parson 
\nd what 's a bishop? A bishop's a parson dressed up, 
who sits in the House of Lords to help and throw out Ke- 
form Bills. George Elwt, Felix Holt, xxx. 
Herbert of Bosham, . . . the squire parson of the time, 
also a careful and admiring biographer. 
Stuobs, Medieval and Modern Hist, p. 146. 
4. A tiny finch of Brazil, Spermophila minuta. 
5 The parson-bird or poe-bird Gray-coat 
parson, an impropriator ; the tenant in anEnglish parish 
whohiresthe tithes //.><;.- Isle of Wignt parson, 
the cormorant, Phalacrocorax carbo : so called in Hants. C. 
Swainson. Journeyman parson. See journeyman. - 
Marvland parsont, in colonial times, a dissolute or dis- 
reputable clergyman.- Parson and clerk, a children s 
game, played with burnt paper, in which the lingering 
sparks are supposed to represent persons. 
So when a child, as playful children use, 
Has burnt to tinder a stale last year's news, 
The flame extinct, he views the roving fire 
There goes my lady, and there goes the squire ; 
There goes the parson, oh illustrious spark ! 
And there, scarce less illustrious, goes the clerk! 
Cowper, On Names of Little Note in Biog. Brit. 
Parson imparsonnee, a rector who is installed in a 
church, whether it be representative or impropnate. 
4302 
parsonic (par-son'ik), a. [< parson + -ic.] Of 
or pertaining to a parson or his office ; char- 
acteristic of parsons ; suited to or in keeping 
with the position or duties of a parson ; cleri- 
cal : as, parsonic pretensions. 
An extremely comfortable Prebendal house . . . looks 
to the south, and is perfectly snug and parsonic. 
Sydney Smith, To Lady Holland. 
His manners I think you said are not to your taste? 
priggish and parsonic? 
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, xxxvii. 
Until he [Charles Kingsley] shakes off this porsomchabit 
[of preaching] he will not be able to create truly human 
characters. ' George Eliot, Westminster Rev. 
Langham, whether he liked it or no, had to face the par- 
sonic breakfast and the parsonic day. 
Mrs. Humphry Ward, Robert Elsmere, II. xii. 
parsonical (par-son'i-kal), a. [(parsonic + -af.] 
Same &,& parsonic. 
parsonically (par-son'i-kal-i), adv. In the man- 
ner of a parson. Chesterfield. [Rare.] 
parson-in-the-pulpit (par'sn-in-the-pul'pit), n. 
The wake-robin 01 Europe. See Arum, 1, and 
"Pope's nose. "Parson's weelt, the period from Mon- 
day to the Saturday following (both days included). 
Get my duty done for a Sunday, so that I may be out a 
Parson'sweek. ..... - 14 . (Come*.) 
parsonage (par'son-aj;, n. IA lvlE - parsonage, 
OF. personage, personnage, parsonnaige, F. per- 
sonnage, < ML. personaticum (also, after OF., per- 
sonagium), a church benefice, < persona, a par- 
son: see parson. Cf. personage. ] 1. A rectory 
endowed with a house, glebe, lands, tithes, 
etc., for the maintenance of the incumbent; 
the benefice of a parish. 
I fynde payne for the pope and prouendre for his palfrey, 
And I hadde neuere of hym, haue god my treuthe, 
Neither prouendre ne parsonage sut of the >' * 
n.. Plowma, 
These are the scandalous clamours of their invincible 
ignorance, who, as many of the Jews did Christ, follow the 
gospel only for their bellies ; they consider not in whose 
hands abbeys, and monasteries, and the best parsonages are. 
Rev. T. Adams, Works, I. 461. 
2. The mansion or dwelling-house of a parson 
or clergyman. Also called a parsonage house. 
Here hath Master Whitaker chosen his Parsonage, im- 
pailed a faire framed Parsonage, and one hundred acres 
called Rocke hall. 
In the centre of the village stood a handsome white 
church, with a clock-tower, and near it the parsonage and 
school-house. B. Taylor, Northern Travel, p. 190. 
3. Money paid for the support of a parson. 
[Scotch.] 
What have I been paying stipend and teind, parsonage 
and vicarage, for? Scott. 
parson-bird (piir'sn-berd), n. The poe-bird, 
Parson-bird (Prostttcmadira itffVSS-etlaHdia). 
Prosthemadera novie-zelandise. Also called par- 
son and tui. 
parsoned (par'snd), a. [< parson + -ed 2 .] 1. 
Furnished with a parson or parsons : as, a par- 
soned parish. 2. Done by or in the manner of 
a parson. [Rare.] 
Ye deaf to truth ! peruse this parson'd page. 
Young, Night Thoughts, iv. 
Married and parsoned, duly and legally married ; mar- 
ried with all the customary rites, 
parsonert, n. A Middle English form of par- 
cener. 
parsonet (par'son-et), n. [< parson + -et.] A 
little parson; nence, humorously, a parson's 
child. [Bare.] 
The Parson dearly lov'd his darling pets, 
Sweet, little, ruddy, ragged Parsonets. 
Colman, Poetical Vagaries, p. 132. 
parson-gull (par' sn-gul),M. The black-backed 
gull, Larus marimis : so called from the color- 
ation. [Local, British.] 
parsonish (par'son-ish), a. [< parson + -*. 
Relating to or like a parson, 
parsonize (par'son-iz), v.; pret. and pp. parson- 
ized, ppr. parsoriizing. [< parson + -ize.~\ I. 
intrans. To usurp the functions or put on the 
airs of a parson ; play the parson. 
II. trans. To convert into parsons ; tinge or 
imbue with parsonic notions. 
The Bishop of Rochester in England . . . the other day, 
in a pastoral, expressed the hope that lay evangelists will 
not "presently become parsomzed." 
The Congregationalist, June 21, 1880. 
[Rare in both uses.] 
Parsonsia (piir-son'zi-a), n. [NL. (R. Brown, 
1808-10), named after Dr. John Parsons of 
Scotland, who wrote in 1752 on the fertiliza- 
petalous order Apocynaceee and the tribe Echiti- 
deee, type of the subtribe Parsongieee, and known 
by the slightly convolute corolla, the slender 
and often twisted filaments, and the twining 
shrubby habit. There are about 12 species, natives 
of tropical Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. They are 
smoothish vines, with opposite leaves, and terminal or axil- 
lary cymes of small whitish flowers, followed by cylindri- 
cal pod-like follicles. Several species are cultivated in 
greenhouses, as the kai-ku. 
parsouret, n. A Middle English form of piercer. 
part (part), n. [Sc.jHMrt; < ME. part, paart, 
parte, perte, < OF. part, F. part = Sp. Pg. It. 
parte = AS. part = OFries. part = D. MLG. 
part = MHG. parte, part, G. part = Icel. partr 
= Sw. Dan. part, ( L. pars (part-), part, piece, 
portion, share, side, party, faction, part or 
role, character, part or lot, portion, fate, task, 
lesson, also part or member, etc. ; akin topor- 
tio(n-), a portion, part (> E. portion), parare, 
make ready, prepare (>E. pare*-, parade, etc.), 
and to Gr. 'nopeiv, aor. iiropov, perf. pass, viirpu- 
fiai, furnish, present, give, allot, fate, Kopaweiv, 
offer, present, prepare, provide. From the L. 
pars (part-) are also ult. part, v., partial, parti- 
tion, partitive, party 1 , party*, participle, par- 
ticipate, etc., apartment, compartment, depart, 
department, impart, bipartite, tripartite, etc., 
parse 1 , parcel, parcener, partner, etc.] 1. A 
separate division, fraction, or fragment of a 
whole ; a section or division ; a piece : as, a 
part of the money; apart of the true cross. 
I in thy abundance am sufficed, 
And by a port of all thy glory live. 
Shak., Sonnets, xxxvii. 
2. A division of a thing not separated in reality, 
but considered or mentioned by itself: as, the 
younger part of the community. 
But at all insolent and vnwoonted paries of a mans be- 
hauiourwe find many times cause to mislike or to be mis- 
trustfull. Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 241. 
And Moses brought fortn the people out of the camp to 
meet with God ; and they stood at the nether port of the 
mount. Ex. xix. 17. 
Those who had formerly attacked [the church of Rome] 
. . . had questioned only apart of her doctrines. A school 
was now growing up which rejected the whole. 
Macaulay, Von Ranke. 
I've been here the better port of my life. 
S. O. Jewett, Deephaven, p. 18. 
3. In math., an exact divisor: as, three is the 
fourth part of twelve : the opposite of multiple, 
though divisor is the preferable correlative; 
an equal constituent portion ; one of several or 
many equal quantities into which a thing may 
be divided 
part 
A thought which, quarter'd, hath but one part wisdom 
And ever three ports coward. Shak., Hamlet, iv. 4. 43. 
But when the fourth part of the day was gone, 
Then Enid was aware of three tall knights 
On horseback, wholly arm'd, behind a rock. 
Tennyson, Geraint. 
4. An organic or essential element ; a constitu- 
ent division of a whole; a member; an organ: 
as, avital^art; the hinder parts of an animal. 
The whole body fitly joined together and compacted by 
that which every joint supplieth, according to the effec- 
tual working in the measure of every part. Eph. iv. 16. 
His hands still moved, 
As if he laboured yet to grasp the state 
With those rebellious parts. 
B. Jonson, Catiline, v. 6. 
I fear I shall begin to grow in love 
With my dear self, and my most prosperous parts, 
They do so spring and burgeon. 
B. Jonson, Volpone, iii. 1. 
5. In nutsic: (a) One of the voices or instru- 
ments involved in the production of a concert- 
ed piece or passage. (6) The melody or suc- 
cession of tones intended for one of the voices 
or instruments in a harmonic or concerted 
piece ; a voice-part, (c) The written or print- 
ed score which a single performer uses in the 
performance of concerted music : as, a horn 
part; to write out in parts. All harmonic music 
ge schule haue 3oure licour by an hundrid part bettir 
gilt than je had tofore with the floreyn. 
Book of Quinte Essence (ed. Furnivall), p. 7. 
more voice-parts or independent/ MM n"u' ......... . w 
simultaneously combined. Except in the case of music 
written for a keyboard-instrument, like the pianoforte or 
the organ (and frequently there also), a composition is 
largely analyzed with reference to the skill and correct- 
ness with which the parts are combined with one another. 
See part-writing. 
6. Individual share ; portion ; moiety. 
They [the Moluccans] haue their publike meetings and 
Bankets in their Temples very often, euery one bringing 
his port of the cheere. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 539. 
Let me bear 
My port of danger with an equal share. 
Dryden, tr. of Ovid's Metamorph., x. 50. 
7. Interest; concern; share. 
In heavenly mercies hast thou not apart f 
Spenser, F. Q., I. Ix. 53. 
We have no port in David, neither have we inheritance 
in the son of Jesse. 2 Sam. rx. 1. 
A faithful brother I have left, 
My part in him thou It share ! 
Burns, Farewell. 
8. Share of action or influence ; allotted duty ; 
function, office, or business : as, to take an ac- 
tive part in public affairs. 
Syr Anasore the knyght, And ser Darell, 
And All the toder knyghtez euerychone, 
Eche for his parte quyte hym self full wele. 
Generydes(K E. T. S.), 1. 3013. 
It is the part of the lyric poet to abandon himself with- 
out reserve to his own emotions. Macaulay, Milton. 
9. The character assigned to an actor in a play 
or other like performance; a r61e; also, the 
words spoken by an actor in such a character. 
Kever did Cozenage with more lovely art, 
Or face more honest, act a fouler part. 
J. Beaumont, Psyche, ii. 178. 
And then the justice, 
In fair round belly with good capon lined, 
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, 
Full of wise saws and modern instances, 
And so he plays his port. 
Shak., As you Like it, ii. 7. 157. 
Ix> Yates ! Without the least finesse of art 
He gets applause I wish he'd get his part. 
Churchill, Rosciad. 
10. Share of ability, mental endowment, or ac- 
quirement; in the plural, abilities; powers; 
faculties; talents; accomplishments. 
A Man of many good Parts, and worthy enough of his 
Prince's Favour, if with that Favour he had not grown 
proud. Baker, Chronicles, p. 145. 
Natural parts and good judgment rule the world. 
Sir T. Browne, Christ. Mor., 11. 4. 
Men who get into the pulpit rather to show their part* 
than convince us of the truth of what they deliver. 
Goldsmith, The Bee, No. 7. 
1 1 . Side or party, or the cause or interest repre- 
sented by one side or party ; cause : as, to take 
one's part; for my part, I object. 
Arcite, and eek the hundred of his parte. 
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 1724. 
Were there but three men to tak mypoirt, 
Yon King's coming full deir suld be ! 
Sang of Uie Outlaw Murray (Child's Ballads, VI. 28). 
Then gan the part of Chalengers anew 
To range the field, and victorlike to raine, 
That none against them battell durst maintaine. 
Spenser, F. Q., IV. iv. 25. 
Onelie for my awn part I will avoid al novelties, and 
content my self with the letteres quhilk we have in use. 
A. Hume, Orthographic (E. E. T. S.), p. 11. 
A brand ! preserved to warm some prince's heart, 
And make whole kingdoms take her brother's part. 
Waller, To my Lady Morton. 
