abhorrer

noun — 2 senses

abhorrer

noun

UK /əbˈhɔː.ɹə/ · US /æbˈhɔɹ.ɚ/

Etymology From abhor + -er.

1

One who abhors.

  • Be they what they may, the barbarities of the Catholics of those times had their limits: but of this abhorrer of Catholic barbarities, the barbarity has, in respect of the number of intended victims, no limits other than those of time.1839, Jeremy Bentham, edited by John Bowring, The works of Jeremy Bentham, now first collected; under the superintendence of his executor, John Bowring, page 450:
  • The “even be killed” is not comic, for Thoreau the individualist must have found it in theory as difficult to imagine himself dying for others as Thoreau the abhorrer of violence found it difficult to imagine himself killing another individual.1948, Joseph Wood Krutch, Henry David Thoreau, page 236:
3 more examples
  • Hate, detester, abhorrer. Enemy, ennemi. With her tongue curled over her lip, she copied them in her notebook, then made them into sentences.1959, Dorothy Sterling, Mary Jane, page 83:
  • Thus, chiefly through the efforts of this lover of peace and abhorrer of war, the art of maiming and killing became ever more efficient.1970, Robert Leckie, Warfare, page 128:
  • The problem of usage comes in for abhorrer in various ways: There are 63 entries with the root abhor, including 3 abhorrer, 17 abhorrence.1999, Guy A. J. Tops et al., Thinking English Grammar: to honour Xavier Dekeyser, page 59:
2

Capitalized, Historical, Sometimes A nickname given in the early 17ᵗʰ century to signatories of addresses of a petition to reconvene parliament, addressed to Charles II.

  • Pretty much as Lincoln is thus supposed to arise out of the word fleas, so (according to Rapin) do the words Whig and Tory arise out of addresser and abhorrer[…]1890, Thomas de Quincey, edited by David Masson, The Collected Writings of Thomas de Quincey, page 389:
  • Whether “Petitioner” or “Abhorrer”, his opinion was asked and use of his undistinguished name was requested […]1949, Felix Morley, The Power in the People, page 76:
2 more examples
  • He might be assimilated to a madman, but the honourable Gentleman himself was an abhorrer, and an abhorrer could not reason.1966, Robert Gourlay, General Introduction to Statistical Account of Upper Canada, page 1:
  • The terms petitioners and abhorrers in this context were later superseded by Whig and Tory.1999, Guy A. J. Tops et al., Thinking English Grammar: to honour Xavier Dekeyser, page 59:
Related terms
abhor, abhorred, abhorrence, abhorrency, abhorrent, abhorrently, abhorrible, abhorring

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.