methodistn.adj.
/ˈmɛθədɪst/, U.S. /ˈmɛθədəst/ A. n.† 5. In extended use: a person of strict religious views. Cf. sense A. 3b. Obsolete.
1. † b. Botany and Zoology. A person who classifies according to a particular method or scheme. Also, W. Kirby's term for: a person who prefers an artificial to a natural method of classification. Obsolete.
a. gen. A person who follows a specified method; a person who is skilled in, or attaches importance to, method (now rare).
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the world > action or operation > manner of action > care, carefulness, or attention > [noun] > methodicalness > one who
methodist1593
systematician1802
the world > relative properties > order > [noun] > quality of being systematic > systematic arrangement > one who follows
methodist1593
1593 G. Harvey Pierces Supererogation 110 The finest Methodists, according to Aristotles golden rule of artificiall Boundes, condemne Geometricall preceptes in Arithmetique, or Arithmeticall preceptes in Geometrie, as irregular, and abusiue.
1615 T. Jackson Iustifying Faith iv. iii. v. §2 All of us have some or other tender part of our souls which we cannot endure should be ungently touched; Every man must be his own methodist to find them out.
1621 R. Montagu Diatribæ Hist. Tithes 79 Aristotle..was too good a Methodist, and Logician to confound the limits and boundaries of Arts.
1657 A. Farindon XXX. Serm. (1672) I. xx. 394 He teacheth us how we shall fear rectâ methodo, to be perfect Methodists in Fear, and that we misplace not our fear.
1658 J. Spencer Καινα και Παλαια 161 Our..plain pack-staffe Methodists, who esteem of all flowers of Rhetorick in Sermons, no better then stinking weeds.
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Methodist, one that treats of a Method, or affects to be methodical.
1802 T. Beddoes Hygëia I. i. 87 What are these methodists in meat and drink, whom we are all so justly averse to the idea of resembling?
1824 J. Johnson Typographia II. lxv. 95 But some, who are still better methodists..divide each side of the paper into two columns.
1886 Cyclists' Touring Club Gaz. 4 121 They..despise the cut-and-dried programme of the methodist..and prefer to wander of their own free will.
1921 H. E. Palmer Princ. Lang.-study 25 Translation is not nearly so ‘indirect’ or ‘unconcrete’ as the extreme ‘direct methodists’ have led us to suppose.
1992 ELT Jrnl. 46 40 Thus, direct methodists such as Sweet poke fun at examples of the ‘pen of my aunt’ variety with the first prize for meaning-less triviality going to a gem such as: ‘the philosopher pulled the lower jaw of the hen’.
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the world > life > biology > taxonomy > [noun] > system of > proponent of
systematic1662
systematist1700
systemist1714
methodist1753
taxonomist1835
lumper1857
taxonomer1881
splitter1887
taxinomist1899
cytotaxonomist1937
biosystematist1943
pheneticist1965
1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. Methodists,..persons who have..bestowed their labours upon the disposition and arrangement of plants.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth II. 290 The methodists, in natural history.
1826 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. IV. 356 Under this view system-makers would be divided into two classes—the Methodists and Systematists.
1893 A. Newton et al. Dict. Birds: Pt. 1 276 Several systematists referring it [sc. the genus Henicurus] to the Motacillidæ,..while other methodists..placed it next to Cinclus.
c. Theatre. A practitioner or advocate of method acting. rare.
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1959 Guardian 15 Oct. 8/3 What emotional exercises had he done in preparation for Romeo? The real Methodist is not so much different in kind as different in degree.
2. † b. A regular or orthodox medical practitioner, as opposed to one who favoured the use of new remedies. Also figurative. Obsolete.
a. History of Science. A physician of a school of thought in ancient Greece and Rome holding views intermediate between those of the Dogmatic and the Empirical schools, and espousing a theory correlating different kinds of disease with differing states of the body's internal ‘pores’ (cf. dogmatic n. 1a, empiric n. 2). Also figurative.According to Celsus, the ancient Methodists (called in Latin methodici, in Greek μεθοδικοί) differed from the Dogmatic school in basing their treatment not on principles deduced from a classification of diseases according to their origin, but on the theory that morbid conditions consisted either in ‘looseness’, ‘tightness’, or a mixture between the two (fluens, strictum, mixtum), each of the three states having its appropriate set of remedies. The Methodist school was founded by Themison, about a.d. 100.
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the world > health and disease > healing > healer > physician > [noun] > of specific schools or theoretical standpoints > ancient > methodist
methodic?1541
methodist1598
abbreviator1605
methodian1612
1598 J. Marston Scourge of Villanie i. i. sig. B6 As many more, As methodist Musus, kild with Hellebore.
1607 T. Walkington Optick Glasse 44 The inexpert phisician, I meane Empyricall, as also the methodist or dogmatist.
1733 G. Cheyne Eng. Malady ii. xi. 227 The true Foundation of the Distinction between..the strait and loose of the ancient Methodists.
1845 F. Adams tr. P. Aegineta Seven Bks. I. ii. xxxix. Comm. 293 Soranus, the great master of the Methodists.
1983 Times Lit. Suppl. 21 Oct. 1152/4 Soranus, a methodist, reveals many differences between himself and members of the same ‘sect’ or ‘tendency’.
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the world > health and disease > healing > healer > physician > [noun] > of specific schools or theoretical standpoints > 17th or 18th century
methodist1640
mechanist1668
iatromathematician1727
mechanica1776
iatromechanic1856
iatromechanician1856
iatrophysicist1889
iatromechanist1943
1640 G. Watts tr. F. Bacon Of Advancem. Learning iv. ii. 190 The Philosophies themselves, upon the which Physitians, whether they be Methodists or Chymists doe rely (for Medicine not grounded upon Philosophy is a weak thing) are indeed very slight and superficiall.
a1704 J. Locke Conduct of Understanding §34 in Posthumous Wks. (1706) 106 Were it my Business to understand Physick, would not the safer and readier way be to consult Nature her self,..than espousing the Principles of the Dogmatists, Methodists or Chymists engage in all the Disputes concerning either of those Systems, and suppose it true.
3. Christian Church. With capital initial.† a. In the 17th cent.: any of various Roman Catholic apologists of a characteristic approach or tendency. Obsolete.
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society > faith > aspects of faith > theology > branches of theology > [noun] > apologetics > adherent of
methodist1686
1686 W. Wake Def. Expos. Doctr. 85 I was willing to hope, that..such a peaceable Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England might..have been received with the same civility by them, as that of the Church of Rome was by us; and that our new Methodists had not so wholly studied the palliating part of their Master, as not [etc.].
1765 A. Maclaine tr. J. L. von Mosheim Eccl. Hist. xvii. ii. i. xv This new species of polemic doctors were called Methodists, and the most eminent of them arose in France.
1884 P. Schaff et al. Relig. Encycl. III. 1863 The Jesuits were the first to give systematic representations of the method of polemics; hence they were called ‘Methodists’.
1886 J. H. Blunt Dict. Sects (new ed.) 312/2 Of these theological Methodists, the most distinguished representative was Bossuet.
b. More generally: an advocate of some particular method or system of theological belief, esp. with reference to doctrinal disputes about grace and justification. Now historical.
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society > faith > sect > Christianity > Protestantism > Arminianism > sects and groups > [noun] > Dutch Reformed
remonstrant1617
remonstrancer1618
Manifestarian1646
methodist1692
1692 R. Traill Vindic. Protestant Doctrine 21 The new Methodists about the Grace of God, had too great an increase in the French Churches.
1702 I. Mather in C. Mather Magnalia Christi iv. i. 132/2 Parum enim, aut nihil afferunt Amyraldistæ, quos Novatores & Methodistas vocant.]
1717 R. Wodrow Let. 16 Sept. (1843) II. 304 I would know..how far Arminianism has crept in among them [sc. the professors of Geneva, etc.], or the opinions of the new Methodists.
1741 G. Nelson (title) The Use of Reason in Religion, an answer to the Methodists.
1920 Proc. Wesley Hist. Soc. 12 94 In 1693, a section of the Nonconformists who had renounced the Calvinistic view of the imputation of the righteousness of Christ in Justification..were known as the New Methodists.
4. Christian Church. Chiefly with capital initial. (a) Originally: a member of a religious group (nicknamed ‘the Holy Club’) established at Oxford in 1729 by John and Charles Wesley and other members of the University, having for its object the promotion of piety and morality. Subsequently (now historical): any of those who took part in or sympathized with the evangelical movement led by the Wesleys and George Whitefield. (b) A member or adherent of any one of a number of religious bodies or denominations which originated directly or indirectly from the labours of the Wesleys and Whitefield, spec. those which came together in 1932 to form the Methodist Church of Great Britain, or those affiliated to the World Methodist Council.In England, during the 19th cent., the designation belonged especially to the members and adherents of the Wesleyan-Methodist Society founded by John Wesley, and of the various other bodies that proceeded from it or from each other by succession, as the New Connexion Methodists, the Primitive Methodists, the United Methodist Free Church, and others. All these bodies accepted in the main the Arminian theology of Wesley, and in nearly all of them the ministers (called ‘travelling preachers’) changed their place of abode after a certain period (usually three years). In the United States the first formal body of Methodists was the Methodist Episcopal Church. There were also several other bodies in the United States that adopted the name as a part of their official designation; most came together in the 20th cent. to form the United Methodist Church. In Wales the name ‘Methodists’ was formerly used to denote the body more fully known as ‘Calvinistic Methodists’, the founders of which were influenced by the teaching of Whitefield.The origin of the name, as applied to the associates of the Wesleys at Oxford, is somewhat obscure. Cf., however, sense A. 3b, and the 17th cent. use in examples like quots. 1657, 1658 at sense A. 1a.
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society > faith > sect > Christianity > Protestantism > Methodism > [noun] > person
Maccabee1647
methodist1732
swaddler1747
Methody1753
Bible-bigot1766
Bible-moth1789
exemplarist1794
Metho1941
1732 J. Clayton Let. 6 Sept. in J. Wesley Jrnl. (1916) VIII. 281 Now that you [sc. John Wesley] are gone [from Oxford] we have in good part lost the honourable appellation of Methodists.
1732 Fog's Weekly Jrnl. 9 Dec. 1/3 It was thought proper that in one of your Papers may be represented the Errors of their mistaken Devotion, which, 'tis hop'd, will put a Stop to this Sect call'd Methodists.
1733 (title) The Oxford Methodists, some account of a Society of Young Gentlemen in that City.
1741–3 J. Wesley Extract of Jrnl. (1749) 68 I know no principles of the Methodists (so called) which are contrary to the word of God.
1753 J. Wesley Compl. Eng. Dict. (at cited word) Methodist, one that lives according to the method laid down in the bible.
1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker I. p. xii No body reads sermons but Methodists and Dissenters.
1837 J. R. McCulloch Statist. Acct. Brit. Empire II. iv. viii. 413 The principal classes of dissenters are denominated methodists, independents, baptists, presbyterians,..&c.
1858 T. McCombie Hist. Colony Victoria xxii. 317 It is but justice to the Wesleyan Methodists to say, that their church seems well adapted for propagating Christianity in new countries.
1864 Chambers's Encycl. VI. 427/1 The Welsh Calvinistic Methodists..are not a secession from the followers of Wesley, but originated partly in the preaching of..Whitefield, and partly in that of Howel Harris, a Welsh clergyman of the Church of England.
1887 W. S. Gilbert Ruddigore i, in Plays (1895) 3rd Ser. 222 He combines the manners of a Marquis with the morals of a Methodist.
1906 E. W. A. Pringle Woman Rice Planter 337 They are uncompromising Methodists.
1955 G. Gorer Exploring Eng. Char. xiv. 238 The most sizable Protestant group after the Church of England are the Methodists with 10 per cent of the religious population.
1989 J. Neel Death on Site xvi. 194 I really don't have to wonder whether she's going to start murdering people. She's a Methodist.
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society > faith > sect > Christianity > Protestantism > Puritanism > [noun] > person
Catharite1555
hot gospeller1562
puritan1565
precisian1571
Catharan1573
Puritant1580
disciplinarian1591
disciplinary1593
Catharist1600
saint1612
Perfectist1618
Cathar1637
prick ear1642
Jacobite1654
Catharinian1657
perfect1669
methodist1758
Perfectus1832
puritanizer1847
wowser1899
1758 M. Delany Autobiogr. & Corr. (1861) III. 523 We met with an archdeacon Golden..in his appearance a jolly, open, cheerful countenance,..he thinks it his duty to uphold any orthodox point; and that, I suppose, has gained him the title of methodist.
1818 M. M. Sherwood Stories Church Catech. (ed. 4) xxxiii. 255 The women of the regiment soon gave her the name of a methodist. [Note] This term, as used in India,..is a name of reproach given to those..who are more serious than their neighbours.
1834 Tait's Edinb. Mag. New Ser. 1 387/2 For this hardship his remedy was, that the Methodists, his general term for all dissenters, should be made to contribute double, to relieve churchmen of such burdens.
B. adj.
(chiefly attributive). Of or relating to Methodists or Methodism.
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society > faith > sect > Christianity > Protestantism > Methodism > [adjective]
Methodistical1746
swaddling1747
methodist1751
Methodistic1788
Methody1794
methodizing1820
connexional1838
shouting1851
1751 G. Lavington Enthusiasm Methodists & Papists: Pt. III 95 His Brother Thomas,..who from following Revellings and Hurlings became a Methodist Preacher.
1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker II. 202 He attended Mrs. Tabby to the methodist meeting.
1830 Biblical Repertory 2 217 Within two years a ‘Methodist Episcopal Sunday School Union’ has been established.
1850 C. Lyell 2nd Visit U.S. (ed. 2) II. 18 Four neat and substantial wooden churches,..the Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, and Episcopalian.
1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People (1880) x. 720 But the Methodists themselves were the least result of the Methodist revival.
1903 W. J. Courthope Hist. Eng. Poetry xi. (heading) The Methodist movement in poetry.
1947 J. Wach Sociol. Relig. ii. v. 189 The Methodist and the Holiness movements are especially concerned with ethical perfection.
1990 O. Chadwick Michael Ramsey i. iv. 82 The earliest of the miners' unions was Methodist in its inspiration.
Compounds
General attributive (in sense A. 4).† Methodist-mad adj. Obsolete
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1768 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued II. ii. 334 Had I run Opera-mad..or Methodist-mad..I might have found companions enow.
1840 B. E. Hill Pinch—of Snuff 102 A good woman..was driven Methodist-mad.
Derivatives
ˈMethodist-like adj.
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1751 G. Lavington Enthusiasm Methodists & Papists: Pt. III 317 How horrible the Process was in these Methodist-like Initiations, will appear [etc.].
1985 Tablet 21 Sept. 980/3 Many..scorned his Methodist-like fundamentalism.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1593