votary
English
editEtymology
editFrom Latin votus, past participle of vovere (“to vow, to devote”).
Pronunciation
edit- Adjective
- Noun
Adjective
editvotary (comparative more votary, superlative most votary)
- Consecrated by a vow or promise; consequent on a vow; devoted; promised.
- 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Custom and Education”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:
- Votary resolution is made equipollent to custom.
Translations
editconsecrated by a vow or promise
|
Noun
editvotary (plural votaries)
- A person, such as a monk or nun, who lives a religious life according to vows they have made.
- A devotee of a particular religion or cult.
- A devout or zealous worshipper.
- (by extension) Someone who is devoted to a particular pursuit etc.
- Synonyms: enthusiast; see also Thesaurus:enthusiast
- 1771, Henry Mackenzie, The Man of Feeling, London: Cassell, published 1886, pages 61–62:
- […] But it is not simply of the progress of luxury that we have to complain: did its votaries keep in their own sphere of thoughtless dissipation, we might despise them without emotion; but the frivolous pursuits of pleasure are mingled with the most important concerns of the state; […]
- 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 31, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:
- The room was commonly emptied after that, or only left in possession of a very few and persevering votaries of pleasure.
- 1893, Henry James, Collaboration[1], archived from the original on 13 October 2006:
- He is such a votary of the modern that he was inevitably interested in the girl of the future and had matched one reform with another, being ready to marry without a penny, as the clearest way of expressing his appreciation, this favourable specimen of the type.
- 1920, B. G. Jefferis, J. L. Nichols, “Sexual Proprieties and Improprieties”, in Searchlights on Health[2]:
- The indulgence of illicit pleasures, says Dr. S. Pancoast, sooner or later is sure to entail the most loathsome diseases on their votaries.
- 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 13]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:
- Gerty was dressed simply but with the instinctive taste of a votary of Dame Fashion for she felt that there was just a might that he might be out.
- A loyal supporter or devoted admirer of a person or institution.
Translations
editdevotee of a particular religion or cult
|
devout or zealous worshipper
|
enthusiast
|
References
edit- “votary, n.”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2021.