călumnĭātor (kălumnĭātor; v. the foreg.), ōris, m. [calumnior]; mostly t. t.,
I a contriver of tricks or artifices , a pettifogger , a perverter of law , a chicaner (sometimes, perhaps, branded on the forehead with the letter K = calumniator; cf. Voss, Arist. 1, 17; Ernest. Clav. Cic. Ind. Leg. s. v. Remmia): si calvitur et moretur et frustratur. Inde et calumniatores appellati sunt, quia per fraudem et frustrationem alios vexarent litibus, Dig. 50, 16, 223: scriptum sequi calumniatoris esse: boni judicis, voluntatem scriptoris auctoritatemque defendere, Cic. Caecil. 23, 65: calumniatores apponere, id. Verr. 2, 1, 10, § 27: calumniatorem quaerere, id. ib. 2, 2, 8, § 22; 2, 2, 10, § 26: egens, id. Clu. 59, 163; id. Quint. 28, 87; Phaedr. 1, 17, 2; Mart. 11, 66, 1; Dig. 3, 2, 4, § 4; Suet. Rhet. 4.—
II Trop.: calumniator sui, one who is too anxious in regard to his work , over-scrupulous , Plin. 34, 8, 19, § 92; cf. calumnia, III. B., and calumnior, II. B.