[a. F. compatriote, ad. L. compatriōta, f. com- with + patriōta countryman: see PATRIOT.]
1. One who is of the same country with another; a fellow-countryman.
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., IX. viii. § 46. With the … bloudshed of innumerable their Compatriots.
1683. E. Hooker, Pref. Pordage’s Myst. Div., 107. Your Friend, Acquaintante, or Compatriot.
1768–74. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1852), II. 318. They … are ready to think a compatriot braver … and more deserving than any foreigner.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), V. 108. We … may well say to our compatriots that not to possess necessary knowledge is a disgrace.
2. attrib. and adj. Of the same country.
1744. Akenside, Pleas. Imag., I. 602. To my compatriot youth I point the high example of thy sons.
1784. Cowper, Task, II. 238. That Chatham’s language was his mother tongue, And Wolfe’s great name compatriot with his own.
1837–9. Hallam, Hist. Lit., II. vii. II. 292, note. He does not seem a favorite with his compatriot critics.
