rectorial, a. and n.
(rɛkˈtɔərɪəl)
[f. rector + -ial.]
A. adj.
1. Of or pertaining to a university rector; connected with the office or election of a rector.
| 1611 Cotgr., Rectorial, Rectoriall, Rector-like; belonging to a Rector, or Vicechancelor. 1749 St. Andrews Univ. Minutes 8 Apr. (MS.), Principal Munsin caused put the Rectorial robes on Principal Tullideph,..and delivered to him the Rectorial books. 1830 Rep. Comm. Univ. Scot. App. 317 A resolution of the Rectorial Court. 1843 Memorial in Rep. St. Andrews Univ. Comm. (1845) App. xi. 2 At the late Rectorial election. 1884 Congregationalist Nov. 951 Many years have passed away since we listened to a rectorial address in the old college hall. |
2. Of or belonging to the rector of a parish (esp. rectorial tithes); held by a rector.
| 1769 Blackstone Comm. IV. Index, Rectorial Tithes. 1794 Hutchinson Hist. Cumbld. I. 79 The church of Bewcastle, dedicated to St. Mary, is rectorial. 1818 Bentham Ch. of Eng. p. xlvi, In his stall at Canterbury,..but still more impressively in his Rectorial mansion. 1884 Jessopp in 19th Cent. Jan. 119 Every vicarage in England represents a spoliation of the church, whose rectorial tithes had been appropriated by a religious house. |
3. Of or pertaining to a ruler or governor. Cf. rectoral.
| 1835 I. Taylor Spir. Despot. vii. 293 The perpetual rectorial authority [of the popes]. 1853 Whewell Grotius I. 4 We may call them respectively Equatorial Rights and Rectorial Rights. Ibid. II. 425 Justice, also, that is, rectorial justice. |
B. n. A rectorial election. Sc.
| 1899 Student (Edin. Univ.) 2 Nov. 41 One student writes protesting against the enormities of the Rectorial. 1920 Glasgow Herald 27 Nov. 6 The Scottish Universities, to whose noisy ‘Rectorials’ Viscount Bryce made reference. 1923 Ibid. 26 July 6 St David's Day..is March 1, the day of the Rectorial. Ibid., The torchlight procession on the night of the Rectorial. 1968 Guardian 30 Oct. 16/4 Edinburgh has never known a rectorial like this. |