withstander

English

Etymology

From Middle English withstonder, equivalent to withstand + -er.

Noun

withstander (plural withstanders)

  1. A person who withstands or resists; an opponent.
    • 1650, Walter Raleigh, “A Discourse of the Original and Fundamental Cause of Natural, Customary, Arbitrary, Voluntary and Necessary War” in The Works of Sir Walter Ralegh, Kt., Oxford University Press, 1829, Volume VIII, Miscellaneous Works, p. 253
      The ordinary theme and argument of history is war; which may be defined the exercise of violence under sovereign command against withstanders; force, authority, and resistance, being the essential parts thereof.
    • 1820, Walter Scott, Ivahoe, Chapter 2,
      Remember what I told you: this wealthy franklin is proud, fierce, jealous, and irritable, a withstander of the nobility, and even of his neighbors, Reginald Front-de-Boeuf and Philip Malvoisin, who are no babies to strive with.
    • 1866, George Eliot, Felix Holt, the Radical, Chapter 15,
      Confidently expecting that you will comply with this request, which is the sequence of your expressed desire, I remain, sir, yours, with the respect offered to a sincere withstander, []
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