vicar

Definition

In the Church of England, the priest of a parish, receiving a salary or stipend but not tithes.

Etymology

From Middle English vicar, viker, vikyr, vicaire, vicare, a borrowing from Anglo-Norman vikare, vicare, vikaire, vikere and Old French vicaire (“deputy, second in command”), from Latin vicārius (“vicarious, substitute”).

Example Sentences

• "Near-synonyms: priest, rector, curate"
• "Hester Earle and Violet Wayne were moving about the aisle with bundles of wheat-ears and streamers of ivy, for the harvest thanksgiving was shortly to be celebrated, while the vicar stood waiting for their directions on the chancel steps with a great handful of crimson gladioli."
• "All this was extraordinarily distasteful to Churchill. It was ugly, gross. Never before had he felt such repulsion when the vicar displayed his characteristic bluntness or coarseness of speech. In the present connexion[…] such talk had been distressingly out of place."