a. and sb. [a. F. aspirant and ad. L. aspīrāntem, pr. pple. of aspirer, aspīrāre: see ASPIRE v. and -ANT.]

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  A.  adj. = ASPIRING.

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  1.  Striving for a higher position, seeking distinction.

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1814.  Southey, Lett. (1856), II. 373. I receive plenty of letters from poets aspirant.

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1850.  Mrs. Browning, Poems, I. 343. To muse upon eternity’s constraint Round our aspirant souls.

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  2.  Mounting up, ascending.

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1845.  Mozley, Blanco White, Ess. (1878), II. 134. Nature is retracing her aspirant steps.

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1865.  Swinburne, Dolores, 249. With flame all round him aspirant Stood flushed … the tyrant.

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  B.  sb. One who aspires; one who, with steady purpose, seeks advancement to high position, or the acquirement of some privilege or advantage.

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1751.  Warburton, Pope’s Wks., Dunciad, IV. 517 (Jod.). Each aspirant … had proved his qualification and claim.

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1823.  Byron, Juan, XIV. 57. Perhaps she wished an aspirant profounder, But whatsoe’er she wished, she acted right.

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1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 253. The way to greatness was left clear to a new set of aspirants.

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  b.  Const. to, after, for.

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1738.  Warburton, Div. Legat., I. 138. The Aspirant to the Mysteries.

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1835.  Browning, Paracelsus, II. 45. Degrade me … To an aspirant after fame, not truth!

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1863.  Kinglake, Crimea (1876), I. xiv. 218. A calculating and practical aspirant to Empire.

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1879.  B. Taylor, Stud. Germ. Lit., 179. Aspirants for poetic honors.

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