noun
(Politics)
An animal rights campaigner or supporter.
Etymology: A contraction of animal liberationist; formerly, an
animalist was a follower of the philosophy of animalism or an
artist who treated animal subjects.
History and Usage: This snappier term arose in US English
during the mid eighties and is as yet barely established in the
language. The movement to which it refers, variously known as
animal liberation, animal lib, and animal rights, has a much
longer history--the term animal liberation goes back to the
early seventies--and there is a good case for a term which would
be less of a mouthful than animal liberationist or animal rights
campaigner, although this one suffers from possible confusion
with the opposite meaning of the adjective animalist in the
entry below.
The uproar resulted from a column two weeks ago in which
I reported that animalist Barbara Toth was enraged over
the possibility that some Asian immigrants in Canoga
Park might be turning strays into dog foo young.
Los Angeles Times (Valley edition) 22 July 1985, section
2, p. 7
The dismal sight on Tuesday night of bedraggled
'animalists' distributing protest literature to queues
of happy families agog with the expectancy of pure
pleasure.