a. and sb. [ad. Gr. ἀσκητικός adj., f. ἀσκητής a monk or hermit, f. ἀσκέ-ειν to exercise: see -IC.]
A. adj.
1. Of or pertaining to the Ascetics, or to the exercise of extremely rigorous self-discipline; severely abstinent, austere.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., viii. 126. This ascetic rule, which held that a saint was disgraced by the very society which his mild Master sought and loved. Ibid. (1682), Chr. Morals (1756), 97. The old Ascetick christians found a paradise in a desert.
1757. Burke, Abridgm. Eng. Hist., Wks. X. 276. A monastery which had acquired great renown for … the severity of its ascetick discipline.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., cix. High nature amorous of the good, But touch’d with no ascetic gloom.
2. = ASCETICAL 1.
1822. Burrowes, Cycl., Ascetic, the title of certain books on devout exercises.
1868. M. Pattison, Academ. Org., § 5. 122. The knowledge to be cultivated is not ascetic divinity.
B. sb.
1. Eccl. Hist. One of those who in the early church retired into solitude, to exercise themselves in meditation and prayer, and in the practice of rigorous self-discipline by celibacy, fasting and toil.
1673. Cave, Prim. Chr., III. ii. 253. One of the primitive Asceticks.
1776. Gibbon, Decl. & F., xxxvii. (R.). The Ascetics, who obeyed and abused the rigid precepts of the gospel.
1861. Beresf. Hope, Eng. Cathedr. 19th C., v. 165. The deserts of the Thebaïd had been peopled by troops of sturdy and gaunt but God-fearing ascetics.
2. gen. One who is extremely rigorous in the practice of self-denial, whether by seclusion or by abstinence from creature comforts.
1660. Jer. Taylor, Duct. Dubit., II. iii. 8. § 4. The primitive Christians were generally such ascetics in this instance of fasting.
1862. Stanley, Jewish Ch. (1877), I. i. 17. He is not an ascetic … but full of the affections and interests of family and household.
3. pl. An ascetical treatise.
1751. Chambers, Cycl., s.v., Books of spiritual exercises. As the ascetics, or devout treatises of St. Basil.
