pontificality
(pɒntɪfɪˈkælɪtɪ)
[ad. obs. F. pontificalité (Godef.) pontifical dignity: see pontifical and -ity.]
1. Pontifical office or dignity. a. The office, state, or dignity of a bishop, esp. of the pope.
| 1556 Olde Antichrist 89 b, The 40 daye of his pontificalitie. 1581 Hanmer Answ. Jesuit's Challenge 19 Places where the Pope dareth not once peepe, for all hys Pontificalitye at Rome. 1587 Harrison England ii. ii. (1877) i. 47 Cobham..during the time of his pontificalitie there [at Worcester], builded the vault of the north side of the bodie of the church. 1641 Parallel betw. Wolsey & Laud in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) IV. 465 By which he might make so vain-glorious a shew of his pontificality, or archiepiscopal dignity. a 1656 Ussher Judgm. See of Rome (1659) 20 When the Pontificality was first set up in Rome. |
b. transf. or gen. Priesthood; high-priesthood.
| 1593 G. Harvey Pierce's Super. 83 How the Principalitie, or Pontificalitie of a Minister according to the degenerate Sanedrim, should be sett-vpp. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage vi. xii. 532 One Marvan seized on the Pontificality. 1651 Raleigh's Ghost 211 As if Moses and Aaron had ambitiously sought the Principality and Pontificality. |
† 2. Alleged name for a company of prelates. Obs.
| 1486 Bk. St. Albans F vij, A Pontificalite of prelatis. [Cf. pontifical B. 6 b.] |
† 3. (Usually in pl.) Pontifical robes, pontificals.
| 1601 Deacon & Walker Answ. to Darel To Rdr. 2 Like a pettie new Pope among his owne Cardinals;..and that also in his pontificalities. 1611 Coryat Crudities 28 He himselfe was that day in his sumptuous Pontificalities. a 1645 Habington Surv. Worc. in Worc. Hist. Soc. Proc. i. 120 The Bishop of Chester is set out in his pontificality. |
4. Pontifical air or demeanour; pomposity, stateliness of manner; dogmatic assumption.
| 1600 J. Melvill Diary 245 Placing himselff besyde me with a grait pontificalitie and big countenance. |
5. A pontifical rite, ceremony, or function.
| 1840 Carlyle Heroes iii. (1858) 259 All cathedrals, pontificalities, brass and stone,..are brief in comparison to an unfathomable heart-song like this. 1858 ― Fredk. Gt. vi. vi. (1872) II. 204 A Public Mass, or some other so-called Pontificality. |