Wagnerite

From Wagner +‎ -ite.

Wagnerite (plural Wagnerites)

1. An admirer of the German composer Richard Wagner or his work.

   Synonym: Wagnerian

   Hyponyms: Ringhead, Ringnut

   Coordinate term: Wagnerism

   • 1999 August 23, Michael Ajzenstadt, “Bayreuth's magic endures”, in The Jerusalem Post:

     The magic and charm of Bayreuth will never vanish. It is an experience every music lover in general and every Wagnerite in particular owes to himself at least once in a lifetime.

   • 2005 July 31, George Jahn, “Wagner festival attracts stars and opera lovers”, in Deseret News:

     As always, this year's 30 performances were sold out well before curtain time, with nearly 60,000 Wagnerites paying hundreds of euros for the best tickets.

   • 2005 August 7, Melinda Bargreen, “Ringheads have fiery devotion”, in The Seattle Times:

     Herrmann, like many Wagnerites, started listening to opera as a youngster: "My father played the old 78 rpm recordings for me, and had me read the Edda [Old Norse sagas, one of Wagner's major sources for his 'Ring']."

2. (military) A mercenary from the Wagner Group PMC.
   • 2019 January 31, Denis Shpigov, “Wagner group: Mercenaries protecting Kremlin’s interests worldwide”, in BelsatTV‎, archived from the original on 15 March 2023:

     Until international law settles the status of PMCs, the Kremlin will continue to use them in the international arena. According to Reuters, about 400 ‘Wagnerites’ have been recently sent to Venezuela to protect president Nicolas Maduro.

   • 2021 December 5, @AbraxasSpa, Twitter‎, retrieved March 15, 2023:

     Wagnerites: "We need more drones, ideally armed. And MRAPs, and more thermal sights, and better comms, and new helicopters to replace those lost..."
     Prigozhin: "Best I can do is another movie"

   • 2023 January 9, Peter Beaumont, “Ukraine reinforces Bakhmut defences amid relentless Russian assault”, in The Guardian‎:

     “The enemy again made a desperate attempt to storm the city of Soledar from different directions and threw the most professional units of the Wagnerites into battle,” Ukraine’s military said on Monday, echoing comments made by Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on Sunday.

   • 2023 February 22, Paul Kirby, “Russian Wagner chief Prigozhin blames ammunition shortage for high deaths”, in BBC News:

     "We will not leave Bakhmut," vowed Prigozhin in his audio message. "We'll simply die in double the numbers until all [the Wagnerites] are finished. And when the Wagnerites are completely finished, most likely Shoigu and Gerasimov will have to pick up machine guns."

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