Bethlehemite

Bethlehemite

English

Alternative forms

• Bethlemite

Etymology

Bethlehem +‎ -ite

Noun

Bethlehemite (plural Bethlehemites)

1. An inhabitant of Bethlehem in Judea.
2. (obsolete) An insane person; a madman.
3. (historical) Member of an extinct English order of friars.
4. (historical) Member of a Spanish order of friars, founded in 1653 and refounded in 1984.
5. A particular apple cultivar.
   • 1891, Report of the Iowa State Horticultural Society:

     I grafted the Bethlehemite, spoken of by Mr. Ferris, twenty years ago in wild crab.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for Bethlehemite in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)