a. and sb. Also 7 tutilary. [ad. L. tūtēlāri-us a guardian, f. as prec: see -ARY1 So F. tutélaire.]
A. adj. 1. Of supernatural powers: Having the position of protector, guardian, or patron; esp. protecting or watching over a particular person, place, or thing.
1611. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. I. 529. A Spanish governor, who adoreth them [Jesuits] as his tutelary gods.
1643. Sir T. Browne, Relig. Med., I. § 33. I could easily beleeve, that … particular persons have their Tutelary and Guardian Angels.
1741. Middleton, Cicero, I. v. 400. That tutelary Minerva.
1794. Sullivan, View Nat., I. xxiii. 316. Fountains and springs … watched over and guarded by tutelary divinities.
1806. R. Fellowes, trans. Milton’s 2nd Defence, 290. The patron and tutelary genius of liberty.
1860. Motley, Netherl. (1868), I. vi. 314. A little republic … suddenly bereft of its tutelary saint.
1908. Bigg, Orig. Chr., i. (1909), 14. The Lares,… the little tutelary gods, who watched over the prosperity of the home.
2. transf. Of or pertaining to protection or a protector or guardian; protective.
1651. W. G., trans. Cowel’s Inst., 203. Obligations … arise from implyed Contracts many wayes: As for transacting businesse Tutelary.
1692. Dryden, St. Euremont’s Ess., 2. They acknowledged a particular Care and Protection from its Tutelary Vertue.
1721. Prior, Predestination, 306. My Voice and heart I lift To ask th’ Almighty’s Tutelary Care.
1853. Grote, Greece, II. lxxxv. XI. 198. The conduct of Timoleon and Æschylus … was in the highest degree tutelary to Corinth.
1879. Gladstone, Glean., I. i. 30. Great acts of tutelary friendship.
B. sb. TUTELAR sb.
(In quot. 1866 used as almost = tutor; cf. TUTELAGE 1 b.)
1652. Gaule, Magastrom., 177. The tutilaries of kingdoms, nations, &c.
1654. Z. Coke, Logick, a j. It is Janitrix Scientiarum; the Tutelary and Guardian of all.
1657–83. Evelyn, Hist. Relig. (1850), II. 279. They have tutelaries for every trade.
1865. De Morgan, in Athenæum, 27 Oct., 535/1. My spiritual tutelary … referred the difficulty to the Almighty.
1908. S. A. Cook, Relig. Anc. Palestine, vi. 67. The status of a local tutelary was affected when commercial intercourse widened the horizon of both the traveller and the native.
