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One who possesses exalted rank or holds a position of dignity or honor; especially, one who holds an ecclesiastical rank above that of a parochial priest or clergyman.

A chief bishop; a church dignitary of the first class (often called a metropolitan or primate) who superintends the conduct of the suffragan bishops in his province, and also exercises episcopal authority in his own diocese.

In England, an ecclesiastical dignitary, next in rank below a bishop, whom he assists, and by whom he is appointed, though with independent authority. Blackstone.

The residence of a sovereign, prince, nobleman, or ether dignitary; a palace. Attends the emperor in his royal court. Shak. This our court, infected with their manners, Shows like a riotous inn. Shak.

A dignitary or presiding officer in certain ecclesiastical and lay bodies; esp., an ecclesiastical dignitary, subordinate to a bishop. Dean of cathedral church, the chief officer of a chapter; he is an ecclesiastical magistrate next in degree to bishop, and has immediate charge of the cathedral and its estates. -- Dea…

One holding high rank; a dignitary. These filthy dreamers . . . speak evil of dignities. Jude. 8.

A dignitary of the church, a superior of a convent, a confessor (called also father confessor), or a priest; also, the eldest member of a profession, or of a legislative assembly, etc. Bless you, good father friar ! Shak.

The seat, or see, of the metropolitan, or highest church dignitary. The great metropolis and see of Rome. Shak.

A dignitary superior to the order of archbishops; as, the patriarch of Constantinople, of Alexandria, or of Antioch.

A prebendary. [Obs.] Bacon. Dignitary prebend, one having jurisdiction annexed to it. -- Simple prebend, one without jurisdiction.

a superior order, as an archbishop or a bishop, having authority over the lower clergy; a dignitary of the church.

A dignitary under the Anglo-Saxons and Danes in England. Of these there were two orders, the king's thanes, who attended the kings in their courts and held lands immediately of them, and the ordinary thanes, who were lords of manors and who had particular jurisdiction within their limits. After the Conquest, this title…

f state, commonly a royal seat, but sometimes the seat of a prince, bishop, or other high dignitary. The noble king is set up in his throne. Chaucer. High on a throne of royal state. Milton.

An attendant upon a dignitary, as on a bishop, a dean, a justice, etc. [Eng.] Strype.