unsurplice

English

Etymology

un- +‎ surplice

Verb

unsurplice (third-person singular simple present unsurplices, present participle unsurplicing, simple past and past participle unsurpliced)

1. (transitive) To remove the surplice (and associated religious status) from.
   • 1845, The Quarterly Review (London), volume 161, page 482:

     If a Wesleyan member in Parliament has the power to unsurplice the priests and deacons of the Church of England, the member of the Church of England may hang the cope upon the shoulders of the Conference.

   • 1882, Arthur Rawson Ashwell, Reginald Garton Wilberforce, Life of the Right Reverend Samuel Wilberforce, D. D., page 189:

     […] but Mr. — and such like, might hold an indignation meeting against him for going against the Bishops, if he did not unsurplice his choir and degrade his service to their Dissenting level.