Dictionary entry

Zealot

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Zeal″ot (?), n. [F. zélote, L. zelotes, Gr. �. See Zeal.] One who is zealous; one who engages warmly in any cause, and pursues his object with earnestness and ardor; especially, one who is overzealous, or carried away by his zeal; one absorbed in devotion to anything; an enthusiast; a fanatical partisan.

Zealots for the one were in hostile array against zealots for the other. Sir J. Stephen.

In Ayrshire, Clydesdale, Nithisdale, Annandale, every parish was visited by these turbulent zealots. Macaulay.