runagate

Noun

runagate (plural runagates)

1. A deserter, renegade or apostate.
   • And being in this doubt the Runagate came to us, asking upon what we ſtaid, for it was now high time to be going away, and all, his Moors were careleſs, and the greater number of them aſleep.1733, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Mr Shelton, Mr Blunt, transl., The History of the Valorous and Witty Knight-Errant Don Quixote of the Mancha, volume 2, page 152
   • Whatever brother, contrary to the prohibition of the venerable canons, receives a runagate clerk or monk, without pacific letters, and when convened obstinately persists in it, let him pay what is appointed, viz., thirty sicles; fifteen to the bishop, fifteen to the abbot whose monk he received...1850, John Johnson (translator), A Collection of the Laws and Canons of the Church of England, Volume 1, New Edition, page 165

   Synonyms:

   turncoat, withersake, apostate, balimbing, butterfly, changeling, defector, traitor, transfuge, turncloak

2. A fugitive; a runaway.
   • If there were real reason for apprehension he would follow the runagate to the Continent, but he would not do this without absolute knowledge.1861, Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage
   • But Nemesis was approaching the aged runagate[.]1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, →OCLC, page 133