a. and sb. Also 5, 7 litterate, 6 litterat. [ad. L. litterātus, f. littera letter.] A. adj.
1. Acquainted with letters or literature; educated, instructed, learned. In early use, const. in.
1432–50. trans. Higden (Rolls), IV. 81. The kynge toke to the childe a m. talentes whiche bouȝhte anoon a c. childer litterate.
1560. Rolland, Crt. Venus, III. 142. For I in law am not weill litterat.
1603. Owen, Pembrokeshire (1891), 176. Done by the witnesses themselves if they were literate.
1631. Chapman, Cæsar & Pompey, V. i. H 2 b. The Ægæan sea, that doth diuide Europe from Asia. (The sweet literate world From the Barbarian).
1636. Brathwait, Rom. Emp., 150. An enemy of all litterate and learned men.
1680. Answ. Stillingfleet’s Serm., 7. Re-ordination is an uncouth thing, quite against the hair of the literate World.
1748. Chesterf., Lett. (1792), II. clxxii. 139. You are going to a polite and literate Court.
1768–84. Johnson, in Boswell, App. (1848), 812/2. Had my mother been more literate, they had been better companions.
1821. Lamb, Elia, Old Benchers Inner Temple. He was the Friar Bacon of the less literate portion of the Temple.
1845. R. W. Hamilton, Pop. Educ., x. (ed. 2), 267. On the same ground, a Literate qualification for electoral rights in the commonwealth, must be condemned.
1884. D. Hunter, trans. Reuss’s Hist. Canon, ii. 19. When the writings of the first disciples … came within reach of persons who were literate, they might [etc.].
absol. 1859. T. Hare, Election Representatives (1865), 90. Reducing … the literate and the ignorant … to one dead level.
1859. Smiles, Self-Help, x. (1860), 274. The humblest and least literate must train his sense of duty.
2. Of or pertaining to letters, literary men, or literature; literary.
1648. W. Mountague, Devout Ess., I. xix. § 3. 348. Surely this is the proper function of literate elegancy, to figure vertue in so lively and fresh colours, that [etc.].
1651. trans. Wotton’s Panegyr. Chas. I., in Reliq. W., 135. To beguile,… with some literate diversion, the tedious length of those days.
1711. Shaftesb., Charac. (1737), III. Misc. V. ii. 274. Downright Ignorance of all literate Art, or just Poetick Beauty.
1764. Scott, Bailey’s Dict., Title-p., Republished with many corrections, additions and literate improvements.
1811. Antiq., in Ann. Reg., 534/2. His own liberal hand was speedily extended to relieve literate distress.
1837–9. Hallam, Hist. Lit., I. v. (1855), I. 352. By the Reformation the number of … those requiring … a literate education was greatly reduced.
1852. D. Wilson, Preh. Ann. (1863), II. IV. ii. 242. Another inscription preserving … the only authentic literate Memorial.
1872. M. Collins, Two Plunges, III. vi. 137. The old town … has not the first force of either the aristocratic or the literate or the mercantile impulse.
† b. = LITERAL 4. Obs.
1556. J. Heywood, Spider & F., Concl. 60. I craue leaue … one sence tenterpretate: Of apt aplication to sence literate.
3. ‘Marked with short, angulated lines resembling letters: applied to the surfaces of shells and insects’ (Cent. Dict.).
B. sb.
1. A liberally educated or learned person.
a. 1500. Image Hypocr., IV. 80, in Skelton’s Wks. (1843), II. 440. Advocates, And parum litterates, That eate vpp all estates.
1778. Learning at a Loss, II. 152. Christopher Hartley, Esquire. a Sir Would-be Literate.
1808. Eleanor Sleath, Bristol Heiress, V. 324. Persuading her that she was the most accomplished literate and female wit of the age.
1852. J. H. Newman, Callista (1856), 238. Callista was a Greek; a literate, or blue-stocking.
1878. Lady Herbert, trans. Hübner’s Ramble, II. ii. 494. The literates in China are all atheists.
2. spec. In the Church of England, one who is admitted to holy orders without having obtained a university degree.
1824. Bp. Jebb, Sp. Irish Tithe Compos. Amendmt. Bill, 49. In Ireland we have no literates, none of that class, who, in this country, prepare themselves by private study, at a trifling cost, for the profession of the Church.
1861. Beresf. Hope, Eng. Cathedr. 19th C., 18. Literates—who enter holy orders without any reasonable hope of any better material position.
1866. S. B. James, Duty & Doctrine, 19. Graduates of the three Universities … theological-college men and literates.
1868. M. Pattison, Academ. Org., iv. 74. To obtain ordination as a literate is something.
3. One who can read and write. Opposed to illiterate.
1894. H. C. Lea, in Forum (U.S.), Aug., 675. Statistics show that literates contribute a larger percentage of their class to the criminal ranks than do the illiterates.
