Adullamite

(əˈdʌləˌmaɪt)

(Government, Politics & Diplomacy) a person who has withdrawn from a political group and joined with a few others to form a dissident group

[C19: originally applied to members of the British House of Commons who withdrew from the Liberal party (1866); alluding to the cave of Adullam in the Bible, to which David and others fled (1 Samuel 22: 1–2)]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

Mentioned in ?

cave

References in periodicals archive ?

We are told in Genesis 38:12 that Judah was comforted after the death of his wife by going to Timna to supervise sheep shearing, "he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite," together.

"Love Thy Neighbor": challenging the notion of in-group morality in the bible

But one more interpretive level stands above Kass's defense of this custom or even his exposition of "the heart of marriage." Kass entitles this section of his book "The Other Candidate: the Education of Judah." The "other candidate" alludes to "a certain Adullamite whose name was Hirah": he was Judah's friend.

The Bible and philosophy

In it, Cornford describes a party, of academic politicians called the Adullamites, who 'say to one another: "If you will scratch my back, I will scratch yours; and if you won't, I will scratch your face.'" It is sad that a scholar of Figes' standing should be of that party.