%prie%

(Eccl.) A chief priest; esp., the head of the Jewish priesthood. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The office, dignity, or position of a high priest. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. High-priesthood. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Improprieties [ L. improprietas; cf. F. impropriété. See Improper. ] 1. The quality of being improper; unfitness or unsuitableness to character, time place, or circumstances; as, impropriety of behavior or manners. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which is improper; an unsuitable or improper act, or an inaccurate use of language. [ 1913 Webster ]

But every language has likewise its improprieties and absurdities. Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

Many gross improprieties, however authorized by practice, ought to be discarded. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To pry. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) The plant privet. [ Obs. ] Tusser. [ 1913 Webster ]

imp. & p. p. of Pry. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F., literally, pray God. ] A kneeling desk for prayers. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Proof. [ Obs. ] Spenser. Lydgate. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From Pry. ] One who pries; one who inquires narrowly and searches, or is inquisitive. [ 1913 Webster ]

So pragmatical a prier he is into divine secrets. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. prest, preost, AS. preóst, fr. L. presbyter, Gr. &unr_; elder, older, n., an elder, compar. of &unr_; an old man, the first syllable of which is probably akin to L. pristinus. Cf. Pristine, Presbyter. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. (Christian Church) A presbyter elder; a minister; specifically: (a) (R. C. Ch. & Gr. Ch.) One who is authorized to consecrate the host and to say Mass; but especially, one of the lowest order possessing this power. Murdock. (b) (Ch. of Eng. & Prot. Epis. Ch.) A presbyter; one who belongs to the intermediate order between bishop and deacon. He is authorized to perform all ministerial services except those of ordination and confirmation. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who officiates at the altar, or performs the rites of sacrifice; one who acts as a mediator between men and the divinity or the gods in any form of religion; as, Buddhist priests. “The priests of Dagon.” 1 Sam. v. 5. [ 1913 Webster ]

Then the priest of Jupiter . . . brought oxen and garlands . . . and would have done sacrifice with the people. Acts xiv. 13. [ 1913 Webster ]

Every priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. Heb. v. 1. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In the New Testament presbyters are not called priests; but Christ is designated as a priest, and as a high priest, and all Christians are designated priests. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To ordain as priest. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Fort.) A form of redan, so named from its shape; -- called also swallowtail. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Priestly policy; the policy of a priesthood; esp., in an ill sense, fraud or imposition in religious concerns; management by priests to gain wealth and power by working upon the religious motives or credulity of others. [ 1913 Webster ]

It is better that men should be governed by priestcraft than by violence. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Priests, collectively; the priesthood; -- so called in contempt. [ R. ] Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A woman who officiated in sacred rites among pagans. Abp. Potter. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The office or character of a priest; the priestly function. Bk. of Com. Prayer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Priests, taken collectively; the order of men set apart for sacred offices; the order of priests. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The office of a priest. [ Obs. ] Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The influence, doctrines, principles, etc., of priests or the priesthood. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Without a priest. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Priestly. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality or state of being priestly. R. Browning. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to a priest or the priesthood; sacerdotal; befitting or becoming a priest; as, the priestly office; a priestly farewell. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Controlled or oppressed by priests; as, a priest-ridden people. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To prove. [ Obs. or Scot. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Proprietaries [ L. proprietarius: cf. F. propriétaire. See Propriety, and cf. Proprietor. ] 1. A proprietor or owner; one who has exclusive title to a thing; one who possesses, or holds the title to, a thing in his own right. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A body proprietors, taken collectively. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Eccl.) A monk who had reserved goods and effects to himself, notwithstanding his renunciation of all at the time of profession. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. proprietarius. ] Belonging, or pertaining, to a proprietor; considered as property; owned; as, proprietary medicine. [ 1913 Webster ]

Proprietary articles, manufactured articles which some person or persons have exclusive right to make and sell. U. S. Statutes. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ For older proprietary: cf. F. propriétarie. ] One who has the legal right or exclusive title to anything, whether in possession or not; an owner; as, the proprietor of farm or of a mill. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to ownership; proprietary; as, proprietorial rights. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state of being proprietor; ownership. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A female proprietor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Proprieties [ F. propriété, L. proprietas, fr. proprius one's own, proper. See Property, Proper. ] 1. Individual right to hold property; ownership by personal title; property. [ Obs. ] “Onles this propriety be exiled.” Robynson (More's Utopia). [ 1913 Webster ]

So are the proprieties of a wife to be disposed of by her lord, and yet all are for her provisions, it being a part of his need to refresh and supply hers. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which is proper or peculiar; an inherent property or quality; peculiarity. [ Obs. ] Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

We find no mention hereof in ancient zoographers, . . . who seldom forget proprieties of such a nature. Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The quality or state of being proper; suitableness to an acknowledged or correct standard or rule; consonance with established principles, rules, or customs; fitness; appropriateness; as, propriety of behavior, language, manners, etc. “The rule of propriety, ” Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Repreve. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Reprieve. Overbury. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Reprieved p. pr. & vb. n. Reprieving. ] [ OE. repreven to reject, disallow, OF. reprover to blame, reproach, condemn (pres. il reprueve), F. réprouver to disapprove, fr. L. reprobare to reject, condemn; pref. re- re- + probare to try, prove. See Prove, and cf. Reprove, Reprobate. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To delay the punishment of; to suspend the execution of sentence on; to give a respite to; to respite; as, to reprieve a criminal for thirty days. [ 1913 Webster ]

He reprieves the sinnner from time to time. Rogers. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To relieve for a time, or temporarily. [ 1913 Webster ]

Company, thought it may reprieve a man from his melaneholy yet can not secure him from his conscience. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A temporary suspension of the execution of a sentence, especially of a sentence of death. [ 1913 Webster ]

The morning Sir John Hotham was to die, a reprieve was sent to suspend the execution for three days. Clarendon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Interval of ease or relief; respite. [ 1913 Webster ]

All that I ask is but a short reprieve,
ll I forget to love, and learn to grieve. Denham. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ 1st pref. un- + priest. ] To deprive of priesthood; to unfrock. [ R. ] Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Not capable of being reprieved. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]