Also 4–5 lauriat, 5–6 lawreat, 5–7 lawriat(e, 4–9 laureat. [ad. L. laureāt-us crowned with laurel, f. laurea laurel-tree, laurel crown, fem. of laureus made of laurel, f. laur-us: see LAUREL.]
A. adj.
1. Crowned with laurel, wearing a laurel crown or wreath (as a symbol of distinction or eminence).
1616. Bullokar, Laureate, crowned with Laurell.
a. 1618. Sylvester, Du Bartas (Grosart), I. 9. These laureat Temples which the Laurel grace.
1637. Milton, Lycidas, 151. To strew the Laureat Herse where Lycid lies.
1742. Collins, Ode Simplicity, 33. While Rome could none esteem But Virtue’s Patriot Theme, You lov’d her Hills, and led her Laureat Band.
1818. Byron, Ch. Har., IV. lvii. The crown Which Petrarch’s laureate brow supremely wore.
1864. J. Evans, Coins Anc. Brit., 38. The laureate head of Apollo.
b. Of a crown, wreath: Consisting of laurel, or imitating one composed of laurel (blending with the attributive use of the sb.). Hence (poet.) laureate shade.
1412–20. Lydg., Chron. Troy, Prol. (1513), A ij. The palme laureat Whiche yt they wan by knygthode in theyr dayes.
1483. Caxton, Gold Leg., 243/1. He … sawe … saynt domynyk crowned with a crowne of gold laureate.
1597. Pilgr. Parnass., I. 51. There may youre templs be adornd with bays … There may you sit in softe greene lauriate shade.
1628. Wither, Brit. Rememb., IV. 1794. The Lawreat Wreath.
1655. H. Vaughan, Silex Scint., Pref. That is the Βραβεῖον, and Laureate Crown, which idle Poems will … bring to their unrelenting Authors.
1744. Akenside, Pleas. Imag., I. 54. Unfading flowers Cull’d from the laureate vale’s profound recess, Where never poet gain’d a wreath before.
1769. Gray, Ode for Music, vii. To grace thy youthful brow The laureate wreath, that Cecil wore, she brings.
† c. Laureate letters [trans. L. litteræ laureatæ], a letter or dispatch announcing a victory. Obs.
1508. Kennedie, Flyting w. Dunbar, 28. Thow fall doun att the roist, My laureat lettres at the and I lowis.
1533. Bellenden, Livy, V. (1822), 442. Come laureat letteris fra Posthumius, schawing all this victorie as it was fallin to Romanis.
a. 1656. Ussher, Ann., VI. (1658), 549. Lucullus dispatched his letters laureat to the Senate.
2. With a sb. denoting an agent or the like: Worthy of special distinction or honor, pre-eminent in the (indicated) sphere or faculty.
The adj. often followed the sb., in imitation of Latin order.
a. gen. ? Obs.
1508. Dunbar, Ballad Ld. Barnard Stewart, 4. Most valyeand, most laureat hie wictour.
1508. Kennedie, Flyting w. Dunbar, 524. Judas, iow, iuglour, Lollard laureate.
c. 1590. Marlowe, Faust., iii. 32. No, Faustus, Thou art conjuror laureat, That canst command great Mephistophilis.
b. spec. Distinguished for excellence as a poet, worthy of the Muses’ crown. Poet laureate: in early use, a title given generally to eminent poets, and sometimes conferred by certain universities; in mod. use, the title given to a poet who receives a stipend as an officer of the Royal Household, his duty being to write court-odes, etc.
The first poet laureate in the modern sense was Ben Jonson, but the title seems to have been first officially given to his successor, Davenant (appointed 1638).
c. 1386. Chaucer, Clerk’s Prol., 31. Fraunceys Petrak the laurint poete.
c. 1400[?]. Lydg., Æsop’s Fab., Prol. 8. This poyet laureate Callyd Ysopos.
1423. James I., Kingis Q., cxcvii. Gowere and chaucere … Superlatiue as poetis laureate.
1432–50. trans. Higden (Rolls), I. 13. That nowble and laureate poete callede Homerus.
[1486. in Rymer Fœdera, XII. 317. Cum Nos … concesserimus Bernardo Andreæ Poetæ Laureato quandam Annuitatem Decem Marcarum.]
1490. (title) The Dylectable Newesse … of the Gloryous Victorye of the Rhodyans agaynst the Turkes. Translated from the Latin of G. Caoursin by Johan Kaye (Poete Lawreate).
1508. Dunbar, Gold. Targe, 262. O morall Gower, and Ludgate laureate.
a. 1529. Skelton, Agst. Garnesche, iv. 84. At Oxforth, the vniversyte, Auaunsid I was to that degre; By hole consent of theyr senate, I was made poete lawreate.
1586. W. Webbe, Eng. Poetrie (Arb.), 19. The famous and learned Lawreat Masters of Englande.
1642. Milton, Apol. Smect., Wks. 1851, III. 272. The laureat fraternity of Poets.
1686. Plot, Staffordsh., 275. Robert Whittington … was a great Grammarian, Poet laureat of Oxford, and Protovates Angliae.
1691. Wood, Ath. Oxon., II. 255. Sir Will. D’avenant, sometimes Laurent Poet to the said King.
1697. Verdicts conc. Virgil & Homer, vi. 26. Our Laureat Poet tells us, that [etc.].
1738. Johnson, London, 198. The laureat tribe in venal verse relate, How virtue wars with persecuting fate.
1843. Dyce, Skelton’s Wks., I. p. xv. There would … be no doubt that Skelton was … poet laureat or court poet to Henry the Eighth, if [etc.].
3. transf. of things: Worthy of the laurel-wreath; deserving to be honored for eloquence, etc. In later use also: Of or pertaining to poets, or to a poet laureate.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot. (1858), I. 32. With goldin toung and lippis laureat.
1560. Rolland, Crt. Venus, III. 13. Luifsum Ladies, of langage Laureat.
c. 1595. J. Dickenson, Sheph. Compl. (1878), 13. O how diuinely would the swaine haue sung In Laureate lines of beauteous Ladies praise.
1598. Marston, Pygmal., Author’s Praise 136. Come, Come, Augustus, crowne my laureat quill.
1815. L. Hunt, Feast Poets, 18. The fancies that flow’d at this laureat meeting.
1821. Byron, Juan, III. lxxx. There was no doubt he earn’d his laureate pension.
1847. Grote, Greece (1862), III. xliii. 556. The laureat strains of Pindar.
B. sb.
1. = Poet laureate (see A. 2 b).
a. 1529. Skelton, Calliope, Wks. (ed. Dyce) I. 197. Calliope … Whiche gaue to me The high degre Laureat to be Of fame royall.
1597–8. Bp. Hall, Sat., I. ix. 2. Cupid hath crowned a new laureat.
a. 1618. Sylvester, Epist., Wks. (Grosart), II. 337. O thou that art the Laureat’s liberall Fautor!… Guide thou, Apollo, this first course of mine.
1687. M. Clifford, Notes Dryden, ii. 7. Our Laureat has not pass’d for so Learned a man as he desires his unlearned Admirers should esteem him.
1780. Cowper, Table T., 109. The courtly laureat pays His quit-rent ode, his pepper corn of praise.
1806. Surr, Winter in Lond. (ed. 3), III. 134. I really think the fire of the laureat, Pye, increases with his years.
1825. Keble, Occas. Papers (1877), 102. The panegyrical strains of this greatest of laureates [Spenser].
1841. W. Spalding, Italy & It. Isl., II. 20. Claudian … was the court laureate of the western empire till his patron’s fall.
1884. Chr. World, 21 Aug., 629/1. Keble may be spoken of … as the laureate of the Church.
b. A court-panegyrist.
1863. Cowden Clarke, Shaks. Char., xii. 305. He has indeed been their champion, their laureate, their brother, their friend.
1867. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), I. iv. 169. An author who was writing as the mere laureate of the Norman court. Ibid. (1868), II. vii. 3. He is very distinctly not an historian, but a biographer, sometimes a laureate.
2. U.S. (See quot.) Cf. LAUREATE v. 2 a.
1888. Bryce, Amer. Commw., III. VI. cii. 445, note. Mr. D. C. Gilman … mentions the following among the degree titles awarded in some institutions to women, the titles of Bachelor and Master being deemed inappropriate:—Laureate of Science, Proficient in Music, Maid of Philosophy.
3. Numism. = LAUREL sb.1 4.
1727–51. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Coin, In England, the current species of gold are, the guinea, half-guinea, jacobus, laureat, angel, and rose-noble. Ibid. The Carolus or Laureat, 23s.
