impropriation

English

Etymology

From impropri(ate) +‎ -ation.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪmpɹəʊpɹiˈeɪʃn̩/

  Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

impropriation (countable and uncountable, plural impropriations)

1. The act of impropriating; putting an ecclesiastical benefice or tithes in the hands of a layman, or lay corporation.
   • 1649, Joseph Hall, Resolutions and Decisions of Divers Practicall cases of Conscience:

     […] this practice of impropriation, which was first set on foot by unjust and sacrilegious bulls from Rome, is justly offensive both to God and good men; as misderiving the well-meant devotions of charitable and pious souls into a wrong channel.

   • 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 95:

     His first work […] attacked the impropriation of tithes by laymen and emphasised the divine punishments customarily inflicted upon the sacrilegious.

2. A benefice, tithe etc. that has been put in lay hands.
   • 1990, Roy Porter, English Society in the 18th Century, Penguin, published 1991, page 62:

     Bishop Richard Watson's bag of some £2,200 a year was made up from […] five other impropriations to the Bishopric of Llandaff, and two to the Archdeacon of Ely.