zealer, n.

zealer
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zealer_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 2018

# † zealernoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zealer mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zealer. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

This word is now obsolete. It is last recorded around the late 1600s.

### Where does the noun zealer come from?

Earliest known use

Middle English

The earliest known use of the noun zealer is in the Middle English period (1150—1500).

OED's earliest evidence for zealer is from before 1450.

### Nearby entries

1. zeal, n. a1382–
2. zeal, v. 1542–1687
3. Zealander, n.¹ 1663–
4. Zealander, n.² 1773–
5. Zealandic, adj. 1807–
6. Zealandish, adj. 1684–
7. zealator, n. a1464–
8. zeal-blind, adj. 1615–1898
9. zeal-consuming, adj. 1629–1882
10. zealed, adj. 1679–1903
11. zealer, n.?a1450–1673
12. zealful, adj. 1602–
13. zeal-inflamed, adj. 1648–
14. zealing, adj. 1459–1602
15. zealist, n. 1614–
16. zealless, adj. a1594–
17. zealot, n. & adj. a1400–
18. zealotic, adj. 1657–
19. zealotical, adj. 1630–
20. zealotism, n. 1645–
21. zealotist, n. & adj. 1593–

## Meaning & use

Obsolete.

1. ?a1450–1673
   A person who shows zeal (in various senses); esp. (in later use) one who ardently praises, supports, or promotes something.
   Stressed as ˈzealer.
   1. ?a1450

      > Zele is double: þat is to sey gode & yuel. Gode zele is somtyme ytake for spousale luffyng... And so God, þat is þe spouse of holy chirche, is a strong zeler... Also þat God is a stronge zeler vengyng into þe 3. & þe 4. generacion.

      in C. von Nolcken, Middle English Translation of Rosarium Theology (1979) 103
   2. 1557

      > Persecutours of euyil, zelers of good.

      T. North, translation of A. de Guevara, Diall of Princes iii. xli. f. 219
   3. 1632

      > A feruent zealer of monasticall religion.

      J. Porter, Flowers of Lives of Renowned Saincts 193
   4. 1673

      > Thou lover and zealer of Iesus.

      R. Strange, translation of J. E. Nieremberg, Of Adoration in Spirit & Truth ii. ix. 192
   1. zealer?a1450–1673
      A person who shows zeal (in various senses); esp. (in later use) one who ardently praises, supports, or promotes something.
   2. fetishist 1891–
      A person who has an excessive or irrational devotion to or admiration for a particular thing, or who has an obsessive interest in something.
   3. tiger 1896–
      transferred and figurative. Applied to one who or that which in some way resembles or suggests a tiger. colloquial (chiefly Australian and New Zealand…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

Originally published as part of the entry for zeal, n.

zealer, n. was first published in 2018.