Minister
(Min"is*ter), v. i.
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. Matt. xxv. 44.
Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased?
Shak. Ministerial
(Min`is*te"ri*al) a. [L. ministerialis: cf. F. ministériel. See Minister, and cf. Minstrel.]
1. Of or pertaining to ministry or service; serving; attendant.
Enlightening spirits and ministerial flames.
Prior. 2. Of or pertaining to the office of a minister or to the ministry as a body, whether civil or sacerdotal.
"Ministerial offices." Bacon. "A ministerial measure." Junius. "Ministerial garments." Hooker.
3. Tending to advance or promote; contributive. "Ministerial to intellectual culture." De Quincey.
The ministerial benches, the benches in the House of Commons occupied by members of the cabinet
and their supporters; — also, the persons occupying them. "Very solid and very brilliant talents distinguish
the ministerial benches." Burke.
Syn. — Official; priestly; sacerdotal; ecclesiastical.
Ministerialist
(Min`is*te"ri*al*ist), n. A supporter of the ministers, or the party in power.
Ministerially
(Min`is*te"ri*al*ly), adv. In a ministerial manner; in the character or capacity of a minister.
Ministery
(Min"is*ter*y) n. See Ministry. Milton.
Ministracy
(Min"is*tra*cy) n. Ministration. [Obs.]
Ministral
(Min"is*tral) a. Ministerial. [Obs.] Johnson.
Ministrant
(Min"is*trant) a. [L. ministrans, -antis, of ministrare to minister.] Performing service as a
minister; attendant on service; acting under command; subordinate. "Princedoms and dominations ministrant."
Milton. — n. One who ministers.
Ministration
(Min`is*tra"tion) n. [L. ministratio, fr. ministrare.] The act of ministering; service; ministry.
"The days of his ministration." Luke i. 23.
Ministrative
(Min"is*tra*tive) a. Serving to aid; ministering.
Ministress
(Min"is*tress) n. [Cf. L. ministrix.] A woman who ministers. Akenside.
Ministry
(Min"is*try) n.; pl. Ministries [L. ministerium. See Minister, n., and cf. Mystery a trade.]
1. The act of ministering; ministration; service. "With tender ministry." Thomson.
