Category:Prelate

Prel"ate (48), n. Etym: [f. prélat, ll. praelatus, fr. L. Praelatus, used as p. p. of praeferre to prefer, but from a different Root. See elate.]

Defn: a clergyman of a superior order, as an archbishop or a bishop, Having authority over the lower clergy; a dignitary of the church.

Note: this word and the words derived from it are often used Invidiously, in english ecclesiastical history, by dissenters, Respecting the established church system. Hear him but reason in divinity,. . . You would desire the king were Made a prelate. Shak.

Prelate Prel"ate, v. i.

Defn: to act as a prelate. [obs.] Right prelating is busy laboring, and not lording. Latimer.