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s distinguished from the clergy; the body of the people not in orders. A rising up of the laity against the sacerdotal caste. Macaulay.

Ignorant, unlearned; belonging to the laity. [Obs.] Chaucer.

ice, esp. in the matter of appointments to office. -- Civil state, the whole body of the laity or citizens not included under the military, maritime, and ecclesiastical states. -- Civil suit. Same as Civil action. -- CCivil war. See under War. -- Civil year. See under Year.

y due ordination, to the service of God, in the Christian church, in distinction from the laity; in England, usually restricted to the ministers of the Established Church. Hooker.

The clergy, or their opinions, as opposed to the laity.

in one kind, participation in but one element, as in the Roman Catholic Church, where the laity partake of the bread only.

Blackburne. He conferred on it a kind of inquisitorial and censorious power even over the laity, and directed it to inquire into all matters of conscience. Hume.

Of or pertaining to a layman or the laity. "Laical literature." Lowell. An unprincipled, unedified, and laic rabble. Milton.

Of or pertaining to the laity, as distinct from the clergy; as, a lay person; a lay preacher; a lay brother.

One of the people, in distinction from the clergy; one of the laity; sometimes, a man not belonging to some particular profession, in distinction from those who do. Being a layman, I ought not to have concerned myself with speculations which belong to the profession. Dryden.

The smaller hosts distributed in the communion of the laity. Bp. Fitzpatrick.

hat which proves anything; proof. [Obs.] When by miracle God dispensed great gifts to the laity, . . . he gave probation that he intended that all should prophesy and preach. Jer. Taylor.

or with undue publicity, or lack of delicacy. 'T were profanation of our joys To tell the laity our love. Donne.

Belonging to the laity; lay; not clerical. I speak of folk in secular estate. Chaucer. Secular equation (Astron.), the algebraic or numerical expression of the magnitude of the inequalities in a planet's motion that remain after the inequalities of a short period have been allowed for. -- Secular games (Rom. Antiq.),…

Humble; lowly; undistinguished. A simple husbandman in garments gray. Spenser. Clergy and laity, male and female, gentle and simple made the fuel of the same fire. Fuller.

The laity; temporality. [Obs.] Sir T. More.

The laity; secular people. [Obs.] Abp. Abbot.