Brewer's: Jesuit

(3 syl.). When Ignatius de Loyola was asked what name he would give his order, he replied, “We are a little battalion of Jesus;” so it was called the “Society of Jesus,” vulgarised into Jesuits. The society was noted for its learning, political influence, and “pious frauds.” The order was driven from France in 1594, from England in 1604, from Venice in 1606, from Spain in 1767, from Naples in 1768; and in 1773 was suppressed by Pope Clement XIV.; but it revived again, and still exists. The word is used by controversialists to express one who “lies like truth,” or palters with us in a double sense, that “keeps the word of promise to our ear, and breaks it to our hope.”

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