E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Diotrephes.
One who loves to have the pre-eminence among others. (3 John 9.)
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“Neither a desperate Judas, like the prelate Sharpe [archbishop of St. Andrew’s, who was murdered], that’s gone to his place; nor a sanctuary - breaking. Holoferns, like the bloodyminded Claverhouse; nor an ambitious Diotrephs, like the lad [Lord] Evandale … . shall resist the arrows that are whetted and the bow that is bent against you.”—Sir W. Scott: Old Mortality, chap. xiv.
s, like the bloodyminded Claverhouse; nor an ambitious Diotreph
