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churchn.1adj. Origin: A word inherited from Germanic. Etymology: Cognate with Old Frisian tzerke , tzerk , tzierke , tzark , tziurke , kerke (West Frisian tsjerke ), Old Dutch kirika , kerk (only recorded in a place name and a derivative; Middle Dutch kirke , kerke , keerke , kerk , Dutch kerk ), Old Saxon kerika , kirika (Middle Low German kerke , karke ), Old High German kirihha , khirihha , chiricha , also (with dissimilation) chilihha , chīlihha (Middle High German kirche , also kilche , German Kirche ), probably < a variant of Byzantine Greek κυριακόν (4th cent. a.d.), use as noun (probably short for κυριακὸν δῶμα , lit. ‘house of the Lord’) of κυριακόν , neuter of Hellenistic Greek κυριακός (adjective) ‘of the Lord, dominical’ < ancient Greek κύριος lord (see Kyrie eleison n.) + -ακός -ac suffix. The place and time of borrowing have been the subject of much controversy, since the usual words (borrowed from Greek) for ‘church’ in the western part of the Roman Empire and hence reflected in the modern Romance languages (and in Celtic) were classical Latin ecclēsia ecclesia n. (in its post-classical Latin senses) and (to a lesser extent) basilica basilica n. According to most modern views, the word was probably borrowed early into West Germanic from the ecclesiastical usage of the Christian communities of the colonial cities of the Rhine area. The Greek noun is well attested in eastern sources during the early 4th cent., and was probably current also in the use of the early Christian church in the Rhine area, where Greek models were influential. As a word for a very basic part of the material culture of the Christian faith it was probably well known even to pagan Germanic peoples bordering the imperial frontiers, and to those encountering Christian peoples in both the Roman and post-Roman periods. Subsequent transmission among the West Germanic varieties cannot be traced at this time depth. The forms in the West Germanic languages apparently ultimately reflect a form with early substitution of i for the vowel in the first syllable and reduction of the medial syllable of the Greek word to i . With the latter perhaps compare Byzantine Greek Κύρικος , Κυρικός as a personal name (6th cent.). However, there appears to be no continuity or direct connection between the late Roman use and post-classical Latin kyrica , kirica (from the early 9th cent. in German sources), which is almost certainly borrowed from Old High German or Old Saxon. The word is a (weak) feminine in the West Germanic languages (including Old English); various explanations have been given for this change of gender, including the existence of a parallel feminine form κυριακή in Greek (in fact recorded in the sense ‘church’ only from the 11th cent.; occasionally cited in British and continental post-classical Latin sources from the 12th cent.; compare also quot. a1200 at sense A. 1a), or association with post-classical Latin basilica or its etymon Hellenistic Greek βασιλική in this meaning (see basilica n.), or perhaps borrowing of the Greek (neuter) plural κυριακά wrongly identified as a Latin feminine singular in -a. In each of the West Germanic languages the word probably originally denoted a church as physical building (as in Greek), but was early extended to denote also the church as an institution and as a body of worshippers, probably after the range of meanings of post-classical Latin ecclesia and its etymon ancient Greek ἐκκλησία (as used in Hellenistic Greek). Application to the holy buildings of other faiths is also found in various other early Germanic languages.The corresponding words in North Germanic languages probably all ultimately reflect borrowing from English; compare Old Icelandic kirkja , Old Swedish kyrkia , kirkia (Swedish kyrka ), Old Danish kirkæ , kirkiæ , kyrkæ , kyrkiæ (Danish kirke ). Borrowings from North Germanic languages are shown by Finnish kirkko , Estonian kirik , Old Prussian kīrkā . Compare also the Slavonic forms, all of which ultimately reflect borrowing from Germanic languages: Old Church Slavonic crĭky , cirŭky , Russian cerkov′ , Polish cerkiew (now only denoting an Eastern Orthodox church), Czech církev , Upper Sorbian cyrkej , Lower Sorbian cerkwja , Bulgarian cărkva , Serbian and Croatian crkva , Slovene cerkev . For references to the extensive (recent and older) scholarship on this topic see especially A. H. Feulner Die griechischen Lehnwörter im Altenglischen (2000) 185–8. The Latin equivalent of κυριακόν , dominicum , was also in use at least from the time of Cyprian (3rd cent.) in the sense ‘the house of God’. To a certain extent it was adopted in Early Irish, where domnach became a frequent element in the names of churches (Irish Domhnach , English Donagh- , Dona- ), although it is rare in this sense as a common noun (compare Early Irish domnach Sunday (Irish Domhnach )). In Old English a weak feminine; occasional oblique forms showing loss of final -n are chiefly Northumbrian or late. The Old English word shows regular palatalization and assibilation of the initial consonant before i and of the stem-final consonant between i and the front vowel of the nominative singular ending. Spellings such as (inflected form) ciricean show that the assibilated consonant is often analogically extended to the inflected forms already in early West Saxon (compare quots. eOE2, eOE3 at α. forms). The northern and Scots variant kirk n., although perhaps reflecting a form with failure of palatalization and assibilation in Old English (compare the rare form kyrice at α. forms), is probably more likely to show sound substitution resulting from the influence of the corresponding form in early Scandinavian or even direct borrowing of the early Scandinavian word (compare Old Icelandic kirkja and see discussion at kirk n.). The β. forms show syncope of the unstressed medial vowel after short initial syllable ending in a liquid consonant, a sound change that occurs sporadically in Old English (see R. M. Hogg Gram. Old Eng. (1992) I. §6.67 note 2). Old English forms such as cyrice (see α. forms), cyrce (see β. forms) and perhaps also forms such as cierice , cierce reflect rounding (or perhaps laxing) of i before r (see A. Campbell Old Eng. Gram. (1959) §318, and compare R. M. Hogg Gram. Old Eng. (1992) I. §§5.170–2); proof of rounding is shown by the Middle English reflexes. In early Middle English the combined influence of the following r and the palatal affricate caused retraction of y (the result of late rounding of i in Old English) to u (compare early Middle English churiche at α. forms, churche at β. forms); see R. Jordan Handb. der mittelenglischen Grammatik (ed. 2, 1934) §§42 note 1, 43.2. Forms such as Old English cerce , Middle English cherche (see β. forms), on the other hand, chiefly represent the south-eastern reflex of Old English y . The evidence of orthoepists shows reflexes of both Middle English u and Middle English i in the early modern English standard (see E. J. Dobson Eng. Pronunc. 1500–1700 (ed. 2, 1968) II. §82). For a word showing similar phonological developments compare churn n. Pronunciations that reflect loss of /r/ (see β. forms) are found in regional use from a wide range of English counties; for limited evidence from the early modern period see A. A. Hill in Proc. Mod. Lang. Assoc. 55 (1955) 325 (rare examples from late Middle English may show scribal errors). The word is attested early in boundary markers in charters, is frequent as an element in minor names and field names (especially in the names of individual churches), and also appears early as an element in place names (i.e. settlement names). As a place name element, it sometimes seems to refer to less significant church buildings, as contrasted with names containing minster n. Compare:eOE (Kentish) Will of Badanoð Beotting (Sawyer 1510) in A. J. Robertson Anglo-Saxon Charters (1956) 10 To ðere stowe æt Cristes cirican [= Christchurch, Canterbury].OE Will of King Ælfred (Sawyer 1507) in F. E. Harmer Sel. Eng. Hist. Docs. 9th & 10th Cent. (1914) 17 Æt Crucern & æt Hwitancyrican [= Whitchurch] & æt Axanmuðan.OE Bounds (Sawyer 1003) in D. Hooke Pre-Conquest Charter-bounds Devon & Cornwall (1994) 204 Swa eft ongean be þam sealternon on þa stræte on west healfe michaheles ciricean [= St Michael's, Dawlish].OE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Tiber. B.i) (Mercian register) anno 915 Ðæs oþre geare on ufan midne winter þa æt Cyricbyrig [= Chirbury, Shropshire]. A. n.1 I. A building for public worship, or the worship performed there. 1. society > faith > artefacts > sanctuary or holy place > church or place of worship > [noun] eOE (Corpus Cambr. 173) v. §1. 52 Ðæt [sc. a building serving as sanctuary] næbbe ðon ma dura þonne sio cirice. OE Ælfric (Royal) (1997) xviii. 317 On ðone timan þe gelamp on anre byrig..micel eorðstyrung & feollon cyrcan & hus. lOE (Rochester) ii. 12 Ciricean mundbyrd sie l scillinga swa cinges. a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris (1873) 2nd Ser. 23 Ich leue þat chireche is holi godes hus on eorðe, and is cleped on boc kiriaca .i. dominicalis, þat is on englis louerdlich hus. c1325 (c1300) (Calig.) l. 7834 Chirchen he let rere al so. 1340 (1866) 43 (MED) Þe zenne of ham þet berneþ..cherchen. c1443 R. Pecock (1927) 244 (MED) Þe bodili hous of þe chirche wiþ alle þe ornamentis þerynne. a1500 (1839) 17 To be layede in the chyrche of Paulis. 1532 R. Whittington tr. Erasmus sig. B.4/2 As ofte as thou comest by a churche do of thy cap and make curtesye, and thy face turned towarde the sacrament, salute with reuerence Christe & holy sayntes. 1563 sig. Bb.ii The materiall Church..is a place appoynted..for the people of God to resorte together vnto. 1633 G. Herbert Church Porch in lxviii When once thy foot enters the Church, be bare. 1659 S. Carrington 24 The Murderers..retired themselves into a Church, which in Spain is a Sanctuary which the Justice ought not to violate. 1712 H. Prideaux (ed. 4) 81 The Nave or Body of the Church. 1749 H. Fielding III. ix. vi. 352 Some Folks..used indeed to doubt whether they were lawfully married in a Church or no. View more context for this quotation 1770 O. Goldsmith 12 The decent church that topp'd the neighb'ring hill. 1841 R. W. Emerson Self-reliance in 1st Ser. (London ed.) 72 I like the silent church before the service begins, better than any preaching. 1853 May 207/1 Our brethren have erected a very convenient and comfortable meeting-house, now-a-days called a church. 1925 G. P. Krapp I. 146 In America the word church has not the specialized meaning which permits it to be applied in England only to the established church. 1939 H. Miller 163 They themselves never set foot in a church from the time that they were married. 1977 L. Kawamura in P. Slater xxii. 492 It was once, like its neighbour, a Mormon church, but now the townsfolk know that it is a religious centre quite unlike the one it housed formerly. 2001 C. Freeland i. 20 Vials in churches hold fabric, bits of blood, bones, and even skulls that commemorate saints and stories of miracles. OE (Harl. 585) 13 Þonne seo modor gefele þæt þæt bearn si cwic, ga þonne to cyrican, and þonne heo toforan þan weofode cume, cweþe þonne: Criste, ic sæde, þis gecyþed! OE tr. Theodulf of Orleans (Corpus Cambr.) xxiv. 337 Hit gedafenað þæt gehwylce cristene men..on Sæternesdæg cume to cyrcean ond him leoht mid bringe ond þær æfensang gehyran. lOE (Laud) (Peterborough contin.) anno 1131 Ðes oðer dæies..cusen þa muneces abbot of hem self and brohten him into cyrce mid processionem. c1275 (?c1250) (Calig.) (1935) l. 608 (MED) Ich can nimen mus at berne An ek at chirche ine þe derne. c1350 (a1333) William of Shoreham (1902) 6 (MED) Þaȝ man mowe nauȝt lecherie Forbere to donne..god ȝefþe hym to rede Spousynge; Tokene þrof his þe wedding At cherche. c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 14 If þt any neighebore of myne Wol nat in chirche to my wyf enclyne. 1489 W. Caxton lxxxii. sig. Lj Thou must saye how ofte thou hast synned yf thou canst remembre & in what place, yf it be in chirche chyrche yerd or in holi place. 1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart I. f. cclxiv/1 Than they went fro strete to strete, & slewe all the flemmynges that they coulde fynde, in churche or in any other place, ther was none respyted fro dethe. 1605 sig. B3 None to walke or stande Idle, or talking in Church or Church-portch or Churchyarde during that time [of divine service]. 1789 C. Burney III. 254 As a new-married couple..went out of church, the violins and tabors attended them. 1829 T. Flint ii. 21 It was so contrived that..logs..could be drawn, or, as it is technically phrased, snaked into church. 1880 R. F. Littledale xviii. 54 Litanies and novenas take up most of the time spent in church. 1935 N. Coward 19 I observed one of his more open secrets at the back of church this morning. 1999 30 Apr. 1/2 The Irish yews in the churchyard..have been causing difficulties for people going in and out of church. c1225 (?c1200) (Bodl.) (1934) 20 Hwa so..makeð chapele oðer chirche oðer ifindeð in ham liht oðer lampe. c1300 (?c1225) (Cambr.) (1901) l. 1380 (MED) Horn let wurche Chapeles and chirche. c1460 in A. Clark (1907) 20 With all churchis and chapells londis rentis tenauntries and tithes possessions and other thynges to þe saide church of seynte George perteynyng. 1491–2 (Electronic ed.) Parl. Oct. 1491 §18. m. 8 So that thoes espousels be solempnysed in churche, chapell, or oratory. 1512 c. 2 §1 In eny Churche Chapell or halowed place. 1571 Canon Eliz. in (1603) §88 The church-wardens..shall suffer no plays, feasts, banquets, suppers, church-ales, drinkings..to be kept, in the church, chapel, or churchyard. 1600 W. Shakespeare i. ii. 13 If to do were as easie as to know what were good to do, Chappels had beene Churches, and poore mens cottages Princes Pallaces. View more context for this quotation a1626 L. Andrewes (1659) (title) The form of consecration of a church or chapel. 1667 E. Waterhouse 69 Chapels, Churches, Monuments..it..flaked and enervated. 1727 B. Willis I. p. iv He..would have therein specifyed the respective Churches and Chapels, according to the Form of their Structures..; as Pinnacled, Battlemented, Coped, &c. 1797 3 549 The sheriff shall make..proclamations..at or near to the most usual door of the church, or chapel. 1818 c. 45 §24 The churches and chapels respectively assigned to such Districts shall, when duly consecrated for that Purpose, become and be the District Parish Churches of such District Parishes. 1869 R. H. Dana (rev. ed.) 438 During the three Sundays I was in San Francisco, I visited three of the Episcopal churches, and the Congregational, a Chinese Mission Chapel, and..a Jewish synagogue. 1875 W. Smith & S. Cheetham I. 344/1 In the East, as the rule that there should be only one altar in a church has always existed, chapels have rarely formed parts of churches. 1902 J. F. Rusling 343 A goodly Wesleyan chapel,..not ambitious to be called a church yet, but squinting that way. 1925 G. P. Krapp I. 146 In American usage the difference between a church and a chapel..is that a chapel is a smaller building than a church. 1967 S. Marshall ii. v. 203 We went to chapel o' Sundays and the church seemed a big, important place to me. 1997 29 Jan. 6/7 These [attacks] have been on Church of Ireland churches, Methodist churches, Catholic chapels, Orange halls, Catholic schools. 2. A building for public worship belonging to a religion other than Christianity. Now more usually expressed by temple (cf. temple n.1 1b), or a more specific term such as mosque, synagogue, etc.; in later use (esp. in sense A. 2a) often glossing or in conjunction with one of these.society > faith > artefacts > sanctuary or holy place > other > [noun] > Muslim mosque eOE tr. Orosius (BL Add.) (1980) ii. ii. 39 Þuss gebletsade Romulus..mid þara sweora blode þa ciricean [L. templum]. OE (Northumbrian) vii. 5 Diligit enim gentem nostram et synagogam ipse aedificauit nobis : lufað forðon cynn usra & somnung uel cirica he getimbrade us. a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris (1873) 2nd Ser. 47 (MED) Þanne hie to chirche gede to þe temple in ierusalem. ?c1335 in W. Heuser (1904) 111 (MED) Hi seid at one mouþe Þat he wold destru temple and chirche. a1400 (a1325) (Trin. Cambr.) l. 10952 Zakari..preyed in þe chirche al one. 1484 W. Caxton tr. G. de la Tour-Landry (1971) xxxvi. 60 The swete Ihesu Cryst entred or went in a chirche, whiche at that tyme was called the Temple. 1600 P. Holland tr. Livy ix. xii. 321 The Fregellones within fought for their Church and chimney [L. pro aris ac focis]. 1632 W. Lithgow 141 The Turkes haue no Bels in their Churches. 1775 N. W. Wraxall xi. 236 The Greeks seem as fond of domes, as the Mahomedans are of minarets in their churches. ?1780 W. Hurd 338/2 Few are permitted to go into their [sc. the Turks'] churches or mosques. 1887 II. 885 The said Congregation Benay Israel, desire to locate their synagogue or church at a more eligible place. 1922 F. M. Waterman et al. xxv. 110/1 Solomon gave them a wonderful church or temple so that they could never forget Jehovah. society > faith > artefacts > sanctuary or holy place > synagogue > [noun] c1449 R. Pecock (1860) 358 (MED) The same large..possessiouns with whiche bifore the hethen bischopis and hethen chirchis in Ynglond weren endewid. a1547 Earl of Surrey tr. Virgil (1557) ii. sig. Biv Cassandra..From Pallas chirch was drawn. 1569 T. Underdowne tr. Ovid v. 597 Lesimachus..one of the bedels of Diana's church. 1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny II. 545 This stately Church of Iuno Queen. 1669 T. Gale i. Introd. 3 Contemplations; which he..traduced, originally,..from the sacred Oracles loged in the Jewish Church. 1727 F. Altieri Synagogue, [a Jewish church] sinagoga. 1844 W. H. Sleeman II. xix. 258 The Emperor Shumshodeen Altumsh is said to have designed this great Mahomedan church at the suggestion of Khojah Kootubooddeen. 1889 H. C. Ford 96 Kanji has asked for a holiday for some hours to visit his ‘Hindoo Church’ as he calls it. 1916 A. Bell xiii. 278 The orthodox Jew thinks most of the small Jewish church near by, which marks the spot where Moses prayed for the deliverance of Israel. 2002 K. Takatsui in F. Chin 21 In Mukilteo, there were no Shinto shrines, so they went to a Shinto church in Seattle. society > faith > worship > observance, ritual > [noun] > instance or form of OE Ælfric (Laud) 40 Man hig [sc. twa mære bec] ræt on circan to micclum wisdome swiðe gewunelice. OE Homily (Corpus Cambr. 140) in (1899) 1 135 Gað to cirican gelomlice and settað rodetacn geond eower hus. a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris (1873) 2nd Ser. 163 Godes sed is godes word; þe men tilien in chireche on salmes and on songes. a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris (1868) 1st Ser. 23 (MED) Þu gast to chirche. c1390 in F. J. Furnivall (1901) ii. 500 Ȝit I rede we go to chirche, Godes werkes for to worche. a1500 (?c1450) iii. 45 The kynge come fro chirche on a day. 1516 (Pynson) f. xl When his felowys were at Playe, he wolde be at Churche. 1580 R. Parsons f. 16v When a Catholick doth come before the Commissioners, ther is nothing asked of him, but when he was at Church, and if he wil promise to goe to Church. 1642 D. Rogers 206 It is tedious to our old age to keepe our Church. 1686 R. Parr 76 I preached a Sermon there, where this good Bishop was present, after Church, he was pleased to confer with me in private. 1712 R. Steele No. 503. ⁋2 As soon as church was done, she immediately stepp'd out. 1729 W. Law ii. 26 When he should be at Church. 1773 R. Graves II. vii. xi. 158 I make my poor Lambs read the Bible every Sunday, and go to church in their turn. 1819 19 Feb. 2/5 It was a proof of the want of religion when the proportion of women who attended church was so small. 1870 G. W. Dasent (ed. 4) II. 287 Between the churches..Auntie used to go down to the school and see the children. 1938 6 June 17/1 Tommy's girl is the prettiest in the county. He meets her after church on Sunday night. 2003 L. F. Winner i. 13 There's not enough time between church and Bible study to pull out my laptop and start working. II. Senses relating to the organization of Christianity, or a community of Christians. 4. Frequently with capital initial. society > faith > sect > Christianity > person > [noun] > collective eOE tr. Bede (Tanner) i. xv. 62 To ðære annesse hy geþeoddan þurh geleafan þære halgan Cristes cirican [L. Christi ecclesiae]. OE Ælfric (Cambr. Gg.3.28) xl. 338 Ealle godes cyrcan sind getealde to anre cyrcan, and seo is gehaten gelaðung. OE (Corpus Cambr.) xvi. 18 Þu eart Petrus & ofer þisne stan ic timbrige mine cyricean [L. ecclesiam]. c1384 (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Eph. v. 23 Crist is heed of the chirche [L. ecclesiae]. a1400 (a1325) (Trin. Cambr.) l. 19498 Þat cristis chirche bigan to wast. c1449 R. Pecock (1860) 230 (MED) A seruaunt of God in the goostli hous of the Vniuersal Chirche. 1529 T. More Dialogue Heresyes ii, in 185/1 The chyrch therefore must nedes bee the comen knowen multitude of christen men good and bad togither, while ye church is here in erth. 1560 J. Knox 7 This same practise hath sathan euer frome the beginning vsed to infect the Church with al kynd of heresie. 1606 R. Field i. i. 4 This glorious societie of men and Angels, whom the most high God..made capable of felicitie and blisse, is rightly named Ecclesia, cœtuseuocatus, the Church of the liuing God. 1654 J. Dury i. 2 The Church is the Company of Souls, as they are Christs subjects in the world. 1725 I. Watts i. vi. 147 When one Man by the Word Church, shall understand all that believe in Christ; and another by the Word Church means only the Church of Rome; they may both assent to this Proposition, There is no Salvation out of the Church. 1749 J. Heylyn Select Disc. Points of Relig. xvi. 125 in Those who do not save themselves from it by withdrawing from the corrupt Age we live in,..are not yet living Members of the Church of Christ. 1837 J. H. Newman III. xvi. 245 The One Church is the whole body gathered together from all ages. 1871 B. Jowett in tr. Plato II. 160 The Christian church is even more an ideal than the Republic of Plato and further removed from any existing institution. 1908 30 May 666/1 The ‘sectarianizing’ of the Church, and of any and every form of Christianity. ?1943 J. R. R. Tolkien (1995) 60 If Christian marriage were in the last analysis ‘unnatural’..it could only be imposed on a special ‘chastity-order’.., not on the universal Church. 1967 P. Tillich (1972) ii. 99 These people wanted to return to the church and overcome the weakness which had caused them to fall. 2009 9 Apr. 43/3 Each season of the Church's year, including the Ordinary Times before Lent and after Trinity, is the subject of a chapter. society > faith > aspects of faith > spirituality > [noun] > church as opposed to world 1534 W. Marshall tr. Erasmus i. f. 6v The worlde: and the churche is gouerned of the same: god euen this daye also. 1549 M. Coverdale et al. tr. Erasmus II. Heb. ii. f. iiiv There is a greate conflycte bytwene the churche and the worlde. 1651 R. Baxter 82 All Divines in their definition of Church are agreed; that it is a Society of persons separated from the World, to God, or called out of the World. 1707 G. Hickes ii. i. 244 The true Notion of the Church, as of a Society distinct from the World, and all the temporal Kingdoms of it,..hath been too much forgotten. 1769 A. Hall i. 17 The church is chosen, redeemed, and called out of the world; not because of their works, but of their God that calleth them. 1845 M. Pattison in Jan. 68 Into the dust and heat of the Church's war with the world. 1888 F. W. Farrar viii We look round us on the so-called religious and the so-called irreligious world, on what calls itself the Church and on what is called the World. 1932 9 Jan. 13/5 The Church and the World were two empires with absolutely contradictory aims. 2004 B. Wilson xvii. 161 Where can they find love outside the Church? The world? 5. society > faith > aspects of faith > religion > a religion or church > [noun] society > faith > aspects of faith > religion > a religion or church > [noun] > specific eOE tr. Bede (Tanner) ii. xvi. 148 Þære tide wæs þæt mæste wæl geworden in Norðanhymbra ðeode & cirican [L. in ecclesia uel gente Nordanhymbrorum]. OE tr. Bede (Cambr. Univ. Libr.) i. x. 46 Palladius biscop wæs ærest sended to Scottum..fram þam biscope þære Romaniscan cyricean [L. Romanae ecclesiae], Celestinus wæs haten. c1384 (Douce 369(2)) (1850) 1 Cor. i. 2 Poul..to the chirche of God that is at Corinthe. ?c1425 (BL Add. 15521) (1850) John Prol. p. 685b He was preied of alle the bischops and other trewe cristen men of the chirch of Asie. c1449 R. Pecock (1860) 335 (MED) Ambrose, Ierom, and Austyn, and Gregori weren in the Latyn chirche..techers. ?c1510 tr. sig. Biijv Ye moost deyle is ketters and kyt of, of the holy Romes chyrche. ?1545 J. Bale i. 42 The deerely beloued Churche of Phyladelphya, which as besemeth a Christian congregation in this life, is neuer without brotherly charitie and loue. 1641 R. Greville 62 That Antichristian Mock-Church. 1656 F. Osbourne 50 The Pope hath not done imprudently to gather a Church in America,..whose Zeale is likelier to be hotter than the Europeians. 1757 tr. J. G. Keyssler IV. xcvi. 255 A Jew, lately condemned to be hanged, desired to be admitted as a convert to the Lutheran church, in order to safe his life. 1819 W. J. Fox Lect. ii, in (1865) I. 169 The charge of persecution was applied alike to Catholic and Nonconformist Churches. 1845 J. Lingard (ed. 3) I. App. e. 372 The British church formed an integral part of the universal church, agreeing in doctrine and discipline with the other Christian churches. 1887 R. H. Hutton in Apr. 485 In the hands of all the great missionary churches, Roman Catholic, Calvinist, Quaker, Wesleyan, and Unitarian. 1961 D. Attwater II. 247 Matran, Metran, title of the first hierarch after the katholikos in the Nestorian Church; also used for metropolitans in other Syrian churches. 2003 24 Jan. 10/3 There are many..who would rather see direct or per saltum ordination for those called to the priesthood/presbyterate—as happens in the Methodist Church. 6. Frequently (esp. in later use) with capital initial. OE (Cleo. B.xiii) i. §1. 216 An ærest, þæt Godes cyrice [L. aecclesia Dei] & eall Cristen folc minra gewealda soðe sibbe healde. lOE (Laud) anno 1100 On his dagan ælc riht afeoll..Godes cyrcean he nyðerade; & þa biscoprices..ealle he hi..on his agenre hand heold. lOE (Rochester) Prol. 12 Cwæð ælc had ciricean ðære mægðe anmodlice mid þy hersuman folcy. c1390 (a1376) W. Langland (Vernon) (1867) A. vii. l. 84 Þe Chirche [B text þe kirke] schal haue my Careyne And kepe mi Bones. c1449 R. Pecock (1860) 406 (MED) The bischop and his hool chirche of the clergie. a1475 J. Fortescue (Laud) (1885) 135 The possescions off þe chirche. a1500 (?c1450) v. 95 Assembled the barons and the prelates of the cherche, and toke counseile. 1539 J. Gough tr. J. Le Maire sig. A.viv Laurens his deacon which distrybuted the goodes of the church to the pore accordyng to ye law of God. 1726 J. Ayliffe 167 The word Church..in these latter Days..is put for the Persons that are ordain'd for the Ministry of the Gospel, that is to say, the Clergy. 1727 A. Hamilton I. xxi. 249 The Church feeds most on Fish, but not miraculously, for the poor Fishers dare sell none till the Priesthood is first served. 1758 i. 26 The prince of Orange..had a general invitation given him by the army, the church, and the state. 1837 J. H. Newman III. xvi. 246 Speaking politically, we talk of the Clergy as the Church. 1861 13 Mar. 163/1 These Dominicals (thus argue the Sabbatarians)..substitute for a Divine foundation of Sunday, one of mere human invention, the authority of the Church. 1924 E. Leahy tr. J. V. Bainvel ii. ii. 103 To St Margaret Mary and her revelations is really due the inception of the devotion to the Sacred Heart in the form that has received the Church's sanction. 1977 11 Feb. 148/2 The Machiavellian and Rousseauesque hints of subordination of church to state. 2009 5 June 5/2 The Church is not immune from the current financial pressures affecting all organisations. society > faith > church government > member of the clergy > [noun] > collective c1300 St. Thomas Becket (Laud) l. 560 in C. Horstmann (1887) 122 (MED) Ani man of holi churche..person, preost, oþur ȝwat-so he beo.] c1400 J. Wyclif (1871) III. 494 Men of þo Chirche schulden not ride on so stronge horsys. 1489 W. Caxton tr. C. de Pisan iii. xxii. sig. Ovij It apparteyneth not to noo man of the chyrche to gyue noo counseyll that concerneth the werre. 1509 H. Watson tr. S. Brant cxvi. sig. Ff.viv What auayleth it to a man of the chirche to haue thre or foure cures, prebendes, bysshopryches, archebysshopryches, & other benefyces. 1590 H. Swinburne iv. f. 148 If his sonne shall goe to the Church. a1616 W. Shakespeare (1623) i. iii. 28 I am of the Church and will be glad to do my beneuolence, to make attonements and compremises betweene you. View more context for this quotation 1688 R. Holme ii. 391/1 The Broad, or Cathedral Beard..because Bishops and Grave Men of the Church antiently did wear such Beards. 1779 R. Griffith tr. Voltaire I. p. cv Being a widower, and having many children, he went into the Church, and was appointed to the Archbishopric of Paris. 1841 R. W. Emerson Prudence in 1st Ser. (London ed.) 223 The merchant breeds his son for the church or the bar. 1865 C. E. L. Riddell iv. 59 You have really entered the church: I mean, done duty, preached, and so forth? 1921 B. Williams ii. 10 At sixteen Cecil had not entirely rejected the idea of the Church as a profession. 2008 C. Drazin i. 36 The increasing doubts that François and Marie had been having about their plan that Nicolas should go into the Church. OE Ælfric (Cambr. Gg.3.28) xl. 344 Gif hit ðonne hwa deð þæt he godes bryde þæt is seo cyrce wið feo sylle, ðonne bið he Iudan gelic. OE Wulfstan (Junius) 138 Ealle we habbað ænne heofonlicne fæder and ane gastlice modor, seo is ęcclesia genamod, þæt is Godes cyrce, and [þa] we sculon æfre lufian and weorðian. a1382 (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Song of Sol. i. 3 The Chirche of hir tribulaciouns. a1400 (c1303) R. Mannyng (Harl.) l. 8589 (MED) Holy cherche, our modyr dere. ?1567 (new ed.) 268 Such as be sory for their fault and wyll returne, the church mercifully openeth her lappe to receaue them againe into new benefices & lyuynges. 1611 Song of Sol. vi. (heading) 1 The Church professeth her faith in Christ. 4 Christ sheweth..his loue toward her. 1715 N. Rowe iii. 27 The Church shall pour her ample Treasures forth too, And pay you with ten thousand Years of Pardon. 1794 T. Holcroft II. vii. 95 Not only infidels and atheists, but the vipers which the church has nurtured in her own bosom are rising up to sting her! 1838 J. G. Dowling iv. §6. 233 The church has expressed her sense of their errors. 1893 J. Strong xvi. 348 The church has lost her hold on them because she has not accepted her social mission. 1932 B. Segale ii. xxi. 218 It is the missionary..going around misinforming the natives, calumniating the Church and alienating her unfortunate children from her. 1993 6 Sept. 9/1 If I were writing a piece about sexual mores and the church, the subtitle I would choose would be ‘She's been right all along.’ eOE (Corpus Cambr. 173) i. §7. 48 Gif he losige, sie he afliemed & sie amænsumod of eallum Cristes ciricum. OE Wulfstan (Hatton) 202 La hwæt, fremað cyrichatan cristendom on unnyt, forðam ælc þæra bið Godes feond þe bið Godes cyrcena feond, & ðe Godes cyrcena riht wanað oððe wyrdeð. c1384 (Douce 369(2)) (1850) 1 Cor. iv. 18 As I teche euerywhere in ech chirche [so Geneva 1560, Rheims 1582, 1611, 1871; Tindale, Coverdale, Cranmer 1539, Geneva 1557 congregations; L. ecclesia]. a1464 J. Capgrave (Cambr.) 261 (MED) William, bischop of Cauntirbury, havyng no consideracion what cost the cherchis in his province had bore, paying a subsidi to the Kyng eviry ȝere. 1530 W. Tyndale Aunswere Mores Dialogue in (1573) 250/1 For Paule sayth..Rom. xvi. I commende vnto you Phebe the Deaconisse of the church of Cenchris. 1564 T. Becon New Catech. in (1844) 41 Father. What meanest thou by this word ‘church’? Son. Nothing else than a company of people gathered together, or a congregation. 1625 J. Robinson i. 13 A particular congregation (rightly instituted, and ordered) [is] a whole, intire and perfit Church immediately, and independently, in respect of other Churches, under Christ. 1692 J. Locke Toleration in (1727) II. i. 235 A Church then, I take to be a voluntary Society of men, joining themselves together of their own accord, in order to the publick worshipping of God, in such manner as they judge acceptable to him. 1700 B. Colman 28 The Practice of the Churches of New-England in granting Letters of Dismission or Recommendation from one Church to another. 1740 J. Leland II. v. 166 The Corinthians were a Church gathered from the Gentiles. 1800 J. Evans xiii. 366 Had it not been for Queen Anne's bounty, half the churches in that country would have gone without ministers. 1888 12 Oct. 4/5 They [sc. the Congregationalists] should, he suggested, group together some of their small churches under one pastor, with lay helpers. 1914 J. L. E. Peck et al. I. xii. 199 German Lutheran churches at Calumet and Hartley, hold courses of study and regular school instruction. 1998 (Nexis) 20 June 3 A Highland episcopal priest is celebrating his silver jubilee tomorrow by sharing his pulpit with a fellow priest from his church's twin parish in Sweden. III. A non-Christian community, or a community of people not distinguished by their Christianity. 9. The Israelites or Jewish people in pre-Christian times. society > faith > sect > Judaism > [noun] eOE (Mercian) (1965) xxi. 23 (26) Apud te laus mihi in ecclesia magna : mid ðe lof me in cirican micelre. OE King Ælfred tr. (Paris) (2001) xxi. 23 Beforan þe byð min lof on þære myclan cyrcan. a1382 (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Psalms xxi. 26 Anent thee my preising in the grete chirche [1535 Coverdale in the greate congregacion]. 1568 Acts vii. 38 This is he that was in the Churche [Gk. ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ] in ye wyldernesse with the angel. 1609 I. Numb. xx. 4 Why have you brought forth the Church of our Lord [L. ecclesiam Domini] into the wildernesse? 1786 J. Newton I. xx. 368 He..dwelt with his church in the wilderness, and was known by the name of the Holy One of Israel. 1834 Nov. 190 The Jews were termed, in the Old Testament, the church or congregation of God, or people of God. 1977 P. E. Hughes v. 547 The assembly..mentioned here is the counterpart of the congregation or ‘church’ of the Israelites assembled under the leadership of Moses at Sinai. society > faith > sect > Judaism > [noun] > person > in retrospective use of Christian sense ?a1425 (Claud.) (1850) Song of Sol. i. Gloss. This chirche is maad of dyuerse folkis, that is, of Jewis and hethen men, of iust men and of synneris, of prelatis and of sugetis. c1449 R. Pecock (1860) 436 (MED) In the Oold Testament God ordeyned oon bischop to be aboue in reule..and so to alle the clergie in Goddis chirche being thanne. 1544 G. Joye Pref. sig. A.viij The first chirche whiche consisted of Adam Eue Cain & Abel. 1593 R. Hooker iii. i. 128 Not onelie amongst them [sc. Israel] God alwaies had his church, because he had thousands which neuer bowed their knees to Baall. 1615 Bp. J. Hall Imprese of God i, in 657 The Church was an Embryo til Abrahams time, in swathing-bands til Moses, in child-hood till Christ; a man in Christ, a man full growne, in glory. 1660 T. Gale (title) The court of the Gentiles: or a discourse touching the original of human literature..from the Scriptures, and Jewish church. 1726 D. Defoe i. xi. 186 The Church of God was now reduc'd to two Tribes. 1810 Dec. 570 Had he forgotten that the state and church of the Israelites were..incorporated with each other by God himself? 1862 A. P. Stanley (title) History of the Jewish Church. 1907 A. M. Dulles vii. 109 Jesus was the representative of The True Church, not its creator. 2002 R. L. Greaves i. 24 Hobson..contended that the church of the Jews was a type of Christ, and that it had ended with his physical coming. society > society and the community > [noun] > a community > other types of community OE xxv. 5 Odiui ęcclesiam malignantium et cum impiis non sedebo : ic hatude cyrcean awyrgedra & mid arleasum na ic ne sitte. a1382 (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Ecclus. iii. 1 The sonus of wisdam the chirche [L. ecclesia] of riȝtwis men. ?a1425 (a1415) (Harl.) (1917) 127 (MED) Odiui ecclesiam malingnancium: I haue haatid þe chirche of maliciouse lyuars. 1511 H. Watson tr. St. Bernardino (title) The chirche of the euyll men and women, wherof..the membres is all the players dyssolute and synners reproued. 1610 II. Psalms xxv. 5 I have hated the Church of the malignant. 1721 N. Amhurst (1726) xxi. 119 If Aristotle is to be our gospel, let us even turn to the words of Aristotle, and not rend the peripatetick church with needless schisms and divisions. 1726 W. Penn Maxims in I. 842 As good, so ill men are all of a Church. a1774 A. Tucker (1777) III. xix. 40 Here were great and important advances maintained in the true Church of Philosophy. 1831 J. S. Mill Let. 20 Oct. in (1963) XII. 87 I have now no doubt of his being a..member of the only Church that has now any real existence, namely that of writers and orators. 1871 B. Jowett in tr. Plato II. 160 Plato's Republic has been said to be a church and not a state; and such an ideal of a city in the heavens has always hovered over the Christian world. 1908 A. Noyes ii. 22 One true Church of Arthurianism. 1989 40 532 Did Mach become reconciled with ‘the church of physics’ and Einstein's theory of relativity after 1913? 2005 7 Mar. 55/1 So, really, why the Church of Sport—is it to meet chicks? society > faith > sect > non-Christian religions > [noun] 1528 T. More Dialogue Heresyes ii, in 178/2 Ye doo persecute them as the churche of the Paynims did. 1688 J. Kettlewell ii. ix. 298 But if it denys this Authority of Christ,..it is thereby unchurched, and becomes unchristian, like Jewish, Mahometane, or Heathen Churches. 1781 VI. xxvi. 93 Imposed on the people by means of their Pourân, which are properly the legends and traditions of the Hindû church. 1859 7 304/2 In all that makes religion objective, as he would say, the Church of Humanity is more churchish than the Church. 1880 J. M. Davidson ii. i. 173 Dr. Congreve has disavowed the headship of Laffitte, and so has become schismatic, taking half of the Comtist Church in England and its dependencies with him. 1917 8 Sept. 7/5 (advt.) First Church of Psycho-Science... After sermon evening devoted to demonstrations in psychography or independent slate writing. 1972 A. T. Q. Stewart xiii. 151 The Thathanabaing..had formerly been recognized throughout Burma as the Head of the Buddhist Church. 2006 20 Nov. 5/5 The ceremony in Italy..was presided over by a functionary from the Church of Scientology. B. adj.society > faith > sect > Christianity > Protestantism > Anglicanism > [adjective] 1853 E. C. Gaskell II. iii. 43 I never think on them as Church or Dissenters, but just as Christians. 1861 E. C. Gaskell 16 Apr. (1966) 648 He speaks a great deal about religion always on the supposition we are Church, & I feel shy of telling him we are not. 1910 H. H. Richardson 155 The little girl giggled. ‘She's church’—by which she meant episcopalian. 2000 M. Hebblethwaite in A. Hastings et al. 67/2 Within the Catholic Church after Vatican II there was a mushrooming of highly active small groups which saw themselves as ‘a new way of being church’. Phrasesc1450 MS Douce 52 in (1906) 45 (MED) The nere the chyrche, þe fer fro Crist. 1546 J. Heywood i. ix. sig. Cv The nere to the churche, the ferther from god. 1596 H. Clapham ii. 124 Worldlie Bethlehem was not further from Christ, then when Christ was borne in their litle Towne. The neerer the Church, commonlie the further from God. 1644 C. Jessop 31 Hath verified the Proverbe, The neerer the Church the further from God. 1660 S. Fisher ii. 63 As the old Proverb is, the nearer the Church, the further from God, there being nor such sordid stinking sinks..to be seen..as are easie to be seen in Cathedrals. 1737 7 There is a Sort of an Ecclesiastical Saying in every Body's Mouth; The nearer the Church, the farther from God. a1770 G. Whitefield (1771) vii How often, alas! is it the case, I am sure it is very often the case in London, the nearer the church the further from God. 1843 June 837/2 We should be much more tempted to..abide by the jocose Protestant proverb—‘The nearer the Church the farther from God’. 1902 Mar. 346/1 ‘The nearer the church, the nearer the devil!’ The crime was traced eventually to the monks..above the Treasury. 1929 4 465 The nearer the church the farther from grace. 1998 E. R. Anderson vii. 212 The popular anticlerical proverb, ‘The nearer the Church, the farther from God’. society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > action or fact of marrying > marry [verb (intransitive)] 1600 W. Shakespeare ii. i. 333 Countie Claudio, when meane you to goe to church ? View more context for this quotation 1678 J. Leanerd v. 67 Forgive Eudoria then, and with a Zeal as hasty, as you went to Church together. 1784 W. Hayley Mausoleum iii, in 422 Go to church with a fellow who deigns to rehearse A quatrain on your charms in his annual verse. 1808 Mar. 177/2 I can't have a better fellowship, and I mean to go to church with her to-morrow morning. 1863 May 590/2 The knight has only to furnish her with the bridal accessaries [sic] to prepare her at a moment's notice to go to church with him. 1913 Sept. 285/1 The day before they go to church, the bride and bridegroom have to take the steam bath. 1851 H. Newland vii. 217 Looking at those wretched people and talking Church. 1919 May 682/2 He made it a point never to ‘talk church’ except when..that was the kind of talk desired. 2004 D. Anderson in G. Land 126 He may have saved more souls with that gift of a bat and ball than he saved in the pulpit. But we never talked church; we played ball. P4. a. OE Wærferð tr. Gregory (Corpus Cambr.) (1900) iii. iii. 183 Se æresta wer Agapitus þyssere halgan Rome cyrcan papa.] c1300 Pope Silvester I (Laud) l. 8 in C. Horstmann (1887) 391 Costantin..grauntede him þe churche of Rome in pays with-outen wo. a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden (St. John's Cambr.) (1879) VII. 281 (MED) Þe cherche of Rome is as it were heed of alle chirches. a1500 Rule Third Order St. Francis in W. W. Seton (1914) 47 (MED) The vniuersall feithe..The which also the churche of Rome holdith & kepith. 1611 M. Smith in Transl. Pref. 1 b The Church of Rome—then a true Church. 1656 J. Bramhall Replie to Refut. 3 in To observe with what subtlety this case is proposed, that the Church of England agreed with the Church of Rome. 1791 J. Boswell anno 1784 II. 499 He argued in defence of some of the peculiar tenets of the Church of Rome. 1869 M. Pattison (1885) 190 The Church of Rome has irretrievably broken with knowledge. 1913 E. C. Bentley xvi. 356 A number of people of my acquaintance believed me to have been secretly received into the Church of Rome. 2005 L. Holford-Strevens iv. 62 The Church of England thus always celebrates Easter on the same day as the Church of Rome, but without breathing a word about epacts. b. society > faith > sect > Christianity > Protestantism > Presbyterianism > Presbyterian sects and groups > [noun] 1548 f. ccxlvjv He hath willed and sought..that the Churche of Scotlande should come, and be brought to the same poynt and ende, and to suche like fall, as the Churche of England, is now come to in deede. 1647 J. Trapp (1656) (Rom. xv. 6) 652 It is recorded to the high commendation of the Church of Scotland, that for this 90 years and upwards they have kept unity. 1717 D. Defoe ii. 104 No sooner was Episcopacy, upon any Occasion, set up in the Church of Scotland, but it began always to persecute the Presbyterian Church. 1840 Jan. 26 In 1834, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, passed ‘the Veto Act’, which allowed the majority of parishoners [sic] to pronounce a veto against the settlement of a minister in their parish. 1920 Jan. 225 The typical United Free Churchman..wishes national religious ceremonials to continue to be celebrated according to the order of the Church of Scotland in St Giles Cathedral. 1969 G. Friel ii. 21 His landlords, the Stockwells, were a douce Church of Scotland couple. 2007 1 June 7/1 The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland..called on the Kirk to reject Christian Zionism and to stand up against human trafficking. c. 1553 J. Bale f. 31v It was also noysed abroade..that the Antichrist of Rome shulde be taken agayne for the supreme heade of the churche of Irelande. 1663 J. Taylor 29 The death of our late most Reverend Primate, whose death the Church of Ireland hath very great reason to deplore. 1794 T. McKenna iv. 47 It is the duty of the Church of Ireland..to set an example to the universe of unlimited toleration. 1826 18 Apr. 243/2 It was the opinion of the Established Church of Ireland, that..no attempt at proselytising should be made. 1869 3 Mar. 5/5 The preamble [to the Irish Church Bill] states that it is expedient to dissolve the union between the Churches of England and Ireland, and that the Church of Ireland should cease to be established by law. 1901 Apr. 412/2 The Church of Ireland clergy as a rule do a deal of ministering to the Roman Catholic sick and poor. 2003 16 May 4/4 A new Book of Common Prayer..is due to come into use in the Church of Ireland after a long debate, 13 Bills and 40 amendments at General Synod on Tuesday. d. 1832 July 30/2 (heading) Extract of covenants for the Church of the Latter Day Saints. 1838 (title) Elders Journal of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 1929 (U.S. Dept. Commerce) II. 668 The membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints consists of those who have been received into the church by baptism and confirmation by the laying on of hands. 1951 13 Oct. 4/4 Acting under orders from the owners of the station, the Church of the Latter Day Saints, KSL-TV..has refused to accept beer advertising. 2002 W. L. Haight i. 12 Most of the population of the state of Utah belong to the Church of the Latter Day Saints (whose members are commonly known as ‘Mormons’). P5. 1550 W. Lynne tr. J. Carion ii. f. xvij But in myne opinion that part of Samaria semeth to beare the figure of the churche of the East and of the Grekes. 1619 W. Cowper vii. 297 That most ancient Church of the East, composed of Grecians..Syrians, in which tongue the Son of God pronounced his Oracles: of Slauonians, Russians, Muscouites and others, in whose bosome are almost all the Apostolike Seas. 1821 29 Oct. 3/2 Honour to God the Almighty! and to the Holy Church of the East! 1944 34 261 The Nestorian Church, or, as its members prefer to call it, the Church of the East, broke off from the main body of Christianity partly because of the wars between the Byzantine Empire and the Sassanid kings of Persia and partly because of the adherence..of the Eastern Christians to the teachings of Nestorius. 1991 S. G. Hall (2003) xxiii. 238 One consequence was the split between the Greek-speaking Church of the East and the Latin-speaking Church of the West. 1999 31 Oct. (Review Suppl.) 32/2 The Church of the East, as China's Nestorians are also known, achieved enormous power and influence without ever becoming a state religion. P6. a. 1572 J. Whitgift 147 I would rather die, than be an author of schismes, a disturber of the common peace and quietnesse of the Churche and state. 1660 9 Those two great Zanzummines of Church and State, the Arch-bishop of Canterbury, and the Earl of Strafford. 1704 III. xii. 231 To preserve and maintain the Government of Church and State in that Kingdom, as it is establish'd by the Laws thereof. a1771 T. Gray Sketch in (1775) 264 6 He..left Church and State to Charles Townshend and Squire. 1828 38 557 The Protestant constitution,—consisting consubstantially of church and state. 1874 J. H. Blunt (1886) 98/2 Deploring the constitution of Church and State..as established at the Revolution of 1688 and at the Union. 1929 Jan. 3/2 The American Catholic body as a whole,..swallowed joyously and unhesitatingly the theory of Papal Domesticity, and the separation of Church and State. 1998 9 Feb. 6/2 The venture is the first time Church and State will conspicuously come together to support marriage. b. 1844 W. J. O'N. Daunt I. lv. 243 I set it [sc. a massacre] down to Church-and-State-ism—it is one of the horrible fruits of sectarian ascendancy. 1853 E. Bulwer-Lytton III. xi. ii. 239 Men pretending to aristocracy..and Church-and-Stateism. 1997 H. C. G. Matthew ii. xvi. 621 Gladstone's autobiography..would appear to tell a tale of escape from conservative, monarchic church-and-statism to liberal individualism. Compounds C1. a. OE (Claud.) vi. li. 258 To wæde & to wiste þam þe Gode þeowian & to bocan & to bellan & to cyricwædan. OE Wulfstan (Junius) 99 Þæt syndon þa, ðe nellað..folc wið synna gewarnian.., ac gyrnað þeah heora sceatta on teoþungum and on eallum cyricgerihtum. c1275 (?c1250) (Calig.) (1935) l. 727 (MED) Þat he..nime ȝeme of chirche steuene [a1300 Jesus Oxf. stefne], Hu murie is þe blisse of houene. 1455 Acct. in (1903) 9 118 (MED) For 1 bushel lyme to Chirche pament ij d. 1532 L. Cox sig. A.vii Deuide amonge suche as longe to the Chyrche of the Chyrche goodes after the qualitie of theyr merytes. 1579 G. Fenton tr. F. Guicciardini xii. 720 Censures and Church paines. 1597 R. Hooker v. lxxix. 249 Whereas the vsuall saw of olde was Glaucus his chaunge, the Prouerbe is now A Church bargaine. 1600 P. Holland tr. Livy ii. ii. 44 They [sc. the first Consuls] went in hand with religion and church matters. 1660 R. Coke Elements Power & Subjection 159 in Let the Church-tribute of every Church be paid out of the lands of all Freemen. 1670 I. Walton 39 The regulation of church-affairs. 1701 N. Luttrell Diary in (1857) V. 111 The church party have agreed to putt up Sir William Gore. 1719–20 J. Swift (1721) 11 In Esteem..among some Church Divines. 1785 W. Cowper Tirocinium in 381 Church-ladders are not always mounted best By learned Clerks and Latinists profess'd. View more context for this quotation 1853 D. Rock III. ii. 96 For church-use at least. 1887 94/1 Both clergy and laity often need information concerning Church societies, Church charities, Church action generally. 1912 F. J. Bliss vii. 334 A committee of the Gregorian churches of Constantinople has overtured the head of the church..to institute a council for church reform. 1948 A. C. Kinsey et al. ii. 38 Members of a college fraternity, a sorority, a church organization.., may be persuaded to contribute. 1998 D. Hannah xiv. 229 They were children at a church picnic, a corn boil, and Minnie had eaten a dozen ears. (b) 1639 J. Canne 66 The Church-acts of Antichristian Ministers, are idolatrous. 1792 M. Hemmenway i. 9 By the church is sometimes meant those who have a part in the exercise of church authority, a power of voting in the election,..and in other church acts. 1884 H. M. Dexter in 130 It was..impossible to establish the right of the Elders, at least to negative every church act, without emptying the claim of the people to rule, of all possible value. 1962 G. R. Beasley-Murray v. 280 The Church through its representatives baptizes the converts made, and thus..baptism is properly a Church act. 1651 D. Cawdrey 164 But in the Church, the Ministers are spirituall fathers to the members, and make them capable of any power they have, by converting and baptizing them, so to fit them for Church-association. 1791 73 I..am sitting at ease, by my fire-side, fearless of the threatened church associations. 1896 22 Dec. 2/1 May I say that your lordship is a Prayer-book Churchman—by which I mean that you neither belong to the English Church Union nor the Church Association? 2003 42 548 These data give us a look inside a prominent ‘postmodern’ church association. 1644 S. Rutherford sig. Mmm4v The patron doth here,..by his owne proper right, present and give title and Law to the Church benefice. 1768 31 Conjures the clergy to use no methods in obtaining church benefices, but such as are just, ingenuous and canonical. 1841 F. Jackson II. v. 77 In England, a church benefice be may bought with money, or it may be in the gift of a bad man. 2005 B. P. McGuire viii. 198 Gerson had apparently seen that his chances of linking the university office with a church benefice were limited. 1602 R. Carew i. f. 58 They..helped to stuffe the church kalender with diuers Saints, either made or borne Cornish. 1738 B. Mackerell 91 A Saint..whom we find registered in our Church Calendar on the 6th of December. 1844 July 68 When people invited their friends to an entertainment, they ought first to consult the Church calendar. 2002 (Nexis) 12 Nov. 2 Flicking through the Church calendar, I also see something called Sexagesima. 1566 R. Horne f. 77v This king did make Bisshoppes and Abbottes (whiche he calleth) holy rites, Lawes of Religion, and Church ceremonies (as other likewyse cal it, Ecclesiasticall busines). a1694 (1856) 57 As to Church ceremonies he was indiffering. 1751 (ed. 7) Antiadiaphorists..the rigid Lutherans who disavowed the episcopal jurisdiction, and many of the church-ceremonies, retained by the moderate Lutherans. 1857 G. J. Wigley tr. St. Charles Borromeo xi. §2. 26 (note) The highest or the only step of an altar is..the Predella..the name used for this platform in all works on church ceremonies. 2000 A. Thatcher in A. Hastings et al. 660/2 The requirement that marriage begin with a church ceremony (1563 in Catholic countries, but not until 1753 in England and Wales) heightened the sense of sexual intercourse temporarily ‘before’ the wedding as illicit. a1770 in (Brit. Mus.) (1883) IV. 718 The Church Choristers. 1847 20 Dec. 189/3 We find him as a child..performing publicly on the violin and singing as a church chorister. 1967 5 Apr. 14/7 A pupil of Plymouth College and church chorister, he studied singing. 2009 (Nexis) 18 July 6 [He] was then a church chorister who had never heard any music other than that of classical composer Handel, and had once considered ordination himself. 1662 W. Petty ix. 46 The late Differences with the Scots, annis 1638. and 1639. when the Church Dignitaries were most concerned. 1771 J. Murray iv. 242 A layman..will very likely have very different cases of conscience from a church dignitary. 1856 J. A. Froude II. 309 The theory of an Anglican Erastianism found favour with some of the higher church dignitaries. 1992 (Nexis) 13 Aug. The conference is attended by more than 200 literarians, historians, teachers, lawyers and church dignitaries from 26 countries. 1553 T. Wilson i. f. 20 The Romaynes lawes for Churche dignitees. 1570 J. Foxe (rev. ed.) I. 611/2 It was by petition requested: that some order might be taken touching Aliens, hauyng the greatest parte of the church dignities in their hands. a1600 R. Hooker viii. vii. §7 They hold that no church-dignity should be granted without consent of the common people. 1838 (1st Sess., 13th Parl.) 6 4488/1 There are instances in which chaplains have received church dignities for services for a very limited period of time. 1992 24 417 He did not, indeed, challenge Newcastle's position..by demanding the right to advise the king on appointments to church dignities. 1562 tr. J. Jewel f. 25 We doe execute diligently and earnestly Churche discipline. 1641 J. Milton 9 The rules of Church-discipline are..hedg'd about with such a terrible impalement of commands. 1726 J. Ayliffe 480 A Schismatick is one that divides and separates himself from the Establish'd Church of the Realm..on some Points of Religion relating to Church Discipline and external Worship. 1872 J. Morley iv. 165 Consequences, entirely apart from theology and church discipline. 1997 Fall 32/2 I haven't yet been able to divine why the Pope can be criticized about this but not about Church discipline or the liturgy or ecumania. 1566 J. Barthlet f. 34v They will haue their Church doctrine..knowen to simple men. 1694 S. Johnson 66 Must the Wise and Free and Great Men of a Nation be Slaves for Company with such Perfectionists in Church-Doctrine? 1748 G. Harvest 62 If any thing in Church Doctrine..wants to be altered, Tell it to the Church. 1878 May–June 471 The church doctrine as to man's moral condition does not depend at all upon monogenism. 1994 16 Oct. (News section) 26/4 In September 1993, the Mormon Church excommunicated five intellectuals and feminists who had challenged church doctrine. a1631 R. Bolton (1632) 24 Their..detaining Church-dues, usury, and other dishonest gaine. 1771 J. Murray iv. 247 It is certainly not very conscientious to excommunicate people for refusing to pay church-dues, when they cannot in conscience go to church. 1874 1 May 689 The taxes on real estate, such as tithes,..and other Church dues,..remain unaltered. 2005 R. Aman xii. 173 He paid your church dues all the years you were away. 1596 H. Clapham ii. 170 That the Church Elders are to feede their flock without constraint, not carrying themselues like Lords over God his heritage. 1673 R. Baxter iii. 795 Is he to be made a General Minister and a particular Church-Elder or Pastor at once, and by one Ordination? 1754 tr. H. Rimius 6 They have full Power to chuse, ordain, appoint, or dismiss their Ministers, Church-Elders or Servants. 1892 28 July 6/2 Two other church elders have been wounded. 1942 11 May 83/2 (caption) Holding the fount is another great-uncle who is a church elder. 2009 3 Dec. 34/3 He could no longer abide by the conventions of the Second Church, and he told the church elders so. 1645 W. Prynne 143 Any particular Congregation..wants meanes to raise monyes to provide an able Minister, or defray their necessary Church expences. 1789 W. Bentley 250 All the ten towns pay their fixed proportions not only to the repairs of the parish church, but to other church expences. 1875 W. Stubbs (ed. 2) I. xiii. 628 (note) 2 A quantity of ale was brewed, and sold for the payment of church expenses. 1996 (European Comm. Human Rights) May 39 The fact that non-believers are also required to participate in covering Church expenses is not uncommon. 1631 P. Heylyn Contents sig. B2v The indiscretion of some Church-Historians, in their choyce of Argument. 1786 June 695/2 The good archbishop Spotswood (the venerable church historian) was reviled because when a youth he had played at football on a Sunday. 1888 23 Apr. 10/1 It seems odd to find a Church historian in such severe oblivion of the time and way in which Philpotts first acquired the fame and mitre that he bore for 40 years save one. 2006 1 Dec. 21/5 Patrick Collinson is one of our greatest church historians, and the worst news in this collection, written from retirement, is his incidence that it will be his last history book. a1425 J. Wyclif (1871) II. 103 Þat was sich a feeste as we han in oure Chirche hoolyday. 1530 J. Palsgrave 484/1 It is churche holyday to morowe. 1747 R. Canning 123 The Scholars..shall keep all Church Holidays. 1849 June 228/2 Verily we see more of vice and wickedness on these said ‘Church Holiday’ days than on any other days of the year! 1999 B. Anzulovic iv. 84 Vacillation about proclaiming Vid's Day an official national and church holiday continued during the early twentieth century. 1624 Bp. F. White 358 Who so readeth the Papisticall poeticall Church hymnes, shall in the most of them find versing laws most broken, where the lawes of inuocation are most transgressed. 1773 J. Berridge 58 The happy Christian now repeats his church hymns with truth and pleasure. 1865 Apr. 273 The church-hymn is the psalm completed in the spirit of the New Testament. 1995 P. Manuel in P. Manuel et al. i. 12 More influential than the rarefied music of Bach and Beethoven were the innumerable sailors' chanteys, church hymns..and social dances. c1300 St. Thomas Becket (Laud) l. 1874 in C. Horstmann (1887) 160 Heo don sikernesse for-to stonde at holi churche lawe.] ?1567 98 So throughly maie a manne builde his conscience vpon Church lawes and Canons, for suer determination. a1600 R. Hooker (1648) viii. sig. Dd3v The making of Church Lawes and Orders. 1743 T. Mole 71 The practice of rites, which are commanded to be observed by any civil or church law. 1878 Oct. 7 The Roman Pontiff..is theoretically and practically the source of Church law. 1992 15 Aug. 6/1 As well as being a church law, celibacy is a free personal choice taken on by men dedicating their lives to the Lord. 1566 J. Barthlet f. 71 He sayth that Friers, Monkes, and the rest of this broode ought, though they are no preachers nor church ministers, yet by almes to be prouided for & not work. 1659 J. Milton 104 That the magistrate..should take into his own power the stipendiarie maintenance of church-ministers,..can stand neither with the peoples right nor with Christian liberty. 1791 Mar. 202/1 However commendable he may think it in a Church minister to be the champion of Gibbon's History. 1820 Mar. 138/2 No fees can be legally demanded by a Church minister, where the particular service for which they are demanded has not been performed. 2005 13 Feb. 12/1 A church minister and municipal councillor from a small Karoo town has landed in jail for stealing bricks from a housing project—because he wanted to extend his home. society > faith > worship > church music > [noun] society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > [noun] > church music 1565 T. Stapleton tr. Bede ii. xx. f. 75 He..professed to be a master of church musyke, and singinge [L. magister ecclesiasticae cantionis]. 1640–4 Thomas in J. Rushworth (1692) I. 285 Church-Musick, it shall have here the first place. 1763 J. Brown xii. 211 Church Music in Italy..is considered more as a Matter of Amusement than Devotion. 1841 J. F. Cooper I. ix. 153 I've seen grim warriors listening to the chattering and the laughing of young girls, as if it was church music. 2001 Oct. 90/1 There's an international music coming out:..it has Latin and blues and jazz flavours, Anglo-Saxon church music, Negro church music. 1712 J. Addison No. 338. 105 A great many of our Church-Musicians..have..introduc'd in their farewell Voluntaries a sort of Musick quite foreign to the Design of Church-Services. 1840 R. G. Latham I. xxi. 223 The church-musicians find the company with tunes. 1997 Autumn 7/3 There is a widespread respect amongst church musicians for the English tradition. c1460 in A. Clark (1907) 112 (MED) The church of Barton with þe pertinencis, whoos aduocacion they hauen of the ȝifte of Roger of Seynte John, of the same church patrone in-to þere owne vses. 1723 H. Rowlands x. 131 Of which Saints or Church-Patrons, there were seven in Angelsey that were intitled..to several Tenures. 1883 11 July 251/3 One rises from the chronicles of a past period, when fox-hunting squires were leading Church patrons, and racing parsons were vicars, with a sigh of relief that such a state of things has had its day. 2010 C. Hill in D. Janes & G. Waller vii. 109 These panels depicting Joachim and Anne with the young Mary are placed alongside panels showing the Virgin and child and the church patron, St Laurence. 1593 R. Hooker iii. i. 133 Church-politie..is a forme of ordering the publique spirituall affayres of the Church of God. 1760 H. Stebbing II. xiii. 247 There are not now those warm Contentions about..Forms of Church Polity and Discipline, that there have been formerly. 1876 Oct. 638 The natural antagonism of a democratic church polity to the practical operation of slavery. 2005 R. Haight II. i. ii. 132 Church polity and ordinance did not bind Christian conscience. 1594 tr. A. Arnauld f. 7v The Spiritual power may institute and iudge the earthly power, if it be not good. So is the prophesie of Hieremie verified vpon the Church and Church power. 1704 J. Sage iv. 134 Not..a single Congregation whether presbyterated or Unpresbyterated, but Church Officers are the First Subject of Church power. 1835 I. Taylor vi. 278 The progress of Church Power..as concentrating around the See of Rome. 2001 C. Kelly viii. 141 The Fable of the Grand Inquisitor, where the Inquisitor himself spoke for a utilitarian, ‘Western’ view of Church power working in the world to right material injustice. 1549 T. Chaloner tr. Erasmus sig. Qiiiv Ye must note this well, how it maketh muche for my dignitee, that he putteth folie in the latter place, namely seyng the Ecclesiaste, or churche preacher wrote it. 1702 J. Northleigh 109 The Church Preachers, or Ministers (as they may be called) of the State as well as Church, are maintained by Publick salaries. 1882 J. G. Adams xvi. 211 The public life of Dr. Chapin was one of incessant action. He was not merely a church preacher. 2004 A. Hartney in M. Edwards & C. Reid vi. 85 The power and influence that could be wielded by a church preacher over the minds and hearts of a lay congregation was by no means underestimated. 1596 W. Warner (rev. ed.) ix. liii. 239 By Slauerie and by Symonie now Church-Preferment comes. a1637 B. Jonson Magnetick Lady ii. iv. 4 in (1640) III For any Church preferment thou hast a mind too. 1726 J. Ayliffe 119 This crime of canvassing or solliciting for Church-Preferment. 1858 Jan. 204/1 He was not ill-provided with church preferment, but he hated the clerical profession. 1997 J. M. I. Klaver i. iii. 47 The professional geologist..could not fall back on church preferment as a source of income. 1693 W. Robertson (new ed.) 335 To go on perambulation on Church procession. 1764 47 The solemnity consisted of a church procession. 1855 July 149 In the pompous Church procession which took place, the infidels of course could not share. 1999 D. Haslam iii. 58 Church processions, especially the Whit walks, were a favourite subject for the camera crews. 1659 H. P. 9 Those who claim Tythes by an Ecclesiastical Right, or Church Property. 1789 J. Berington iv. 42 There was once a celebrated division of church property into four parts; for the reparation of places of worship, for the poor, for the clergy, and for the bishop. 1878 J. C. Lees xix. 201 The Regent Murray gifted all the Church Property to Lord Sempill. 1997 W. Dalrymple (1998) v. 358 The Israeli authorities have always roundly condemned the vandalism of Church property. 1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane xiv. f. clxxxiij Monkes houses wold not in dede bee pulled downe, but yet mete to bee reuoked to a godly reformation: the lyke is to bee thought of the churche reuenewes. 1790 E. Burke 154 The whole church revenue is not always employed, and to every shilling, in charity. View more context for this quotation 1867 Nov. 525 These bishops affirm that they are the rightful owners of the church revenues. 2002 R. C. Palmer vi. 153 Both the bills forwarded at first concerned church revenue from the estates of the dead. OE tr. Bede (Cambr. Univ. Libr.) v. xviii. 466 He..þa cyricsangas [L. carmina ecclesiastica] lærde, þe hi ær ne cuðan. c1275 (?c1250) (Calig.) (1935) l. 984 Nis noþer to lud ne to long At riȝte time chirche-song. 1530 (Fawkes) (1873) i. 33 The forthe profyt of holy chyrche songe ys, that yt dothe away vndyscrete heuynes. 1614 T. Ravenscroft 14 The common practise (in Composition for Church Songs, Madrigalls, Pastoralls, Ballads &c.) charactereth this Diminution with denigrated Notes. 1778 T. West 43 Perhaps such a determinate height and length [of a Gothic church] was found more favourable than any other to the church song. 1873 Dec. 212/1 Two-part singing begun, and church songs practiced. 2000 S. Broughton et al. II. i. 141/2 The wor songs sung by choruses are hard work, the church songs and string band pieces are more accessible. 1762 R. Bremner (ed. 2) p. vi An Organist or Church-clerk, with a few trained Boys around him, may, in time, teach the tractable Part of a Congregation the Tenor of a Church-tune. 1833 6 July 213/1 The tones I..delight to recal to memory, were those of a young farmer's man, who sang bass to a fine old church tune. 1845 Mar. 137 The music in harmony of four parts of this venerable and deservedly popular church tune, was composed by Claude Goudimel. 1991 J. Caldwell I. vii. 395 Psalmody was not of course confined to settings of the church tunes or to the Old Version itself. c1230 (?a1200) (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 214 Þe chirche uestemenz. 1567 R. Horne in T. Stapleton iv. ix. 475v He must visit the vesselles and Churche vestymentes, whether they be cleane, and kepte in a cleane place, as they ought to be. 1760 XVI. xvii. 326 All their heads were ordered to be stuck upon lances, and carried away as trophies, together with all the church vestments. 1897 Jan. 31 The cope as a church vestment is of no Roman origin. 2004 35 463 Church vestments likewise displayed embroidered names, scriptural passages, dedications, or invocations. 1753 S. Richardson IV. 100 She distinguished between chamber-vows and church-vows. 1844 P. Cooper 238 Heretic, and heterodox, and traitor to Church vows, and every term of reproach which the foul vocabulary of theologic spite can supply. 1915 W. McCormick xiii. 149 The boy may be revelling and rioting, with never a thought of a church vow and utterly unconcerned as to church loyalty. 2000 42 387 Couples marry with formal church vows, wedding dress and suit, attendants, tiered wedding cake, and much ado. 1641 K. Chidley 60 Therefore to avoid scandall, you would insinuate that we are bound to neglect the whole forme of Church worship. 1796 V. Green I. 127 Elizabeth, who found it expedient to grant farther powers to the commissioners for their regal visitation, by which images, pictures, crucifixes, and other external appendages of church worship were swept away. 1844 22 May 8/2 His Lorship briefly referred to some of the topics in the report, and concluded by urging the necessity of affording children as they advanced in life the benefit of church worship. 1997 Winter 31/1 The publication of a book of this kind is immensely valuable to anyone involved in the provision of music for church worship. 1785 A. Pirie 135 This festival was kept..precisely in the middle of the ecclesiastic or church year. 1868 F. Procter & G. F. Maclear ii. i. iv. 78 Before this the Church year had usually commenced with the high festival of Easter. 1990 R. Crocker & D. Hiley 43 The Parakletike..contains the proper hymns for Offices as well as for the Divine Liturgy in the course of the church year. b. attributive, with the sense ‘of divine service in the church, of public worship’. 1636 D. Calderwood 164 It is a thing convenient to give almes upon the church-dayes. 1809 S. T. Coleridge Three Graves iii, in 21 Sept. 92 Ellen..kept her Church All Church-days during Lent. 2003 J. Venema ii. 135 On other church days such as Ascension and Good Friday there was one service. a1645 W. Laud (1695) xxxii. 314 I injoyned my self several hours of Prayer: That I hope is no Sin: And if some of them were Church-Hours, that's no Sin neither. 1786 J. Wesley 14 June (1931) VII. 333 We all agreed..to exhort all our people..to preach on Sundays, morning and evening, not in the church hours. 1850 J. Leech 39 Between breakfast and church hour I paid a visit to the Almshouse. 2009 (Nexis) 10 Dec. 24 The exhibition is open most days of the week during church hours. OE Wulfstan (Junius) 75 Bisceopes dægweorc, ðæt bið mid rihte..his cyrictida on rihtlicne timan a be þam þingum, þe þærto gebyrige.] 1596 W. Warner (rev. ed.) xii. lxxv. 307 After Prayers, Church-times, Sights, & Stories sometimes read. 1633 G. Herbert Church Porch in lxx Who marks in church-time others symmetrie. a1716 O. Blackall (1723) I. xvii. 159 Those that..spend the Church-time at Home. 1843 C. Dickens (1844) xxvi. 315 On a Sunday morning, before church-time. 2004 (Church of England General Synod) i. 4 People no longer view Sunday as special, or as ‘church time’. c. attributive, with the sense ‘of or belonging to a church as a building for worship’. 1664 H. More ii. xv. 426 That known term of Church-Architecture, the Nave of the Church. 1774 T. Warton I. 303/1 The chapter-house was magnificently constructed in the style of church-architecture, finely vaulted, and richly carved. 1883 June 815 The beauty of church architecture in England..kept alive amongst the people a genuine native taste for the graces of stone-work. 2000 D. Mackenzie in A. Hastings et al. 311/1 Hopkins..now seems deeply mid-Victorian..in his Ruskinian attention to detail, whether in nature or church architecture. 1600 W. Shakespeare iii. iii. 86 Let vs goe sitte here vppon the church bench till twoo. View more context for this quotation 1770 J. Robertson 6 Justice seated on Church-bench, No doubt must prove a spotless Wench. 1871 Apr. 67 Church benches are not more than three feet wide. 1992 G. Steinem vii. iii. 307 Lessie had made cushions for the hard church benches. 1762 J. Hall-Stevenson x. 107 He was as sure as the Church Chimes! 1851 I. Taylor 314 The tens of thousands that now loiter away their Sundays within sound of the church chime. 1994 R. S. Brown v. 139 The principal sources of Ivan the Terrible's diegetic music are the human voice.., accompanying instruments, and various church chimes. 1473 in (1915) 51 467 Payd to Syr Wyllm Wellys for kepying of the chyrch clok and chyme at Morrow Messe for half a yere. 1665 R. Hooke 134 There may be as much curiosity of contrivance, and excellency of form in a very small Pocket-clock,..as there may be in a Church-clock. 1777 II. lxiii. 150 I traversed through many streets,..till I saw by a church clock I had been out long enough. 1860 G. A. Sala I. v. 100 The neighbouring church clock struck out twelve slowly. 2000 J. Harris (2001) xxv. 128 The church clock carrying distantly across the marshes. 1566 in (1874) 3 232 Certaine grave stonnes which wee were faine to take up of our church flower, and when the alters were taken downe we paved theim againe. 1678 N. Wanley vi. xxx. §16. 621/2 The man and then the stone fell upon the Church-floor, where he was killed. 1834 R. Southey II. 127 The church floor and church yard..were levelled anew. 1995 A. Warner (1996) 228 I turned aside and all sicked up on the church floor. 1586 T. Newton tr. A. Hyperius 104 Whether thou haue purloigned and taken away any Church furniture,..which kinde of sinne is commonly called Sacriledge. 1785 W. Cowper Tirocinium in 425 A piece of mere church-furniture at best. View more context for this quotation 1995 55 Other Victorian church furniture was put into St Paul's, Salford, a church saved from demolition. OE Ælfric (Cambr. Gg.3.28) xi. 92 Hi for wundrunge þæt hridder up ahengon æt heora cyrcan geate [L. in ecclesiae ingressu].] 1214 (1935) VII. 211 (MED) Reginoldus de Cherchegate. 1427–8 in H. Littlehales (1905) 69 (MED) Payd for a laborer for dyggyng of þe fondemens of þe chirche gate. 1513 in J. L. Glasscock (1882) 33 The stondyngs at the cherche gate letyn. 1693 in J. Barmby (1888) 210 For mending the church gate that carriages comes in at, 2s. 6d. 1894 Dec. 651 Poor Crab goes back to the church gate and looks in on the Cross. 2002 J. McGahern (2003) 173 Patrick Ryan drew up in an expensive car that dropped him at the church gate. 1633 G. Herbert Church Porch in xxxiii A herauld..Findes his crackt name..in the church-glasse. 1782 July 64/2 I mend the church glass by the year. 1889 19 Oct. 196/2 (advt.) All the church glass, including four important figure memorials. 2005 C. Fewins vi. 161 The earliest church glass in England was produced by fitting pieces of coloured glass into a network of lead. 1674 W. Charleton 37 When you hear the Musick of a Church Organ, is it not..pleasant..to consider how so many grateful notes..do all arise only from wind blown into a set of pipes? 1706 No. 425/5 A Church-Organ, containing 10 Stops in the great Organ. 1855 E. J. Hopkins in E. J. Hopkins & E. F. Rimbault ii. ii. 7 There are two kinds of bellows to be met with in church organs; namely diagonal and horizontal. 1996 Feb. 47/2 The city's cathedral,..claiming the largest church organ in the world. With 17,774 pipes and 233 stops it probably is. 1791 85 Church organist and assist. in military auditor general's office. 1878 S. Newcomb ii. i. 126 A church-organist and teacher of music. 2004 Mar. 28/2 Edward Elgar was something of a child prodigy, deputising for his father as church organist. 1667 J. Evelyn 42 Greater pride, deadly feud, railing and traducing amongst the She-Pharisees,..for the upmost place in the Church-pew, or at a Goshiping-meeting. ?1735 30 Strike me as stiff as an Alderman's Wife in a Church Pew. 1858 12 Apr. 7/6 How would the fashionable occupants of our church pews in their crisp muslin jackets like it if the bishops were to insist on their sitting side by side with men in oily fustian jackets. 2006 D. Angel-Bridge 248 Wonderful pictures of a priest holding out a piece of altar bread towards a kneeling couple, a choir singing, and rows and rows of church pews. 1889 at Church sb. Church-Pillow. 1992 B. Jones & L. Andrew i. 23 The grisly remains passed down to its resting-place on a faded church pillow. a1400 (c1303) R. Mannyng (Harl.) l. 9064 To þe cherche porche he cam. 1526 Acts xiv. 13 Brought oxen and garlondes unto the Churche porche. 1635 E. Pagitt (1646) 107 The Ethiopian and Moscovites doe baptize in the Church porch. 1724 H. Moll 58/2 Gregory Geering..erected a small Library over the Church Porch. 1866 15 Sept. 2/5 The sounds of hobnailed feet and giggling was heard in the church porch, denoting the arrival of the first batch of penny wedders. 2000 A. Taylor (2003) xii. 94 Isn't it rather odd—something like that [sc. a pagan carving] in a church porch? c1530 in W. H. Turnbull (1950) 30 Dame Elisabeth..besydis buylt Church Roif new & covyd yt wh lede. 1670 (Royal Soc.) 5 2085 The Church-Carpenter, upon search of the said Steeple and Church-roof within, met only with a present noise and thick damp. 1858 Mar. 532/2 A few ancient dust banners hung from the church-roof. 1995 25 Apr. 8/2 The lead on our church roof had been lifted—obviously so that thieves could come back and help themselves later. 1653 (new ed.) Index sig. Kkk4v/2 The Church Spire burnt down with lightning. 1797 Mar. 203/2 The church-spire is very ancient, and curiously constructed of wood, upon a square steeple. 1888 Lady D. Hardy II. v. 66 A tall thin church spire pricked the skies. 2005 T. Hall vi. 137 Chimneys, church spires and construction cranes peek out amongst the mêlée. 1448 R. Fox Brut in J. S. Davies (1856) 113 There apered in Fraunce a crucifix, with his blody woundes, ouer the churche-steple. 1598 J. Stow 107 An high or long shaft (or May pole) was set vppe there,..which..was higher then the Church steeple. 1787 II. xx. 70 One of the bells in the church steeple has fallen down and almost killed the clerk. 1852 D. Rock III. i. ix. 294 The bells in every church steeple swung forth their peals of gladsomeness. 2006 C. Frazier iv. iii. 306 The many passing towns were..rendered in perfect accuracy, each with its church steeples and white houses and docks. 1559 in W. M. Lummis (1950) 36 Payments for Church stoolys and the pews. 1846 May 153/1 As some escaped into the steeple, the church stools were broken up, a fire kindled, and they perished. 2006 C. M. Coates in 184 Normally, the colonial government did not grind to a halt when officials fought over where their church stool should be located. 1596 W. Raleigh (new ed.) 67 There appeared som ten or twelue ouerfals in sight, euery one as high ouer the other as a Church tower. 1760 XX. xix. i. 425 The next thing he did was to contrive..to send troops into the town, to hide them in the church towers. 1887 W. Rye p. iv Watermen..are believed to flake off their dirt..by rubbing themselves against the sharp angles of square flint church towers. 2006 Spring 8/2 The oldest of seven bells in the church tower is the Sanctus bell, dedicated before the Reformation. 1629 J. Earle (ed. 5) xi. sig. D Like one that runnes to the Church-walke [1628 Minster-walke], to take a turne, or two. 1898 W. B. R. Caley in W. Andrews 269 From this manifest need [for parishioners to reach their church] arose ‘Church Walks,’ or as we find them in towns, ‘Church Alleys’. 2002 P. Gulley (2004) xvii. 149 Dale never had to tell him to shovel the church walks; he just knew to do it. OE (Nero) xiii. 471 Se ðe ofslehð man binnan cyricwagum, he bið feorhscyldig.] c1300 St. Nicholas (Laud) l. 195 in C. Horstmann (1887) 246 (MED) Hadde ȝe ani-þing þarof on þe churche-walles i-do, Al þe churche hadde for-barnd. 1509 in J. L. Glasscock (1882) 31 A stondyng undernethe the Chirche wall. 1659 in J. A. Picton (1883) I. 192 The swynecoate joyneing unto the Church wall be puled downe. 1892 48 118 It was not difficult to admit a bas-relief or a false god to a place in the church wall, provided it were renamed in honour of a saint. 1991 C. Barker (1992) 115 He was only able to prevent a collision by mounting the pavement, bringing his own car to a juddering halt inches short of the church wall. d. Objective. (a) 1614 T. Lodge tr. Seneca Of Benefits i. x, in tr. Seneca 10 In all times there will be Murtherers, Tyrants, Thieues, Adulterers, Robbers, Church-breakers, and Traitors. 1694 P. A. Motteux tr. F. Rabelais iv. xlviii. 186 Some Robber..or Church-breaker. 1876 W. R. W. Stephens iv. 105 Incendiaries, church-breakers, witches and sorcerers, were to be excommunicated. 2001 R. Lischer (2002) xii. 118 The edgy, open, impudent church-breaker was closing up, saving her sharpest insights for the professional. 1660 (single sheet) Being therefore deeply sensible of our present sufferings, (by the loss of those our worthy Patriots, and Church-defenders) and of the real Causers thereof. 1768 July 358/2 Yet, this church defender has given us full assurance, that there shall be no reformation in such matters which are complained of by the author of the Confessional. 1890 28 Oct. 11/6 He is the most powerful Church defender in the country. 2009 S. McMeekin iv. 81 By mid-April 1922, no less than 1414 ‘bloody excesses’ had already been reported in confrontations between the GPU and church defenders, according to Izvestiia. 1659 J. Gauden i. iii. 49 These Clero-masticks and Church-destroyers still maintain a most implacable war against the Church of England. 1842 (Cambr. Camden Soc.) i. 12 The church-destroyers of other days. 2007 W. J. Hankins iv. 226 There must be a special place in the ‘outer darkness’ for church destroyers. 1624 T. Gataker 198 No one of these dreamers and Church-deuisers..is able before Luther to assigne in any age since Christ or Country of the world one Parish of Protestant true professors. 1656 R. Baxter sig. A7v By Separatists..I plainly mean Church-dividers: even all that make unnecessary Divisions in or from the Churches of Christ. 1865 July 222/1 He calls baptism a church-dividing ceremony; if so, what Christ enjoined is a church-divider. 2007 L. B. Hild viii. 110 This subject [sc. speaking in tongues] is a huge church-divider. 1639 R. Abbott (title) A triall of our church-forsakers. 1685 J. Norris iii. 175 What sufficient convincing proof can our Church-forsakers make, that they are not faln from the true Faith. 1852 E. Berens (title) The Church-forsaker. 1589 L. Wright Ep. to Rdr. The prelacie which these new deuising church-founders are now so desirous to haue established. 1829 Apr. 296 How far the design of the church-founders was preserved. 1995 C. Stancliffe in P. Fouracre I. ii. xv. 408 Sometimes..the donor gave land to a close relative, so that the family of both donor and church-founder was the same. 1583 W. Chauncie tr. P. Viret ii. sig. G.i There are many hospitals, whiche heretofore haue bin gouerned by priestes, whiche were muche better gouerned then, then thei bee now by these newe Churche reformers. 1689 R. Baxter ii. xii. 260 Learning in the Church Reformers hath ever been a great help and furtherance of Reformation. 1835 25 May 4/2 Church Reformers of England, here's a specimen of Whig radicalism for you! 2006 C. Tyerman 7 Uniquely for a layman—and inconveniently for church reformers—kings were also consecrated. 1602 T. Lodge tr. Josephus 781 Their Citie tooke the name of Church spoyling, and afterward changed it. 1604 S. Hieron sig. E4v Those men which do Church-spoyling loue, Our Fayth and Church doth not approoue. 1875 J. B. Gill xii. 95 The spirit of church-spoiling had broken loose in the land. 1672 R. Baxter xi. 105 You be not of those Church-tearers opinion, who must have all go just one way, in all those undetermined variable things. (b) 1687 J. Dryden iii. 99 The Martyn..A church-begot, and church-believing bird. 1885 Sept. 557 A partial census of Church-believing people was taken some months ago. 1964 V. M. Axline xi. 113 Papa and Mother are not church-believing people. 1599 E. Sandys 97 Church-robbing Politicians and Church-razing Souldiers. 1643 J. Brinsley ii. 34 Church-Reformation. A subject fit indeed to be handled before that Authority to which a Church-Reforming power is committed; but not so fit for private Auditories. 1826 E. Irving II. 391 Church-reforming statesmen. 1998 G. Dorrien iv. 170 The Callers admonished that the evangelical impulse to proclaim..the church-reforming Word of scripture is not a Protestant invention. 1645 Pref. sig. A iij Their pernicious, God-provoking, Truth-defacing, Church-ruinating, and State-shaking toleration. 1672 T. Gale Contents sig. []4v Unbelief a Church-ruinating Sin. 1997 I. Kramnick & R. L. Moore iii. 52 People attacked [Roger] Williams as a radical, a ‘church-ruinating’ anarchist. 1851 E. B. Browning ii. xviii. 119 Lost breath and heart in these church-stifled places. e. Instrumental and adverbial. 1687 J. Dryden iii. 99 The Martyn..A church-begot, and church-believing bird. 1881 J. R. Monroe 38 There is no good that is not church-begotten. 1887 C. A. Bartol in (West Church, Boston, Mass.) 117 He shocked Orthodoxy..by affirming..that the children of Christian parents were of course Christians, church-begotten and church-born. 1911 E. Goldman 12 How can such an all-compelling force [sc. love] be synonymous with that poor little State and Church-begotten weed, marriage? 1811 W. R. Spencer 136 The church-bidden bride. 1997 25 Jan. (Nexis) Wigton..was enclosed, church-bidden, ration-booked, all but car-less, a cat's cradle of families and alley ways. 1889 at Church sb. Church-commissioned. 2003 (Nexis) 28 Feb. a10/1 A new church-commissioned report on the past decade warned that there had been steep declines in Sunday attendance, baptisms, marriages and paid clergy. 1616 T. Adams 21 Sleepe is the image of death, sayth the Poet: and therefore the Church-sleeper is a dead corps, set in his pew like a coffin. 1650 J. Howell (new ed.) App. 134 In these kinds of Church-gesticulations, they differ from all other people. 1822 F. Beasley I. iv. x. 509 We suspect that these church-sleepers are engaged in no such godly occupation as listening to their pastor's voice. 1839 J. H. Griscom (1840) ii. 62 A perfect ventilation of their churches did more to keep people awake than all the sermons illustrative of the sin of ‘church sleeping’. 1899 Mar. 150/2 We believe that the responsibility for the church whisperer lies first with the parent. 1912 18 Nov. 651/1 During the church sleep, a miraculous and mysterious surgical operation is performed, and the sufferer is cured. 1945 S. G. Spaeth xii. 138 One of the revolutionary ideas of the Reformation was that the congregation should take a more active part in church singing. 1998 (Nexis) 14 Dec. 13 The second section..was carried off with wit, panache and evident relish, portraying church chatterers and a ‘badly sung’ hymn. C2. society > faith > artefacts > land > [noun] > churchyard the world > life > death > disposal of corpse > burial > burial ground or cemetery > [noun] > churchyards 1236–42 in A. D. Weld-French (1896) 442 (MED) Le Chirhacre. 1451 in A. D. Mills (1980) II. 13 Church Acre. 1596 Stanford Churchwardens' Accts. in (1888) May 212 For earinge of the church acre. 1677 in A. D. Mills (1980) II. 50 Church Acre. a1773 J. Hutchins (1774) II. 225/1 The manor courts are held..anciently in a house opposite the church acres. 1829 W. H. Ireland II. 693 An acre of land, called the church acre, belongs to this church. 1910 P. H. Ditchfield xviii. 381 The Church Acre at Chedzoy is let in a similar manner. 1882 R. R. Resker 3 Oct. in (Church of Eng.) 99 The Church Army Mission..has commenced its first operations..in my parish in London. 1882 22 Dec. 528/2 The formation of a ‘Church Army’, which is..a significant widening of the methods of the Church of England for evangelizing the masses. 1912 A. Reynolds (ed. 2) 83/2 The Church Army has become a huge organization for social work. 2004 R. Potter (ed. 4) 181/2 Church Army have five areas of focus, which are: children and young people, homelessness, church planting, older people, area Evangelism. society > faith > church government > council > Church of England > [noun] 1566 R. Horne f. 115v Their Churche assemblies were not to the encrease, but rather to the decrease of vertue in them selues. 1614 W. Bradshaw sig. B Their Prelaticall or Episcopall office or Ministery is not the proper Ministery of any of our Church Assemblies. 1726 T. Shepherd 378 There must be order in church assemblies. 1883 Mar. 657/2 The Anti-Slavery party..came clamoring to the doors of missionary societies and church assemblies, demanding condign excommunication for all slave-holders. 1919 c. 76 §1 ‘The National Assembly of the Church of England’ (hereinafter called ‘the Church Assembly’). 1971 W. S. Gilchrist in R. T. Parsons 190 It was fairly common for government agents to audit at least some of the sessions of important church assemblies. 2004 (Nexis) 29 Sept. 66 From 1960 to 1980 Lockley was a diocesan proctor in the Convocation of Canterbury and a member of the Church Assembly and then the General Synod. 1702 C. Mather v. ii. 49/2 To make over Church Betrustments, ‘unto faithful Men’. 1577 H. I. tr. H. Bullinger III. v. x. sig. Vvvv.vv/2 There are other who are not yet come to extreme pouertie, but are euen now readie to fall into it, so that..they by and by come to be kept by the Church boxe. 1698 A. Fletcher ii. 24 A great many poor Families very meanly provided for by the Church-boxes. 1867 Sept. 529/1 Here we are at the door again, and on either side are the poor-box and the church-box. 1924 7 Oct. 13/7 The number of people who put offerings in the church box has been so small that the Chapter is now compelled to consider fresh means to cover expenses. 2003 M. C. Beaton (2004) x. 178 I think he broke into the church box to take the money because he planned to make a run for it and wanted some petty cash. 1693 S. Dale 532 Wood-Lice, Sows, or Church-Buggs. 1764 J. Cook Let. 28 July in Aug. 407/1 The millepede wine is made by infusing two or three ounces of live church bugs in a quart of rhenish wine, or white Lisbon. 1878 C. Schafer Let. 11 Sept. in 65 Here in Wisconsin, there is a bug that troubles the grain, we call them ‘Church-bugs’. 1919 F. E. Summers 47 This time it was a church bug had died in one of the notes in her accordian [sic], and she..had to have it fixed. 2001 (Nexis) 17 July b1 Church bugs are active in many lawns again this year. Keep an eye out for tell-tale brown, irregular sunken patches. 1642 D. L. 10 Buffe Coats in the Campe, and black Coats in the Church-Campe. 1891 11 Sept. The church camp opened Sunday last and will continue three weeks. 1945 10 420/2 Two marginal agencies raise separate funds; the Camp Committee that is in charge of the Church Camp..and the Woman's League. 1991 S. Arterburn & J. Felton ii. 44 Anyone who has ever been to a church camp knows what it is like to have a religious high, commonly called a mountaintop experience. 1614 B. Carier 33 The Doctrine of England is that which is contained in the Common prayer booke and Church Catechisme confirmed by act of Parlament, and by your Majesties Edict. 1712 R. Steele No. 266. ⁋4 I heard an old and a young Voice repeating the Questions and Responses of the Church-Catechism. 1841 C. Dickens xxvii. 87 Offensive and undutiful, and in direct contravention of the church catechism. 1999 Apr. 31/2 They were taught reading, writing, arithmetic and the church catechism. society > faith > sect > Christianity > Roman Catholicism > Roman Catholic sects and groups > [noun] > English > person > outwardly conforming 1628 Let. in J. Rushworth (1659) 475 We give the honor to those which merit it, which are the Church-Catholicks. 1709 J. Withers 12 He mentions the Attempt of bringing over German Horse, to be a Contrivance of the Church Catholicks. 1866 A. Strickland 325 Lloyd next published a book in defence of..those..reproachfully termed ‘Church Catholics’. 1993 G. Hanlon ix. 277 The high proportion of ‘church-Catholics’ who saw nothing untoward about attending Anglican services. society > faith > worship > excommunication > [noun] > rite of c1460 in A. Clark (1907) 90 (MED) So i-condempned to þe saide beeste ȝevyng..by all church censure. 1655 T. Fuller ii. 131 The Count slighted his Excommunication, conceiving his Head too high for Church-Censures to reach it. 1726 J. Ayliffe 157 All Ecclesiastical Persons..to whom an Ordinary Jurisdiction is given..may fulminate these Church-Censures. 1845 Mar. 55/1 There were two or three cases which called for church censure, and one female was suspended on strong suspicion of immoral conduct. 1933 L. Berkhof 303 Only the officers of the Church can apply Church censures. 2006 R. R. Standish & C. D. Standish clvii. 311 Brother Mesake had been placed under Church censure for three months (27 June–26 September, 1998). 1680 J. Hinckley 142 The Church-Censurers, without the Civil Arm, are but Brutum fulmen. 1693 J. Kettlewell i. iii. 17 Church-Governours..in such Sort, as may be most Medicinal to the Offenders themselves,..are to remove such..from Communion by Church-Censurers. 1844 Apr. 231 This government of the church..comprehends..the infliction and removal of church censurers. 1976 7 July 13/3 The traditional church censurer took some to task for such sins as holding hands on Main Street. 1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas ii. i. 352 False-contracting, Church-chaffering, Cheating, Bribing, and Exacting. 1610 W. Folkingham iv. ii. 81 Contriuing commodities by Church-Chaffering. society > faith > church government > laity > lay functionaries > clerk > [noun] > of parish 1535 in J. L. Glasscock (1882) 42 Item rec. clerely for the cherch clerkis mede..iijs. xjd. 1625 R. Withers tr. O. Bon Grand Signors Seraglio xii, in S. Purchas II. ix. xv. 1608 They [sc. the Turks] haue a Gouernour of the Moscheas, called the Mooteuelee, and Eemawms, which are Parish Priests, and next to them Muyezins, which are as our Church Clerkes. 1762 R. Bremner (ed. 2) p. vi An Organist or Church-clerk, with a few trained Boys around him, may, in time, teach the tractable Part of a Congregation the Tenor of a Church-tune. 1892 5 Mar. 195/2 The quaint race of church clerks..has, I fear, almost entirely disappeared. 1917 v. 32 A church clerk may be elected by the local church or official board, who shall be the pastor's clerical assistant. 2007 S. K. Jackson iv. 52 Mae Richardson is more than a church clerk, dear. 1538 in E. Hobhouse (1890) 152 Payd for ij hundryth of bords to make ye Church coffur .iiijs. viijd. 1597 R. Hooker v. 248 Numbers sell away their lands and livinges the huge prices whereof are brought to your Church coffers. 1715 J. Kersey (ed. 2) at Cista Gratiæ A Church-Coffer where the Peoples Alms-Money was kept. 1817 Aug. 170/2 This document..will transfer thirty millions of reals from the Church coffers to those of the State. 1903 30 May 440/1 He broke open two of the church coffers, but only succeeded in finding one chalice. 2006 R. Pederson vi. 140 Pope Boniface protested King Philip's efforts to dip into church coffers by issuing a papal bull known as the Unam Sanctum. 1624 R. Montagu 35 (margin) And it is the meaning both of the name, and vse of our Church-Collects. 1628 H. Burton sig. L2v It will then be the more tollerable to borrow a peece of the Church Collect, being a thankesgiuing at the buriall of the Dead, & turne it into a prayer (priuate at least) for the dead, then to vse it for the liuing. 1716 M. Davies II. 161 Dedicated to him who is said to have had the best tast and most gust in such old Church-Collects. 1865 3 p. cclvvx But what mother in her senses would take her young child to her knee, and make it lisp its first words of prayer in a Church Collect? 1922 May 212 The often very free translation of the Church Collects, adopted in the English Prayer Book. 1631 J. Weever To Reader [He] gaue me many Church-Collections, with diuers memorable Notes, and Copies of Records, gathered by himselfe and others. 1676 J. Locke Contents sig. b4 Of Church-collections for poor, ch. 27. p. 400. 1736 C. Fleming ii. 51 I am surprised how any man can see in this text a prohibition, or an advising of the Corinthians against a church collection! 1880 2 183 The writings which are in the Church-collection are, taken together, sacred writings. 1902 p. iii Not a cent of the church collection, therefore, was needed for administration expenses of any kind. 1983 16 426 Descriptions of the holdings of 13 libraries, 25 church collections, and 24 organizational archives are recorded. 2001 L. Mitton 14 (caption) There was also a Hospital Sunday Fund, started in the 1850s, which co-ordinated fund-raising through church collections. society > faith > church government > laity > lay functionaries > commissioner > [noun] 1644 S. Rutherford sig. Yy2 They made a Church-ordinance to send Paul and Barnabas as Church-messengers, or Church-Commissioners to the Synod. 1736 N. Trott I. 388 The Church-Wardens..shall render an Account of the said Money how laid out, to the Church Commissioners at their next Meeting. 1842 Ld. Tennyson Epic in (new ed.) II. 2 I heard The parson..Now harping on the church-commissioners, Now hawking at Geology and schism. 1948 28 Feb. 6/4 The Archbishop of Canterbury has nominated the following as Church Commissioners:—The Bishop Suffragan of Kensington, [etc.]. 2001 4 July 28/7 The stake, worth around £6m, had been held by the Church Commissioners on behalf of the CoE. society > faith > church government > council > Church of England > [noun] 1836 J. Edwards 35 The Church Congress, composed of clerical and lay members of the Established Church of England, for the first time discussed the subject [sc. prohibition]. 1861 (1862) p. v A circular addressed to eminent Churchmen of all parties requesting their attendance at a Church Congress in Cambridge. 1908 E. F. Benson 8 They go to all the church congresses and hospitals, and homes for forcing people to be reclaimed. 1957 F. L. Cross 286/1 Church Congresses..have been held from 1861 onwards (annually down to 1913, and less regularly since). 2008 23 June 16 In a speech made..to a Canadian church congress on the eucharist yesterday, [Pope] Benedict appeared to hold firm. 1621 D. Calderwood iv. 124 Whether Church consistories should medle with such controversies concerning things temporall. 1733 D. Neal II. 474 By the passing this Bill all coercive Power of Church Consistories was taken away. 1880 Feb. 475 The church consistory appoints and removes the village teachers throughout Hanover. 1998 F. J. Schryer 359 Presbyters..serve on local church consistories together with lay elders who act as deacons. society > faith > worship > vow > covenant > [noun] > entered into at baptism or on admission into church 1613 H. Ainsworth 119 The scripture sheweth that persons uncircumcised (and consequently unbaptised), may pass into the Church-covenant of the Lord. 1636 in H. M. Burt (1898) I. 156 To p'cure some Godly and faithfull minister with whome we purpose to Joyne in Church Covenant to walke in all the ways of Christ. 1641 K. Chidley 12 I am able to prove by the Scripture, that there is both precept and practise for a Church Covenant. 1700 T. Bennet 17 The Independent Church-Covenant between Pastor and People is no part of the Christian Church-Covenant; because it is no part of the Baptismal vow, which is one and the same for all Mankind. 1844 T. C. Upham v. 98 The Church covenant is then read, to which they all in like manner give some visible sign of assent. 1998 R. J. Radcliffe iv. 55 If one of the functions of an associate pastor is to enlist and train workers in the church.., the church covenant regarding service must be completely understood. 1644 S. Rutherford sig. O2 The want of an explicite and formall Church-covenanting, to you maketh professors no Church-visible, and unworthy of the seales of grace. 1653 R. Baxter 14 Those..that are most against Church-Covenantings, speak only against the Necessity of them. 1813 Feb. 402/2 By rejecting public professions of religion, church covenanting, and the fellowship of saints, you reject a visible church of Christ. 2005 D. A. Weir iv. 169 While the Baptists signed covenants they consistently denied the theology behind the practice of church covenanting. society > faith > artefacts > land > [noun] > churchyard the world > life > death > disposal of corpse > burial > burial ground or cemetery > [noun] > churchyards 1449–50 (Electronic ed.) Parl. Nov. 1449 §53. m. 12 That no shirref..within the seide churcherth..there to execute any office shall entre. 1573 Will J. Barnardiston in (1874) 4 171 Bequeaths her soul to Almighty God, and her body to be burid in the church earth of Boulton percie. 1672 in (N. Riding Rec. Soc.) (1888) VI. 176 The fence in the church-earth wall. ?1720 iii. 133 Our Church Howev'r, As I'll Evince, Has an Infallible Evidence, Her Doctrine to Insure, and Warrant, So In the Main Is no Church Errant. 1784 xx. 3/1 He..resembles a modern church-errant in quest of a tithe pig. 1895 Apr. 3 They [sc. the modern Jews] are the typical church errant; they have cut loose from the old moorings of Judaism and spurn the anchor of Jesus. 2003 (Nexis) Mar.–Apr. (heading) Church errant. 1732 18 As to this Jure divino, Infallible, and Immutable Dreams, they have never been regarded but as Church Errantry and Spiritual Romance. 1793 W. Roberts No. 55. 434 The age of church errantry is over—missionaries, legates, crusaders, and reformers have long gone off the stage. 1849 Jan. 29 Many natural and respectable scruples might prevent their following such a leader [sc. John Wesley] in his church errantry. 1850 1 May To establish a committee of the ecclesiastical commissioners for the management of the property of the commission, their designation to be ‘The Church Estates Commission’. 1904 V. 274 The receipt of the cashier of the bank is sent by the Board to the Secretary of the Church Estates Commission. 1994 (Nexis) 6 July 3 Its [sc. the Church of England's] real-estate assets are estimated at $3.1 billion and are administered by the Church Estates Commission on which senior political figures are represented. 1849 20 Feb. 4/5 The measure will..provide for the appointment of three lay and paid commissioners,..to be called Church Estates Commissioners. 1871 J. Mowbray Let. Sept. in (1900) 256 The Church Estates Commissioner visiting estates and exercising semi-seignorial, semi-episcopal functions throughout Weardale. 1997 165 The following persons..shall be members of the House of Laity... (d) the three Church Estate Commissioners. society > trade and finance > selling > a public sale > [noun] > bazaar, jumble sale, or sale of work 1830 24 Feb. (heading) Baptist Church fair.] 1844 June 248 Gross and disgusting scenes of feasting and revelry..have grown out of them [sc. Church donation parties]..Church feasts, and church tea-parties, and church fairs. 1903 A. Adams xxii. 354 At this church fair there was to be voted a prize of a nice baby wagon. 1998 5 June 4/1 Focus on food safety and hygiene at school fetes and church fairs throughout the summer. society > faith > aspects of faith > patristics > Fathers of the Church > [noun] 1654 J. Hall iii. xii. 354 The..promises also, heretofore made to Abraham, and other the Church Fathers and Founders. a1787 J. Brown (1797) 96 The scriptures..have authority from God, and contain his mind and meaning; and not as authorised, explained, or understood by the church-fathers, councils, or mens own conscience. 1866 J. M. Ludlow 236 The praises of virginity and of widowhood which occur in the works of perhaps every church father—in Cyprian and in Ambrose, in Augustin, in Jerome, in Chrysostom. 1927 42 907 Scholarly divines who attempt, by studying the writings of the Church Fathers and other records of ecclesiastical antiquity, to make out a case for the prelatical form of Church-discipline. 2008 C. M. Moreman iii. 62 The preeminent among church fathers was St. Augustine of Hippo (354–430). society > faith > worship > liturgical year > feast, festival > [noun] 1661 R. L'Estrange iv. 15 The Church-Festivals are much abused, and many sober Godly Ministers, and others unsatisfy'd in the Observation of them as Holy Dayes. 1797 J. Cornish ii. 29 He carried on the proceedings against the Puritans without remorse or pity, enforcing a strict observance of the church festivals. 1856 R. W. Emerson xiii. 217 Respite from labor..on the Sabbath, and on church festivals. 1992 G. Hancock i. i. 5 In the very distant past the relic had been brought out during all the most important church festivals. 1852 G. P. R. James 12/1 Amusements, for persons of my age, there were none in the town itself, except when there was some great Church fête. 1905 June 662/1 The men rarely missed a day's work, unless it was a holiday when everybody took a vacation; for the observance of a church fête is a serious business for members of the Greek Church. 1908 Rep. Select Comm. Lotteries & Indecent Advts. 34/2 in X. 282 Viscount Llandaff... It would prohibit a charitable bazaar or prizes at a church fete? 1962 H. Thurston iii. 32 The delivery of some jumble for the church fête. 2008 Aug. 3/2 Politicians meet constituents at receptions, garden and church fetes all the time. 1820 W. Scott I. i. 85 The habitations of the church-feuars were not less primitive than their agriculture. 1871 J. F. Hunnewell (1880) xxxv. 324 Scott has described the condition of the feudal vassals and of the church-feuars. 1861 Sept. 30/2 When next the church flag was flying,..the boy Warren's voice with the rest said, ‘Our Father which art in heaven.’ 1919 Feb. 220/2 The white church flag, with blue cross, fluttered against a gray sky. 2000 (Nexis) 16 June a18 No flag flies above the American Flag, except the church flag on ships at sea during services! society > faith > church government > laity > congregation > [noun] society > faith > church government > kinds of church government > establishmentarianism > [noun] > supporter of > collective a1200 (?OE) MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris (1873) 2nd Ser. 155 (MED) Ech sunedai..in chirche..al chirche folc ohg to ben gadered. 1644 T. Palmer 27 Some will goe to shew their fine cloathes, or that their neighbours may see what good Church-folke they are. ?1749 37 The church-folk pulled down the meeting-houses. 1869 R. Halley II. ix. 430 Church folk were Church folk through life, and Presbyterians were Presbyterians. 1913 Nov. 155 ‘Miriam was chapel-born and chapel-bred,’ he argued, ‘let her stick to it. All the Drubs has been church folk’. 2010 (Nexis) 3 Jan. 3/2 We met the grinding poverty, in part, by church folk looking around and deciding to take their mission to reach out to those without. 1724 P. Walker To Rdr. p. ix Our precious Confession of Faith made the Grave-stone,..and the late Church Formula laid also upon it, to make all sure. 1881 22 309/2 Elizabeth and her ministers intentionally framed the Church formulas so as to enable every one to use them who would disclaim allegiance to the Pope. 1905 July 325 In the absence..of any kind of church formula, the testimony of the Apostles..naturally formed the basis of the common faith. 2004 D. F. Strauss in C. A. Evanas ii. 47 This is the proper sense of the Church formula, that the divine and human nature were in him united into one person. society > faith > artefacts > land > [noun] > churchyard > gate of society > faith > artefacts > division of building (general) > door > [noun] > with grate society > faith > artefacts > furniture > other furniture > [noun] > warming apparatus 1519 in J. L. Glasscock (1882) 36 For tymber for the chirche grate xiiijd. 1772 H. Swinden xxiii. 885 It [sc. the jawbone of a whale] formerly was used for a seat at the church grate. 1846 6 179 The church-grate consists of a light, circular, open fire-basket, raised on legs, and portable by means of an iron bar. 1874 Jan. 2 Better than stirring the fuel in the church grate, is stirring ourselves. 2003 K. J. P. Lowe iv. 155 In June 1518, thirty nuns were listed at the church grate as witnesses. 1510–11 in D. Dymond (1995) I. 279 To the Chirch Halle in Ditton. 1777 211/1 Sir Robert Smyth, Bart. of Bere Church-Hall, in the county of Essex, to Miss Blake, of Hanover-square. 1815 Oct. 148 The six [electors] whose supplies were first exhausted, found themselves obliged to..surrender their votes to avoid starvation and a third night's confinement in the Church hall. 1913 Jan. 41/1 A hundred chamber concerts have been given at All Saints' Church Hall, Woodford Green, by Dr. E. Markham Lee. 1947 K. Tynan 1 Jan. (1994) ii. 138 We moved on to the party in Bourneville Church Hall. It is a saddening place, bare & inhospitably hardseated. 2002 N. Lebrecht v. 104 Within minutes, she had requisitioned a church hall and taken charge of rehousing and relief in an area..between the Finchley and Edgware Roads. 1615 in Mar. (1898) 34 Pd to Arthur Stroude for makinge a seate in the Bellfreye, and for mendinge the church hatch iij s. 1792 Feb. 109/1 The waters were up to the church-hatch, and nearly on a level with the turnpike, without the gate. 1876 T. Hardy i. 5 I had no memory of ever seeing her afore—no, no more than the dead inside church-hatch. 1904 J. Street vi. 195 There was a good deal paid for mending church ‘hatches’. society > faith > aspects of faith > holiness > consecration > [noun] > of church (Harl. 221) 75 Chyrcheholy, encennia. 1727 D. Defoe i. iii. 70 I do not say the Church Jugglers, went to the Devil for Help. 1780 W. Cowper 109 A mere church-juggler, hypocrite, and slave. 1917 A. F. McGarrah i. 17 Others [sc. pastors] are church jugglers, satisfied with attracting popular attention and admiration. 1698 E. Bellamy tr. J. Huarte x. 188 He will find great Subtilties in their Works, but writ, and deliver'd, in very course Church-Latin [Sp. en muy llano y comun latin]. 1731 tr. I. v. ii. xix. 285 This in church-latin [Fr. mauvais Latin] is called Presbyterium. 1836 C. MacFarlane I. lix. 295 The Marshal..was present at the sermon, and Andrew determined to hit him hard with a bit of Church Latin. 1906 July 89 Church Latin is a different, and in some ways an easier, language than classical Latin. 2007 (Nexis) 21 Apr. 27 His growing congregation was well schooled, taught to sing..using, uniquely, the reformed classical pronunciation, not Church Latin with its soft c's. 1542 Church-wardens' Accts. in T. Fuller Hist. Waltham-Abby 14 in (1655) Paid unto two men of Law for their counsel about the Church-leases, six shillings eight pence. 1665 T. Sprat 129 The letting of Church Leases is a business, whose Regulation was brought about since the time, that the Church of Rome divided from us. 1732 True & Faithful Narr. in J. Swift III. ii. 266 He got a Church-Lease fill'd up that Morning. 1881 3 Oct. 10/5 The extraordinary tithes are taken for the residue of some old church lease. 1999 P. Scherer vii. 91 In 1837 the government proposed that the state take over church leases. 1822 W. Cobbett Rural Rides in 19 Jan. 181 Some church-looking windows. 2005 H. A. Gram & J. P. Gram vii. 92 There's something to be said about a Church-looking building. 1641 J. Milton 45 Do not, ye Church maskers..cover and hide his righteous verity with the polluted cloathing of your ceremonies to make it seem more decent in your own eyes. ?a1425 (a1415) (Harl.) (1917) 35 Whilis þis lijf duriþ in erþe, þis chirche is clepid militaunt;..But whanne sche haþ rest of al hir traueile, þanne is sche clepid þe chirche triumphaunt.] 1483 ( tr. G. Deguileville (Caxton) (1859) v. vi. 76 The chirche militant..that laboureth here in erthe. 1552 (STC 16279) Administr. Lordes Supper sig. N.iv Let vs pray for the whole state of Christes Churche militant here in earth. 1657 E. Hyde ii. iii. 204 The Apostles invitation is as urgent for us to draw near to the Church Triumphant, as to the Church Militant, because all power is given to our Saviour Christ, as well in heaven as in earth. 1739 A. Nicol 34 The Heathens shall in Judgment stand Against us who pretend To be in Christ's Church militant, Yet have his Laws profan'd. 1878 (ed. 7) 135 Hugh Peters..on this [sc. the taking of Basing House by Cromwell] as on other occasions, proved his devotion to the church militant. 2001 Oct. 64/2 As the church militant marched around the globe, its hybrid Celtic-Roman-Christian celebration chased after it like a faintly disreputable but fun-loving camp follower. 1740 J. Grassineau tr. S. De Brossard 6 This term [sc. authentico] is applied by the Italians to four of the church modes or tones in music, which rise a fourth above their dominants, which are always fifths above their finals. 1873 W. K. Sullivan in E. O'Curry I. p. dlxxix The series of church modes..furnished a set of scales proceeding from every note of the diatonic scale, all differing in almost everything from one another. 1920 W. R. Spalding xviii. 288 Much of his [sc. Debussy's] original tone coloring is derived from the old church modes such as the Lydian, the Dorian and the Phrygian. 2007 T. A. Lynn iii. 99 The major and minor scales replaced the modes and remained prominent until the late nineteenth century, when composers rediscovered the early church modes. society > faith > worship > observance, ritual > [noun] > instance or form of 1581 P. Wiburn f. 161 Your Priestes be intruders into Church offices without lawfull calling from God. 1657 J. Taylor Pref. sig. a4v The Decalogue recited in the Communion..was never in any Church Office before, but in Manuals and Catechisms onely. 1710 tr. L. E. Du Pin (ed. 2) iii. 380 Those are blamed, who did not approve of the Use of Hymns in the Church Office, or of Prayers that were composed by Men. 1780 M. Madan I. iv. 205 He evidently excepted against polygamists being elected to church-offices. 1883 P. Schaff et al. II. 873 Church offices are..impossible without charismatic endowment. 1908 May 489 These men learned the different Church offices by heart, but they could not read them. 1999 F. W. Marks iv. 94 There were places where the sale of church offices (simony) was rampant. society > authority > control > [noun] > regulation > a regulation or rule > body or system of > specific 1549 T. Chaloner tr. Erasmus sig. Qiiiv Ye know how the church ordre willeth, that who so is first in dignitee, shall goe last in place. 1566 R. Horne f. 59v The Fathers in this Synode complaine, that the auncient Churche order of excommunicacion, dooing penaunce, & reconciliation is quite out of vse. 1654 J. Tombes ii. 15 The meer positive worship and Church-order of the New Testament. 1741 A. Collins III. i. 308 He was..a punctual observer of the ancient church orders. 1845 Mar. 189 Some parts of church order are left off, and considered as impossible, impracticable, or unnecessary. 1998 P. Coertzen v. 45 A church order is not simply a neutral collection of regulations. 1524 in W. L. Nash (1851) 21 For makyng of v panys of the church pale iiijd. 1617 Presentm. in 15 48 His church pale, broken down, lett in hogges and other cattle, which mussells and spoyles the churchyard. 1794 D. Jones v. 56 Suppose persecution were to make dissenters conform, you will not say that the conversion will be the result of conviction, their principles they will carry within the church pale. 1875 F. W. Robertson 2nd Ser. xv. 118 There are some of us who can believe in the Christianity of those who are a little beyond our own Church pale. 1995 S. Brownsberger tr. A. Bitov ii. 238 Lenin we'll bury outside the church pale, like a suicide. society > armed hostility > military organization > ceremonial > [noun] > parade > type of society > faith > worship > observance, ritual > kinds of rite > military > [noun] society > faith > worship > church-going > [noun] > parade of the fashionable the mind > emotion > pride > ostentation > [noun] > walk or ride taken for display > on Sunday morning 1788 T. D. tr. F. von der Trenck I. 25 I had been scare three weeks a cadet, when the king called me aside after the church parade. 1877 17 Nov. 732/1 The only Branch Union..of which I have seen anything, has been holding monthly special services, or church parades. 1884 22 Mar. 29/5 On Sunday the Park was again thronged... The church parade was well attended. 1921 M. Hine (1922) i. 5 The puny mortals strutting forth to Church Parade in all their peacock finery. 1990 A. Beevor xix. 230 To foster community life, many headquarters and regiments..organise a curry lunch one Sunday a month, often after a church parade. 2008 (Nexis) 28 Sept. 38 At St Wynwallow's family service Rainbow and Brownie girls were on church parade. 1897 10 Apr. 177/1 Though Fashion is a tyrant Queen, Her rule I'm now evading—I am not even to be seen On Sundays church-parading! 1907 W. T. Shore in A. Trollope Introd. p. v Church-parading to and fro. society > faith > worship > church-going > [noun] > parade of the fashionable > person involved in 1889 28 May 210/3 I shall make one of that devout band known as the Church Paraders. Among whom some come to be seen. Some to see. 1974 G. McLeod 194 Chartist church paraders were frequently subjected to such sermons in the 1830s and '40s. 1885 July 8 The High Commissioner's banquetting and church-parading. 2002 M. Walker ii. 28 All this marching, cleaning, running, jumping, parading, sentry-going, weapons inspecting, church parading and general hammering into shape. OE Bounds (Sawyer 977) in J. M. Kemble (1846) IV. 19 Of þære dic on þæne cyricpæð. a1611 in H. T. Ellacombe (1881) 152 Wee doe further order that John Britten sen. farmer shall make a sufficient goute out of his out house, near the Church path. 1655 W. Gurnall 318 If the Church-path be a little wet, or the aire somewhat cold, 'tis apology enough for him if his pue be empty. 1762 in L. W. Papageorgiou (2008) 85 A Road to be cleared along John Noels church path from the Pamunkey road. 1858 E. Stone vii. 168 In several parishes there are ‘church paths’ kept up, along which still remain crosses,..all pointing towards the church. 1903 72 629/1 His contention was that the public had no right past the hall, except as a church path. 2000 G. Ottewell 6 To return to Willersey, follow the church path down towards the road. 1862 D. G. Farragut Order 26 Apr. in F. Moore IV. 524/2 At that hour the church pennant will be hoisted on every vessel of the fleet. 1909 18 Aug. 7/5 On the occasion of a man falling overboard..the church pennant is hoisted..on the side from which the man has fallen. 2008 (Nexis) 25 Sept. 7 On Sunday morning,..Royal Navy veteran Harvey Richards raised the church pennant leading to the traditional service held at the Warspite Memorial. society > faith > sect > Christianity > Protestantism > Anglicanism > [noun] > person > collective 1684 L. Muggleton Let. 18 Oct. in (1832) III. 557 The seed of reason is risen more higher in all religious dissenters than in the common, ignorant, dark church people. 1708 8 You create Jealousies and Misunderstandings in the minds of Christians, and go about to perswade Church-People that their Dissenting Neighbours can't be good Christians. 1842 W. Palmer 53 They are Church people like ourselves at heart. 1912 A. R. Graves xxxiv. 189 He reported that there were not only no Church people there, but none who cared for Christian services of any kind. 1980 22 Feb. 10/2 The day which the general public insist on calling ‘Easter Saturday’ but which churchpeople know as Holy Saturday or Easter Even. 1995 F. Knight (1998) ii. 35 Out of an estimated population of 138,000 people, 46,447 were seen as being ‘church people’ rather than ‘chapel people’. 1839 J. Pring i. 2 As he [sc. our Master] never meant to put one church place, like Jerusalem.., above another, so neither one church person, as St. Peter, or rather as St. Andrew or St. John. 1929 7 579 The concordats lay down that..there are to be no special taxes on Church persons and properties. 1983 21 July 22/2 Many churchpersons agree that the war was a tragic waste of life, caused by man's folly or whatever. 2010 (Nexis) 21 May Their music [sc. a gospel group's] is unique... You don't have to be a church person to love their music. society > faith > artefacts > land > [noun] a1785 H. Sanders (1794) 131 From the bottom of St. John's hill..are rows of elms, one on each side of the way as far as the church-piece. 1826 in W. Hone (1827) II. 374 Football was..played..and the church-piece was the ground chosen for it. 1904 Return Parish Langley Burrell (Wilts.) 1 in LXXIII. The rent from the Church Piece was entered in the accounts and applied towards the Church Expenses Fund. 1644 J. Etherington (title) The Anabaptists Ground-Work for Reformation or New Planting of Churches.] 1830 ‘Common Sense’ v. 175 Their [sc. the dissenters'] church-planting has been left to themselves. 1871 D. P. Kidder xix. 509 Sometimes church planting is accomplished by detaching a small number of Church members to serve as the nucleus of a new organization. 1932 W. E. Hocking i. 26 In the era of church-planting, it was natural that many persons of various degrees of equipment should be sent from abroad, aggressively promoting the local church. 1994 19 June 5 ‘Church planting’..whereby members of the congregation colonise other run-down churches to give them a new lease of life. 1659 J. Milton 26 Who seeks to govern both [church and state] must needs be worse then any lord prelat or church-pluralist. 1831 Sept. 2 This church pluralist..is passing his time in the City of the Seven Hills. 1995 147 133 From the expenses of law courts to that of church pluralists..only parliamentary reform could do away with..Old Corruption. society > faith > artefacts > book (general) > other books > [noun] > parish register 1606 in J. Rhodes sig. D2v Catholiques onely, are worthy recorde, And into Church Register to be restorde. 1753 E. Haywood I. i. 2 To trace how far the relationship between them was removed, would require much time and trouble in examining old records, memorandums, and church registers. 1846 Sept. 50/1 We may read in the church register, the names of three brides, who..died suddenly. 2001 W. L. Montell cxxii. 142 Maybe the book he was holding was the church register instead of a hymnal. c1400 (Rawl. B. 171) 157 (MED) Al þo þat haden holy cherche rentes.] 1498–9 in E. Hobhouse (1890) 65 Item receved of chyrche rente..xviijd. 1556 J. Bradford sig. F. iiv I speake not of churche rentes, nor balifes fees, for that is but the tenthe part. a1649 W. Drummond (1655) 108 To impatronize and lay hold on the Church Rents, and Ecclesiastical Goods. 1768 W. Graham i. 29 The faithless keepers..have seized the church-lands, the church-rents, the teinds themselves. 1870 S. Rose iv. 424 A college in Portugal begged him to procure that some church rents should be granted it. 1994 R. Maud 130 The grievances included the high cost of tolls, tithes and church rents. 1676 A. Marvell sig. F These are the great Animadverters of the times, the Church-respondents in the Pew. 1824 R. Southey II. xv. 305 The principles of these church-revolutionists were hostile to monarchy. 1907 J. H. Stark (1910) i. 9 They were church reformers, but neither of them a church revolutionist. society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > wedding or nuptials > marriage vows or bonds > [noun] > marriage or wedding bond > ring as token of 1856 E. B. Browning vi. 253 Sets her darling down to cut his teeth Upon her church-ring. 1893 Mar. 662/1 The babe is churched at baptism, troth is plighted with a church-ring. society > education > place of education > school > [noun] > church school society > faith > worship > preaching > catechesis > [noun] > school for 1714 J. Oldmixon 29 The forcing Dissenters to send their Children to such Church Schools as they can get for Them, is not at all like Persecution. 1862 G. Borrow III. xxv. 279 I met a number of little boys belonging to the church school. 1944 W. Temple vi. 49 In the past the main instrument of the Church in upholding its principles has been the Church School. 2003 6 Aug. 26/2 School vouchers..play a key role in tearing down the church-state wall, if they're used to back privately run church schools over public schools. 1704 J. Chamberlayne (ed. 21) ii. xvi. 227 The Officers and their Servants are by no means neglected; but are duly instructed on board their Church-Ships, Chapels in the Yards, or Neighbouring Churches. 1849 3 Mar. 146 There is now a church-ship in the Thames; and at several other ports there are others; and both individuals and societies have bestirred themselves to carry the gospel message to those that traverse the mighty ocean. 1927 H. B. Wright God & Groceryman in (2008) 425 They recognize that their church ship has been in its day a safe and seaworthy craft..but they sadly recognize that the time has come when they must look elsewhere for a vessel adequate to these present-day religious needs. 1996 B. Nightingale xiii. 214 The Kristina was elderly, wooden and previously used for coaling and as a church ship. the mind > language > languages of the world > Indo-Hittite > [noun] > Indo-European > Balto-Slavic > Slavonic > Old Church Slavonic 1834 Apr. 345 (heading) History of the Old or Church Slavic (commonly called Slavonic) language and literature. 1920 XXV. 89/2 The Russian literary tongue contains a greater proportion of Church Slavic elements than any other related language. 2006 50 754 Church Slavic was a language divorced from the spoken language of its users since its inception. the mind > language > languages of the world > Indo-Hittite > [noun] > Indo-European > Balto-Slavic > Slavonic > Old Church Slavonic 1827 J. Bowring p. xxi They [sc. the Serbians] have wholly dismissed the Б [prob. read Ъ], which so uselessly occurs in the church Slavonic and Russian. 1914 Nov. 465 (caption) The priests teach in synodical schools, where they give lessons in church history and the catechism and in reading and writing Church Slavonic. 2008 19 Dec. 27/5 The eucharistic liturgy is sung, most probably in Church Slavonic. society > leisure > social event > social gathering > [noun] > others 1862 (Protestant Episcopalian Church, Diocese W. N.Y.) 105 (table) For Parochial Objects—..‘Church Socials’. 1927 A. C. Parker iv. xlii. 193 When they hold their church socials and pink teas they have hulled corn quite as often as they have ice cream. 2000 A. Ward in J. Thomas 12 I only ever saw her laugh but once,..and that was at a church social a long time ago. a1639 J. Stoughton (1640) iii. 91 There is a community Ecclesiasticall, a Church society and body. 1720 D. Neal II. App. ii. xii. 650 All that are admitted into the Church as Members, are first to be examined and tried, whether they are fit to be received into Church-Society. 1819 Aug. 356/2 The Rev. Edward Cooper..took an able view of the claim of the Society to the character of a Church Society. 1921 10 Nov. 1077/1 (advt.) Thousands of church societies have raised money for their special purposes in this appropriate manner. 1992 D. Dawson vi. 284 A long-established Christian ideal of community..conceived Christianity as a church-society, based on the orderly household. society > faith > church government > kinds of church government > theocracy > [noun] > instance 1596 H. Clapham ii. 122 The Newe Testaments Church-state is so often called, The Kingdome of heauen. 1614 J. Selden 252 The Missi, whom hee compares in Church-state to Suffragans. 1710 D. Whitby 118 They being therefore so far interested in the Promulgation of the Law,..the Mosaical Church-State was so far put in Subjection to them. 1874 Apr. 297 Instead of a State Church, we have, in the beginning of the ninth century, a Church State. 2001 R. Vernon 12 The ‘Lockean moment’, when critical thinking engaged the violently authoritarian Church-State, is the best starting point for grasping..liberal democracy. 1597 R. Hooker 245 His iudge vnderstoode to bee one of the Church stewards. 1719 42 The ancient Office of the Oblatorij was to collect these Oblations; and that early Office of the Oeconomi, or Church Stewards, was erected to care of them. 1857 ‘Elihu’ 108 The Church Stewards shall take charge of all matters and arrangements connected with the comfortable maintenance of Divine Worship. 2001 J. Carter i. 23 Everyone would..pass by the offering plates.., and the church stewards would call out the amount of each offering. 1296 in W. Hudson (1910) 87 (MED) Thom. atte Churchestygele. 1439 l. 1829 (MED) For a gardeyne by the Cherch Style. 1549 (STC 16267) Buriall f. xxiiii* The priest metyng the Corps at the Churche style. 1654 J. Lamont (1830) 77 Money for the poore, that day, was gathered at the church steill and church doore. 1712 D. Defoe iv. 185 Coming out towards the Church-Stile,..they found a great Body of the foresaids Rabblers. 1866 May 32 When the men reached the church stile, the storm again broke out, and the bearers..rushed into the church. 2004 (Nexis) 3 Jan. 20 This interesting walk..returns past the original church stile in use for special occasions. society > faith > worship > other practices > [noun] > church-strewing 1506 in J. L. Glasscock (1882) 31 Brede and drink to the carters for the chirch strowyng. 1850 1 344 The hay necessary for the church strewing was taken thence. 1823 28 Aug. 4/1 The term given in the North to the harvest-home, or entertainment, which is Mell-Supper, is thought to..signify nearly the same as the kern or church supper. 1888 Sept. 302 I now feel free of the coffee-drinking vice, and will have no more trouble with it unless I shall again fall victim to a church supper. 1975 H. Duncan i. 9 Her mother never went to afternoon teas,..Church Suppers, Sunday School picnics, or miscellaneous affairs of the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire. 2002 6 May 60/3 His manner, as he shook every hand in the room, was that of a polite and friendly person who has been to a great many church suppers. 1813 W. Scott i. xii. 17 Some for church-tippet, gown, and hood, Draining their veins. 1894 Nov. 439/1 Archbishop Laud by his goings on in the way of church tippets, apostolic succession, and ecclesiastical genuflexion produced such a reaction. ?a1425 (a1415) (Harl.) (1917) 35 Whilis þis lijf duriþ in erþe, þis chirche is clepid militaunt;..But whanne sche haþ rest of al hir traueile, þanne is sche clepid þe chirche triumphaunt. 1657 E. Hyde ii. iii. 204 The Apostles invitation is as urgent for us to draw near to the Church Triumphant, as to the Church Militant, because all power is given to our Saviour Christ, as well in heaven as in earth. 1775 W. Romaine iii. 50 For Jehovah is good and doeth good,..his never failing faithfulness is to be your subject of never ending praise in the church triumphant. 1859 July 367 John says the Church triumphant is built on the foundation of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 1990 Mar. 19/3 The windows symbolize ‘the church’ in Christianity, as angelic figures portray ‘religion’, flanked by ‘the church militant’ and ‘the church triumphant’. a1625 J. Robinson (1634) 23 Such as stand in spirituall and politicall church-vnion with a church. 1702 J. Wilson 7 Church Union cannot consist in being of one Opinion in every thing; which is impossible; it requires..one Heart. 1836 J. H. Newman in 10 148 The highest end of Church union, to which the mass of educated men now look, is quiet and unanimity. 1879 31 Suppl. p. ii There will be no real steps taken towards Church union until Christian men believe that schism is contrary to the law of Christ. 1910 23 June 9/5 The majority by which the Presbyterian General Assembly..sent the proposals for Church union in Canada to the Presbyteries for consideration was only slightly above a two-thirds vote. 1972 Sept. 658 The first transdenominational church union to take place in Britain in modern times. 2003 D. E. Cowan ii. 29 Despite repeated calls by denominational conservatives for the introduction of credal subscription, this requirement has not changed since church union in 1925. c1710 2 This was but Justice done to the Church Vassals or Tenants in Fee, who by the Reformation had a Title to hold of the Crown. 1820 W. Scott I. i. 5 A peasant, the son of a church-vassal. 1995 T. L. Gore ii. 25 Failure to obey a..summons would be subject to a fine of sixty solidi for ‘Free Franks’, thirty for ‘Romans’, freemen, or Church vassals. society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > wedding or nuptials > [noun] 1852 J. L. Blake 392 It has been understood by your friends, that they were to witness a Church wedding. 1928 Aug. 433 The flummery and flounce of the big church wedding are gradually slipping into oblivion. 1954 T. S. Eliot iii. 121 Lucasta: We'd meant to be married very quietly In a register office. Lady Elizabeth: You must have a church wedding. 2002 22 Nov. 15/2 The General Synod has decided to leave it to the individual consciences of the clergy..whether or not in any particular case to officiate at church weddings for divorcees. the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular medicinal plants or parts > [noun] > pennyroyal a1400 (Selden) (1887) 130 Origanum, chirchewrt. 1597 J. Gerard App. Churchwort is Penniroyall. 1839 T. Wright 104 Take thrift grass (?), yarrow, elehtre, betony, penny-grass, carruc, fane, fennel, church-wort, christmas-wort, lovage; make them into a potion with clear ale. 1884 W. Miller 27/1 Church-wort. An old name for Pennyroyal. 1900 A. E. P. Dowling 145 It's potent smell when bruised led to its being employed to strew the path of processions or the pavements of banqueting-halls, etc.,..and hence it was known as ‘Churchwort’. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online June 2022). Churchn.2Origin: From a proper name. Etymon: proper name Church. Etymology: < the name of Alonzo Church (1903–95), U.S. mathematician and logician. Both the theorem and the thesis were introduced by Church in 1936 ( Jrnl. Symbolic Logic 1 40–1). Logic and Mathematics. the world > relative properties > number > mathematics > [noun] > mathematical enquiry > proposition > specific conjecture 1939 4 55 Church's Theorem states: For suitable L, there exists no effective method of deciding which propositions of L are provable. 1964 E. Mendelson 157 Hence, by Church's Theorem, there is no decision procedure. 2000 G. E. Rosado Haddock in C. O. Hill & G. E. Rosado Haddock xv. 282 It is..a corollary of Church's theorem that such nonstandard semantics are inadequate for first-order logic. the world > relative properties > number > mathematics > [noun] > mathematical enquiry > proposition > specific conjecture 1945 10 115 Church's thesis that all effectively calculable number-theoretic functions are general recursive arose separately from the intuitionistic formalization of logic.] 1954 59 401 Since the proof of the existence for each k of an ε(k) is constructive, Church's thesis allows us to anticipate the general recursiveness of ε. 1961 12 40 The set of grammatical sentences is recursive, at least if we assume Church's thesis. 2002 S. G. Krantz vi. 89 Church's thesis is that the class of general recursive functions exhausts all of the effectively computable functions. This is a statement of philosophy; it is not amenable to proof. This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022). churchv. Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: church n.1 Etymology: < church n.1 Compare kirk v., churching n.In sense 6 apparently a metaphorical use, a church being taken to be holy and hence above suspicion; compare the similar motivation of christen v. 6b. 1. transitive. Usually in passive. society > faith > worship > cleanness (ceremonial) > purification > purify [verb (transitive)] > women after childbirth a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden (St. John's Cambr.) (1879) VII. 311 I schal offre hym a þowsand candelles whan I schal go to cherche of childe [L. post partum].] (Harl. 221) 75 Chyrchyn, or puryfyen, Purifico. a1470 T. Malory (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) II. 797 Aftir the lady was delyverde and churched, there cam a knyght unto her. 1569 R. Grafton II. 244 The Queene who then was newly churched of a sonne called John of Gaunt. 1597 in J. Barmby (1888) 43 For makinge a natt for the wyves to knele on when they come to be churched. 1629 R. Boyle (1886) II. 114 In the same house my wife was churched and my daughter xtned. 1667 M. A. F. Fox 70 The like may be said also of their Churching women, and Marrying people with Rings: but it appeareth that the main end of these Practices, are to get money of people. 1695 J. Kettlewell 234 When she comes to be Churched..she may add a Gift of Alms to the Poor. 1737 J. Byrom Jrnl. 31 Mar. in (1856) II. i. 101 (transcript from orig. shorthand) A lady or two were churched after prayers. 1787 p. iv Churching women who were never in their churches. 1843 W. M. Thackeray Ravenswing vi, in Aug. 202/2 Ladies are confined and churched. 1860 8 Dec. 452/1 Frequently..among the poor,..the mother is churched at the same time that her infant is baptized. 1906 1 11 After its Baptism she requests the parish priest to church her. 2009 6 Nov. 16/4 The pulpit and churching pew in their original position—to enable the woman to kneel in the pew to be churched, and the minister to read the service from his desk. society > faith > worship > church-going > attend (church) [verb (transitive)] > be taken to 1596 T. Nashe sig. P For seauen and thirtie weekes..neuer stirring out of dores or being churched all that while. 1607 ‘W. S.’ i. sig. A4 I protest I am glad hee's Churched? for now hee's gone I shall spend in quiet? 1865 24 Apr. Yesterday afternoon being the first Sunday in Easter term, her Majesty's Judges and the Corporation of London attended in state at St. Paul's Cathedral, for the purpose of taking part in the ceremony well known in civic language as ‘Churching the Judges’. 1921 G. Cannan Mary's Wedding in F. Shay & P. Loving 113/2 Twice she 'ave said that ef 'e never touched the drink fur six months she would go to be churched wi' 'im. 1850 27 Feb. Owing to some unforeseen circumstance, the bride was unable to get churched on the Sabbath following. 1907 May 554/1 Of course there were exceptions,..but (Scotland and Gretna Green apart) the happy couples were ‘churched’, as the old phrase hath it. 1910 J. Farnol ii. xiii Don't go a-spilin' things by lettin' this young cove go a-marryin' and a-churchin' ye. 1993 (Nexis) 12 June If they choose to get churched, they may also opt for the old custom of having the banns read. society > faith > artefacts > sanctuary or holy place > church or place of worship > [verb (transitive)] > place or set up in church ?1548 J. Bale (new ed.) iii. sig. Qqiiii The bread that was left of this consecracion or breaking, which was so holye as the other, was neither housed nor churched, boxed nor pixed, but remained there styll to ye housholders. 1565 J. Jewel xiv. 503 This Image was neither Churched, nor Adoured, or Woorshipped. society > faith > aspects of faith > religion > a religion or church > church [verb (intransitive)] 1619 J. Sempill Ep. Ded. 2 It goeth neuer better, then when the Church Courteth it, and the Court Churcheth it. 1850 tr. J. Jewel IV. 1215 You have often heard of drinking like a Scythian; but this is churching it like a Scythian. society > faith > aspects of faith > religion > a religion or church > church [verb (transitive)] > form into 1659 J. Gauden i. ii. 39 Strange methods of new churching men and women. 1828 27 Dec. 86/3 The fear of being churched keeps him Temperate. 1844 A. S. Stephens I. 55 Jest tell him, the next time he threatens to church you for what I'm a doing down here in York, that..you'll ‘stop his supplies’. 1902 H. L. Wilson xii. 132 Only I hope the First M.E. Church of Montana City never hears of her outrageous cuttin's-up... They'd have her up and church her, sure. 1963 L. Edwards 81 The sentence [of a church trial] is not to be jailed but to be ‘churched’—that is, turned out of the church. 1989 (Nexis) 24 Feb. The main thing I like about being a Methodist is they don't have a bunch of rules to go by. You can do just about anything you want to without getting ‘churched’. 1839 H. Brandon Dict. Flash or Cant Lang. in W. A. Miles 162/1 To church a yack, to have the works of the watch put into another case to prevent detection. 1868 J. Doran II. 290 The worthy fellows ‘church their yacks’ when they transpose the works of stolen watches to prevent identification. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < |
