Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An antiquarian.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Pertaining to antiquity; ancient; antiquarian.
  • noun One versed in the knowledge of ancient things; a student or collector of antiquities: sometimes used in the sense of archæologist. See antiquarianism.
  • noun A dealer in old books, coins, objects of art, and similar articles.
  • noun An official custodian of antiquities. This title was bestowed by Henry VIII. upon Leland, his chaplain and librarian, 1533.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective rare Pertaining to antiquity.
  • noun One devoted to the study of ancient times through their relics, as inscriptions, monuments, remains of ancient habitations, statues, coins, manuscripts, etc.; one who searches for and studies the relics of antiquity.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A person who is knowledgeable of, or who collects antiques; an antiquarian.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an expert or collector of antiquities

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin antīquārius, from antīquus, old; see antique.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin antiquarius ("pertaining to antiquity, one fond of or employed in antiquities"), from antiquus ("ancient") + -arius

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Examples

  • Among the ruins of interest to the antiquary are the remains of Augustinian and

    The Sunny Side of Ireland How to see it by the Great Southern and Western Railway Robert Lloyd Praeger 1909

  • The antiquary, that is, the hostler of the posthouse at Spoleto, tells you that his town repulsed the victorious enemy, and shows you the gate still called _Porta di

    The Works of Lord Byron. Vol. 2 George Gordon Byron Byron 1806

  • I want to live to excess! cries Balzac's hero, Raphael de Valentin, as he clutches the magic shagreen, or ass's skin, that will prolong his life of dissipation and pleasure, according to the antiquary who gives it to him.

    Decadent Writing Of the 19th Century Nicholas Frankel 2011

  • We went to an antiquary dealer and set it in a band based on a Roman children's ring.

    Jewelry Designer Temple St. Clair 2011

  • As railways opened, this London-born architect, furniture designer, set designer, antiquary, sailor and polemicist, raced up and down the country building Catholic churches, schools, monasteries and even cathedrals Birmingham, Nottingham and Southwark.

    Victorian and Edwardian buildings: examples from the era 2011

  • Park, Thomas (1758/9 – 1834): trained as an engraver, Park became a poet, book-collector, antiquary, bibliographer and editor — not least of Bloomfield's poetry.

    Index of People 2009

  • Any historical work that doesn’t cite original sources, e.g. states that Henri de Blois wrote something in 1141 without saying how we know – is there an original MS, if so where it is it, or are we relying on someone else quoting a MS which is lost, or did some 19th-century antiquary make it up?

    Making Light: Scholarly works to avoid citing at all costs 2010

  • In all three segments, the Church is the resident to monks–men of antiquary, who live monastic lives preserving memorized knowledge to duplicate them in a time when such actions are more tolerable to the population.

    A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr. – review 2009

  • The researches of our late learned antiquary detected in this Walter, the descendant of Allan, the son of

    The Monastery 2008

  • I love it the better, because it was originally designed for Captain Grose, an excellent antiquary, though, like yourself, somewhat too apt to treat with levity his own pursuits:

    The Monastery 2008

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