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The act or process of waning, or decreasing. This earthly moon, the Church, hath fulls and wanings, and sometimes her eclipses. Bp. Hall.

A head official; as, the warden of a college; specifically (Eccl.), a churchwarden.

hurdle made of such rods. And there he built with wattles from the marsh A little lonely church in days of yore. Tennyson.

fade; also, to decay; to decline; to wane. [Obs.] When ruddy Phwelk in west. Spenser. The church, that before by insensible degrees welked and impaired, now with large steps went down hill decaying. Milton.

Fully known; generally known or acknowledged. A church well known with a well-known rite. M. Arnold.

cept as the imperfect of go, with which it has no etymological connection. See Go. To the church both be they went. Chaucer.

The system of doctrines and church polity inculcated by John Wesley (b. 1703; d. 1791), the founder of the religious sect called Methodist; Methodism. See Methodist, n., 2.

t; as, a ship makes a western course; coming from the west; as, a western breeze. Western Church. See Latin Church, under Latin. -- Western empire (Hist.), the western portion of the Roman empire, as divided, by the will of Theodosius the Great, between his sons Honorius and Arcadius, a. d. 395.

a freak; a fancy; a capricious notion; a humor; a caprice. Let every man enjoy his whim. Churchill.

The seventh Sunday, and the fiftieth day, after Easter; a festival of the church in commemoration of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost; Pentecost; -- so called, it is said, because, in the primitive church, those who had been newly baptized appeared at church between Easter and Pentecost in white g…

ory procedure without any assigned reason; a sudden conclusive happening. [Obs.] When the church Was taken with a why-not in the lurch. Hudibras. This game . . . was like to have been lost with a why-not. Nugæ Antiq.

re an anxiety; to vex; to annoy; to torment; to tease; to fret; to trouble; to plague. "A church worried with reformation." South. Let them rail, And worry one another at their pleasure. Rowe. Worry him out till he gives consent. Swift.

ties; a person of conspicuous desert; -- much used in the plural; as, the worthies of the church; political worthies; military worthies. The blood of ancient worthies in his veins. Cowper.

o allow the entrance or exit of anything. 't is now the very witching time of night, When churchyards yawn. Shak.

, but having a peculiar berrylike fruit instead of a cone. It frequently grows in British churchyards.

Hence, the theocracy, or church of God.