disciple

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

• noun One who embraces and assists in spreading the teachings of another.
• noun An active adherent, as of a movement or philosophy.
• noun One of the original followers of Jesus.
• noun A member of the Disciples of Christ.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To teach; train; educate.
• To make a disciple or disciples of; convert to the doctrines or principles of another.
• To punish; discipline.
• noun A learner; a scholar; one who receives or professes to receive instruction from another: as, the disciples of Plato.
• noun A follower; an adherent of the doctrines of another.
• noun A Baptist denomination of Christians founded in the United States by Thomas and Alexander Campbell, father and son (originally Irish Presbyterians), aud first organized by the latter as a separate body in western Virginia in 1827. The members of this denomination call themselves Disciples of Christ, and they are also known as Campbellites, or simply Christians, the last of which names is more distinctively appropriated by another denomination. (See Christian, 5.) Their original purpose was to find a basis upon which all Christians could unite, and hence they rejected all formulas or creeds but the Bible itself; but their belief is generally orthodox or evangelical, including the doctrine of the Trinity. In general, the only terms of admission to the denomination are the acceptance of the Bible as a sufficient and infallible rule of faith and practice, and adult baptism by immersion. In church government they are congregational. They have representatives in Great Britain and its colonial possessions, but exist in the greatest numbers in the western and southwestern portions of the United States.

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

• noun One who receives instruction from another; a scholar; a learner; especially, a follower who has learned to believe in the truth of the doctrine of his teacher; an adherent in doctrine
• noun the twelve selected companions of Jesus; -- also called the apostles.
• noun See Christian, n., 3, and Campbellite.
• transitive verb obsolete To teach; to train.
• transitive verb obsolete To punish; to discipline.
• transitive verb rare To make disciples of; to convert to doctrines or principles.

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

• noun A person who learns from another, especially one who then teaches others.
• noun An active follower or adherent of someone, or some philosophy etc.
• noun Ireland miserable-looking creature of a man
• verb obsolete To train, educate, teach.

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

• noun someone who believes and helps to spread the doctrine of another