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vicar

 - 4 dictionary results

vic⋅ar

  [vik-er]
Use vicar in a Sentence
–noun
1. Church of England.
a. a person acting as priest of a parish in place of the rector, or as representative of a religious community to which tithes belong.
b. the priest of a parish the tithes of which are impropriated and who receives only the smaller tithes or a salary.
2. Protestant Episcopal Church.
a. a member of the clergy whose sole or chief charge is a chapel dependent on the church of a parish.
b. a bishop's assistant in charge of a church or mission.
3. Roman Catholic Church. an ecclesiastic representing the pope or a bishop.
4. a person who acts in place of another; substitute.
5. a person who is authorized to perform the functions of another; deputy: God's vicar on earth.
Origin:
1250–1300; ME < AF vicare; OF vicaire < L vicārius a substitute, n. use of adj.; see vicarious

Related forms:
vic⋅ar⋅ship, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To vicar
vic·ar   (vĭk'ər)   
n.   Abbr. Vic.

    1. The priest of a parish in the Church of England who receives a stipend or salary but does not receive the tithes of a parish.

    2. A cleric in charge of a chapel in the Episcopal Church of the United States.

    3. A cleric acting in the place of a rector or bishop in the Anglican Communion generally.

  2. Roman Catholic Church A priest who acts for or represents another, often higher-ranking member of the clergy.


[Middle English, from Old French vicaire, from Latin vicārius, vicarious, a substitute, from vicis, genitive of *vix, change; see weik-2 in Indo-European roots.]
vic'ar·ship' n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

vicar 
c.1300, from O.Fr. vicaire, from L. vicarius "substitute, deputy," noun use of adj. vicarius "substituting," from vicis "change, turn, office" (see vicarious). The original notion is of "earthly representative of God or Christ;" but also used in sense of "person acting as parish priest in place of a real parson" (c.1325). The original Vicar of Bray (in fig. use from 1661) seems to have been Simon Allen, who held the benefice from c.1540 to 1588, thus serving from the time of Henry VIII to Elizabeth, and was twice a Catholic and twice a Protestant, but always vicar of Bray. The village is near Maidenhead in Berkshire.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Encyclopedia

vicar

(from Latin vicarius, "substitute"), an official acting in some special way for a superior, primarily an ecclesiastical title in the Christian Church. In the Roman Empire as reorganized by Emperor Diocletian (reigned 284-305), the vicarius was an important official, and the title remained in use for secular officials in the Middle Ages. In the Roman Catholic Church, "vicar of Christ" became the special designation of the popes starting in the 8th century, and eventually it replaced the older title of "vicar of St. Peter."

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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