Ba*hai" (ba*hi"), n.; pl.
Bahais (-hiz).
A member of the sect of the Babis
consisting of the adherents of Baha (Mirza Husain Ali, entitled "Baha
'u 'llah," or, "the Splendor of God"), the elder half brother of Mirza
Yahya of Nur, who succeeded the Bab as the head of the Babists. Baha
in 1863 declared himself the supreme prophet of the sect, and became
its recognized head. There are upwards of 20,000 Bahais in the United
States.
© Webster 1913.