janissary

Noun

janissary (plural janissaries)

1. (historical) An infantry soldier, often of European Christian background from the Balkans as well as Eastern Europe and forcibly converted to Islam, in a former elite Turkish (Ottoman) guard (disbanded in 1826).
   • My Lord the great Commander of the worlde,
     Besides fifteene contributory kings,
     Hath now in armes ten thouſand Ianiſaries,
     Mounted on luſty Mauritanian Steeds, […]c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
   • Tom has his Eyes ſtill near a Cloſe, and was going on, when an unlucky horn'd Janizary, obſerving the Court ſomewhat uneaſy under their Indulgence, ran a Needle up to the Head in his moſt fleſhy Part, and made Tom wince, if not like a Mule, yet very much like his graver Sire that gave him his...1737, J. A. Purves, “Vision II”, in The Law and Lawyers Laid Open, in Twelve Visions. To which is Added, Plain Truth, in Three Dialogues, between Truma, Skinall, Dryboots, Three Attorneys, and Season...
   1. (broadly, historical) Any Turkish soldier, particularly one escorting a traveller.
2. (figuratively) An elite, highly loyal supporter.
   • Here is a Proclamation for a Prince: that proclaims him in whoſe name it is emitted [James II of England], to be the greateſt Tyrant that ever lived in the world, and their Revolt who have diſowned him to be the juſteſt that ever was. For herein that Monſter of Prerogative is […] advanced […] to...1744, Alexander Shiels [i.e., Alexander Shields], “Period VI. Containing the Testimony through the Continued Tract of the Present Deformation, from the Year 1660 to this Day.”, in A Hind Let Loose...
   • The debate must be maintained until the third reading of the corn bill had been agreed to by the house of lords. What a situation! […] Power, place, patronage might reward those who upheld the minister; they might even at this conjuncture become ‘janissaries’ without ever having been ‘renegades’.1905, Benjamin Disraeli, chapter XV, in Lord George Bentinck: A Political Biography, London: Archibald Constable and Co., →OCLC; republished as Lord George Bentinck: A Political Biography (The...