gurun.

1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 500 They have others which they call Gurupi, learned Priests.

1617 S. Purchas Pilgrimage (ed. 3) v. vii. 591 A famous Prophet of the Ethnikes named Goru.

1810 T. Williamson E. India Vade-mecum II. 317 Persons of this class often keep little schools..and then are designated gooroos.

1814 M. M. Sherwood Hist. Little Henry & his Bearer 32 So much was he afraid of offending his gooroo.

1826 W. B. Hockley Pandurang Hari III. xii. 347 He was in want of a gùrù, a religious instructor, to his household.

1828 G. C. Mundy Pen & Pencil Sketches (1832) I. iv. 184 Its founder, a holy goru.

1867 W. H. Dixon New Amer. I. xxxi. 330 Except the guru of Bombay, no priest on earth has so large a power [etc.].

1877 H. P. Blavatsky Isis Unveiled II. ii. 114 It is in the presence of his instructor, the guru..that he is suddenly placed face to face with the unknown presence.

1884 in 1st Rep. Comm. Soc. Psychical Res. (1885) 58 A letter..being opened it was found to contain a distinct order from my Guru that I should stop at Calcutta.

1940 H. G. Wells Babes in Darkling Wood iii. i. 245 I ask you, Stella, as your teacher, as your Guru, so to speak, not to say a word more about it.

1950 A. Koestler in R. Crossman God that Failed 40 My self-confidence as a Guru had gone.

1957 Sunday Times 12 May 9/3 I learnt to love French poetry from it, a schoolboy in a class of one, with my guru Mr de Solgé.

1967 New Scientist 14 Sept. 559/1 Marshall McLuhan is (or is about to be turned into) one of those gurus whom the United States hungers for more than most nations.

1968 Times 4 Oct. 11/5 In what was obviously intended to be a sneering reference, the Prime Minister in his facile glibness..described Mr. Enoch Powell as ‘the guru of Wolverhampton’.

1969 Eve's Weekly (Bombay) 20 Dec. 11/4 Hannah Sahney, the chief instructress for the Indian Airlines' hostesses, is a guru to many of her young trainees.

1966 Vogue Nov. 21/2 Most colourful man's shop, Testa's..newest here—the guru jacket in brilliant red, blue or white silk or wool buttoned up high Chinese style.

1968 Guardian 29 Aug. 5/4 The tailors began it all three years ago with the ‘guru’ jacket,..the guru with its high neckband notched at the throat and its multiple buttons.

1848 H. H. Wilson Wks. (1862) II. 128 Their ninth Guru..was publicly put to death in 1675..at the instigation of a competitor for the Guruship.

1885 F. Hall in Nation (N.Y.) 41 120/1 The four divided between them the Guruship of the new superstition..from 1504 till 1581.