▪ I. confessionary, a.
(kənˈfɛʃənərɪ)
[ad. med. or mod.L. confessiōnāri-us, f. confessiōn-: see -ary.]
Of or pertaining to confession.
| 1607 Schol. Disc. agst. Antechr. ii. vi. 51 Conformitie doth require of vs a confessionarie approbation of the ceremonies by subscription. 1611 Cotgr., Confessionnaire, confessionarie; belonging to, or treating of, auricular confession. 1753 Bp. R. Clayton in E. H. Palmer Desert of Exodus vi. (1871) 106 Confessionary priests used formerly to sit to hear the confessions of the pilgrims. 1864 I. Taylor in Gd. Words 230 A confessionary prayer. |
▪ II. conˈfessionary, n.
[ad. med.L. confessiōnāri-um (cited by Du Cange in sense 1 from Council of Seville, 1512), neuter of confessiōnārius adj.]
† 1. = confessional n. 2. Obs.
| 1669 Woodhead St. Teresa ii. iii. 16 He came and spake with me in a Confessionary. 1704 Collect. Voy. (Churchill) III. 76/1 The Confessionary is so turn'd, as the..Confessor cannot see the Woman that enters to Confess. 1792 Archæol. X. 299 (D.) These stalls have been improperly termed confessionaries or confessionals. |
2. = confession 8.
| 1727–51 [see confessional n. 3]. 1848 B. Webb Cont. Ecclesiol. 430 The crypt or confessionary retains an original altar. 1879 Sir G. Scott Lect. Archit. II. 29. 1881 ― Eng. Ch. Archit. i. 9 In front of the altar and the confessionary was the choir of the inferior clergy and singers. |