rare. (irreg. f. Gr. ζῴον living being, animal + -IST.] One who holds that nature as a whole is a living being, or that natural objects are such. (In quots. only attrib.)
1892. Athenæum, 25 June, 829/2. The conception of nature as itself living, or the Zoönist conception, and … the conception of nature as inclusive of beings of a superhuman character, or the Supernalist conception.
1897. Folk-Lore, Sept., 274. Among the ‘Zoönist’ poems are dialogues between personified natural objects.
