unministerv.
/(ˌ)ʌnˈmɪnᵻstə/, U.S. /ˌənˈmɪnəstər/ Chiefly Christian Church. Now rare.
transitive. To deprive of office; esp. to deprive of the office of minister of religion (esp. in a Protestant Church).
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > sacrament > order > ordination > unfrocking > unfrock [verb (transitive)] > as minister
unminister1577
1577 M. Hanmer tr. Evagrius Scholasticus i. ix, in Aunc. Eccl. Hist. 417 He sayd moreouer that the bodie of the Lord was not of the same substance with ours. Wherefore he was vnministred [Gk. καθαιρεῖται].
1661 W. Prynne Unbishoping of Timothy & Titus (new ed.) 80 They..Un-church most Protestant Churches in forein parts, and Un-minister their Ministers.
a1698 W. Row Suppl. in R. Blair Life (1848) (modernized text) ix. 138 They did not unminister him, and therefore did not quarrel his preaching or praying in public.
1717 B. Hoadley Uninterrupted Succession of Eccl. Mission Asserted 64 He is not at a great deal of Pains both to Un-bishop and Un-minister himself.
1831 Deb. in Congr. 24 Feb. 265 If gentlemen choose to unminister Mr. Rhind, if I may coin a phrase, I care not, so they do not deny that he was an officer of the Government.
1859 Southern Spectator Jan. 25 Such an exclusive validity as, in effect, to unminister all other Protestant ministers.
1954 Sc. Hist. Rev. 33 143 To ‘unminister’ Erksine is to ‘unminister’ all men admitted by the Scottish Reformation ordinal.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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