silenced, ppl. a.
(ˈsaɪlənst)
[f. prec.]
a. That has been reduced or put to silence; spec. forbidden to preach or hold services on account of refusal to comply with some order.
| 1606 (title), A Christian..Offer of a most indifferent Conference..abovt the maine and principall Controversies betwixt the Prelats, and the late silenced and deprived Ministers. 1644 in Wilkins Polit. Ball. (1860) I. 15 The silenc'd clergy..In your damnation will bear share. 1681 Baxter Apol. Nonconf. Min. 1 Apology for the Silenced ministers. 1731 Calamy Life (1830) I. i. 77, I went afterwards to Mr. Tatnal's, who was the silenced minister of St. John Evangelist. 1737 Pope Horace, Ep. ii. i. 237 The silenc'd Preacher yields to potent strain. 1818 Byron Ch. Har. iv. cxii, In yon field below, A thousand years of silenced factions sleep. 1825 Ld. Cockburn Mem. (1856) 352 Its old and long silenced claims..were now revived. 1836 H. Rogers Life Howe iv. 150 Though Howe was an ejected minister, he could not consent to be a silenced one. |
b. Of a gun: fitted with a silencer.
| 1965 [see gunsel 2]. 1974 ‘I. Drummond’ Power of Bug vii. 106 Why did the chap poke a silenced pistol through the window? 1980 Daily Tel. 15 Oct. 3 He would not shoot Henry MacKenny with a silenced firearm. |