votary

From Latin votus, past participle of vovere (“to vow, to devote”).

Adjective

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈvəʊt(ə)ri/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈvoʊdəri/

Noun

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈvəʊtəri/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈvoʊdəri/

votary (comparative more votary, superlative most votary)

1. Consecrated by a vow or promise; consequent on a vow; devoted; promised.
   • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Custom and Education”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:

     Votary resolution is made equipollent to custom.

votary (plural votaries)

1. A person, such as a monk or nun, who lives a religious life according to vows they have made.
2. A devotee of a particular religion or cult.
3. A devout or zealous worshipper.
4. (by extension) Someone who is devoted to a particular pursuit etc.

   Synonyms: enthusiast; see also Thesaurus:enthusiast

   • 1771, Henry Mackenzie, The Man of Feeling, London: Cassell, published 1886, pages 61–62:

     […] But it is not simply of the progress of luxury that we have to complain: did its votaries keep in their own sphere of thoughtless dissipation, we might despise them without emotion; but the frivolous pursuits of pleasure are mingled with the most important concerns of the state; […]

   • 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 31, in The History of Pendennis. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:

     The room was commonly emptied after that, or only left in possession of a very few and persevering votaries of pleasure.

   • 1893, Henry James, Collaboration‎, archived from the original on 13 October 2006:

     He is such a votary of the modern that he was inevitably interested in the girl of the future and had matched one reform with another, being ready to marry without a penny, as the clearest way of expressing his appreciation, this favourable specimen of the type.

   • 1920, B. G. Jefferis, J. L. Nichols, “Sexual Proprieties and Improprieties”, in Searchlights on Health‎:

     The indulgence of illicit pleasures, says Dr. S. Pancoast, sooner or later is sure to entail the most loathsome diseases on their votaries.

   • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 13]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

     Gerty was dressed simply but with the instinctive taste of a votary of Dame Fashion for she felt that there was just a might that he might be out.

5. A loyal supporter or devoted admirer of a person or institution.

• “votary, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2021.

• travoy