parsonifyv.
/pɑːˈsɒnᵻfʌɪ/, U.S. /pɑrˈsɑnəˌfaɪ/ rare.† 1. transitive. To make into a parson; to ordain as a priest. Obsolete.† 2. intransitive. humorous. To play the part of a parson. Obsolete.† 3. transitive. humorous. To officiate at the marriage of, as a parson; = marry v. 7b. Obsolete.
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1737 J. Thomson Let. 12 Jan. in W. Goodhugh Eng. Gentleman's Library Man. (1827) 262 I have not yet seen the round man of God to be. He is to be parsonifyed a few days hence.
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1814 Ld. Broughton Recoll. Long Life 31 Dec. (1910) I. vi. 195 The evening..concluded jollily with a mock marriage, I being Lady B., Noel parsonifying, and Hoare giving me away.
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society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > wedding or nuptials > [verb (intransitive)] > be married by parson
parsonify1880
1880 W. S. Gilbert Pirates of Penzance i. 53 You shall quickly be parsonified, Conjugally matrimonified By a doctor of divinity.
4. transitive. To make parsonical; = clericalize v. Also figurative.
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society > faith > church government > member of the clergy > [verb (transitive)] > make
clergify1589
clericalize1886
parsonify1926
1926 tr. King William II Early Life iii. 19 He..left all dogmas and creeds severely alone. They were, in his view,..apt to ‘parsonify’ the grand and simple outline of the Christian Faith.
1961 N. E. Long in O. P. Williams Democracy in Urban Amer. (1969) ii. 57 Top management must personify, if not, as Maitland quipped of the British monarch, parsonify the institution.
Derivatives
parˈsonified adj. that has been made parsonical.
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1855 Punch 8 Sept. 97 (caption) Justice parsonified.
1905 Daily Chron. 18 Sept. 6/2 It [sc. a play] tells of the same kind of middle-aged love affair. It has the same conventional rural atmosphere—a little more ‘parsonified’, as Mr. Gilbert might say.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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