Minister - Dictionary Definition and Overview

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"

Based on WordNet 2.0

Minister : \Min"is*ter\, n. [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.

Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

Minister : \Min"is*ter\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ministered; p. pr. & vb. n. Ministering.] [OE. ministren, OF. ministrer, fr. L. ministrare. See Minister, n.] 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.

Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

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.

Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

MINISTER, government. An officer who is placed near the sovereign, and is invested with the administration of some one of the principal branches of the government. 2. Ministers are responsible to the king or other supreme magistrate who has appointed them. 4 Conn. 134.

Based on Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [Bouvier_Law_Dictionary]:

MINISTER, international law. This is the general name given to public functionaries who represent their country abroad, such as ambassadors, (q.v.) envoys, (q.v.) and residents. (q.v.) A custom of recent origin has introduced a new kind of ministers, without any particular determination of character; these are simply called ministers, to indicate that they are invested with the general character of a sovereign's mandatories, without any particular assignment of rank or character. 2. TheMinister : represents his government in a vague and indeterminate manner, which cannot be equal to the first degree; and be possesses all the rights essential to a public minister. 3. There are also ministers plenipotentiary, who, as they possess full powers, are of much greater distinction than simple ministers. These also, are without any particular attribution of rank and character, but by custom are now placed immediately below the ambassador, or on a level with the envoy extraordinary. Vattel, liv. 4, c. 6, Sec. 74; Kent, Com. 38; Merl. Repert. h.t. sect. 1, n. 4. 4. Formerly no distinction was made in the different classes of public ministers, but the modern usage of Europe introduced some distinctions in this respect, which, on account of a want of precision, became the source of controversy. To obviate these, the congress of Vienna, and that of Aix la Chapelle, put an end to these disputes by classing ministers as follows: 1. Ambassadors, and papal legates or nuncios. 2. Envoys, ministers, or others accredited to sovereigns, (aupres des souverains). 3. Ministers resident, accredited to sovereigns. 4. Charges d'Affaires, accredited to the minister of foreign affairs. Recez du Congres de Vienne, du 19 Mars, 1815; Protocol du Congres d' Aix la Chapelle, du 21 Novembre, 1818; Wheat, Intern. Law, pt. 3, c. Sec. 6. 5. The act of May 1, 1810, 2 Story's L. U. S. 1171, fixes a compensation for public, ministers, as follows Sec. 1. Be it enacted, &c. That the president of the United States shall not allow to any minister plenipotentiary a greater sum than at the rate of nine thousand dollars per annum, as a compensation for all his personal services and expenses; nor to any charge des affaires, a greater sum than at the rate of four thousand five hundred dollars per annum, as a compensation for all his personal services and expenses, nor to the secretary of any legation, or embassy to any foreign country, or secretary of any minister plenipotentiary, a greater sum than at the rate of two thousand dollars per annum, as a compensation for all his personal services and expenses; nor to any consul who shall be appointed to reside at Algiers, a greater sum than at the rate of four thousand dollars per annum, as a compensation for all his personal services and expenses; nor to any other consul who shall be appointed to reside at any other of the states on the coast of Barbary, a greater sum than at the rate of two thousand dollars per annum, as a compensation for all his personal services and expenses; nor shall there be appointed more than one consul for any one of the said states: Provided, it shall be lawful for the president of the United States to allow to a minister plenipotentiary, or charge des affaires, on going from the United States to any foreign country, an outfit, which shall in no case exceed one year's full salary of such minister or charge des affaires; but no consul shall be allowed an outfit in any case whatever, any usage or custom' to the contrary notwithstanding. 6.-Sec. 2. That to entitle any charge des affaires, or secretary of any legation or embassy to any foreign country, or secretary of any minister plenipotentiary, to the compensation hereinbefore provided, they shall, respectively, be appointed by the president of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the senate; but in the recess of the senate, the president is hereby authorized to make such appointments, which shall be submitted to the senate at the next session thereafter, for their advice and consent; and no compensation shall be allowed to any charge des affaires, or any of the secretaries hereinbefore described, who shall not be appointed as aforesaid: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to authorize any appointment, of a secretary to a charge des affaires, or to any consul residing on the Barbary coast; or to sanction any claim against the United States for expenses incident to the same, any usage or custom to the contrary notwithstanding. 7. The Act of August 6, 1842, sect. 9, directs, that the president of the United States shall not allow to any minister, resident a greater sum than at the rate of six thousand dollars per annum, as a compensation for all his personal services and expenses: Provided, that it shall be lawful for the president to allow to such minister resident, on going from the United States to any foreign country, an outfit, which shall in no case exceed one year's full salary of such minister resident.

Based on Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [Bouvier_Law_Dictionary]:

MINISTER, eccl. law. One ordained by some church to preach the gospel. 2. Ministers are authorized in the United States, generally, to marry, and are liable to fines and penalties for marrying minors contrary to the local regulations. As to the right of ministers or parsons, see Am. Jur. No. 30, p. 268; Anth. Shep. Touch. 564; 2 Mass. R. 500; 10 Mass. R. 97; 14 Mass. R. 333; 3 Fairf. R. 487.

Based on Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [Bouvier_Law_Dictionary]:

MINISTER, mediator. An officer appointed by the government of one nation, with the consent of two other nations, who have a matter in dispute, with a view by his interference and good office to have such matter settled.,

Based on Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [Bouvier_Law_Dictionary]:

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).



Based on Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [Bouvier_Law_Dictionary]:
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