[f. ADAM + -ITE.]
A. sb.
1. A descendant or child of Adam, a human being; also, b. with some, a name for that section of the human race which alone they derive from Adam.
1635. Howell, Lett. (1650), II. 9. Error therefore entring into the world with sin among us poor Adamites.
1821. Byron, Heaven & Earth, I. iii. I ne’er thought till now To hear an Adamite speak riddles to me.
1865. Reader, 28 Jan., 98/1. That the Adamites or Caucasians were created, as the Bible tells us, about 6,000 years ago.
2. An imitator of Adam in his nakedness, an unclothed man; in Eccl. Hist. the name of sects, ancient and modern, who affected to imitate Adam in this respect.
1628. Bp. Hall, Hon. of Maried Clergie, I. § 4. 743. We know well what the … Adamites, and Apostoliques, held of matrimonie.
1657. S. Colvil, Whig’s Supplic. (1751), 143. Some Adamits, who as the speech is, Cast off their petticoats and breeches.
1713. Guardian, No. 134 (1756), II. 205. There was a sect of men among us, who called themselves Adamites, and appeared in publick without clothes.
1831. Carlyle, Sart. Res. (1858), 34. An enemy to Clothes in the abstract. A new Adamite.
B. adj. Descended from Adam; human. Cf. A. 1.
1860. Ruskin, Mod. Painters, V. IX. i. § 11, 203. Two states of this image … both Adamite, both human, both the same likeness.
1870. Athenæum, 14 May, 642. The black Turanian who uniting with the white Aryan … gave rise to a third or Adamite race.
