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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Minister \Min"is*ter\, noun [OE. ministre, F. ministre, fr. L. minister, orig. a double comparative from the root of minor less, and hence meaning, an inferior, a servant. See 1st {Minor}, and cf. {Master}, {Minstrel}.]
1. A servant; a subordinate; an officer or assistant of inferior rank; hence, an agent, an instrument.
Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua. --Ex. xxiv. 13.
I chose Camillo for the minister, to poison My friend Polixenes. --Shak.
2. An officer of justice. [Obs.]
I cry out the on the ministres, quod he, That shoulde keep and rule this cit['e]. --Chaucer.
3. One to whom the sovereign or executive head of a government intrusts the management of affairs of state, or some department of such affairs.
Ministers to kings, whose eyes, ears, and hands they are, must be answerable to God and man. --Bacon.
4. A representative of a government, sent to the court, or seat of government, of a foreign nation to transact diplomatic business.
Note: Ambassadors are classed (in the diplomatic sense) in the first rank of public ministers, ministers plenipotentiary in the second. ''The United States diplomatic service employs two classes of ministers, -- ministers plenipotentiary and ministers resident.'' --Abbott.
5. One who serves at the altar; one who performs sacerdotal duties; the pastor of a church duly authorized or licensed to preach the gospel and administer the sacraments. --Addison.
Syn: Delegate; official; ambassador; clergyman; parson; priest.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Minister \Min"is*ter\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Ministered}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Ministering}.] [OE. ministren, OF. ministrer, fr. L. ministrare. See {Minister}, noun] To furnish or apply; to afford; to supply; to administer.
He that ministereth seed to the sower. --2 Cor. ix. 10.
We minister to God reason to suspect us. --Jer. Taylor.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Minister \Min"is*ter\, verb (used without an object)
1. To act as a servant, attendant, or agent; to attend and serve; to perform service in any office, sacred or secular.
The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. --Matt. xx. 28.
2. To supply or to things needful; esp., to supply consolation or remedies; as, to minister to the sick. --Matt. xxv. 44.
Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased? --Shak.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
minister
noun
1: a person authorized to conduct religious worship [syn: {curate}, {parson}, {pastor}, {rector}]
2: a person appointed to a high office in the government; "Minister of Finance" [syn: {government minister}]
3: a diplomat representing one government to another; ranks below ambassador [syn: {diplomatic minister}]
4: the job of a head of a government department
verb
1: attend to the wants and needs of others; "I have to minister to my mother all the time"
2: work as a minister; "She is ministering in an old parish"
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
130 Moby Thesaurus words for "minister": DD, Doctor of Divinity, Holy Joe, abbe, accommodate, administer the Eucharist, agent, aid, alderman, ambassador, ambassadress, anoint, apostolic delegate, archon, assist, attache, bailie, burghermaster, burgomaster, cabinet member, cabinet minister, care for, career diplomat, chancellor, chaplain, charge, chrism, churchman, city councilman, city father, city manager, clergyman, clergywoman, cleric, clerical, clerk, commercial attache, commissar, commissary, commissionaire, commissioner, confirm, consul, consul general, consular agent, councillor, councilman, councilwoman, county commissioner, county supervisor, curate, cure, dean, delegate, diplomat, diplomatic, diplomatic agent, diplomatist, divine, do duty, ecclesiastic, elder, emissary, envoy, envoy extraordinary, evangelist, father, foreign service officer, headman, help, herald, impose, induna, internuncio, lay hands on, legate, legislator, look after, lord mayor, magistrate, maire, man of God, mayor, messenger, military attache, military chaplain, minister of state, minister plenipotentiary, minister resident, minister to, missionary, nuncio, officiate, padre, parson, pastor, perform a rite, perform service, plenipotentiary, portreeve, preacher, priest, rector, reeve, resident, reverend, secretary, secretary of legation, secretary of state, see to, selectman, servant of God, serve, shepherd, sky pilot, supervisor, supply, supply clergy, supply minister, support, syndic, the Reverend, the very Reverend, tonsured cleric, undersecretary, vicar, vice-consul, vice-legate, wait on, warden
From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:
MINISTER, noun An agent of a higher power with a lower responsibility. In diplomacy and officer sent into a foreign country as the visible embodiment of his sovereign's hostility. His principal qualification is a degree of plausible inveracity next below that of an ambassador.
From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:
Minister one who serves, as distinguished from the master. (1.) Heb. meshereth, applied to an attendant on one of superior rank, as to Joshua, the servant of Moses (Ex. 33:11), and to the servant of Elisha (2 Kings 4:43). This name is also given to attendants at court (2 Chr. 22:8), and to the priests and Levites (Jer. 33:21; Ezek. 44:11). (2.) Heb. pelah (Ezra 7:24), a "minister" of religion. Here used of that class of sanctuary servants called "Solomon's servants" in Ezra 2:55-58 and Neh. 7:57-60. (3.) Greek leitourgos, a subordinate public administrator, and in this sense applied to magistrates (Rom. 13:6). It is applied also to our Lord (Heb. 8:2), and to Paul in relation to Christ (Rom. 15:16). (4.) Greek hyperetes (literally, "under-rower"), a personal attendant on a superior, thus of the person who waited on the officiating priest in the synagogue (Luke 4:20). It is applied also to John Mark, the attendant on Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:5). (5.) Greek diaconos, usually a subordinate officer or assistant employed in relation to the ministry of the gospel, as to Paul and Apollos (1 Cor. 3:5), Tychicus (Eph. 6:21), Epaphras (Col. 1:7), Timothy (1 Thess. 3:2), and also to Christ (Rom. 15:8).
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