a. and sb. [ad. L. audientem: see AUDIENCE.]

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  A.  adj. Listening, giving heed to sounds.

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1839.  Blackw. Mag., XLV. 111. I trembled … At critic grinders, and the audient yawn.

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1856.  Mrs. Browning, Aur. Leigh, VII. 849. Music, verse, For thrilling audient souls.

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  B.  sb. A hearer or listener; spec. a hearer of the gospel, not yet a member of the church.

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1612.  Heywood, Apol. Actors, I. 22. Nor did the audients hold themselves disgraced Of turfe and heathy sods to make their seates.

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1647.  Power of Keys, v. 126. Three yeares shal they continue among the Audients.

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1819.  Rees, Encycl., III. Audients, or Auditors, in Ecclesiastical History, an order of cataechumens … not yet admitted to baptism.

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