runagate means A deserter, renegade or apostate. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why this word is great
RUNAGATE — [Noun] A fugitive, deserter, or apostate. Its etymology is a felon’s history: an alteration of the earlier 'renegate' (from Medieval Latin 'renegatus', meaning 'renegade'), influenced by folk etymology with 'run' and the obsolete adverb 'agate' (meaning 'on the way, agoing'), transforming the traitor into one who is perpetually running. Unlike a renegade, which centers the stain of sworn betrayal, or a vagabond, which romanticizes a chosen rootlessness, a runagate is defined by the transitive moment of flight itself. He is the conscript vanishing into the night wood, the monk discarding his habit at the crossroads, the heretic slipping through the city gate as the warrant is read—a silhouette always receding from the space where a commitment once stood.
noun
- 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.”
- 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.”