 90 There arriued from Tunnis in Barbary, an English Runagate. 1692 Washington Milton's Def. People M.'s Wks. 1851 VIII. 31 Meddle with your own matters, you Runagate, and be asham'd of your actions, since the Church is asham'd of you. |
2. A deserter, fugitive, runaway.
| a 1548 Hall Chron., Rich. III, 54 b, A compaigne of traytors, thefes, outlawes and ronneagates. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 128 It is reported to me, that your clearke or Secretarie, hath plaide the fugitiue or runnagate. 1600 Holland Livy xxiii. 480 If he went to Rome,..he should bee sooner lodged there in prison like a fugitive runagate, than intertained..for a friend. 1674 Milton Hist. Mosc. Wks. 1851 VIII. 498 Many Letters and Messengers ther⁓upon were sent from Boris into Poland..to acquaint them who the Runnagate was. 1737 Whiston Josephus, Hist. ii. xxi. §7 John.., together with his two thousand Syrian runagates. 1778 Foote Trip Calais ii. Wks. 1799 II. 345 What news from the runagate? have you seen her? 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. II. 241 Crews of these desperadoes,..the runagates of every country and every clime. 1866 J. E. Brogden Prov. Lincs., Runnagate, a runnaway. 1890 Conan Doyle White Company xxxiv, I shall leave my Winchester runagates to the care of the provost-marshal. |
| fig. 1641 Milton Reform. ii. Wks. 1851 III. 55 Commit securely to true wisdome the vanquishing and uncasing of craft and suttletie, which are but her two runnagates. 1746 Hervey Medit. II. 17 Our Moments slip away silently and insensibly—and will the Runagates never stop? |
| Comb. 1648 Gage West Ind. 3 Whosoever..runagate-like shall return, may be constrained to return again to the India's. |
3. A vagabond, wanderer; a run-about.
| 1547 Boorde Brev. Health Pref. 6 b, Let al men beware of vagabundes and ronagates that wyl smatter with phisicke. 1594 Nashe Unfort. Trav. Wks. (Grosart) V. 141 The first traueller was Cayn, and hee was called a vagabond runnagate on the face of the earth. 1634 Ford Perk. Warbeck v. iii, You are known For Osbeck's son of Tournay a loose runagate, A Land-loper. a 1677 Barrow Serm. (1683) II. 201 A crew of wild thieves and runnagates. 1822 Galt Sir A. Wylie xii, Get twa shillings frae that flea⁓luggit rinnagate Charlie Pierston. 1881 Besant & Rice Chapl. of Fleet I. 181 We have been kept in scarceness among runnagates and spendthrifts. |
4. attrib. or as adj.| 1563 Foxe A. & M. 985/2 A runnagate Scot dyd take away the adoration..of Christe in that sacrament. 1579 W. Wilkinson Confut. Fam. Love 10 Lyke a runnagate Apostata..ye betray his Saints to Sathan. 1612 T. Taylor Comm. Titus ii. 9 Paul hauing conuerted Onesimus a runnagate seruant.., sent him to Philemon againe. 1653 R. Sanders Physiogn., Moles 25 He is a runnagate fugitive, and wanders out of his native country. 1737 Whiston Josephus, Antiq. xii. vii. §3 There came also to them..many of the runagate Jews. 1810 Q. Rev. Nov. 458 We have seen..how much harm has been done by the runagate sailors in Polynesia. 1851 G. H. Kingsley Sp. & Trav. (1900) 335 The beach-comber, a runagate rogue without property, position, or influence. |
So
ˈrunagates.
rare—1.
| 1865 W. G. Palgrave Arabia II. 366 Much as a well⁓trained schoolboy does a runagates street urchin. |