[f. ALARM sb. + -IST.] One addicted to raising alarms; hence, who raises alarm on very slight grounds, or needlessly; a panic-monger.
1802. Syd. Smith, Wks., 1859, I. 11/1. The panic of this alarmist is so very great.
1849. Cobden, Sp. in 1849, 8. Those wicked alarmists and panic-mongers whom I will never forgive.
b. attrib.
1802. Syd. Smith, Wks., 1867, I. 13. This was another gentleman of the alarmist tribe.
c. 1842. Ld. Campbell, Autobiog. (1881), II. 153. Alarmist or disappointed Whigs.
1870. Daily Tel., 18 July. Rumours of an alarmist character, some of them wildly improbable, were circulated.
