agitant

plural agitants

1. A person who agitates.

   1665, Robert Howard, The Committee, Act III, Scene 1, in Five New Plays, London: Henry Herringman, 1692 p. 77, Now am I ready for any Plot; I’ll go find some of these Agitants, and fill up a blank Commission with my Name.

   2 more examples

   Garofalo and Ferri were the foremost agitants for victim compensation in the nineteenth century.

   1972, LeRoy G. Schultz, “A Compensation Policy for Sex Victims”, in Harvey L. Gochros, LeRoy G. Schultz, editors, Human Sexuality and Social Work, New York: Association Press, page 335

   If it were up to those two, he said, all political agitants would be locked up in jail.

   2008, Helene Cooper, The House at Sugar Beach, New York: Simon & Schuster, Part 1, Chapter 11, p. 137

   Synonyms: agitator

2. A thing that agitates.

   Metabolic agitants, such as caffeine and coca

   2009, Luanne Freer, Peter H. Hackett, “High-Altitude Medicine”, in Gregory H. Bledsoe et al., editors, Expedition and Wilderness Medicine, Cambridge University Press, page 242

   3 more examples

   If melancholy humours most abound, The dreams distractive, and the sleep unsound, And Hypochondriac megrims start and twitch, Black spirits rise, and temptingly bewitch, Ten drops of poppy nectar, freshly pressed, Will lay the peccant agitants at rest.

   1833, Nathan Hale, “The Tavern Doctor”, in Notes Made during an Excursion to the Highlands of New Hampshire and Lake Winnipiseogee, Andover, MA, page 175

   […] the enormous effect of the insurrection on the government—the hasty executions, the deportations, the inpouring of troops into Ireland and the establishment of military tribunals—convinced Ireland that insurrection was a powerful agitant, and this greatly invigorated the national will.

   1918, Francis Hackett, chapter 14, in Ireland: A Study in Nationalism, New York: Huebsch, page 376

   […] he also promised that the convention would take a stand on the Vietnam conflict, which was such an agitant for young people—in Germany as in the United States—waving Viet Cong flags and shouting, "Ho-Ho-Ho Chi Minh!”

   1975, David Binder, chapter 9, in The Other German: Willy Brandt’s Life and Times, Washington: New Republic Book Co, page 237

comparative more agitant · superlative most agitant

1. That agitates.

   The slow rhythm of her song grew agitant and restless.

   1923, Jean Toomer, “Blood-Burning Moon”, in Cane, New York: Liveright, published 1993, page 28

   1 more example

   […] at her white bosom is that patch incarnadine—the red, red rose. Agitant and tremulous it has burst open, and its pure heart lies bare.

   1893, H. B. Marriott Watson, “The Rose of the Morning”, in Diogenes of London and Other Fantasies and Sketches, London: Methuen, pages 225–226

   Synonyms: agitating

plural agitants

1. obsoleteObsolete spelling of adjutant.