Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A priest in various hierarchical churches.
  • noun An elder in the Presbyterian Church.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An elder; a priest; specifically, in hierarchic churches, a minister of the second order, between the bishop and the deacon.
  • noun In zoology, a monkey of the genus Presbytes.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun An elder in the early Christian church. See 2d Citation under Bishop, n., 1.
  • noun (Ch. of Eng. & Prot. Epis. Ch.) One ordained to the second order in the ministry; -- called also priest.
  • noun (Presbyterian Ch.) A member of a presbytery whether lay or clerical.
  • noun obsolete A Presbyterian.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A priest in various churches.
  • noun An elder of the Presbyterian church.
  • noun An elder of the congregation in early Christianity.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an elder in the Presbyterian Church

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Late Latin, from Greek presbuteros, from comparative of presbus, old man; see per in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Late Latin presbyter, from Ancient Greek πρεσβύτερος (presbuteros), from πρέσβυς (presbus, "elder, older").

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