Lollard a follower of John Wyclif. The Lollards believed that the Church should aid people to live a life of evangelical poverty and imitate Christ. Official attitudes to the Lollards varied considerably, but they were generally held to be heretics and often severely persecuted.

The word was originally a derogatory term, derived from a Dutch word meaning ‘mumbler’, based on lollen ‘to mumble’.

Lollard contemptuous name for certain heretics. XIV. — MDu. lollaerd lit. mumbler, mutterer, f. lollen mumble; see -ARD.