ppl. a. [f. prec. + -ED.]
1. Smeared or rubbed with any unctuous matter; esp. having had oil poured on, as a sacred rite.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., II. iii. 36. Þise ben faire þinges and enoyntid wiþ hony swetnesse of rethorike and musike.
c. 1440. Morte Arth., 50. He … Mad of his cosyns kyngys ennoyntede.
1528. More, Heresyes, III. Wks. 1557, 222/2. Priest … in our owne tongue hath alway sygnified an enoynted parson.
1595. Shaks., John, III. i. 136. Haile you annointed deputies of heauen.
1727. Pope, Dunc., III. 2. On Dulness’ lap th’ Anointed head repos’d.
1735. Bolingbroke, Parties, 14. That anointed Pedant.
1827. Keble, Chr. Year, S. Matthias x. By Thine anointed heralds duly crown’d.
2. fig. Consecrated, sacred. rare.
1597. Daniel, Civ. Wars, III. xxiii. Barring th’ Anointed Liberty of Laws.
3. absol. (formerly as sb. with pl.) A consecrated one. The Lord’s Anointed: Christ or the Messiah; also, a king by ‘divine right.’
1529. Frith, Epist. Chr. Reader (1829), 467. False prophets and false Christs (that is to say, false anointed).
1535. Coverdale, 2 Sam. i. 14. To laye thine hande vpon the Lordes anointed [Wyclif, to slee the crist of the Lord].
1602. T. Fitzherb., Defence, 25. Thou art Messias, that is to say, the anoynted, or as we commonly say, Christ.
1611. Bible, Is. xlv. 1. Thus saith the Lord to his Anointed, to Cyrus.
a. 1641. Bp. Mountagu, Acts & Mon., 30. Christ carries royaltie upon the back, above all Anointeds.
1727. Pope, Hor. Ep., II. i. 389. No Lord’s anointed, but a Russian Bear.
1883. Daily News, 14 Feb., 5/4. If he went through Western France, and was acclaimed … as the Lord’s anointed.
