clergy
(ˈklɜːdʒɪ)
Forms: 3–6 clergye, 3–7 clergie, 4 clergi, cleargye, (cleregie, -gye), 4–5 clerge, 4–7 clargy, -gie, (5 clerigie), 6 clargye, 6–7 cleargie, -gy, 4– clergy.
[a. OF. clergie (12th c. in Littré), clargie, fem., literally ‘clerkship’, n. of state f. clerc:—clēric-us cleric, clerk. For branch I, the proper word was L. clēricāt-us, OF. clergié, F. clergé, masc.; but in OF. clergie was also used in same sense; and if any of the ME. forms represent clergié, they cannot be distinguished from those that represent clergie.
The regular phonetic repr. of Romanic cler(i)c-īa, in OF. would have been, according to dialect, clercie (clerzie, once in Godef.), clerchie: cf. Pr. clercia, Sp. clerecia. OF. clergie was an assimilation of this to clergié, a word of earlier formation in which g was regular (clēricāt-, clerigāt-, clergāt-, clergiet, clergié). The influence of the latter similarly appears in clergess, clergise, clergion. The occasional ME. clerge, pl. clergis (sense 2. d) may possibly represent clericus: cf. Pr. clerc, clerge.]
I. The clerical estate or order = mod.F. clergé.
† 1. The estate or office of a cleric or clerk (in ecclesiastical orders); the clerical office. Obs.
| c 1400 Apol. Loll. 43 It behowuiþ vs clerks to not mishews þe sygnes of our cleregye. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 81 Clergie or office of clerkes, clericatus. 1529 More Heresyes iii. Wks. 226/2 As he that is in the clergye noughte, is farre the worse because he is therein, so he that therein is good, is for his clergy very farre the better. 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iv. xix. (1634) 726 The Popish rasure ministred unto Clerks at the first receit of their Cleargie. |
2. concr. The clerical order; the body of men set apart by ordination for religious service in the Christian church; opposed to
laity.
Sometimes, in popular speech, used of the ordinary clergy as distinguished from bishops, etc., as in ‘the bishop met the clergy of his diocese’. Originally a term of the Catholic church, but also commonly used in those Protestant churches which have an ordained ministry. (As with similar terms, its application is often made a matter of principle.)
a. construed as
collective plural.
| c 1275 O.E. Misc. 89 Symonye, Þat muchel del haueþ amerd of þere clergie. 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 563 Of þe clergie at Londone..A conseil he made. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 28 Þe baronage & þe clergie were somond to Kyngeston. c 1450 Merlin vi. 97. 1529 More Heresyes i. Wks. 108/2 To put euery man to silence that woulde..speake of the fautes of the clargye. 1604 Jas. I. Counterbl. To Rdr. (Arb.) 96 Our Cleargie are become negligent. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. I. i. 14 The King of Spain..would be..compell'd by his Clergy..to make new Demands. 1762 (title) Observations on the Present State of Widows and Orphans of the Protestant Clergy of all denominations in Great Britain and Ireland. 1765 Blackstone Comm. i. 376 The people..are divisible into two kinds; the clergy and laity: the clergy, comprehending all persons in holy orders, and in ecclesiastical offices. 1765–8 A. Maclaine tr. Mosheim's Eccl. Hist. xvii. (1844) II. 221 The defects and vices of the Lutheran clergy. 1838 Gladstone State in Rel. Ch. (1839) 259 The Presbyterian clergy of the Scotch church. 1845 S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. I. 303 With the higher clergy of Germany. |
b. as
collect. sing.| c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 373 Þe clergye is ybonden by astate & office. 1483 Cath. Angl. 66/2 A clerge, clerus, clerimonia. 1653 Milton Hirelings Wks. (1851) 387 They affected to be call'd a Clergy. 1796 H. Hunter tr. St. Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) III. 480 An ambitious Clergy impoverishes it's People. a 1863 Whately in Sat. Rev. (1864) 9 July 58 The usefulness of a married clergy. |
c. rarely, as
numeral pl. = clergymen.
| 1850 J. H. Newman Diff. Angl. 184 Some hundred Clergy. |
† d. In the last sense,
clergies was formerly used.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 27244 In scrift..enentes clergis seculers. a 1340 Hampole Psalter lxvii. 14 [lxviii. 13] Si dormiatis inter medios cleros..if ȝe slepe amange þe myddis clergis. 1481 Caxton Myrr. i. v. 22 In this manere were the clergies first founden. 1672 Dodwell in Baxter Answ. Dodwell 73 The united endeavours of above a Thousand Clergies. |
e. Used of all members of religious orders.
| 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. Wks. V. 265, I found the clergy in general persons of moderate minds and decorous manners; I include the seculars and regulars of both sexes. |
f. regular clergy,
secular clergy: see
regular A. 1 a,
secular A. 1 a.
† 3. transf. The priestly order in the Jewish and other non-Christian religions.
Obs.| a 1400–50 Alexander 1509 Oure bischop [of Jerusalem]..iogis all þe iewis · & generall callis..Þan consals him þe clergy. 1578 T. N. tr. Conq. W. India 273 Tlamacazque..one of the principallest of the Divels Cleargie there. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 14 (D.) The Druidæ (for so they call their diviners, wisemen, and estate of clergie). 1727 De Foe Syst. Magic i. iii. (1840) 73 Upon this comes Jannes and Jambres..it seems the king's Court was not then without a sufficient number of Clergy. |
4. As a rendering of
Gr. κλήρος, and of κλήρων in
1 Pet. v. 3; see
quots.| 1382 Wyclif 1 Pet. v. 3 Nether as hauynge lordshipe in the clergie [1582 Rhem., neither as ouerruling the Clergie; Tindale, Cranmer, the parisshes; Coverdale, the parishens; Genev., 1611, God's heritage]. 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. ii. iii. (1851) 164 The title of Clergy S. Peter gave to all Gods people, till Pope Higinus and the succeeding Prelates took it from them. 1643 J. Burroughes Exp. Hosea i. (1652) 159 You shall find in Scripture the people are called Clergy in distinction from the Ministers, and never the Ministers..from the people. 1736 Chandler Hist. Persec. 459 The words Clergy and Church are never once used in Scripture to denote the Bishops or other Officers, but the Christian people. |
II. In sense of
mod.F.
clergie.
† 5. ‘Clerkly skill’; learning, scholarship, science.
Obs. exc. in proverb (
quot. 1690–1822).
| a 1225 Leg. Kath. 538 I-cud of alle clergies. c 1320 Seuyn Sag. (W.) 62, I sal teche him than Of clergy more than ani man. c 1325 Metr. Hom. 101 That clergy That clerkes kalles astronomi. c 1440 York Myst. xx. 54 Be clargy clere if we couthe knawe. c 1530 Ld. Berners Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814) 376 The grete and excellent clergy that is in you. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 52 She chopth logyke, to put me to my clargy. c 1690 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew s.v. Clerk-ship, An Ounce of Mother-Wit is worth a Pound of Clergy, or Book-learning. 1822 Syd. Smith Wks. (1859) II. 3/1 The old saying, that an ounce of mother wit is worth a pound of clergy. |
6. a. Old Law.
benefit of (his) clergy, also simply
(his) clergy:
orig. the privilege of exemption from trial by a secular court, allowed to or claimed by clergymen arraigned for felony; in later times the privilege of exemption from the sentence, which, in the case of certain offences, might be pleaded on his first conviction by every one who could read. Abolished, after various earlier modifications, in 1827.
Cf. neck-verse.
The ability to read, being originally merely the test of the ‘clergy’, or clerical position, of the accused, came at length to be in itself the ground of the privilege, so that the phrase became
= ‘benefit of scholarship’ (sense 5, instead of 1).
| c 1300 Beket 371 A preost ther was..That of manslaȝt was bicliped..Me acusede him faste of the dethe: ac he..huld him faste to holi churche..Iloked he was to purgi him thurf clergie if he miȝte. 1511 Act 3 Hen. VIII, c. 5 That..he..so offending (not being within orders of holy church) enioie not the benefite of his clergie. 1601 Munday Death Huntington i. iii. in Hazl. Dodsley VIII. 244 Stand to your clergy, uncle; save your life. 1623 Act 21 Jas. I, c. 6 Pream., By the Laws of this Realm the Benefit of Clergy is not allowed to Women convicted of Felony. a 1626 Bacon Max. & Uses Com. Law 39 Praying his clergy, and thereupon reading as a clerke. 1631 R. Brathwait Whimzies, Charac. Jayler 49 If any..be admitted to his clergy, and by helpe of a compassionate prompter, hacke out his necke-verse. 1670 Blount Law Dict. s.v., By the Statute of 18 Eliz. cap. 7 Clerks are no more delivered to their Ordinaries to be purged, but now every Man, to whom this benefit is granted, though not in Orders, is put to read at the Bar, after he is found guilty, and convicted of such Felony, and so burnt in the hand, and set free for the first time, if the Ordinaries Commissioner or Deputy standing by do say—Legit ut Clericus. 1670 Marvell Corr. clxxii. Wks. 1872–5 II. 362 Such a clause..makes it felony, without clergy. 1697 Lond. Gaz. No. 3304/3 Craving the Benefit of his Clergy..he was Burnt in the Hand. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. (1869) II. v. i. 351 [The] members [of the universities], whether masters or students, had all of them what was then called the benefit of clergy, that is were exempted from the civil jurisdiction..and were amenable only to the ecclesiastical tribunals. 1864 Knight Fifty Years Wkg. Life I. 204 Then [1818] the Crier of the Court called out to the Convict, ‘kneel down and pray your Clergy’. |
b. clergy of belly: ‘respite claimed by a pregnant woman’ (Davies).
| 1678 Butler Hud. iii. i. 884 Who therefore in a streight, may freely Demand the Clergy of her Belly. |
III. 7. attrib. or as adj. Belonging to the clergy, clerical.
| a 1635 R. Corbet Iter Bor. 8 A noble cleargy host, Kitt Middleton. 1670 Walton Life Hooker i. 40 She [Q. Elizabeth] eased herself, by laying the burden of all her clergy-cares upon his [Abp. Whitgift's] shoulders. |
8. attrib. and
Comb., as
clergy-like adj.,
clergy-mender,
clergy-priest,
clergy-profession,
clergy-relation,
clergy-right,
clergy-tailor;
† clergy-feme, a clergyman's wife or woman;
clergy-house, the residence of a clergyman; also, a house of residence for all the clergy having sole or subordinate charge of a living.
| 1589 Warner Alb. Eng. vi. xxxi. (1612) 152 How fine and faire a life our *Clergie-Femes inioy. |
| 1865 G. E. Street Town Ch. in Englishm. Mag. Feb. 125 The Church..would..be rendered..more striking by the group of subordinate buildings—*clergy-house, house for the choir-boys and masters, etc. 1874 J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Par. Ch. 25 When the clergy-house is close to the church. |
| 1632 Star Chamb. Cases (1886) 173 In as *clergie-like and church-like manner as maie be. |
| 1670 Eachard Cont. Clergy To Rdr. 3 An infinite number of church and *clergy-menders. |
| c 1589 Theses Martinianæ title-p., With their whole band of *clergie-priests. |
| 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iv. xvii. (D.), Nor suits it with my *clergy-profession to proceed any further in this warlike description. |
| 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. ii. iii. (1851) 168 That Priestly unction and *Clergy-right whereto Christ hath entitl'd him. |
| 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. v. xviii. (D.), Those *clergy-sticklers. |
| 1708 Motteux Rabelais v. (1737) 215 *Clergy-Taylors, Wafer-makers. |
Hence
† ˈclergy'd ppl. a., provided with clergy.
| 1696 Growth Deism 31 Christians embodied, organized, clergy'd and modelled into a National Church. |