Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SOPH'IS-TER, n. [supra.]

1. A disputant fallaciously subtil; an artful but insidious logician; as, an atheistical sophister. Not all the subtil objections of sophisters and rabbies against the Gospel, so much prejudiced the reception of it, as the reproach of those crimes with which they aspersed the assemblies of Christians. – Rogers.
2. A professor of philosophy; a sophist. [Obs.] – Hooker.