[f. L. sōlitūdin-, sōlitūdo: see prec.] One who seeks solitude; a recluse.
1691. trans. Emilianne’s Frauds Rom. Monks (ed. 3), 229. Some very considerable Places, which formerly have been the Retreats of Solitudinarians.
1725. Portland Papers, VI. (Hist. MSS. Comm.), 138. A situation … so private and retired from common observation, as the greatest solitudinarian can wish for.
1831. Mirror, 2 July, XVIII. 2/1. Like all misanthropes and solitudinarians … he [Rousseau] could never bear to be long out of the general gaze.
1880. Bertha Thomas, Violin-Player, III. iv. 112. ‘There goes a solitudinarian,’ said one. ‘What is he thinking of that he fights so shy of his kind?’
So † Solitudinary a., characterized by living alone; Solitudinize v. trans., to render solitary; Solitudinous a., characterized by solitude.
1647. N. Bacon, Disc. Govt. Eng., I. xxxiii. (1682), 49. Their Ancestors liked not to dwell in crowds…. This *solitudinary custom could not be soon shaken off.
1834. New Monthly Mag., XLII. 22. It adorns, refreshes, and, above all else, *solitudinizes, these little lagoons.
1892. J. Ralph, in Harper’s Mag., Feb., 425/2. So packed with people as to make Broadway look desolate and *solitudinous by comparison.
