metropolitanshipn.
/ˌmɛtrəˈpɒlᵻt(ə)nʃɪp/, U.S. /ˌmɛtrəˈpɑlətnˌʃɪp/, /ˌmɛtrəˈpɑlədənˌʃɪp/ Now rare.
The office or position of metropolitan; the see of a metropolitan bishop. (figurative in quot. a1638.)
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > member of the clergy > clerical superior > metropolitan > [noun] > office of
metropolitanshipa1638
provincialate1739
metropolitanate1854
metropolitancy1910
a1638 J. Mede Wks. (1672) iii. 60 The Apocalyptical Babylon is not Babylon in Chaldæa, but a Counter-type thereof, most like for Universal Ambition and Metropolitanship of Spiritual Fornication.
1640 W. Prynne Lord Bishops ii. B iij What a hot stirre was..heretofore between the Prelates of Canterbury and Yorke for the universall Metropolitanship over all England?
1688 A. Woodhead 3rd Treat. 1st Pt. Anc. Church Govt. i. 3 But over these Churches that Bishop might have some more immediate superintendency, and Metropolitan- or Primat-ship.
1838 G. S. Faber Inq. Hist. & Theol. Anc. Vallenses & Albigenses 267 Some further divisions produced another metropolitanship in Slavonia.
1867 J. B. Mozley Observ. Colonial Church Question 29 The metropolitanship stood upon the Letters Patent.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.a1638