[n. of agent f. L. adjūtā-re to assist: see ADJUTANT.] lit. A helper, an assistant.
As first used in 1647, only a bad spelling of AGITATOR, originating with soldiers familiar with Adjutants (often pronounced and occas. written AGITANT) and the Adjutors of 1642. But writers unacquainted with the function of these ‘agitators,’ mistook adjutator (understood in its etymological sense) for the proper form. Hence, it has been occas. used in the general sense of ‘helper.’
1647. [See AGITATOR.]
1656–7. in Burton’s Diary (1828), I. 333. Sexby was once an adjutator.
1662. Life of Fuller, 29. Such feeble Adjutators or Helpers (as he pleased to style them).
1670. Hobbes, Behemoth, 335. To put it into the head of these adjutators.
1876. Green, Hist. Eng. P., 548. The Adjutators had taken a step which put submission out of the question.
