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The course of action which peculiarly pertains to any public officer in church or state; the activity appropriate to any business or profession. Tradesmen . . . going about their functions. Shak. The malady which made him incapable of performing his regal functions. Macaulay.

sed in the plural. King James his funerals were performed very solemnly in the collegiate church at Westminster. Euller.

A porch or waiting room, usually at the west end of an abbey church, where the monks collected on returning from processions, where bodies were laid previous to interment, and where women were allowed to see the monks to whom they were related, or to hear divine service. Also, frequently applied to the porch of a churc…

Splendor of appearance; ostentatious finery. [Archaic] Guess the gallantry of our church by this . . . when the desk whereon the priest read was inlaid with plates of silver. Fuller.

ong and narrow platform attached to one or more sides of public hall or the interior of a church, and supported by brackets or columns; -- sometimes intended to be occupied by musicians or spectators, sometimes designed merely to increase the capacity of the hall.

Of or pertaining to Gaul or France; Gallic; French; as, the Gallican church or clergy.

The principles, tendencies, or action of those, within the Roman Catholic Church in France, who (esp. in 1682) sought to restrict the papal authority in that country and increase the power of the national church. Schaff-Herzog Encyc.

eason, namely, seven generations. Baruch vi. 3. All generations and ages of the Christian church. Hooker.

dacna, esp. T. gigas, which sometimes weighs 500 pounds. The shells are sometimes used in churches to contain holy water. -- Giant heron (Zoöl.), a very large African heron (Ardeomega goliath). It is the largest heron known. -- Giant kettle, a pothole of very large dimensions, as found in Norway in connection with gl…

a Scottish sect, founded in the 18th century by John Glass, a minister of the Established Church of Scotland, who taught that justifying faith is "no more than a simple assent to the divine testimone passively recived by the understanding." The English and American adherents of this faith are called Sandemanians, after…

The land belonging, or yielding revenue, to a parish church or ecclesiastical benefice.

er), sung or said at the end of the Psalms in the service of the Roman Catholic and other churches.

nd cheapest gallery of a theater. [Colloq.] -- God's acre, God's field, a burial place; a churchyard. See under Acre. -- God's house. (a) An almshouse. [Obs.] (b) A church. -- God's penny, earnest penny. [Obs.] Beau. & Fl. -- God's Sunday, Easter.

a gold or gilded rose blessed by the pope on the fourth Sunday in Lent, and sent to some church or person in recognition of special services rendered to the Holy See. -- Golden rule. (a) The rule of doing as we would have others do to us. Cf. Luke vi. 31. (b) The rule of proportion, or rule of three. -- Golden samph…

An officer at Rome who bears the standard of the Church.

be a good for nothing. Ld. Lytton. -- Good Friday, the Friday of Holy Week, kept in some churches as a fast, in memoory of our Savior's passion or suffering; the anniversary of the crucifixion. -- Good humor, or Good-humor, a cheerful or pleasant temper or state of mind. -- Good nature, or Good-nature, habitual kind…

cise of authority; the administration of laws; control; direction; regulation; as, civil, church, or family government.

A series of steps from a cloister into a church.

A book of offices in the Roman Catholic Church; a gradual. [Obs.] T. Warton. Such as antiphonals, missals, grails, processionals, etc. Strype.

pertaining to Greece or the Greeks; Grecian. Greek calends. See under Calends. -- Greek Church (Eccl. Hist.), the Eastern Church; that part of Christendom which separated from the Roman or Western Church in the ninth century. It comprises the great bulk of the Christian population of Russia (of which this is the esta…