consistory
English
Etymology
From Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 2 should be a valid language, etymology language or family code; the value "ONF." is not valid. See WT:LOL, WT:LOL/E and WT:LOF. (Old French consistoire), and Late Latin consistorium (“waiting room, meeting place of the imperial council”). Meaning "Church council" is from early 14th century.
Noun
consistory (plural consistories)
- A place of standing or staying together; hence, any solemn assembly or council.
- Milton
- To council summons all his mighty peers, / Within thick clouds and dark tenfold involved, / A gloomy consistory.
- Milton
- The spiritual court of a diocesan bishop held before his chancellor or commissioner in his cathedral church or elsewhere.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Hook to this entry?)
- An assembly of prelates; a session of the college of cardinals at Rome.
- Francis Bacon
- Pius was then hearing of causes in consistory.
- Francis Bacon
- A church tribunal or governing body, especially of elders in a Reformed church.
- (obsolete) A civil court of justice.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Chaucer to this entry?)
References
- “consistory”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.