Also 6 -ar, -our. [f. CORRUPT v. + -ER1; also spelt -or, like the L. agent-n. from corrumpĕre, and in 16th c. with Anglo-Fr. ending -our = mod.F. corrupteur.] One who or that which corrupts: in various senses.
1538. Starkey, England, II. i. 150. Lyve alway as commyn corruptarys of chastyte.
1546. Bale, Eng. Votaries, I. (R.). Her corruptour being biheaded.
1581. Mulcaster, Positions, iv. (1887), 20. To much moisture, the corrupter of such carcasses.
1656. Prynne, Demurrer, 22. They were corrupters and counterfeiters of the Kings mony.
1675. Traherne, Chr. Ethics, xv. 221. The artifices of corruptors.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 65, ¶ 5. The great Corrupter of our Manners and Morality.
1791–1823. D’Israeli, Cur. Lit., New Words, III. 26. There are three foul corruptors of a language: caprice, affectation, and ignorance.
1880. E. White, Cert. Relig., 62. The apostles do not hesitate to attribute the worst motives to corrupters of the truth.
b. One guilty of bribery or ‘corrupt practices.’
1810. Bentham, Packing (1821), 47. Corruptors, regular or casual.
1863. H. Cox, Instit., I. viii. 116. Bribery is not only an offence in the corruptor, but also in the person receiving the bribe.
1886. Spectator, 6 March, 313/2. The vote might be reckoned as given for the corrupter.
