imaginator

English

Etymology

From Latin imāginātus (past participle of imāginārī) + English -or. Compare Middle English ymagynatourys (“?schemers or plotters”).

Noun

imaginator (plural imaginators)

1. One who imagines.
   • 1642, Richard Montagu, The Acts and Monuments of the Church Before Christ Incarnate, London: […] Miles Flesher and Robert Young, page 491:

     Secondly, hee would teach, that hee was as hee ſeemed to bee, true very man, fleſh, bloud, and bone as wee truely are; which the Divell denyed in the Docitæ [read Docetæ] or Imaginators, who held nothing reall, what hee [Christ] was, what hee did, what hee ſuffered, but all onely ſeeming ſo and in appearance.

   • 1835 May, “The State and Prospects of Toryism in May, 1835”, in Fraser’s Magazine for Town and Country, volume XI, London: James Fraser, […], page 612, column 2:

     Suppose, if it be possible, that such a proposition had been made, or that such a prophecy had been ventured, in May 1834, as that in the spring of 1835 a Whig cabinet should be formed without thinking of Lord Brougham, and that some minor office should have been tossed to him, as you throw a bone to a dog! Would not the imaginator of such a thing have been treated as a maniac or a fool?

   • 1882 October 7, “The Life of George Cruikshank: in Two Epochs. By Blanchard Jerrold. […]”, in The Athenæum: Journal of Literature, Science, the Fine Arts, Music, and the Drama, number 2867, London: […] John C. Francis, […], page 471, column 1:

     We may add, and our author has knowledge of the fact, that not even the Germans, those masterly delineators and imaginators of fairy-land, have shown greater or more exquisite insight into the lives and ways of elfs and fays than that which was shown by George Cruikshank.

   • 1996, Jonathan Bayliss, Gloucestertide, Rockport, Mass.: Protean Press, →ISBN, page 260:

     The musicological dancer and the historyteller inspired each other, sometimes in conspiracy also with Tessa the critical stage manager and Beni their imaginator of set and costumes.

Synonyms

• imaginer

Latin

Verb

imāginātor

1. second/third-person singular future active imperative of imāginor

References

• imaginator in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• imaginator in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[1], pre-publication website, 2005-2016