An Attempt To Date
Mormons
September 7, 2015
Apprentice Tyler
1
Mormonism is a uniquely American religious phenomenon and, unlike previous entries in our "Attempt To Date" series, we have timely citations for the Church of Latter Day Saints.
The following citations are courtesy of the Oxford English Dictionary.
Etymology:
< the name of Mormon, a prophet to whom Joseph Smith (1805–44), founder of the church, attributed ‘The Book of Mormon’
The following citations are courtesy of the Oxford English Dictionary.
Etymology:
< the name of Mormon, a prophet to whom Joseph Smith (1805–44), founder of the church, attributed ‘The Book of Mormon’
2
A. n.
1. A member or adherent of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a millenary Christian sect founded in 1830 at Manchester, New York, by Joseph Smith. Smith claimed to have been guided by divine inspiration to discover and translate a text, ‘The Book of Mormon’, telling the story of a group of Hebrews migrating to America in c600_ b.c., which provides the basis on which the church is founded, and is accepted by its members as Scripture in addition to the Bible.
In 1847, under Smith's successor, Brigham Young (1801–77), the headquarters of the church were moved from Illinois to Salt Lake City, Utah, where they are still situated. The doctrine of the church emphasizes tithing, missionary work, and the Second Coming of Christ.
The word does not occur in the first reference for the noun ( Massachusetts Spy, 22 Dec. 1830) cited by the Supplement to the O.E.D. (1976), where it was added by a secondary source.
1833 Louisville (Kentucky) Daily Herald 22 Nov. (heading)
The Mormons and the Anti-Mormons.
1837 J. M. Peck Gazetteer Illinois (ed. 2) 1. 74
There are..a few Mormons..scattered through the state.
1842 H. Caswall City of Mormons 34,
I begged him to inform me whether the Mormons believed in the Trinity.
1881 W. G. Marshall Through Amer. viii. 184
Considerable disgrace attaches to a Mormon if he lives a bachelor life.
1904 Daily Chron. 5 Mar. 4/6
Mormons who were (plurally) married before polygamy was made illegal.
1949 Chicago Daily News 16 June 18/3
The prettiest girls in America are to be found among the Mormons of Salt Lake City.
1990 L. Picknett Encycl. Paranormal 58/1 Today 5.4
million members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, commonly known as the Mormons, believe that theirs is the only Christian Church authorised by God.
2. allusively. With reference to the doctrine of plural marriage, accepted and practised by Mormons, which was officially abandoned in 1890.
1906 Spectator 3 Feb. 175/2
In distinction from the barnyard duck, who is a regular Mormon, the mallard is monogamous.
1922 Lit. Digest 10 June 40/1
Because a few of the inmates of the Hollywood film colony have ‘married from time to time’, they are less to be censured as Mormons than pitied as morons.
1928 R. Campbell Wayzgoose i. 26 Muses Nine,
Those strapping girls whose love, to say the least, Would make a rabid Mormon of a priest.
1. A member or adherent of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a millenary Christian sect founded in 1830 at Manchester, New York, by Joseph Smith. Smith claimed to have been guided by divine inspiration to discover and translate a text, ‘The Book of Mormon’, telling the story of a group of Hebrews migrating to America in c600_ b.c., which provides the basis on which the church is founded, and is accepted by its members as Scripture in addition to the Bible.
In 1847, under Smith's successor, Brigham Young (1801–77), the headquarters of the church were moved from Illinois to Salt Lake City, Utah, where they are still situated. The doctrine of the church emphasizes tithing, missionary work, and the Second Coming of Christ.
The word does not occur in the first reference for the noun ( Massachusetts Spy, 22 Dec. 1830) cited by the Supplement to the O.E.D. (1976), where it was added by a secondary source.
1833 Louisville (Kentucky) Daily Herald 22 Nov. (heading)
The Mormons and the Anti-Mormons.
1837 J. M. Peck Gazetteer Illinois (ed. 2) 1. 74
There are..a few Mormons..scattered through the state.
1842 H. Caswall City of Mormons 34,
I begged him to inform me whether the Mormons believed in the Trinity.
1881 W. G. Marshall Through Amer. viii. 184
Considerable disgrace attaches to a Mormon if he lives a bachelor life.
1904 Daily Chron. 5 Mar. 4/6
Mormons who were (plurally) married before polygamy was made illegal.
1949 Chicago Daily News 16 June 18/3
The prettiest girls in America are to be found among the Mormons of Salt Lake City.
1990 L. Picknett Encycl. Paranormal 58/1 Today 5.4
million members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, commonly known as the Mormons, believe that theirs is the only Christian Church authorised by God.
2. allusively. With reference to the doctrine of plural marriage, accepted and practised by Mormons, which was officially abandoned in 1890.
1906 Spectator 3 Feb. 175/2
In distinction from the barnyard duck, who is a regular Mormon, the mallard is monogamous.
1922 Lit. Digest 10 June 40/1
Because a few of the inmates of the Hollywood film colony have ‘married from time to time’, they are less to be censured as Mormons than pitied as morons.
1928 R. Campbell Wayzgoose i. 26 Muses Nine,
Those strapping girls whose love, to say the least, Would make a rabid Mormon of a priest.
3
B. adj.
That is a Mormon; of, relating to, or characteristic of Mormons.
1833 Evening Star (Kirtland, Ohio) Dec. 235/1
A small party of men..proceeded out to the Mormon settlement.
1838 Niles' Reg. 13 Oct. 103/3
We, and all the Mormon church,..entertain the same feelings and fears toward the Indians.
1842 H. Caswall City of Mormons 6
Houses..occupied, I was told, by Mormon emigrants.
1843 F. Marryat Narr. Trav. M. Violet III. xii. 245
The whole of Texas becomes Mormon.
1884 J. Hall Christian Home 42
We have on the one side the Mormon problem to face, and on the other the divorce problem.
1913 J. London Valley of Moon 430
He had been provost marshal when the Mormon trouble flared up.
1942 W. Stegner Mormon Country 65
He had sprung clear across the Great Basin deserts to locate the Mormon Station.
1948 [see Mormon Church n. at Compounds].
1968 Encycl. Brit. XIII. 795/2
Space, time, matter and the universe in Mormon theology are limitless by nature.
1985 Buzz Feb. 51/3
This same mistake undergirds the Mormon belief that Christ will return to the city of Independence, Missouri, rather than the Mount of Olives.
That is a Mormon; of, relating to, or characteristic of Mormons.
1833 Evening Star (Kirtland, Ohio) Dec. 235/1
A small party of men..proceeded out to the Mormon settlement.
1838 Niles' Reg. 13 Oct. 103/3
We, and all the Mormon church,..entertain the same feelings and fears toward the Indians.
1842 H. Caswall City of Mormons 6
Houses..occupied, I was told, by Mormon emigrants.
1843 F. Marryat Narr. Trav. M. Violet III. xii. 245
The whole of Texas becomes Mormon.
1884 J. Hall Christian Home 42
We have on the one side the Mormon problem to face, and on the other the divorce problem.
1913 J. London Valley of Moon 430
He had been provost marshal when the Mormon trouble flared up.
1942 W. Stegner Mormon Country 65
He had sprung clear across the Great Basin deserts to locate the Mormon Station.
1948 [see Mormon Church n. at Compounds].
1968 Encycl. Brit. XIII. 795/2
Space, time, matter and the universe in Mormon theology are limitless by nature.
1985 Buzz Feb. 51/3
This same mistake undergirds the Mormon belief that Christ will return to the city of Independence, Missouri, rather than the Mount of Olives.
4
Mormon battalion
n. now hist. a company of soldiers from Mormon communities in Iowa enlisted for service in the Mexican war.
1847 T. H. Benton Let. 14 June in D. Jackson & M. L. Spence Exped. J. C. Frémont(1973) II. 365
The two arriving with the Mormon battalion after the events, the question of authorship is narrowed down to those two.
1947 J. S. Perry Cities of Amer. 36
The first detachment of the Mormon Battalion that had marched 2,000 miles to help in the Mexican War, and whose pay allotments had materially helped the Western migration.
2001 Salt Lake Tribune (Nexis) 3 June d5
Melissa Coray Peak is named after the wife of a Mormon Battalion soldier.
Mormon Bible
n. the Book of Mormon (see sense A. 1).
1838 J. G. Whittier in W. P. Garrison & F. J. Garrison Life W. L. Garrison (1885) II. 221
A discussion of the merits of animal magnetism, or of the Mormon Bible, would have been quite as appropriate.
1845 Southern Lit. Messenger 11 476/1
These facts were withheld from the world for the nine years which intervened from the first publication of the Mormon Bible.
1882 J. W. Buel Metrop. Life Unveiled 349
These three men have subscribed to an oath which will be found in all Mormon bibles.
Mormon Church
n. the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (see sense A. 1).
1838 Mormon church [see sense B.].
1948 Newsweek 12 Jan. 38/2
Once a basic tenet of the Mormon Church, the doctrine of plural marriage was formally abandoned in 1890.
1992 D. Morgan Rising in West iii. xxiv. 473
KNLB-FM, located in a building adjacent to his Christian preschool on property acquired from the Mormon Church.
Mormon City
n. Salt Lake City, Utah.
1854 De Bow's Rev. Apr. 376
There, in the centre of the Great Valley, would he send forth missionaries, who should penetrate to its remotest bounds, and gather in thousands of disciples to the Mormon City.
1878 J. H. Beadle Western Wilds 39
We got to the Mormon City all beat out.
1996 Chicago Tribune (Nexis) 25
Nov. 10 We're in Utah. We're not someplace sunny and warm. We're in the Mormon City.
Mormon cricket
n. a bush cricket, Anabrus simplex, of the western United States, which is destructive to cereal crops.
1896 J. B. Smith Econ. Entomol. iv. 97
At the base of the Rocky Mountains, extending up into the foothills..the ‘Mormon cricket’, Anabrus simplex, occasionally multiplies so greatly that it migrates to the plains below, destroying everything in its path.
1934 Sun (Baltimore) 1 May 13/1
The devastating ‘mormon’ crickets, which came into prominence in 1848, when they threatened the first colonists in Utah with starvation... Black creatures two inches long when full grown, they eat everything in sight.
1959 E. Tunis Indians 109/1
Grasshoppers and big mormon crickets were driven into trenches from which they could be gathered in baskets.
1986 New Yorker 3 Mar. 66/3
Over the decades..he completely circumambulated the skyline of Jackson Hole, camping where darkness came upon him, casting grasshoppers or Mormon crickets to catch his dinner.
Mormon fly
n. U.S. regional a mayfly.
1845 N. F. Moore Diary 26 Aug. (1946) 46
Our boat and everything about it is now covered with Mormon flies as they are called, being, I am told, peculiar to this neighborhood.
1847 C. Lanman Summer in Wilderness v. 34
They are called the Mormon fly and I was told were found on these rapids alone.
1950 R. P. Bissell Stretch on River 29
Out in the street..the smell of melting tar and squashed Mormon flies filled the air.
1983 Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin) 12 July 2/1
The flies, also known as mayflies and Mormon flies, infest the river towns annually.
Mormon state
n. a U.S. state whose population is predominantly Mormon; spec. Utah.
1849 Southern Q. Rev. Oct. 89
They are now clamorous for a territorial government, and seem inclined to form a Mormon State.
1893 L. Wagner More about Names 35
Utah, otherwise The Mormon State, is called by the Mormons themselves Deseret.
1948 H. L. Mencken Amer. Lang.: Suppl. 2 640
Utah calls itself the Beehive State,..but the designation Mormon State is far more popular, and seems likely to stick.
1999 Guardian (Nexis) 21 Apr. 12
But this [sc. Utah] is still a Mormon state, with something like 75 per cent of its two million population members of the church.
Mormon trail
n. the trail followed by Mormon migrants to Utah in 1847 (later established as a heritage trail).
1850 Ann. Iowa (1910) 3rd Ser. 9 453
Here we struck the old Mormon trail.
1868 ‘M. Twain’ in Galaxy May 631
The post route..changed partly to the old Mormon trail.
1949 Kansas Hist. Q. Feb. 39
The War Department decided..to improve the Mormon trail from Omaha as far as New Fort Kearney.
1998 Salt Lake Tribune (Nexis) 14 Jan. a1
There will be no evidence of last year's authentic re-enactment of the Mormon Trail wagon train on public lands.
Mormon war
n. any of several armed conflicts involving Mormon forces; spec. that between Utah Mormons and the U.S. army sent to establish federal rule in 1857–8.
1833 Evening Star (Kirtland, Ohio) Dec. 235/1 (heading)
The Mormon War.
1846 Quincy (Illinois) Whig 3 Feb. 2/4
He was a Major in the last ‘Mormon War’.
a1918 G. Stuart 40 Years on Frontier (1925) I. 121
The best thing we could do would be to..come back in the spring, as the Mormon war would probably be over then.
1995 Denver Post (Nexis) 9 May b7
The Mormon War is worth remembering because..‘their rebellion flared and was resolved without anyone on either side discharging a gun’.
Mormon weed
n. U.S. the Indian mallow, Abutilon theophrasti.
1872 Trans. Illustr. Dept. Agric. 9 p. ix,
The Indian Mallow (Abutilon Avacennae) variously known as ‘stump weed’, ‘velvet leaf’, ‘butter print’, ‘Mormon weed’, etc.
1907 A. B. Lyons Plant Names (ed. 2) 8
Abutilon... American Hemp, Indian Hemp, Mormon-weed, Pie-marker, Pie-print, Sheep-weed.
1924 Amer. Botanist 30 108
We are at a loss to know the origin of..‘Mormon-weed’ also applied to our plant.
The Mormon world;
Mormons collectively; the beliefs and practices of Mormons.
1845 Quincy (Illinois) Whig 8 Nov. 2/2
See how eagerly they snap up the articles of the Reveille and parade them before all Mormondom in their paper, as evidence that sympathy abroad is enlisted in their favor.
1860 Chambers's Jrnl. 14 359
He would not be the only parent who..has so sacrificed upon the unhallowed altar of Mormondom.
1860 Harper's Mag. Nov. 857/2
We may be a trifle more fastidious than they are in Mormondom, but we have a notion that all the ‘bad words’ ought to be skipped when the ladies are around.
a1886 H. S. Brown Autobiogr. (1887) 114
Salt Lake City is the capital of Mormondom.
1920 Encycl. Relig. & Ethics XI. 86/2
That Joseph Smith..was the real master of Mormondom is borne out by..accounts of him in the height of his power.
1957 W. Mulder Homeward to Zion xi. 289
The ‘iniquitous’ Cullom bill..stirred Mormondom to its center.
1989 Independent 2 Sept. (Mag.) 25/2
Mormondom has never decreed the formal ban on contraception which the Catholic Church upholds.
A female Mormon.
1860 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) 10 Nov. 230
‘Yes,’ hollerd a lot of femaile Mormonesses, ceasin me by the cote tales.
a1861 T. Winthrop John Brent (1862) ix. 99
Selecting, perhaps, a Mormoness to kidnap to-night.
1906 Out West May 305 (title)
The writer lady and the Mormoness.
Relating to or characteristic of Mormons or their beliefs, esp. with regard to plural marriage.
1844 Southport (Wisconsin) Amer. 31 Aug. 2/6
The Mormon Temple..its singularity. It is like nothing else; and, unless we may be allowed to designate it as the Mormonic order, it certainly has no name at all.
1862 R. F. Burton City of Saints iv. 223
In the Mormonic mystery, it is highly probably that..the veriest fancies have taken the deepest root.
1904 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. June 812/1
Other domesticated male animals are so mormonic in their ideas that they recognise no distinction of any kind between their own kittens, puppies, calves, &c., and their neighbours' children.
1993 Sunday Times (Nexis) 10 Oct.
In a country not known for its liberal pro-polygamy laws, Mr Norris's Mormonic collection of mistresses and soi-disant fiancees have been popping out of the tabloid hat like rabbits.
1846 Quincy (Illinois) Whig 19 Mar. 3/3
It would be desirable by all quiet citizens that they should be able to discover a complete evacuation of everything Mormonish in Nauvoo, before they hazard purchases in that place.
1852 Oregon Statesman 6 Jan. 2/6
Your course looks as Mormonish as anything I ever saw.
The religious beliefs and practices of Mormons.
1831 Constellation 16 July 231/4
The deceased was one of those who had embraced the imposition of Joe Smith, and a victim of the delusion of Mormonism.
1845 J. H. Newman Ess. Devel. Christian Doctr. iv. §1. 241
A religion, such that men look at a convert to it with a feeling which no other sect raises, except Judaism, Socialism, or Mormonism.
1881 W. G. Marshall Through Amer. viii. 184
Mormonism does not necessarily involve polygamy.
1929 L. H. Creer Utah & Nation i. 3
Herein was also established the principle of modern revelation, one of the basic principles of Mormonism.
1958 W. Mulder & A. R. Mortensen Among Mormons p. v,
The learned journals have discovered in Mormonism a ripe field for scholarship.
1985 Buzz Sept. 13/1
Reachout..seeks to help those involved in..Mormonism.
1833 J. E. Alexander Transatlantic Sketches II. vi. 129
The Mormonists gave rise to a good deal of conversation in the West last year.
1842 Dickens Amer. Notes I. v. 181,
I should like to try the experiment on a Mormonist or two to begin with.
1846 W. F. Hook Church Dict. 637
These Mormonists, now existing, and even, it is to be feared, increasing, among us, are..even more absurd.
1885 Allegany County (N.Y.) Republican 15 May 1/7
Colorado has got beyond the grip of the Mormonists.
1918 G. L. Morrill On Warpath 216
Here [sc. in the Temple] the Mormons are ‘sealed’, and it is sealed shut to all other religionists, as well as to bad Mormonists.
1937 B. K. Sarkar Creative India v. 512
There were..the Mormonists, the Greek Church Christians, the Syrians, the Armenians and so forth.
A. n.
1831 Constellation 4 June 231/4
Several of the Mormonites soon assembled.
1833 T. Hamilton Men & Manners Amer. II. vii. 310
We passed several parties of what were called Mormonites.
1862 B. Brodie Psychol. Inq. II. v. 174
Those having a too lively imagination..become Mormonites and Ranters.
1947 B. A. De Voto Across Wide Missouri 185
The ‘Mormonites’..had been driven into the unsettled lands of Clay County.
1958 W. Mulder & A. R. Mortensen Among Mormons p. vi,
Once the new church is founded the religious press is full of letters..about the Mormonites and their New Jerusalem.
2001 Seattle Times (Nexis) 24 Mar. c8
Historically, the nickname Mormon was a shortened form of Mormonite, which was meant as an insult to church members.
B. adj.
1833 Evening Star (Kirtland, Ohio) Dec. 235/1
The mob took two of the Mormonite men & beat them with stones and clubs.
1859 J. S. Mill On Liberty iv. 164
The article of the Mormonite doctrine which is the chief provocative..is its sanction of polygamy.
1882 Illustr. Mission. News Mar. 28
Meetings..to denounce Mormonite polygamy.
1988 Financial Times (Nexis) 15 July 15
One encounter follows another:..with Mormonite nightclub singer Deedee, nuclear protester Jackie, rock guitarist Joy [etc.].
rare.
1930 Amer. Mercury Jan. 6/1
The next step was an accident, one of a series that has displayed God's providence to Mormonry.
n. now hist. a company of soldiers from Mormon communities in Iowa enlisted for service in the Mexican war.
1847 T. H. Benton Let. 14 June in D. Jackson & M. L. Spence Exped. J. C. Frémont(1973) II. 365
The two arriving with the Mormon battalion after the events, the question of authorship is narrowed down to those two.
1947 J. S. Perry Cities of Amer. 36
The first detachment of the Mormon Battalion that had marched 2,000 miles to help in the Mexican War, and whose pay allotments had materially helped the Western migration.
2001 Salt Lake Tribune (Nexis) 3 June d5
Melissa Coray Peak is named after the wife of a Mormon Battalion soldier.
Mormon Bible
n. the Book of Mormon (see sense A. 1).
1838 J. G. Whittier in W. P. Garrison & F. J. Garrison Life W. L. Garrison (1885) II. 221
A discussion of the merits of animal magnetism, or of the Mormon Bible, would have been quite as appropriate.
1845 Southern Lit. Messenger 11 476/1
These facts were withheld from the world for the nine years which intervened from the first publication of the Mormon Bible.
1882 J. W. Buel Metrop. Life Unveiled 349
These three men have subscribed to an oath which will be found in all Mormon bibles.
Mormon Church
n. the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (see sense A. 1).
1838 Mormon church [see sense B.].
1948 Newsweek 12 Jan. 38/2
Once a basic tenet of the Mormon Church, the doctrine of plural marriage was formally abandoned in 1890.
1992 D. Morgan Rising in West iii. xxiv. 473
KNLB-FM, located in a building adjacent to his Christian preschool on property acquired from the Mormon Church.
Mormon City
n. Salt Lake City, Utah.
1854 De Bow's Rev. Apr. 376
There, in the centre of the Great Valley, would he send forth missionaries, who should penetrate to its remotest bounds, and gather in thousands of disciples to the Mormon City.
1878 J. H. Beadle Western Wilds 39
We got to the Mormon City all beat out.
1996 Chicago Tribune (Nexis) 25
Nov. 10 We're in Utah. We're not someplace sunny and warm. We're in the Mormon City.
Mormon cricket
n. a bush cricket, Anabrus simplex, of the western United States, which is destructive to cereal crops.
1896 J. B. Smith Econ. Entomol. iv. 97
At the base of the Rocky Mountains, extending up into the foothills..the ‘Mormon cricket’, Anabrus simplex, occasionally multiplies so greatly that it migrates to the plains below, destroying everything in its path.
1934 Sun (Baltimore) 1 May 13/1
The devastating ‘mormon’ crickets, which came into prominence in 1848, when they threatened the first colonists in Utah with starvation... Black creatures two inches long when full grown, they eat everything in sight.
1959 E. Tunis Indians 109/1
Grasshoppers and big mormon crickets were driven into trenches from which they could be gathered in baskets.
1986 New Yorker 3 Mar. 66/3
Over the decades..he completely circumambulated the skyline of Jackson Hole, camping where darkness came upon him, casting grasshoppers or Mormon crickets to catch his dinner.
Mormon fly
n. U.S. regional a mayfly.
1845 N. F. Moore Diary 26 Aug. (1946) 46
Our boat and everything about it is now covered with Mormon flies as they are called, being, I am told, peculiar to this neighborhood.
1847 C. Lanman Summer in Wilderness v. 34
They are called the Mormon fly and I was told were found on these rapids alone.
1950 R. P. Bissell Stretch on River 29
Out in the street..the smell of melting tar and squashed Mormon flies filled the air.
1983 Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin) 12 July 2/1
The flies, also known as mayflies and Mormon flies, infest the river towns annually.
Mormon state
n. a U.S. state whose population is predominantly Mormon; spec. Utah.
1849 Southern Q. Rev. Oct. 89
They are now clamorous for a territorial government, and seem inclined to form a Mormon State.
1893 L. Wagner More about Names 35
Utah, otherwise The Mormon State, is called by the Mormons themselves Deseret.
1948 H. L. Mencken Amer. Lang.: Suppl. 2 640
Utah calls itself the Beehive State,..but the designation Mormon State is far more popular, and seems likely to stick.
1999 Guardian (Nexis) 21 Apr. 12
But this [sc. Utah] is still a Mormon state, with something like 75 per cent of its two million population members of the church.
Mormon trail
n. the trail followed by Mormon migrants to Utah in 1847 (later established as a heritage trail).
1850 Ann. Iowa (1910) 3rd Ser. 9 453
Here we struck the old Mormon trail.
1868 ‘M. Twain’ in Galaxy May 631
The post route..changed partly to the old Mormon trail.
1949 Kansas Hist. Q. Feb. 39
The War Department decided..to improve the Mormon trail from Omaha as far as New Fort Kearney.
1998 Salt Lake Tribune (Nexis) 14 Jan. a1
There will be no evidence of last year's authentic re-enactment of the Mormon Trail wagon train on public lands.
Mormon war
n. any of several armed conflicts involving Mormon forces; spec. that between Utah Mormons and the U.S. army sent to establish federal rule in 1857–8.
1833 Evening Star (Kirtland, Ohio) Dec. 235/1 (heading)
The Mormon War.
1846 Quincy (Illinois) Whig 3 Feb. 2/4
He was a Major in the last ‘Mormon War’.
a1918 G. Stuart 40 Years on Frontier (1925) I. 121
The best thing we could do would be to..come back in the spring, as the Mormon war would probably be over then.
1995 Denver Post (Nexis) 9 May b7
The Mormon War is worth remembering because..‘their rebellion flared and was resolved without anyone on either side discharging a gun’.
Mormon weed
n. U.S. the Indian mallow, Abutilon theophrasti.
1872 Trans. Illustr. Dept. Agric. 9 p. ix,
The Indian Mallow (Abutilon Avacennae) variously known as ‘stump weed’, ‘velvet leaf’, ‘butter print’, ‘Mormon weed’, etc.
1907 A. B. Lyons Plant Names (ed. 2) 8
Abutilon... American Hemp, Indian Hemp, Mormon-weed, Pie-marker, Pie-print, Sheep-weed.
1924 Amer. Botanist 30 108
We are at a loss to know the origin of..‘Mormon-weed’ also applied to our plant.
The Mormon world;
Mormons collectively; the beliefs and practices of Mormons.
1845 Quincy (Illinois) Whig 8 Nov. 2/2
See how eagerly they snap up the articles of the Reveille and parade them before all Mormondom in their paper, as evidence that sympathy abroad is enlisted in their favor.
1860 Chambers's Jrnl. 14 359
He would not be the only parent who..has so sacrificed upon the unhallowed altar of Mormondom.
1860 Harper's Mag. Nov. 857/2
We may be a trifle more fastidious than they are in Mormondom, but we have a notion that all the ‘bad words’ ought to be skipped when the ladies are around.
a1886 H. S. Brown Autobiogr. (1887) 114
Salt Lake City is the capital of Mormondom.
1920 Encycl. Relig. & Ethics XI. 86/2
That Joseph Smith..was the real master of Mormondom is borne out by..accounts of him in the height of his power.
1957 W. Mulder Homeward to Zion xi. 289
The ‘iniquitous’ Cullom bill..stirred Mormondom to its center.
1989 Independent 2 Sept. (Mag.) 25/2
Mormondom has never decreed the formal ban on contraception which the Catholic Church upholds.
A female Mormon.
1860 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) 10 Nov. 230
‘Yes,’ hollerd a lot of femaile Mormonesses, ceasin me by the cote tales.
a1861 T. Winthrop John Brent (1862) ix. 99
Selecting, perhaps, a Mormoness to kidnap to-night.
1906 Out West May 305 (title)
The writer lady and the Mormoness.
Relating to or characteristic of Mormons or their beliefs, esp. with regard to plural marriage.
1844 Southport (Wisconsin) Amer. 31 Aug. 2/6
The Mormon Temple..its singularity. It is like nothing else; and, unless we may be allowed to designate it as the Mormonic order, it certainly has no name at all.
1862 R. F. Burton City of Saints iv. 223
In the Mormonic mystery, it is highly probably that..the veriest fancies have taken the deepest root.
1904 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. June 812/1
Other domesticated male animals are so mormonic in their ideas that they recognise no distinction of any kind between their own kittens, puppies, calves, &c., and their neighbours' children.
1993 Sunday Times (Nexis) 10 Oct.
In a country not known for its liberal pro-polygamy laws, Mr Norris's Mormonic collection of mistresses and soi-disant fiancees have been popping out of the tabloid hat like rabbits.
1846 Quincy (Illinois) Whig 19 Mar. 3/3
It would be desirable by all quiet citizens that they should be able to discover a complete evacuation of everything Mormonish in Nauvoo, before they hazard purchases in that place.
1852 Oregon Statesman 6 Jan. 2/6
Your course looks as Mormonish as anything I ever saw.
The religious beliefs and practices of Mormons.
1831 Constellation 16 July 231/4
The deceased was one of those who had embraced the imposition of Joe Smith, and a victim of the delusion of Mormonism.
1845 J. H. Newman Ess. Devel. Christian Doctr. iv. §1. 241
A religion, such that men look at a convert to it with a feeling which no other sect raises, except Judaism, Socialism, or Mormonism.
1881 W. G. Marshall Through Amer. viii. 184
Mormonism does not necessarily involve polygamy.
1929 L. H. Creer Utah & Nation i. 3
Herein was also established the principle of modern revelation, one of the basic principles of Mormonism.
1958 W. Mulder & A. R. Mortensen Among Mormons p. v,
The learned journals have discovered in Mormonism a ripe field for scholarship.
1985 Buzz Sept. 13/1
Reachout..seeks to help those involved in..Mormonism.
1833 J. E. Alexander Transatlantic Sketches II. vi. 129
The Mormonists gave rise to a good deal of conversation in the West last year.
1842 Dickens Amer. Notes I. v. 181,
I should like to try the experiment on a Mormonist or two to begin with.
1846 W. F. Hook Church Dict. 637
These Mormonists, now existing, and even, it is to be feared, increasing, among us, are..even more absurd.
1885 Allegany County (N.Y.) Republican 15 May 1/7
Colorado has got beyond the grip of the Mormonists.
1918 G. L. Morrill On Warpath 216
Here [sc. in the Temple] the Mormons are ‘sealed’, and it is sealed shut to all other religionists, as well as to bad Mormonists.
1937 B. K. Sarkar Creative India v. 512
There were..the Mormonists, the Greek Church Christians, the Syrians, the Armenians and so forth.
A. n.
1831 Constellation 4 June 231/4
Several of the Mormonites soon assembled.
1833 T. Hamilton Men & Manners Amer. II. vii. 310
We passed several parties of what were called Mormonites.
1862 B. Brodie Psychol. Inq. II. v. 174
Those having a too lively imagination..become Mormonites and Ranters.
1947 B. A. De Voto Across Wide Missouri 185
The ‘Mormonites’..had been driven into the unsettled lands of Clay County.
1958 W. Mulder & A. R. Mortensen Among Mormons p. vi,
Once the new church is founded the religious press is full of letters..about the Mormonites and their New Jerusalem.
2001 Seattle Times (Nexis) 24 Mar. c8
Historically, the nickname Mormon was a shortened form of Mormonite, which was meant as an insult to church members.
B. adj.
1833 Evening Star (Kirtland, Ohio) Dec. 235/1
The mob took two of the Mormonite men & beat them with stones and clubs.
1859 J. S. Mill On Liberty iv. 164
The article of the Mormonite doctrine which is the chief provocative..is its sanction of polygamy.
1882 Illustr. Mission. News Mar. 28
Meetings..to denounce Mormonite polygamy.
1988 Financial Times (Nexis) 15 July 15
One encounter follows another:..with Mormonite nightclub singer Deedee, nuclear protester Jackie, rock guitarist Joy [etc.].
rare.
1930 Amer. Mercury Jan. 6/1
The next step was an accident, one of a series that has displayed God's providence to Mormonry.
5
The above citations in chronological order.
[William Morgan disappears in 1826.]
[Mormon Church founded 1830]
[Shortly after their November 23, 1830 marriage, George and Lucinda Harris locate to Terre Haute.]
1831 Constellation 16 July 231/4 ...and a victim of the delusion of Mormonism.
1831 Constellation 4 June 231/4 Several of the Mormonites soon assembled.
1833 Evening Star (Kirtland, Ohio) Dec. 235/1 (heading) The Mormon War.
["Mormon War" headline]
1833 Evening Star (Kirtland, Ohio) Dec. 235/1 A small party of men..proceeded out to the Mormon settlement.
1833 Evening Star (Kirtland, Ohio) Dec. 235/1 The mob took two of the Mormonite men & beat them with stones and clubs.
1833 J. E. Alexander Transatlantic Sketches II. vi. 129 The Mormonists gave rise to a good deal of conversation in the West last year.
1833 Louisville (Kentucky) Daily Herald 22 Nov. (heading) The Mormons and the Anti-Mormons.
1833 T. Hamilton Men & Manners Amer. II. vii. 310 We passed several parties of what were called Mormonites.
[In autumn 1834, LDS Church missionaries Nathan West and Levi W. Hancock conducted meetings in Terre Haute.]
[Apostle Orson Pratt ... in late 1834 ... baptized George Washington and Lucinda Pendleton Morgan Harris in Terre Haute.]
1837 J. M. Peck Gazetteer Illinois (ed. 2) 1. 74 There are..a few Mormons..scattered through the state.
[Smith and his chief counselor Sidney Rigdon visited Terre Haute on several occasions in 1837 including.. Oct. 12.]
[Brigham Young, was in Vigo County during December 1837.]
1838 J. G. Whittier in W. P. Garrison & F. J. Garrison Life W. L. Garrison (1885) II. 221 ..., or of the Mormon Bible...
1838 Niles' Reg. 13 Oct. 103/3 We, and all the Mormon church,..entertain the same feelings and fears toward the Indians.
[Mormon War: August 6, 1838 to November 1, 1838 in Illinos.]
[In October 1838, a parade of 529 Mormons passed through Terre Haute.]
Both migrations seem to avoid Terre Haute, Indiana. Map courtesy of Wikipedia.
1842 Dickens Amer. Notes I. v. 181, I should like to try the experiment on a Mormonist or two to begin with.
1842 H. Caswall City of Mormons 34, I begged him to inform me whether the Mormons believed in the Trinity.
1842 H. Caswall City of Mormons 6 Houses..occupied, I was told, by Mormon emigrants.
1843 F. Marryat Narr. Trav. M. Violet III. xii. 245 The whole of Texas becomes Mormon.
[On Aug. 12, 1843, the Nauvoo High Council read Smith’s first written revelation endorsing polygamy. It was old news to George and Lucinda Harris ... and at least 30 additional wives ... many of whom had husbands.]
1844 Southport (Wisconsin) Amer. 31 Aug. 2/6 The Mormon Temple..its singularity. It is like nothing else...
[June 27, Joseph Smith was running for U.S. President when he dies in jail.]
1845 J. H. Newman Ess. Devel. Christian Doctr. iv. §1. 241 ... except Judaism, Socialism, or Mormonism.
1845 N. F. Moore Diary 26 Aug. (1946) 46 Our boat and everything about it is now covered with Mormon flies as they are called...
1845 Quincy (Illinois) Whig 8 Nov. 2/2 ... before all Mormondom in their paper, as evidence that sympathy abroad is enlisted ...
1845 Southern Lit. Messenger 11 476/1 ... intervened from the first publication of the Mormon Bible.
1846 Quincy (Illinois) Whig 19 Mar. 3/3 ...of everything Mormonish in Nauvoo, before they hazard purchases in that place.
1846 Quincy (Illinois) Whig 3 Feb. 2/4 He was a Major in the last ‘Mormon War’.
1846 W. F. Hook Church Dict. 637 These Mormonists, now existing, and even, it is to be feared, ...
1847 C. Lanman Summer in Wilderness v. 34 They are called the Mormon fly and I was told were found on these rapids alone.
1847 T. H. Benton Let. 14 June in D. Jackson & M. L. Spence Exped. J. C. Frémont(1973) II. 365 The two arriving with the Mormon ...
1849 Southern Q. Rev. Oct. 89 They are now clamorous for a territorial government, and seem inclined to form a Mormon State.
1850 Ann. Iowa (1910) 3rd Ser. 9 453 Here we struck the old Mormon trail.
[The migration of Danes was initiated when missionaries from the LDS Church, ... were sent to Denmark in 1850.]
1852 Oregon Statesman 6 Jan. 2/6 Your course looks as Mormonish as anything I ever saw.
1854 De Bow's Rev. Apr. 376....r in thousands of disciples to the Mormon City.
1859 J. S. Mill On Liberty iv. 164 The article of the Mormonite doctrine which is the chief provocative..is its sanction of polygamy.
1860 Chambers's Jrnl. 14 359 He would not be the only parent who..has so sacrificed upon the unhallowed altar of Mormondom.
1860 Harper's Mag. Nov. 857/2 ... be a trifle more fastidious than they are in Mormondom, ...
1860 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) 10 Nov. 230 ‘Yes,’ hollerd a lot of femaile Mormonesses, ceasin me by the cote tales.
1861a T. Winthrop John Brent (1862) ix. 99 Selecting, perhaps, a Mormoness to kidnap to-night.
1862 B. Brodie Psychol. Inq. II. v. 174 Those having a too lively imagination..become Mormonites and Ranters.
1862 R. F. Burton City of Saints iv. 223 In the Mormonic mystery, it is highly probably that..the veriest fancies have ...
1868 ‘M. Twain’ in Galaxy May 631 The post route..changed partly to the old Mormon trail.
1872 Trans. Illustr. Dept. Agric. 9 p. ix, ... variously known as ‘stump weed’, ‘velvet leaf’, ‘butter print’, ‘Mormon weed’, etc.
1878 J. H. Beadle Western Wilds 39 We got to the Mormon City all beat out.
1881 W. G. Marshall Through Amer. viii. 184 Considerable disgrace attaches to a Mormon if he lives a bachelor life.
1881 W. G. Marshall Through Amer. viii. 184 Mormonism does not necessarily involve polygamy.
1882 Illustr. Mission. News Mar. 28 Meetings..to denounce Mormonite polygamy.
1882 J. W. Buel Metrop. Life Unveiled 349 These three men have subscribed to an oath which will be found in all Mormon bibles.
1884 J. Hall Christian Home 42 We have on the one side the Mormon problem to face, and on the other the divorce problem.
1885 Allegany County (N.Y.) Republican 15 May 1/7 Colorado has got beyond the grip of the Mormonists.
1886a H. S. Brown Autobiogr. (1887) 114 Salt Lake City is the capital of Mormondom.
1893 L. Wagner More about Names 35 Utah, otherwise The Mormon State, is called by the Mormons themselves Deseret.
1896 J. B. Smith Econ. Entomol. iv. 97 At the base of the Rocky Mountains, extending up into the foothills..the ‘Mormon cricket’...
1904 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. June 812/1 Other domesticated male animals are so mormonic in their ideas that they ...
1904 Daily Chron. 5 Mar. 4/6 Mormons who were (plurally) married before polygamy was made illegal.
1906 Out West May 305 (title) The writer lady and the Mormoness.
1906 Spectator 3 Feb. 175/2 In distinction from the barnyard duck, who is a regular Mormon, the mallard is monogamous.
1907 A. B. Lyons Plant Names (ed. 2) 8 Abutilon... American Hemp, Indian Hemp, Mormon-weed, Pie-marker, Pie-print, Sheep-weed.
1913 J. London Valley of Moon 430 He had been provost marshal when the Mormon trouble flared up.
1918 G. L. Morrill On Warpath 216 Here [sc. in the Temple] the Mormons are ‘sealed’... as well as to bad Mormonists.
1918a G. Stuart 40 Years on Frontier (1925) I. 121 ... as the Mormon war would probably be over then.
1920 Encycl. Relig. & Ethics XI. 86/2 That Joseph Smith..was the real master of Mormondom is borne out by..accounts of him ...
1922 Lit. Digest 10 June 40/1 Because a few of the inmates of the Hollywood film colony have ‘married from time to time’, they are less to be censured as Mormons than pitied as morons.
1924 Amer. Botanist 30 108 We are at a loss to know the origin of..‘Mormon-weed’ also applied to our plant.
1928 R. Campbell Wayzgoose i. 26 Muses Nine, Those strapping girls whose love, to say the least, Would make a rabid Mormon...
1929 L. H. Creer Utah & Nation i. 3 ..., one of the basic principles of Mormonism.
1930 Amer. Mercury Jan. 6/1 The next step was an accident, one of a series that has displayed God's providence to Mormonry.
1934 Sun (Baltimore) 1 May 13/1 The devastating ‘mormon’ crickets, which came into prominence in 1848, ...
1937 B. K. Sarkar Creative India v. 512 There were..the Mormonists, the Greek Church Christians, the Syrians, ...
1942 W. Stegner Mormon Country 65 He had sprung clear across the Great Basin deserts to locate the Mormon Station.
1947 B. A. De Voto Across Wide Missouri 185 The ‘Mormonites’..had been driven into the unsettled lands of Clay County.
1947 J. S. Perry Cities of Amer. 36 The first detachment of the Mormon Battalion that had marched 2,000 miles to help in the...
1948 H. L. Mencken Amer. Lang.: Suppl. 2 640 Utah calls itself the Beehive State,..but the designation Mormon State is far...
1948 Newsweek 12 Jan. 38/2 Once a basic tenet of the Mormon Church, the doctrine of plural marriage was ...
1949 Chicago Daily News 16 June 18/3 The prettiest girls in America are to be found among the Mormons of Salt Lake City.
1949 Kansas Hist. Q. Feb. 39 The War Department decided..to improve the Mormon trail from Omaha as far as New Fort Kearney.
1950 R. P. Bissell Stretch on River 29 Out in the street..the smell of melting tar and squashed Mormon flies filled the air.
1957 W. Mulder Homeward to Zion xi. 289 The ‘iniquitous’ Cullom bill..stirred Mormondom to its center.
1958 W. Mulder & A. R. Mortensen Among Mormons p. v, The learned journals have discovered in Mormonism a ripe field ...
1958 W. Mulder & A. R. Mortensen Among Mormons p. vi, ...about the Mormonites and their New Jerusalem.
1959 E. Tunis Indians 109/1 Grasshoppers and big mormon crickets were driven into trenches from which they could be ...
1968 Encycl. Brit. XIII. 795/2 Space, time, matter and the universe in Mormon theology are limitless by nature.
1983 Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin) 12 July 2/1 The flies, also known as mayflies and Mormon flies,...
1985 Buzz Feb. 51/3 This same mistake undergirds the Mormon belief that Christ will return to the city of Independence, Missouri...
1985 Buzz Sept. 13/1 Reachout..seeks to help those involved in..Mormonism.
1986 New Yorker 3 Mar. 66/3 ... casting grasshoppers or Mormon crickets to catch his dinner.
1988 Financial Times (Nexis) 15 July 15 One encounter follows another:..with Mormonite nightclub singer Deedee...
1989 Independent 2 Sept. (Mag.) 25/2 Mormondom has never decreed the formal ban on contraception which the Catholic...
1990 L. Picknett Encycl. Paranormal 58/1 ... known as the Mormons, believe that theirs is the only Christian Church authorised by God.
1992 D. Morgan Rising in West iii. xxiv. 473 ... to his Christian preschool on property acquired from the Mormon Church.
1993 Sunday Times (Nexis) 10 Oct. In a country not known for its liberal pro-polygamy laws, Mr Norris's Mormonic collection...
1995 Denver Post (Nexis) 9 May b7 The Mormon War is worth remembering because..‘their rebellion flared and was resolved ...
1996 Chicago Tribune (Nexis) 25 Nov. 10 We're in Utah. We're not someplace sunny and warm. We're in the Mormon City.
1998 Salt Lake Tribune (Nexis) 14 Jan. a1 There will be no evidence of last year's authentic re-enactment of the Mormon Trail ...
1999 Guardian (Nexis) 21 Apr. 12 But this [sc. Utah] is still a Mormon state, with something like 75 per cent of its two...
2001 Salt Lake Tribune (Nexis) 3 June d5 Melissa Coray Peak is named after the wife of a Mormon Battalion soldier.
2001 Seattle Times (Nexis) 24 Mar. c8 Historically, the nickname Mormon was a shortened form of Mormonite, which was meant...
[Lucinda Harris, “sealed” as Joseph Smith’s wife, divorced George Harris and became a nun with the Sisters of Charity.]
1842 H. Caswall City of Mormons 34, I begged him to inform me whether the Mormons believed in the Trinity.
1842 H. Caswall City of Mormons 6 Houses..occupied, I was told, by Mormon emigrants.
1843 F. Marryat Narr. Trav. M. Violet III. xii. 245 The whole of Texas becomes Mormon.
[On Aug. 12, 1843, the Nauvoo High Council read Smith’s first written revelation endorsing polygamy. It was old news to George and Lucinda Harris ... and at least 30 additional wives ... many of whom had husbands.]
1844 Southport (Wisconsin) Amer. 31 Aug. 2/6 The Mormon Temple..its singularity. It is like nothing else...
[June 27, Joseph Smith was running for U.S. President when he dies in jail.]
1845 J. H. Newman Ess. Devel. Christian Doctr. iv. §1. 241 ... except Judaism, Socialism, or Mormonism.
1845 N. F. Moore Diary 26 Aug. (1946) 46 Our boat and everything about it is now covered with Mormon flies as they are called...
1845 Quincy (Illinois) Whig 8 Nov. 2/2 ... before all Mormondom in their paper, as evidence that sympathy abroad is enlisted ...
1845 Southern Lit. Messenger 11 476/1 ... intervened from the first publication of the Mormon Bible.
1846 Quincy (Illinois) Whig 19 Mar. 3/3 ...of everything Mormonish in Nauvoo, before they hazard purchases in that place.
1846 Quincy (Illinois) Whig 3 Feb. 2/4 He was a Major in the last ‘Mormon War’.
1846 W. F. Hook Church Dict. 637 These Mormonists, now existing, and even, it is to be feared, ...
1847 C. Lanman Summer in Wilderness v. 34 They are called the Mormon fly and I was told were found on these rapids alone.
1847 T. H. Benton Let. 14 June in D. Jackson & M. L. Spence Exped. J. C. Frémont(1973) II. 365 The two arriving with the Mormon ...
1849 Southern Q. Rev. Oct. 89 They are now clamorous for a territorial government, and seem inclined to form a Mormon State.
1850 Ann. Iowa (1910) 3rd Ser. 9 453 Here we struck the old Mormon trail.
[The migration of Danes was initiated when missionaries from the LDS Church, ... were sent to Denmark in 1850.]
1852 Oregon Statesman 6 Jan. 2/6 Your course looks as Mormonish as anything I ever saw.
1854 De Bow's Rev. Apr. 376....r in thousands of disciples to the Mormon City.
1859 J. S. Mill On Liberty iv. 164 The article of the Mormonite doctrine which is the chief provocative..is its sanction of polygamy.
1860 Chambers's Jrnl. 14 359 He would not be the only parent who..has so sacrificed upon the unhallowed altar of Mormondom.
1860 Harper's Mag. Nov. 857/2 ... be a trifle more fastidious than they are in Mormondom, ...
1860 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) 10 Nov. 230 ‘Yes,’ hollerd a lot of femaile Mormonesses, ceasin me by the cote tales.
1861a T. Winthrop John Brent (1862) ix. 99 Selecting, perhaps, a Mormoness to kidnap to-night.
1862 B. Brodie Psychol. Inq. II. v. 174 Those having a too lively imagination..become Mormonites and Ranters.
1862 R. F. Burton City of Saints iv. 223 In the Mormonic mystery, it is highly probably that..the veriest fancies have ...
1868 ‘M. Twain’ in Galaxy May 631 The post route..changed partly to the old Mormon trail.
1872 Trans. Illustr. Dept. Agric. 9 p. ix, ... variously known as ‘stump weed’, ‘velvet leaf’, ‘butter print’, ‘Mormon weed’, etc.
1878 J. H. Beadle Western Wilds 39 We got to the Mormon City all beat out.
1881 W. G. Marshall Through Amer. viii. 184 Considerable disgrace attaches to a Mormon if he lives a bachelor life.
1881 W. G. Marshall Through Amer. viii. 184 Mormonism does not necessarily involve polygamy.
1882 Illustr. Mission. News Mar. 28 Meetings..to denounce Mormonite polygamy.
1882 J. W. Buel Metrop. Life Unveiled 349 These three men have subscribed to an oath which will be found in all Mormon bibles.
1884 J. Hall Christian Home 42 We have on the one side the Mormon problem to face, and on the other the divorce problem.
1885 Allegany County (N.Y.) Republican 15 May 1/7 Colorado has got beyond the grip of the Mormonists.
1886a H. S. Brown Autobiogr. (1887) 114 Salt Lake City is the capital of Mormondom.
1893 L. Wagner More about Names 35 Utah, otherwise The Mormon State, is called by the Mormons themselves Deseret.
1896 J. B. Smith Econ. Entomol. iv. 97 At the base of the Rocky Mountains, extending up into the foothills..the ‘Mormon cricket’...
1904 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. June 812/1 Other domesticated male animals are so mormonic in their ideas that they ...
1904 Daily Chron. 5 Mar. 4/6 Mormons who were (plurally) married before polygamy was made illegal.
1906 Out West May 305 (title) The writer lady and the Mormoness.
1906 Spectator 3 Feb. 175/2 In distinction from the barnyard duck, who is a regular Mormon, the mallard is monogamous.
1907 A. B. Lyons Plant Names (ed. 2) 8 Abutilon... American Hemp, Indian Hemp, Mormon-weed, Pie-marker, Pie-print, Sheep-weed.
1913 J. London Valley of Moon 430 He had been provost marshal when the Mormon trouble flared up.
1918 G. L. Morrill On Warpath 216 Here [sc. in the Temple] the Mormons are ‘sealed’... as well as to bad Mormonists.
1918a G. Stuart 40 Years on Frontier (1925) I. 121 ... as the Mormon war would probably be over then.
1920 Encycl. Relig. & Ethics XI. 86/2 That Joseph Smith..was the real master of Mormondom is borne out by..accounts of him ...
1922 Lit. Digest 10 June 40/1 Because a few of the inmates of the Hollywood film colony have ‘married from time to time’, they are less to be censured as Mormons than pitied as morons.
1924 Amer. Botanist 30 108 We are at a loss to know the origin of..‘Mormon-weed’ also applied to our plant.
1928 R. Campbell Wayzgoose i. 26 Muses Nine, Those strapping girls whose love, to say the least, Would make a rabid Mormon...
1929 L. H. Creer Utah & Nation i. 3 ..., one of the basic principles of Mormonism.
1930 Amer. Mercury Jan. 6/1 The next step was an accident, one of a series that has displayed God's providence to Mormonry.
1934 Sun (Baltimore) 1 May 13/1 The devastating ‘mormon’ crickets, which came into prominence in 1848, ...
1937 B. K. Sarkar Creative India v. 512 There were..the Mormonists, the Greek Church Christians, the Syrians, ...
1942 W. Stegner Mormon Country 65 He had sprung clear across the Great Basin deserts to locate the Mormon Station.
1947 B. A. De Voto Across Wide Missouri 185 The ‘Mormonites’..had been driven into the unsettled lands of Clay County.
1947 J. S. Perry Cities of Amer. 36 The first detachment of the Mormon Battalion that had marched 2,000 miles to help in the...
1948 H. L. Mencken Amer. Lang.: Suppl. 2 640 Utah calls itself the Beehive State,..but the designation Mormon State is far...
1948 Newsweek 12 Jan. 38/2 Once a basic tenet of the Mormon Church, the doctrine of plural marriage was ...
1949 Chicago Daily News 16 June 18/3 The prettiest girls in America are to be found among the Mormons of Salt Lake City.
1949 Kansas Hist. Q. Feb. 39 The War Department decided..to improve the Mormon trail from Omaha as far as New Fort Kearney.
1950 R. P. Bissell Stretch on River 29 Out in the street..the smell of melting tar and squashed Mormon flies filled the air.
1957 W. Mulder Homeward to Zion xi. 289 The ‘iniquitous’ Cullom bill..stirred Mormondom to its center.
1958 W. Mulder & A. R. Mortensen Among Mormons p. v, The learned journals have discovered in Mormonism a ripe field ...
1958 W. Mulder & A. R. Mortensen Among Mormons p. vi, ...about the Mormonites and their New Jerusalem.
1959 E. Tunis Indians 109/1 Grasshoppers and big mormon crickets were driven into trenches from which they could be ...
1968 Encycl. Brit. XIII. 795/2 Space, time, matter and the universe in Mormon theology are limitless by nature.
1983 Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin) 12 July 2/1 The flies, also known as mayflies and Mormon flies,...
1985 Buzz Feb. 51/3 This same mistake undergirds the Mormon belief that Christ will return to the city of Independence, Missouri...
1985 Buzz Sept. 13/1 Reachout..seeks to help those involved in..Mormonism.
1986 New Yorker 3 Mar. 66/3 ... casting grasshoppers or Mormon crickets to catch his dinner.
1988 Financial Times (Nexis) 15 July 15 One encounter follows another:..with Mormonite nightclub singer Deedee...
1989 Independent 2 Sept. (Mag.) 25/2 Mormondom has never decreed the formal ban on contraception which the Catholic...
1990 L. Picknett Encycl. Paranormal 58/1 ... known as the Mormons, believe that theirs is the only Christian Church authorised by God.
1992 D. Morgan Rising in West iii. xxiv. 473 ... to his Christian preschool on property acquired from the Mormon Church.
1993 Sunday Times (Nexis) 10 Oct. In a country not known for its liberal pro-polygamy laws, Mr Norris's Mormonic collection...
1995 Denver Post (Nexis) 9 May b7 The Mormon War is worth remembering because..‘their rebellion flared and was resolved ...
1996 Chicago Tribune (Nexis) 25 Nov. 10 We're in Utah. We're not someplace sunny and warm. We're in the Mormon City.
1998 Salt Lake Tribune (Nexis) 14 Jan. a1 There will be no evidence of last year's authentic re-enactment of the Mormon Trail ...
1999 Guardian (Nexis) 21 Apr. 12 But this [sc. Utah] is still a Mormon state, with something like 75 per cent of its two...
2001 Salt Lake Tribune (Nexis) 3 June d5 Melissa Coray Peak is named after the wife of a Mormon Battalion soldier.
2001 Seattle Times (Nexis) 24 Mar. c8 Historically, the nickname Mormon was a shortened form of Mormonite, which was meant...
[Lucinda Harris, “sealed” as Joseph Smith’s wife, divorced George Harris and became a nun with the Sisters of Charity.]