Recusant

Word of the Day for Sunday, October 21, 2012

Recusant \REK-yuh-zuhnt\, noun:

1. A person who refuses to submit, comply, etc.
2. English History. A person, especially a Roman Catholic, who refused to attend the services of the Church of England.

He looked swiftly around to make sure no one was watching, stepped forward, and put his arms around the recusant in a quick embrace. "I'm sorry it had to go this far," he murmured, then stepped back and raised his hand in a parting salute. “If you leave now you could still make it back to the recusant Headquarters alive. And may we meet as friends next time.”
-- Vyshali Manivannan, Invictus

I could no longer doubt the doom prepared for me by my monkish ingenuity in torture. My cognizance of the pit had become known to the inquisitorial agents—the pit whose horrors had been destined for so bold a recusant as myself—the pit, typical of hell, and regarded by rumour as the Ultima Thule of all their punishments.
-- Edgar Allan Poe, The Pit and the Pendulum

Recusant comes from the Latin word recusāre meaning "to demur, object."

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com