Re‐cu″sant (–zat; 277), a.[L. recusans, -antis, p. pr. of recure to refuse, to oject to; pref. re- re + causa a cause, pretext: cf. F. récusant. See Cause, and cf. Ruse.] Obstinate in refusal; specifically, in English history, refusing to acknowledge the supremacy of the king in the churc, or to conform to the established rites of the church; as, a recusant lord.
It stated him to have placed his son in the household of the Countess of Derby, a recusant papist. Sir W. Scott.