a. and sb. [ad. mod.L. type *textuāri-us, f. textu-s TEXT sb.1 + -ārius -ARY1 So F. textuaire sb. (1680 in Hatz.-Darm.).]
A. adj. 1. Of or belonging to the text; textual.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., III. xvi. 145. Pliny … hath differently translated it,… whereby he extends the exclusion unto twenty dayes, which in the textuary sense is fully accomplished in one.
1817. Coleridge, Lay Serm., 411. Plucking away … from the divine organism of the Bible, textuary morsels, and fragments for the support of doctrines which they had learned beforehand.
1854. W. Waterworth, Eng. & Rome, 62, note. The textuary proofs of St. Peter’s supremacy.
1882. Sat. Rev., LIV. 639/1. It is as genuine a result of textuary accommodation as any against which this writer protests.
† 2. That ranks as a text-book; regarded as authoritative or as an authority. Obs.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., IX. 395. Euclide the textuary Geomettrician.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., 374. He … hath left sixteen books of Opticks, of great esteem with ages past, and textuary unto our daies. Ibid. (1682), Chr. Mor. III. § 21. Let Pythagoras be thy Remembrancer, not thy textuary and final Instructer.
† 3. That adheres strictly to the text of Scripture: cf. B. 2. Obs. rare–1.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage, III. x. 247. They hate the Persians,… like as the Traditionary Iew doth the Textuarie, and the Papist the Protestant.
B. sb. 1. One learned in the text of the Bible, = TEXTUALIST a; a textual critic, scholar, or expounder; also, one well acquainted with and ready at quoting texts.
1608. Bp. J. King, Serm., 24 March, 28. Is there almost a worthier and prompter textuary in the world … in that booke of the Law?
a. 1661. Fuller, Worthies, Lincoln. (1662), II. 167. He [Doctor Tighe] was an excellent Textuary and profound Linguist, the reason why he was imployed by King James in translating of the Bible.
1677. Spottiswood’s Hist. Ch. Scot., App. 20. He was learned in the Hebrew, and was a great Textuary.
a. 1710. Bp. Bull, Visit. Serm. (1714), 21. If by a Textuary, we mean him who hath not only a Concordance of Scriptures in his Memory, but also a Commentary on them in his Understanding; who thinks it not enough to be ready in alledging the bare Words of Scripture, with the mention of Chapter and Verse where it is written, unless he know the Sense and Meaning of what he recites.
1720. Swift, Let Yng. Poet, 1 Dec. I have made it my observation, that the greatest wits have been the best textuaries; our modern poets are all … almost as well read in the Scriptures as some of our divines.
1851. G. S. Faber, Many Mansions, 223. Mr. Scott,… than whom there probably never was a more accomplished textuary, takes pretty much the same view of the question.
1879 Q. Rev., CXLVIII. 422. Having the Bible at their fingers’ ends…. They were not merely accomplished textuaries.
† 2. One who adheres strictly to the letter of Scripture; TEXTUALIST b; cf. TEXTUAL 3.
1727–41. Chambers, Cycl., Textuaries, Textuarii, a name given the sect of the Caraites, among the Jews. Hillel shone among the traditionaries, and Schammai among the textuaries.
1828. Webster, Textualist, Textuary.… 2. One who adheres to the text.
† 3. (See quot.) Obs.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Textuary, a Law-Book, or other Treatise, that contains only the bare Text, without any Comment or Gloss upon it.
1730–6. in Bailey (folio).
