Obs. rare. [a. F. transfuge (14th c. in Godef., Compl.), ad. L. transfuga, f. TRANS- + fug-ĕre to flee.] A deserter; a fugitive.
1548. Privy Council Acts (1890), II. 186. Certein Frenchemen … demanded by the French King by treaty as transfuges.
1639. Sedgwick, Milit. Disc., 78. When a Souldier renounceth his colours, and becomes a transfuge, and runnes to the enemies side.
[1855. Ld. Stanhope, Lett. to Ticknor, 12 May, in Misc., Ser. II. (1872), 18. The protection of deserters and transfuges is the invariable rule of every service in the world.]
So † Transfuger, in same sense; † Transfugious a., that is a deserter.
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., IX. xxiv. (1623), 1170. Scotland, the then Refuge of Traiterous transfugers. Ibid., 1181. That transfugious Champion.
