| 释义 |
prelacy|ˈprɛləsɪ|
Also 5–6 -asy, -asie.
[a. AF. prelacie (Rolls Parlt., 1306), ad. med.L. prælātia (a 1109 in Du Cange), f. prælātus prelate.]
1. The office, position, or dignity of a prelate; a prelatic benefice or see. † Also with possess. pron. (his prelacy, your prelacy), as a title (obs.).
[1306Rolls of Parlt. I. 219/1 La primer, des Provisions; come seinte Eglise en toutz ces estats de Prelacie soit funde par le Roi et par ces ancestres.] c1325Metr. Hom. 130 For it es sin quar-wit man bies Wit wer[l]des catel prelacyes. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VI. 59 Þis Wyn, after two ȝere of his prelacie, was i-putt oute by þe kyng. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cccxlvi. 548 The realme of France was reputed to be the chiefe fountayne of beleve of the christen faythe, bycause of the noble churches and prelasies that be therin. 1579Reg. Privy Council Scot. III. 177 Upoun the vacance of ony prelacie the kirkis thairof salbe disponit to qualifiit ministeris in titill. c1589Theses Martinianæ 20 Praying your prelacie, if you can send one or any of my brethren any word of him. 1600Holland Livy x. vi. 355 Who wanted no promotions & honors, but only Sacerdotall dignities and Prelacies. 1708Brit. Apollo No. 95. 4/1 The Pope had..given General Marsigli (who designs to reassume the Cardinal's Cap) a considerable Prelacy. 1827Hallam Const. Hist. (1876) III. xvii. 320 Fifty-one ministers..nominated by the king to titular bishoprics and other prelacies.
2. The order or rank of prelates; the body of prelates or of bishops collectively.
13..St. Erkenwolde 107 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1881) 268 Þe primate with his prelacie was partyd fro home. c1400Rom. Rose 6381 That I lede right a Ioly lyf Thurgh simplesse of the prelacye. 1494Fabyan Chron. vii. ccxliii. 285 The prelasy of the londe assymyled them in counceyll. 1606Warner Alb. Eng. xv. xcv. (1612) 379 The Prelacie, Nobilitie, States-men, and State betraide. 1641R. Brooke Eng. Episc. 48 Our Lordly Civill Episcopacie properly called Prelacie. 1827Hallam Const. Hist. (1876) I. ii. 73 It was no longer possible for the prelacy to offer an efficacious opposition to the reformation they abhorred.
†3. The authority of a prelate; ecclesiastical power, as of bishops, abbots, or priors. Also, the authority of any superior, lay or clerical. Obs.
a1340Hampole Psalter lxxii. 17 Ofte sithis a man hafs lardeshipe & prelacy till his aughen dampnacioun. c1450tr. De Imitatione i. ix. 10 It is muche more sure to stonde in subieccioun þan in prelacie. 1534More Treat. Passion Wks. (1557) 1320/2 Those..put in prelacy and auctoritie ouer other men. 1577tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 835 They cal the power of placing of Ministers..Ecclesiasticall iurisdiction, and to consist in a certayne prelacie.
4. The system of church government by prelates or bishops of lordly rank; a term, chiefly hostile, for episcopacy 2.
c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 455 Þis prelacye is perelous, for it is not fully groundid in crist ne in oþer of his lawis. a1600Hooker Eccl. Pol. vii. xviii. §1 If these three [things] be granted, then cannot the public benefit of prelacy be dissembled. 1643Solemn League & Covenant §2 That we shall..without respect of persons, endeavour the extirpation of popery, prelacy, (that is, church-government by archbishops, bishops, their chancellors and commissaries, deans, deans and chapters, archdeacons, and all other ecclesiastical officers depending on that hierarchy,) superstition, heresy, schism [etc.]. 1644C. Downing (title) The Cleere Antithesis or diametrall opposition betweene Presbytery and Prelacy. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. ii. I. 184 Times had now changed: England was zealous for monarchy and prelacy. 1850Marsden Early Purit. (1853) 35 Others..smarting..from their..severity began to associate prelacy with popery. |