hedge-priestn.
An illiterate or uneducated priest of inferior status. (contemptuous.)
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society > faith > church government > member of the clergy > priest > kinds of priest > [noun] > ignorant
Sir John Lack-latinc1534
patrico?1536
hedge-priest1550
Tom Pat1710
1550 J. Coke Deb. Heraldes Eng. & Fraunce sig. Iviv In Fraunce..the most parte of your speritual men..be symple persons, hedge priestes not lerned.
a1568 R. Ascham Scholemaster (1570) ii. f. 55v Therefore did som of them at Cambrige..cause hedge priestes fette out of the contrie, to be made fellowes in the vniuersitie.
a1617 P. Baynes Comm. Ephes. (1658) 8 In times of superstition every hedge-priest's blessing was highly esteemed.
1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People iii. §1. 116 The whole body of the clergy, from Pope to hedge-priest.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1898; most recently modified version published online June 2019).
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