Definition of "naturalist"

naturalist

noun
plural naturalists
1. (obsolete, except as merged with later senses) A natural philosopher; a scientist.
  Quotations
  It has also been asserted, by some naturalists, that men do not attain their full growth and strength till thirty; but that women arrive at maturity by twenty.
  1791 (date written), Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, 1st American edition, Boston, Mass.: […] Peter Edes for Thomas and Andrews, […], published 1792
2. (philosophy) A person who believes in or advocates the tenets of philosophical or methodological naturalism.
3. An expert in natural history or the study of plants and animals.
  Quotations
  I will leave off all my childish fooleries and diversions, and set about studying with such a rage, that when you come back next year, you may find the tongue I have now in my mouth more forky than that of some serpents mentioned by Pliny the naturalist.
  a. 1776, Joseph Baretti, “Dialogue the Fortieth”, in Easy Phraseology for the Use of Those Persons Who Intend to Learn the Colloquial Part of the Italian Language‎, 1835 edition, Turin: Joseph Bocca, page 236
4. (art) A creative artist who attempts to faithfully represent nature; an adherent of artistic naturalism.