Forms: α. 3 kunsiler, 3–4 consiler, -seiler, 3–5 -seyler, 4 cunsaylere, conseiller, -sailler, counsellere, -ceile(e)r, 4–5 conseilere, counseiler(e, 4–6 counseler, -sayler, 4–7 -sailer, 5 counseiller, -celler, 5–6 sulere, 5–7 counseller, 6 conseylyr, counseyler, -seler, -sellar, -celer. Also β. 4 conseillour, -seilour, -seylour, counseilor, -selour, -celour, 4–5 counseilour, -seillor, 4–6 -seillour, -sailour, -saillour, -saylour, 4–8 counsellour, 5 conseyllour, counseyllour, cownselour, 6 counsaylour, cownsaylour, 6–7 counsailor, councellour, -or, 6– counsellor. [ME. counseiller(e, etc., a. OF. conseillere (nom.), and ME. counseillour, a. OF. conseilleor (oblique), respectively:—L. consiliātor and consiliātōrem, agent-n. from consiliāre to COUNSEL, advise.
Like counsel, formerly also spelt counceler, councellor, etc.; since c. 1600 these forms have been differentiated from counsellor under the type COUNCILLOR, as official counsellor, member of a ‘council.’]
1. One who counsels or advises; an adviser.
α. a. 1225. Ancr. R., 410. Luue is his chaumberling, & his kunsiler.
c. 1250. Meid. Maregrete (1862), 38. Awei ye euele consilers.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 9314 (Cott.). Man sal him clep … Ferliful and conseiler [v.r. cunsaylere, counsellere].
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 29. He cursiþ her wickide counceileers.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 1550, Hips. & Medea. Frely ȝaf he to hire conseylerys [v.r. counselleres, -selers, -seleris, conseillers] Giftys grete.
c. 1450. Merlin, iv. 68. I may neuer haue reste for hym, and Vlfyn hys counseiller.
c. 1500. Lancelot, 1706. An agit knycht to be thi consulere.
1538. Starkey, England, I. i. 24. Hys wyse conseylyrs and polytyke men.
1552. Abp. Hamilton, Catech. (1884), 38. God … misteris na counsellar.
1611. Bible, 2 Chron. xxii. 3. His mother was his counseller to doe wickedly.
β. a. 1300. Cursor M., 9822 (Cott.). To nam haf farliful he sal, and consaillur [v.r. consaylour, counsellour, councelour] man sal him cal.
1413. Lydg., Pilgr. Sowle, I. i. (1859), 1. That lady that was thyne helper and thyn counseillour.
1548. Udall, Erasm. Par., Pref. 8. Suche noble and sapient Counsaillours.
1586. J. Hooker, Girald. Irel., in Holinshed, II. 128/1. They are also called councellors, because they are assembled and called to the parlement for their aduise and good councell.
1611. Shaks., Wint. T., II. iii. 55. My selfe your loyall Seruant, your Physitian. Your most obedient Counsailor.
1694. R. L’Estrange, Fables, xxi. (1714), 29. Let them [All Men of Business] be Councellors, Confidents, [etc.].
1725. Pope, Odyss., XVII. 81. His father’s counsellours, rever’d for age.
1751. Johnson, Rambler, No. 87, ¶ 3. The inefficacy of advice is usually the fault of the counsellor.
1880. Disraeli, Endym., xvi. Above all, she was a first-rate counsellor in costume.
fig. 1535. Coverdale, Ps. cxviii[i]. 24. In thy testimonies is my delite, they are my councelers.
1598. Barret, Theor. Warres, V. iii. 180. Hatred and feare be two bad Counsellors in warre.
1605. Shaks., Macb., V. iii. 17. Those Linnen cheekes of thine Are Counsailers to feare.
1838. Lytton, Leila, I. v. Fill out the wine—it is a soothing counsellor, and I need it.
2. An official counsellor; an adviser of the sovereign, a member of the King’s Council. In this sense spelt since 16th c. COUNCILLOR, q.v.
3. (More fully counsellor-at-law.) One whose profession is to give legal advice to clients, and conduct their cases in court; a counselling lawyer, a barrister or advocate. arch. in Eng. use; still used in Ireland. In some of the United States, an attorney admitted to practise in all the courts.
1531. Dial. on Laws Eng., II. xix. (1638), 92. What is the Counsellor in that case bounden to him that he gave counsell to?
1603. Shaks., Meas. for M., I. ii. 109. Good Counsellors lacke no Clients.
1632. Star Chamb. Cases (Camden), 111. Mc Tuke the elder ingrossed the said Butler’s answere with his own hand, and gott a Councellor’s hand thereunto.
1648. Lilly, Astrol. Prediction, 64, note. A Counsellor at Law, very learned and in great practice.
1779. Mad. D’Arblay, Diary, Oct. A rich counsellor, learned in the law, but, to me, a displeasing man.
1815. Scott, Guy M., xxxvii. Mr. Counsellor Pleydell.
1877. Blackie’s Pop. Encycl., III. 704/1. A counsellor at law, named Mallet, who lived in the reign of Charles I.
1891. Murray’s Mag., Dec., 977. (Two Irish Stories) I’m goin’ to be med a barrister, or, as we call it here, a counsellor.
† 4. One who consults or asks counsel. Obs. rare.
1483. Cath. Angl., 78. Cownselour, qui petit consilium.
