usagist

plural usagists

1. rarehuman sciencesOne who defines a language by usage rather than theory.

   To hell with the Bard, replied the 19-year-old common usagist; gild the lily is what people say, as I was being frog-marched out of the city room.

   2006 March 11, William Safire, “Language: Nifty gifties: Books full of words - Opinion - International Herald Tribune”, in The New York Times

   1 more example

   The most Talmudic usagists say compare to seeks to show similarity between unlike things: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" or "Can the human brain be compared to a computer?"

   1995 November 6, William Safire, “ON LANGUAGE; 'To' vs. 'With'”, in The New York Times

   Synonyms: descriptivist