Eng. Hist. [ANTI- 5.] An anti-Whig, a Tory; a nickname given to opponents of the Exclusion Bill in 1680; its supporters, who claimed to be ‘true Protestants,’ being ironically nicknamed by the Tories, ‘Birmingham (i.e., counterfeit) Protestants,’ ‘alluding to false groats counterfeited at that place’; whence at length Birminghams and Anti-Birminghams, terms finally merged in Whig and Tory. See North, Examen (1740), II. v. ¶ 10. 321.
1681. Dryden, Abs. & Achit., To Reader. The longest chapter in Deuteronomy has not curses enough for an Anti-Bromingham.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 256. Those who took the King’s side were Antibirminghams, Abhorrers, and Tantivies.
