Also 6 Iohannit, 7–8 Joannite. [a. med.L. Jo(h)annītæ (plural), a. Gr. Ἰωαννῖται, f. Jo(h)annes, Ἰωάννης, John: see -ITE.]

1

  † 1.  A member of the order called the Knights of St. John. Obs.

2

1563–87.  Foxe, A. & M. (1596), 181/2. About the yeare of our Lord 1128, the order of the Knights of the Rhodes called Iohannits … rose up.

3

1708.  Termes de la Ley, 387 b. Hospitallers … an Order of Knights … called the Joannites or Knights of St. John of Jerusalem.

4

  † 2.  A disciple of John the Baptist. Obs.

5

1659.  Gell, Ess. Amendm. Transl. Bible, 165. Most men leap over John Baptist’s head, commence Christians, per saltum, before they have been Johannites.

6

  3.  A follower or adherent of John Chrysostom after his deposition from the patriarchate in 404.

7

1680.  Baxter, Answ. Stillingfl., xlix. 70. You confess the Joannites separation. Ibid. (1681), Answ. Dodwell, 107. Did Cyril’s Counsel against the Joannites win them, or harden them?

8