| 释义 |
ecclesiastic, a. and n.|ɛˌkliːzɪˈæstɪk|
Forms: 5 ecclesyastyke, 6–7 -iastique, 7 -tick(e, -tik, 7– ecclesiastic.
[ad. (through Fr. and L.) Gr. ἐκκλησιαστικός, ultimately f. ἐκκλησία church.]
A. adj. (Now rare; see ecclesiastical.)
1. Of or pertaining to the church; concerned with the affairs of the church; opposed to civil or secular.
1483Caxton Cato G j b, The benefyces and the thynges ecclesyastyke. 1588A. King Canisius' Catech. 42 b, Jesus Christ..commandit thais thingis quhilk perteins to obedience to be geuin to the Apostolique and Ecclesiastique commandimentis. 1678Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. §iv. xiii. 213 Some ecclesiastick writers..impute a Trinity of gods to Marcion. 1695Kennett Par. Antiq. vii. 30 The disposition of the Ecclesiastick state depending always on the revolutions of the civil government. 1766Cole in Ellis Orig. Lett. ii. 510 IV. 487 To unloose all ties both civil and ecclesiastic. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits x. Wealth Wks. (Bohn) II. 73 Whatever is excellent..in civil, rural, or ecclesiastic architecture.
†b. Of language (esp. Gr. or L.), words, or senses of words: Characteristic of ecclesiastical writers; opposed to classical or secular. Obs.
1651Hobbes Leviath. i. vii. 31 This singularity of the Ecclesiastique use of the word [credo] hath raised many dissenters. a1638Mede Wks. ii. iv. (1672) 360 [In] S. John's Writings..we find two Ecclesiastick terms of λόγος, and κυριακὴ ἡµέρα.
2. Of persons: Belonging to the church viewed as consisting of the clergy; clerical (= older sense of spiritual) as opposed to lay. Also of attire, functions, etc.: Pertaining to the clergy.
1603Knolles Hist. Turks (1638) 81 He caused the Priests in their ecclesiastick attire and ornaments, to march forth in the army. 1610Donne Pseudo-Mart. 26 Nor deale they onely with temporall punishments upon Ecclesiastique persons. 1820Combe (Dr. Syntax) Consol. iii. 182 A gay ecclesiastic Beau.
B. n.
1. [See A. 2.] A clergyman, person in orders, a ‘churchman’ as distinguished from a ‘layman’. App. not before 17th c., the earlier term being ‘spiritual man’. Chiefly techn. and Hist.
1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxix. 168 The subjection of Ecclesiastiques to the Common-wealth. 1707Addison State of War 254 And at the same time such vast numbers of Ecclesiasticks, secular and religious. 1870F. Wilson Ch. Lindisf. 93 A fragment of an effigy of an ecclesiastic. 1880McCarthy Own Times IV. lxiii. 427 He had in him much of the taste and the temper of the ecclesiastic.
†2. pl.
a. Matters ecclesiastical.
b. The science of church government. (rare). Obs.
a1619M. Fotherby Atheom. ii. xiv. §2 (1622) 356 For Morall Philosophie..hath three parts: Ecclesiastickes, Oeconomickes, and Politickes. 1672Chas. II. in Gutch Coll. Cur. I. 311 He is much troubled, that that Declaration..should have..given an occasion to the questioning of his power in ecclesiasticks. 1738Neal Hist. Purit. IV. 455. |