Also 6–8 appar(r)iter, -our, appar(r)ator, -our, etc. See also aphet. PARITOR. [a. L. appāritor (Fr. appariteur) an attendant, public servant, lictor, n. of agent f. appārēre, in spec. sense ‘to appear as an attendant, wait upon’: see APPEAR.]
1. The servant or attendant of an officer or authority. a. Rom. Ant. A general name for the public servants of the Roman magistrates.
1533. Bellenden, Livy, II. (1822), 192. The consul … mon obey to all empire and change of tribunis, as he war bot ane serjand and apparatoure thareto.
1741. Middleton, Cicero, I. iii. 155. Lictors, and Apparitors.
1781. Gibbon, Decl. & F., II. 36. Six hundred apparitors, who would be styled at present either secretaries, or clerks, or ushers, or messengers.
1853. Kingsley, Hypatia, xvi. The apparitors of Orestes, who followed in his robes of office.
b. An officer of a civil court.
1593. Nashe, 4 Lett. Confut., 17. I sawe him make an Apparriter … eate his Citation waxe and all.
1671. F. Philipps, Reg. Necess., 174. Sheriffs Apparitors or their Bayliffs.
1771. Franklin, Autobiog., Wks. 1840, I. 7. One of the children stood at the door to give notice if he saw the apparitor coming.
1824–9. Landor, Imag. Conv., II. 6. The judges will hear reason, when the wand of the Apparitor is tipped with gold.
c. An officer of an ecclesiastical court.
1528. Tindale, Obed. Chr. Man, Wks. I. 238. The commissaries, and officials, with their somners and apparitors.
1641. Milton, Animadv. (1851), 230. With all the hell pestering rabble of Sumners and Apparitors.
1856. J. H. Newman, Callista, 108. Seized by the apparitor, and hurried to the rack.
1875. Farrar, Christ, II. lix. 344. The apparitors of the Jewish court.
d. ‘Apparitor, or Apparitour, or Apparator, a beadle in an university, who carries the mace before the masters, and the faculties.’ Chambers, Cycl., 1727. Also applied to other similar functionaries.
2. gen. A herald, pursuivant, usher. lit. and fig.
1561. T. N[orton], Calvin’s Inst., II. 133. He [John the Baptist] onely executeth the office of an apparitor.
1582. Bentley, Mon. Matrones, III. 328. Yee holie spirits, the apparitors of the Lords Maiestie.
1625. Purchas, Pilgrims, II. 1268. Jubilees, whereof Crusado’s were Forerunners and Apparitors.
1650. Ussher, Annals, vi. (1658), 614. But suspected all apparitours, cryers, praisers, and friends.
3. One who appears, an appearer, rare.
1843. Carlyle, Past & Pr. (1858), 211. The Higher Court … in which … every Human Soul is an apparitor.
