Sabbatarian

Definitions

  • WordNet 3.6
    • adj Sabbatarian pertaining to the Sabbath and its observance
    • n Sabbatarian one who observes Saturday as the Sabbath (as in Judaism)
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
    • Sabbatarian A strict observer of the Sabbath.
    • a Sabbatarian Of or pertaining to the Sabbath, or the tenets of Sabbatarians.
    • Sabbatarian One who regards and keeps the seventh day of the week as holy, agreeably to the letter of the fourth commandment in the Decalogue.
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Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
    • Sabbatarian Pertaining to the Sabbath or its observance.
    • n Sabbatarian One who maintains the observance of the Sabbath (in the original sense) as obligatory on Christians. Hence— One who observes the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath, as the Jews do, instead of the first (Sunday), as do Christians generally. A denomination of Baptists are called Sabbatarians, or Seventh-day Baptists, because they maintain that the Jewish Sabbath has not been abrogated. The Seventh-day Adventists hold the same views.
    • n Sabbatarian One who observes the Sabbath (whether Saturday or Sunday) according to the real or supposed Jewish rules for its observance; hence, one who observes it with more than the usual strictness. In the Puritan controversies of the sixteenth century the church party maintained that the obligation to observe one day in seven as a day of rest and devotion rested not upon the fourth commandment, but upon church usage and the beneficent results arising therefrom; the Puritans maintained that the obligation was based upon the Jewish law, and that the nature of the obligation was to be deduced from the Jewish regulations. They interdicted every sort of worldly occupation and every form of pastime and recreation, and were termed Sabbatarians by their opponents; hence the later use of the term as one of reproach.
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
    • n Sabbatarian a very strict observer of the Sabbath: one who observes the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath
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Etymology

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
L. Sabbatarius,: cf. F. sabbataire,. See Sabbath
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
L. Sabbatum, gener. in pl. Sabbata—Gr. Sabbaton—Heb. Shabbāth, rest.

Usage

In literature:

He took sabbatarianism as a type of the things that should be set at nought.
"De Profundis" by Oscar Wilde
Scoff as I might at "Sabbatarianism," was I not always glad when Sunday came?
"The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft" by George Gissing
The rigid strictness of Sabbatarian practice requires the full energy of middle life.
"The Prime Minister" by Anthony Trollope
All were rigidly Puritanical in their social and Sabbatarian observances.
"Beacon Lights of History, Volume XI" by John Lord
Two Sabbatarians hearing that the rebels observed Saturday for their day of rest, posted off to confirm them in that ancient usage.
"The Awakening of China" by W.A.P. Martin
Sabbatarianism is fast on the decline.
"Town Life in Australia" by R. E. N. (Richard) Twopeny
Add to this the terrors of the exaggerated Sabbatarianism of the period.
"Science and Morals and Other Essays" by Bertram Coghill Alan Windle
I am not going over to the Sabbatarians, but like the haystack (particularly) on a Sunday morning.
"The Letters of Charles Dickens" by Charles Dickens
Sabbatarianism appeared within the bounds of the association at an early date and Seventh-day Baptist churches were formed (1705 onward).
"Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 3" by Various
Cicely rebuked them, for, according to his lights, the Squire was a strict Sabbatarian.
"The Squire's Daughter" by Archibald Marshall
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In poetry:

"Oh, this is brave," say you—"now we are free
To boat or rail—each man to please himself;
No Sabbatarian hypocrites are we,
We lay the Fourth Commandment on the shelf."
"Intemperance And The Sunday Trains" by Janet Hamilton

Related words