unˈfrock, v.
[un-2 4. Cf. F. défroquer, and ungown v.]
1. trans. To strip (an ecclesiastic) of his frock as a sign of degradation; hence, to deprive of priestly function or office. Also unˈfrocking vbl. n.
The second quotation is the only source for the common attribution of the term to Queen Elizabeth.
| 1644 Milton Areop. 30 It is not the unfrocking of a Priest..that will make us a happy Nation. ? a 1750 Forged Letter Q. Eliz. in Ann. Reg., Char. (1761) 15/1 If you do not forthwith fulfil your engagement, by ―, I will immediately unfrock you. 1817 T. L. Peacock Melincourt I. 10 He took especial care that this..should not reach the ears of his bishop, who would infallibly have unfrocked him. 1857 Trollope Barchester T. III. xvii. 296 Clergymen have been unfrocked for less than what you have been guilty of. 1884 Nonconf. & Indep. 22 May 505/3 Mr. Justice Stephen truly remarked, there was no power to unfrock him. |
| refl. 1822 Q. Rev. XXVIII. 41 Who had been first a Dominican friar, then, having unfrocked himself, a gardener. 1855 L. Hunt Old Court Suburb I. 150 Who had also been a prelate, but had unfrocked himself to become a statesman. |
| absol. 1808 E. S. Barrett Miss-led General 85 He had unfrocked, that is, given over the cure of souls in this world. |
2. transf. To unmask or expose.
| 1876 Bancroft Hist. U.S. VI. xxix. 74 Spain had the monkish Calderon... There no poet like Molière unfrocked hypocrisy. |
Hence
unˈfrocked ppl. a.| 1794 T. J. Mathias Purs. Lit. (1798) 44, I love no atheist French Bishops, nor unfrocked grammarians in England. 1861 Pearson Early & Mid. Ages 357 The unfrocked priest would of course be amenable to lay tribunals in future. 1880 Dixon Windsor III. xxiv. 245 On the unfrocked priest attempting flight, he..locked him in the Tower. |