sacerdotal, a. and n.
(sæsəˈdəʊtəl)
Also 7 erron. -ial.
[a. F. sacerdotal, ad. L. sacerdōtāl-is, sacerdōt-, sacerdōs, f. sacri-, sacer holy, sacred (neut. pl. sacra sacrifices) + dō- ablaut-var. of da- in dare to give. The etymological sense of the n. is thus ‘one who offers sacrifices’.]
A. adj.
1. Of or belonging to the priests or priesthood; of or pertaining to a priest; befitting or characteristic of a priest; priestly.
| c 1400 Mandeville (1839) vi. 66 That Cytee [sc. Ebron] was also Sacerdotalle, that is to seyne, seyntuarie, of the Tribe of Juda. c 1450 Mirour Saluacioun 1181 Encense is oblacionne ȝe wote is sacerdotale. 1547 Bk. Marchauntes c vj b, The .C vi. byshop was a woman... I would wit than if shee were chosen Via Spiritus sancti... Item whereby cam the sacerdotall Carecte, & many other thynges whyche for this tyme I let pas [etc.]. 1632 Lithgow Trav. i. 24 Perugia, a Sacerdotall Vniuersity. 1638 Junius Paint. Ancients 179 A consular, sacerdotal, and triumphall familie. 1654 R. Codrington tr. Justine xx. 288 The Priestess..having on her the Sacerdotial ornaments. 1737 Waterland Rev. Doctr. Eucharist v. Wks. 1823 VII. 93 The ancient Fathers are still more particular in expounding the sacerdotal consecration, and the Divine sanctification consequent there⁓upon. 1739 Cibber Apol. (1756) I. 110 A cholerick sacerdotal insolence. 1821 Byron Sardan. ii. i, That's a sacerdotal thought, And not a soldier's. 1838 Prescott Ferd. & Is. (1846) I. Introd. 10 Priests..arrayed in their sacerdotal robes, not unfrequently led the armies to battle. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 326 Thus the sacerdotal office lost its attraction for the higher classes. 1874 Green Short Hist. viii. §3. 488 They had none of the sacerdotal independence which Rome had at any rate preserved. |
| Comb. 1845 S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. II. 7 The destructive forces..which this sacerdotal-military state had certainly not been able to neutralise or destroy. |
b. Holding the office of a priest.
| 1681–6 J. Scott Chr. Life (1747) III. 223 He is a Sacerdotal King, i.e. a King that holds his Regal Power in the right and vertue of his Priestly intercession. 1870 Disraeli Lothair xlvi, His Lordship was a sacerdotal orator of repute. |
2. Now often used as the epithet of doctrines that assert the existence in the Christian church of an order of priests charged with sacrificial functions and invested with supernatural powers transmitted to them in ordination.
| 1871 Morley Crit. Misc. Ser. i. Carlyle (1878) 173 It led to the sacramental and sacerdotal developments of Anglicanism. a 1884 M. Pattison Mem. (1885) 166 High sacerdotal doctrines were openly proclaimed. |
† B. n. [
Cf. med.L.
sacerdōtāle.] Priestly function.
| a 1640 J. Ball Answ. Canne i. (1642) 133 Since they made their new office or sacerdotall, thus they make their catechumine. |
Hence
sacerˈdotally adv.,
† sacerˈdotalness. Also
† sacerdoˈtality, priestly character.
| 1668 H. More Div. Dial. v. xi. (1713) 447 Philoth... That is also a farther Intimation of their Sacerdotality. 1727 Bailey vol. II, Sacerdotalness, Priestliness, or Likeness to a Priest. 1836 E. Howard R. Reefer ii, He has most sacerdotally put down all the jollity. 1864 Reader III. 671/3 Why does not some scientific man, clothing himself for the moment sacerdotally.., heave back the charges. |