释义 |
preacher|ˈpriːtʃə(r)| Forms: 3–4 prechur, (3 -or, 4 -ore, -ure), 3–6 prechour, (4–5 -oure), 4 preychour, preichour (also 6 Sc.), 4–5 (6 Sc.) precheour, 4–7 precher, (5 -owre, 6– ar), 5–6 preachour, 6 Sc. preicheour, -eir, -er, 6– preacher. [ME. precho(u)r, a. OF. prech(e)or, earlier preëch(e)or (13th c. in Godef.), popular ad. L. praedicātōr-em a preacher, whence also It. predicatore, Prov. prezicaire, Sp., Pg. predicador: see preach v. and -er2.] One who preaches. 1. a. One who proclaims or sets forth religious doctrine by public discourse; one who delivers a sermon or sermons; esp. one whose occupation or function it is to preach the gospel; a minister of religion; spec. one licensed to preach.
a1225Ancr. R. 10 Prelaz & treowe prechures. a1300Cursor M. 20934 (Edin.) He firste was werrayure, eftirward bicom prechure [v.rr. -ur, -our, preichour]. c1305Edmund Conf. 314 in E.E.P. (1862) 79 Þe beste prechour he was iholde þat me ow[h]ar vnderstode. c1325Metr. Hom. Prol. 3 Forthi suld ilke precheour schau The god that Godd hauis gert him knau. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xix. 226 Prechoures & prestes & prentyce[s] of lawe. c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 23 Þat suche prechoris ben heretikis. c1449Pecock Repr. i. xvi. 88 A famose and a plesaunt precher to peple in a pulpit. 1530Palsgr. 34 As a famous preachour. 1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Matt. iii. 28 That now was the tyme to playe the preacher. 1561–2Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 202 Sustentatioun of the precheouris and readaris. 1562in Strype Ann. Ref. (1709) I. xxvii. 284 By a preacher is meant such an one as hath preached before his ordinary, and hath his approbation under seal to be a preacher. a1631Donne Serm. lvii. (1640) 574 A word of the fœminine gender, not Concionator, but Concionatrix, a Shee-Preacher. 1662Pepys Diary 2 Nov., To church, and there being a lazy preacher I slept out the sermon. a1774Goldsm. tr. Scarron's Com. Romance (1775) I. 289 While he rehearsed his heroics, they walked cap in hand before him, respecting him like a high-way preacher. 1859–60J. H. Newman Hist. Sk. (1873) III. ii. ii. 232 John of Antioch..had been the great preacher of the day. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 887 This [paralysis] gives rise to a peculiar position of the hand which has been named ‘the preacher's hand’. b. One who exhorts earnestly; one who advocates or inculcates something by speech or writing. Also fig.
c1386Chaucer Wife's Prol. 165 Now dame..by god and by seint Iohn Ye been a noble prechour in this cas. 1599Shakes. Hen. V, iv. i. 9 They are our outward Consciences, And Preachers to vs all. 1706Swift Th. Various Subj. Wks. 1841 II. 304/1 No preacher is listened to but Time. 1900Spielmann Ruskin 107 The artists welcome him as a writer, and he would be taken for an art-preacher. c. With of: One who preaches (something specified). So preacher up (cf. preach v. 2 c).
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xiii. 428 Prechoures of goddes wordes. a1425Cursor M. 21179 (Trin.) Þese were þe apostlis twelue..precheres [earlier MSS. spellers] of trouþe. 1552Abp. Hamilton Catech. (1884) 6 Precheouris of the word of God. 1611Bible Transl. Pref. 4 The first Preachers of the Gospel. 1649Milton Eikon. xii, We have him still a perpetual preacher of his own virtues. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xxii. 158 The precipice to my left was a continual preacher of caution. 1870Lowell Study Wind. 139 The denouncer of shams, the preacher up of sincerity. †2. (In full, friar preacher.) A name for the order of Dominican friars. Also preaching friar: see preaching ppl. a. Cf. predicant. Obs.
1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 10105 Ther after the verste ȝer Þe ordre bigan of frere prechors. c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 353 Prechouris and Menours seyn þe reverse. c1394P. Pl. Crede 154 Þanne þouȝt y to frayne þe first of þis foure ordirs, And presede to þe prechoures to proven here wille. 1474Caxton Chesse 130 To the frere prechours an hondred pounde. 1544tr. Littleton's Tenures (1574) 41 b, In the order of fryers mynoures or preachers. 3. spec. A name for Solomon as supposed speaker in the Book of Ecclesiastes; hence, that book itself.
1535Coverdale Eccl. i. i. 2 These are the wordes of the Preacher, the sonne of Dauid, kynge of Ierusalem. All is but vanite, saieth y⊇ preacher [Vulg. dixit Ecclesiastes, Wyclif seide Ecclesiastes]. 1579Fulke Heskins' Parl. 7 The book of Psalmes, the Preacher, & the song of Salomon. 4. attrib. and Comb., chiefly appositive, as preacher-editor, preacher-musician, preacher-playwright, preacher-saint, preacher-teacher; also preacher-like adj. and adv.; preacher-in-the-pulpit, a local N. American name of Orchis spectabilis; preacher-man U.S. dial., = sense 1 a.
1884Miller Plant-n., Orchis spectabilis, Preacher-in-the-pulpit, Showy Orchis of N. America. 1895Westm. Gaz. 24 July 7/1 He may be described as preacher-teacher to the pitmen. 1899in H. Wentworth Amer. Dial. Dict. (1944) 474/1 Preacher-man. 1900Westm. Gaz. 13 Dec. 7/3 If he thought he could help the preacher-editor he would. 1904R. Small Hist. U.P. Congregations II. 488 [He] returned to preacher life again. 1913H. Kephart Our Southern Highlanders xiii. 286 Everywhere in the mountains we hear of biscuit-bread..preacher-man, granny-woman. 1977Times 23 May 5/1 A nice, homespun preacherman who spoke with a Southern drawl. Hence ˈpreacherdom, the realm or community of preachers, preachers collectively; ˈpreacherless a., without a preacher; ˈpreacherling, a petty or inferior preacher; ˈpreacherly a., of or pertaining to preachers.
1891Sat. Rev. 7 Nov. 516/1 The veriest dumb dog in *preacherdom.
1893Boston Mission. Herald Dec. 526 The converts from *preacherless villages are swept off their feet by the tide of persecution.
1772Nugent tr. Hist. Friar Gerund II. 27 A certain *preacherling pronounced, or was to pronounce, a funeral oration.
1905A. Lang in Longm. Mag. Aug. 376 Under any despotism, lay or priestly or *preacherly. |