[ad. L. anabaptism-us (Aug.), a. Gr. ἀναβαπτισμός, f. ἀνά- over again + βαπτισμός baptism. Cf. Fr. anabaptisme.]
1. A second baptism, re-baptism. (The orig. sense in L. from 4th c. onwards.) Also transf.
1645. Pagitt, Heresiogr. (1661), 48. Concerning the Anabaptism of elder people.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., Anabaptism … denotes the repetition of baptism, practised on those who had been baptized by heretics.
1826. H. Coleridge, Six Months in W. Ind., 165. They have to undergo a forcible anabaptism in salt water.
2. The doctrine of the Anabaptists; also applied, by opponents, to that of modern ‘Baptists.’
1577. trans. Bullinger’s Decades (1592), Pref. A booke of sermons—without Poperie, Anabaptisme … or any other heresie.
1641. Milton, Ch. Govt., vi. (1851), 126. That schisme … would be Brownisme and Anabaptisme indeed.
1856. Froude, Hist. Eng., II. 16. [Wicliffe’s] theory of property … had led him to the near confines of Anabaptism.
1879. Baring-Gould, Germ., II. 125. Methodism, Anabaptism, and other forms of Dissent have made no way in Germany.
