apostolicadj.n.
/apəˈstɒlɪk/ A. adj.
1. Of or belonging to the Apostles; contemporary with the Apostles, as the Apostolic Fathers.
ΚΠ
1549 Bk. Common Prayer (STC 16267) Svpper of the Lorde f. cxxijv One Catholike and Apostolike Churche.
1635 E. Pagitt Christianographie (1636) i. ii. 62 St. Matthew, and other Apostolike men.
1664 H. More Modest Enq. Myst. Iniquity xvi. 58 Idolatry is as contrary to the Apostolick Doctrine, as any thing can be.
1818 Ld. Byron Childe Harold: Canto IV cx. 58 And apostolic statues climb To crush the imperial urn.
1847 J. Yeowell Chron. Anc. Brit. Church iii. 23 The British church was founded during the apostolic age.
2. Of the nature or character of the Apostles; befitting or suited to an apostle.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > aspects of faith > Bible, Scripture > Biblical personages > apostle > [adjective]
apostly1530
apostolical1548
apostolic1549
1549 M. Coverdale et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. 1 Cor. xi. 7 Is it not an apostolique act to bring Corinthe..to Christes gospell?
1782 W. Cowper Hope in Poems 170 His apostolic charity.
1839 T. De Quincey Lake Reminisc. in Tait's Edinb. Mag. Feb. 102/1 Illimitable, apostolic devotion to the service of the poor.
3. Of or pertaining to the pope as successor of St. Peter; papal.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > member of the clergy > clerical superior > pope > [adjective]
papala1393
pontifical1447
apostolic1477
antichristian1532
popal1537
popisha1540
popely1558
papist1562
popelike1563
popan1580
papane1581
pontific1609
popizing1611
papizing1612
pontificious1624
papal1701
papalist1867
1477 W. Caxton in Earl Rivers tr. Dictes or Sayengis Philosophhres (1877) lf. 73 Defendour and directour of the siege apostolique.
1591 Troublesome Raigne Iohn i. sig. E I Pandulph of Padoa, Legate from the Apostolike Sea.
1845 J. Lingard Hist. & Antiq. Anglo-Saxon Church (ed. 3) II. xiv. 352 Made dependent on the apostolic see alone.
4. Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the Apostles (sense 3d).
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > an association, society, or organization > secret society > [adjective] > other secret societies
apostolic1832
1832 J. Spedding Let. 4 May in H. Tennyson Alfred Ld. Tennyson (1897) I. 85 Only think of an ‘Apostolic’ dinner next Friday.
1900 H. Sidgwick in A. Sidgwick & E. M. Sidgwick Henry Sidgwick (1906) ii. 35 It was rather a point of the apostolic mind to understand how much suggestion and instruction may be derived from what is in form a jest.
1906 R. Fry Let. 12 Apr. (1972) I. 261 He's [sc. Cresswell's] the most interesting mind here.., quite Cambridge mind, speculative and detached, in fact, almost Apostolic.
1979 L. Edel Bloomsbury i. 54 There were vivid memories of Apostolic weekends and walking tours.
1986 Nature 13 Feb. 548/2 Several roots of Whitehead's later philosophy are to be found in his Apostolic comradeship.
B. n.
A heretical sect. (See quot.)
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > sect > Christianity > other sects and movements > apostolic > [noun]
apostolic1580
1580 W. Fulke Discov. Daungerous Rocke in Retentiue 314 The apostolicks in their vow of continence.
1645 E. Pagitt Heresiogr. 32 Apostolikes, a kinde of Anabaptists, because they would be like the Apostles, they wandred up and downe the Countreyes without staves, shooes, money, or baggs.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Apostolici A Name assum'd by two different Sects of Hereticks, on account of their pretending to imitate the Manners and Practice of the Apostles.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1885; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.n.1477