religieuxn.

?a1649 R. Boyle Acct. Philaretus in R. Boyle by Himself & Friends (1994) i. 20 Whose Goatish Heates..heightn'd & fortify'd in him an Averseness for Opinions, which now the Religieux discredit as well as the Religion.

1654 Ld. Hatton in E. Nicholas Nicholas Papers (1892) II. 114 I am told..that the Academy was this day full of the Duke of Glo[ucester's] conversion and being a Religieux.

1719 D. Defoe Farther Adventures Robinson Crusoe 141 He rather desir'd me to converse with him as a Gentleman, than as a Religieuse [1761 religieux].

1798 W. Atkinson Oblique View Grand Conspiracy 21 The religieux of the order were called, or rather they called themselves, Unitarians.

1827 O. W. Roberts Narr. Voy. Central Amer. 28 Inhabited by the few thousands of Spanish religieuse and Creole descendants of Spanish adventurers.

1891 Atlantic Monthly Oct. 492/1 He..ever afterward wore, even when sitting in the Senate, the dress of a religieux.

1908 T. W. Rhys Davids Early Buddhism iii. 30 When he..was twenty-nine years of age, he left his home and became a religieux.

1959 Pacific Hist. Rev. 28 97 Numerous religieux did not seek to dissociate themselves from the ‘unequal treaty system’ until after their interests suffered from the Nationalist Revolution.

2006 P. Tremayne Prayer for Damned ii. 19 The religieux smiled, turning and waving his brothers to come forward.