agonistn.

1573 T. Twyne tr. H. Llwyd Breuiary of Britayne f. 68^v In that place, where the See of S. Assaph is: was sometime a Colledge of learned Agonists [L. collegium litteratorum agonistarum], y^t I may vse Capgraues woordes, celebrated for multitude, vnder Centigeme a Scot.

1623 H. Cockeram Eng. Dict. Agonist, a Champion.

1658 T. Hall Pract. Comm. 3rd & 4th Chapters Paul to Timothy 377 The fight that I have fought is that good fight against sin and Satan, no battles like these, no agonist or champion like this spiritual one who fights the good fight of faith.

1672 T. Sherman Youths Trag. (ed. 2) 8 The mighty Agonist that spends his days in great Atchievements, for a wreath of Bays.

1710 B. Jenks tr. R. F. R. Bellarmino Ouranography v. viii. 246 There [sc. in the Roman Theatre] the Agonists grappled only with Men, like themselves; with equal Arms.

1755 S. Johnson Dict. Eng. Lang. Agonist, a contender for prizes.

1859 I. Taylor Nilus in Logic in Theol. iii. 161 Happiest of mothers am I, who have borne so noble an agonist.

1912 C. D. Snedeker Spartan iii. 26 Shall I ever come here and really be an agonist or maybe win the crown of pine?

1996 A. Kazin N.Y. Jew (new ed.) ii. 41 As Bellow talked, I had an image of a wrestler in the old Greek style, an agonist contending in the games for the prize.

1687 P. Pett Obligation from Oath of Supremacy 138 He gives so much fatherly and Prudent advice to the great Agonists for Property.

1848 Douglas Jerrold's Shilling Mag. 7 329 Few, in the common sense, of those storms, conflicts, passions, and difficulties, that have agitated the breasts of the great agonists of history, have probably convulsed his.

1891 Atalanta June 600/1 The character of the great agonist in this great drama.

1914 F. M. Cornford Origin Attic Comedy v. 71 Three, or sometimes four, rôles are involved in the Agon... First there are the two Adversaries (as we shall call them). For the sake of convenience, we shall distinguish them as the ‘Agonist’ and the ‘Antagonist’. The Agonist is the hero, who is attacked, is put on his defence, and comes off victorious.

1933 E. K. Chambers Eng. Folk-play 23 The culminating point of the Drama is of course the Combat. It will be convenient to call the champion who falls the Agonist and his vanquisher the Antagonist.

1934 Punch 14 Feb. 195/1 Since this is a novel and not an economic treatise, the high lights are naturally focussed on particular agonists.

2007 C. O. Ogunyemi Juju Fission ii. 25 The other dramatis personae in this drama buy into an accepted logic. They vary in age from the young, quixotic stone thrower, the agonist, to the 75-year old antagonist.

1896 J. Collins tr. C. Jakob Atlas Normal & Pathol. Nerv. Syst. 72 Even in a simple muscular act, agonist [Ger. Agonisten] and antagonists must act co-ordinately.

1932 Jrnl. Bone & Joint Surg. 14 2 The increasing elastic tension of the antagonist and the decreasing elastic tension of the contracting agonist determine the neutral point of equilibrium.

1998 Esquire Jan. 100/3 Given that muscles work in pairs, the Wharton way is to address the opposing muscle, the agonist to the muscle that's antagonizing you.

2011 J. F. Signorile Bending Aging Curve 83 In the static quadriceps stretch, there is no emphasis on using the agonist muscle to stretch the antagonist muscle.

1955 Pharmacol. Rev. 7 211 The term ‘reversible competitive antagonism’ is used in this review to designate that type of antagonism in which the antagonist competes with the agonist by reacting reversibly with the same receptors with which the agonist reacts.

1977 Sci. Amer. Mar. 44/2 All opiate agonists, or analgesically active substances, show basic similarities in their molecular architecture.

1983 Fortune 24 Jan. 88/2 An agonist not only fits a receptor molecule but also activates it to initiate some operation in a cell.

2005 Daily Tel. 12 July 9/1 The 11 affected patients in the study were all receiving dopamine agonist drugs such as pramipexole and ropinirole, used to control movement problems caused by Parkinson's disease.

1914 Times 25 June 4/1 In old days, agonists went on, week after week,..in pursuit of what they had lost, or what they hoped to gain.

1915 Chambers's Jrnl. 6 Feb. 149/1 Yet somebody must respond, or a number of the ‘agonists’ would require to retire..from the business.

1934 I. Brown in F. J. H. Darton Ess. of Year 1933–4 p. xx He even scours the advertisements, for the Agonists of The Times are often helpful.

1981 Times 14 Dec. 6/5 These family problems will remain and the agonists will go on picking up the pieces.