pilgrim
[pil-grim, -gruh m]
- a person who journeys, especially a long distance, to some sacred place as an act of religious devotion: pilgrims to the Holy Land.
- a traveler or wanderer, especially in a foreign place.
- an original settler in a region.
- (initial capital letter) one of the band of Puritans who founded the colony of Plymouth, Mass., in 1620.
- a newcomer to a region or place, especially to the western U.S.
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Origin of pilgrim
1150–1200; Middle English pilegrim, pelegrim, cognate with Old Frisian pilegrīm, Middle Low German pelegrīm, Old High German piligrīm, Old Norse pīlagrīmr, all < Medieval Latin pelegrīnus, dissimilated variant of Latin peregrīnus peregrine
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for pilgrim
Contemporary Examples
Most were originally drove roads, paths to market, or pilgrim paths.
Pictured above is the sculpture titled Hopeful Had Much Ado from Pilgrim's Progress.
The tip of the one of the spires at the National Cathedral fell onto the steps of Pilgrim Road.
Earthquake Hits the East Coast!August 23, 2011
After reading Franny and Zooey, I read The Way of the Pilgrim.
Historical Examples
Never did a pilgrim approach Niagara with deeper enthusiasm than mine.
Other Tales and SketchesNathaniel Hawthorne
I suppose the Pilgrim and the Rake are contrasted with each other.
Weighed and WantingGeorge MacDonald
Why was Mr. Greatheart, in Pilgrim's Progress, my favorite character?
The Works of Whittier, Volume V (of VII)John Greenleaf Whittier
I only said that you are a pilgrim, a nobleman, and that I used to know you.
Father SergiusLeo Tolstoy
In 'The Pilgrim's Progress' we are among genuine human beings.
BunyanJames Anthony Froude
pilgrim
- a person who undertakes a journey to a sacred place as an act of religious devotion
- any wayfarer
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Word Origin
C12: from Provençal pelegrin, from Latin peregrīnus foreign, from per through + ager field, land; see peregrine
Pilgrim
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for pilgrim
n.
c.1200, pilegrim, from Old French pelerin, peregrin "pilgrim, crusader; foreigner, stranger" (11c., Modern French pèlerin), from Late Latin pelegrinus, dissimilated from Latin peregrinus "foreigner" (source of Italian pellegrino, Spanish peregrino), from peregre (adv.) "from abroad," from per- "beyond" + agri, locative case of ager "country" (see acre).
Change of first -r- to -l- in most Romance languages by dissimilation; the -m appears to be a Germanic modification. Pilgrim Fathers "English Puritans who founded Plymouth colony" is first found 1799 (they called themselves Pilgrims from c.1630, in reference to Hebrew xi:13).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper