priest-ridden

English

Alternative forms

• priestridden

Etymology

priest +‎ -ridden

Adjective

priest-ridden (comparative more priest-ridden, superlative most priest-ridden)

1. Dominated or plagued by priests.
   • 1691, William Carr, An Accurate Description of the United Netherlands, and of the Most Considerable Parts of Germany, Sweden, & Denmark‎^[1], London: Timothy Childe, page 83:

     Cologne […] is much decayed within these Hundred Years, having been much Priest-ridden; a Misfortune that hath undone many other great Cities. The Jesuits have had so great Influence upon the Magistrates, that they prevailed with them to banish all Protestants […]

   • 1726, William Rufus Chetwood, The Voyages and Adventures of Captain Robert Boyle, London: J. Watts, 3rd edition, 1735, p. 150,^[2]

     The Father finding the Man had too much Understanding to be Priest-ridden, thought it his best way to hold his Tongue.

   • 1873, Bret Harte, “The Adventure of Padre Vicentio”, in Mrs. Skaggs’s Husbands, and Other Sketches‎^[3], Boston: James R. Osgood, page 302:

     […] Padre Vicentio incautiously drove his heavy spurs into the flanks of his mule as that puzzled animal was hesitating on the brink of a steep declivity. Whether the poor beast was indignant at this novel outrage, or had been for some time reflecting on the evils of being priest-ridden, has not transpired; enough that he suddenly threw up his heels, pitching the reverend man over his head, and, having accomplished this feat, coolly dropped on his knees and tumbled after his rider.

   • 1916 December 29, James Joyce, chapter V, in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, New York, N.Y.: B[enjamin] W. Huebsch, →OCLC, page 1:

     We are an unfortunately priestridden race and always were and always will be till the end of the chapter.