[f. AFFIRM + -ER1.] One who affirms: a. who confirms, or supports (obs.); b. who asserts or declares; c. who maintains what is disputed or denied, as opposed to the denier.
1540. Coverdale, Confut. Standish, Wks. II. 374. Ye … report us to be the affirmers of your wicked words.
1611. Cotgr., Affirmateur, an affirmer, soother, avoucher.
1637. Gillespie, Eng. Pop. Cerem., II. vii. 29. His Majesties Auctority, did … exeeme the affirmers from the paines of probation.
1860. Westm. Rev., No. 36, 419. But the proof lies with the affirmer.
1865. Reader, 30 Sept., 371/1. It is chiefly as an affirmer of positive doctrine that Plato has been influential.
