[ad. F. légitimiste, f. légitime: see LEGITIME and -IST.] A supporter of legitimate authority, esp. of a monarchical title claimed on the ground of direct descent; spec. in France, a supporter of the elder Bourbon line, driven from the throne in 1830.
1831. Examiner, 19 June, 391/2. To appease the popular indignation, the police was obliged to arrest the imprudent legitimist. Ibid. (1865), 11 March, 145/1. The legitimists and clericals soon tied a stone to it and sent it to the bottom.
1841. W. Spalding, Italy & It. Isl., III. 66. The papal secretary of state was denounced as a secret adherent of the legitimists.
1865. Maffei, Brigand Life, I. 231. Naples became the rallying point of the legitimists.
1870. Sat. Rev., 2 April, 430. Isabella II. was, in the eyes of Legitimists and extreme Catholics, a revolutionary usurper.
b. attrib. or adj. Of or pertaining to the legitimists; brought about by legitimists; expressing their sentiments.
1867. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), I. App. 627. He is not likely to have made the strong legitimist harangue which is put into his mouth.
1875. Stubbs, Const. Hist., III. xviii. 199. The accession of the house of York was strictly a legitimist restoration.
Hence Legitimistic a., inclined to the opinions of the legitimists.
1877. Tinsley’s Mag., XX. 381. He is too Legitimistic for me.
