Search the Dictionary

Prolonged; continued. Protracted meeting,a religious meeting continued for many successive days. [U. S.] -- Pro*tract"ed*ly, adv. -- Pro*tract"ed*ness, n.

A monastic superior, who, under the general of his order, has the direction of all the religious houses of the same fraternity in a given district, called a province of the order.

The purveyor, steward, or treasurer of a religious house. Cowell.

One who is scrupulous and strict in his religious life; -- often used reproachfully or in contempt; one who has overstrict notions. She would make a puritan of the devil. Shak.

Precise in observance of legal or religious requirements; strict; overscrupulous; rigid; -- often used by way of reproach or contempt. Paritanical circles, from which plays and novels were strictly excluded. Macaulay. He had all the puritanic traits, both good and evil. Hawthorne.

One of a religious sect founded by George Fox, of Leicestershire, England, about 1650, -- the members of which call themselves Friends. They were called Quakers, originally, in derision. See Friend, n., 4. Fox's teaching was primarily a preaching of repentance . . . The trembling among the listening crowd caused or con…

One of a religious sect which sprung up in 1645; -- called also Seekers. See Seeker.

The doctrine or system of those who deduce their religious opinions from reason or the understanding, as distinct from, or opposed to, revelation.

barism. -- Re*bar`ba*ri*za"tion, n. Germany . . . rebarbarized by polemical theology and religious wars. Sir W. Hamilton.

Affording retirement from society. "Some reclusive and religious life." Shak.

The superior officer or chief of a convent or religious house; and among the Jesuits the superior of a house that is a seminary or college.

Specifically (Eccl. Hist.), the important religious movement commenced by Luther early in the sixteenth century, which resulted in the formation of the various Protestant churches.

A member of any religious order or community who has taken the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and who has been solemnly recognized by the church. Bp. Fitzpatrick.

oduced by prudential motives or by dint of habit; but without seriousness there can be no religious principle at the bottom, no course of conduct from religious motives; in a word, there can be no religion. Paley. Religion [was] not, as too often now, used as equivalent for godliness; but . . . it expressed the outer f…

One earnestly devoted or attached to a religion; a religious zealot. The chief actors on one side were, and were to be, the Puritan religionists. Palfrey. It might be that an Antinomian, a Quaker, or other heterodoreligionists, was to be scourged out of the town. Hawthorne.

The quality of being religious; religious feeling or sentiment; religiousness. [R.] M. Arnold.

An apostate from Christianity or from any form of religious faith. James justly regarded these renegades as the most serviceable tools that he could employ. Macaulay.

A special season of solitude and silence to engage in religious exercises.

ue. [Obs.] The small reversion of this great navy which came home might be looked upon by religious eyes as relics. Fuller.

Renewed interest in religion, after indifference and decline; a period of religious awakening; special religious interest.