church-robbingn.
/ˈtʃəːtʃˌrɒbɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈtʃərtʃˌrɑbɪŋ/ The action or crime of stealing from a church. Cf. sacrilege n.1 1b.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > robbery > [noun] > robbing churches or holy places
church-robbing1567
sacrilege1820
1567 J. Jewel Def. Apol. Churche Eng. v. vi. §7. 533 It is a sinne, as greate as Sacrilege, or Churche robbinge, to reason of any of the Popes dooinges.
1604 R. Cawdrey Table Alphabet. at Sacriledge Church robbing.
1647 tr. Supreme Power Christian States Vindicated 5 What supine negligence was it that all Divines, in all Universities, should be silent like dumb doggs, untill this Lobster-eating-curre, Hylax, should first bark from the remote Wallachran isle against Church-robbing.
1705 R. Gardiner Instructor Clericalis (ed. 3) II. 46 It is said this Action will lie..for charging a Man with Sacrilege or Church-robbing.
1845 M. Maxwell My Adventures I. viii. 119 Church-robbing excused.
1884 Times 13 Sept. 6/3 Church robbing has been alarmingly rife of late in and around Paris.
1905 Bookman Oct. 71/2 A crony of his,..arrested for church-robbing and other crimes, had been hanged.
2006 S. Wood Proprietary Church in Medieval West iii. xiv. 445 Such an owner-priest may be able to sell property without the taint of church-robbing.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
church-robbingadj.
/ˈtʃəːtʃˌrɒbɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈtʃərtʃˌrɑbɪŋ/ Of, relating to, or characterized by church-robbing; that steals from a church.Frequently with reference to the appropriation of Church property by the State.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > robbery > [adjective] > specific type or manner of robbery
church-robbing1549
footpadding1628
padding1628
mail-settingc1688
hold-up1881
hijacking1923
smash-and-grab1927
skyjacked1961
1549 J. Ponet tr. B. Ochino Tragoedie Unjuste Usurped Primacie sig. D.iv The name of a vniuersall Byshop was a folishe, wicked, proude, and a churche robbing name.
1605 E. Sandys Relation State of Relig. sig. K A company of base rebelles, of vow-breaking-Friars, of Church-robbing polititians, & Church-raizng souldiers.
1619 J. Dyke Counterpoison 57 The Church-robbing and Church-pilling couetousnesse of our dayes.
1777 Act Declar. & Testimony Whole Covenanted Reformation (ed. 3) ii. 88 That unholy, tyrannical, and church-robbing policy, which has been exercised by the supreme civil powes in these nations with reference to religion.
1834 Fraser's Mag. Dec. 748 He's..sent all adrift the impostors and quacks, The church-robbing rogues, the economist hacks.
1869 G. Trevor Catholic Doctr. Holy Eucharist x. 230 The arbitrary acts of a boy king, or rather of his church-robbing council, enforced by secular penalties on a recalcitrant clergy.
2008 San Francisco Chron. (Nexis) 11 Jan. e4 Cube plays a gun-wielding church-robbing thug with a heart of gold.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1567adj.1549