synod
(ˈsɪnəd)
Forms: 4–6 sinod, 4–7 synode, (6 senod), 6–7 sinode, 4– synod.
[ad. late L. synodus, a. Gr. σύνοδος assembly, meeting, astronomical conjunction, f. σύν syn-1 + ὁδός way, travel; reinforced later by F. synode (16th c.). (Cf. It., Sp. sinodo, Pg. synodo.) L. synodus was taken into OE. as seonoþ, sionoþ, sinoþ, synoþ; Layamon's sinað (25338) may represent contamination of the OE. word with OF. senat senate. See also sene.]
1. Eccl. An assembly of the clergy of a particular church, nation, province, or diocese (sometimes with representatives of the laity) duly convened for discussing and deciding ecclesiastical affairs. † In early use freq. applied to general councils.
Formerly also, an episcopal or archidiaconal visitation (cf. synodal B. 2).
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) V. 41 In þis counsail and synod was þe pope Victor. Ibid. 231 Þe þridde greet synode [v.r. sinod] of þre hondred bisshoppes was i-made at Ephisus. 1485 Caxton Chas. Gt. ii. 24 In that synode [of bishops and abbots at Rome] for the grete holynes of charles The pope..gaf hym power for to ordeyne bisshoppes & archebisshops. 1528 [see synodal a. 1]. 1545 Act 37 Hen. VIII, c. 17 The Bishopp of Rome and his adherentes..have in their counsailes & synodes provinciall made..and decreed diverse ordynances. 1553 Becon Reliques of Rome (1563) 213 It was decreed at y⊇ councell of Nice y{supt} euery byshop shoulde twice yearelye haue a Synode or Sene general within hys diocesse. 1591 Lambarde Archeion (1635) 8 The two Provinciall Synodes of Canterburie and Yorke. a 1600 Hooker Eccl. Pol. viii. v. §2 Before Emperours became Christians, the Church had never any generall Synod. 1661 J. Stephens Procurations 66 Of Synods there are found sundry kinds, Oecumenical, National, Provincial, and Diocesan. 1677 Rector's Bk. Clayworth (1910) 30 By order from my Ld. ArchBp I preachd this day to y⊇ Synod at Southwell. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 21 July 1641, A stately senate-house, wherein was holden that famous Synod against the Arminians in 1618. 1768 A. Maclaine tr. Mosheim's Eccl. Hist. Cent. xvii. ii. i. ii. §5. IV. 409 [Peter I of Russia] declared himself the supreme pontif and head of the Russian church. The functions of this high and important office were entrusted with a council assembled at Petersburg,..called the Holy Synod. 1776 Gibbon Decl. & F. xv. (1782) I. 586 Towards the end of the second century, the churches of Greece and Asia adopted the useful institutions of provincial synods. 1845 M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 17 Bringing him to..trial before a synod of bishops for his flagrant infraction of the canon law. 1845 S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. III. 525 In the year 1533 a provincial synod was established in Strasburg, which included various secular elements, together with the spiritual. 1869 Act 32 & 33 Vict. c. 42. §19 Nothing in any Act..shall prevent the bishops, the clergy, and laity of the said [Irish] Church..from meeting in general synod or convention, and in such synod or convention framing constitutions..for the general management..of the said Church. 1874 Green Short Hist. i. §3. 30 It was the ecclesiastical synods which by their example led the way to our national parliaments. |
b. In Presbyterian Churches: A body or assembly of ministers and other elders, constituting the ecclesiastical court next above the presbytery (see presbytery 4), and consisting of the members of, or of delegates from, the presbyteries within its bounds.
| 1593 R. Bancroft Dangerous Posit. iii. xiii. 109 Assemblies are eyther Classes, or Synods. Ibid. 110 A Synode is an assembly of chosen men, from moe Churches, then those that be in one Classis, or conference. 1645 E. Pagitt Heresiogr. 76 The Independents..teach that everie particular Congregation ought to be governed by its owne particular Lawes,..without obligation [to] acknowledge Classes or Synods for its government and conduct. a 1658 Cleveland Mixt Assembly 1 Flea-bitten Synod, an Assembly..like the rude Chaos of Presbyt'ry, where Laymen guide With the tame Wool-pack Clergy by their side. 1753 Scots Mag. XV. 85/1 A provincial synod is a court consisting of all the ministers of a particular number of presbyteries, and one elder chosen..from each session. They..judge in all..appeals from the presbyteries. 1852 Earp Gold Col. Australia 79 The Presbyterian Church is under the government of the Synod of Australia, and is divided as follows:—Presbytery of Sydney,..Presbytery of Windsor,..Presbytery of Campbelltown,..Presbytery of Maitland. |
2. gen. and transf. An assembly, convention, or council of any kind. Also fig.
| 1578 H. Wotton Courtlie Controv. 132 The Councell and Sinode of our Genterie. 1580 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 315 A shamelesse Sinod of three thousand greedy caterpillers. 1607 Shakes. Cor. v. ii. 74 The glorious Gods sit in hourely Synod about thy particular prosperity. a 1649 Crashaw Carmen Deo Nostro Wks. (1904) 197 An universall Synod of All sweets. 1718 Pope Iliad xiii. 662 On golden clouds th' immortal synod sat. 1763 Johnson in Boswell Life, Sir, we could not have had a better dinner, had there been a Synod of Cooks. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 40 It was not in the power of Jeffreys to overawe a synod of peers as he had been in the habit of overawing common juries. |
† 3. Astrol. A conjunction of two planets or heavenly bodies. Obs.
| 1646 Crashaw Steps to Temple, Love's Horoscope 18 How e're Loves native houres were set, What ever starry Synod met. 1651 Culpepper Astrol. Judgem. Dis. (1658) 30 A Conjunction or Synod..cannot properly be called an aspect. 1661 Boyle Certain Physiol. Ess. (1669) 30 The Planets..have (according to Astrologers) in their great Synods or Conjunctions, much more powerful..Influences..than are ascrib'd to one or two of them out of that Aspect. 1686 Goad Celest. Bodies ii. xii. 329 We speak of Aspects, Synods, and Schematismes, for advantage of Influence Caelestial, and observe, that even they want their Vigour when they want their Friends about them. |
4. attrib.: † synod house (cf. sense 3, and house n. 8 b); synod-man, a member of a synod, a synodsman.
| 1589 Greene Tullies Love Wks. (Grosart) VII. 201 To vnite those loues that Venus in hir Sinod house hath expreslie countercheckt. 1663 Butler Hud. i. iii. 1298 For Bears and Dogs on four Legs go, As Beasts, but Synod-men on Two. |