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friar

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Acronyms, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.03 sec.
friar [Lat. frater=brother], member of certain Roman Catholic religious orders, notably, the Dominicans Dominicans (dəmĭn`ĭkənz), Roman Catholic religious order, founded by St.
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, Franciscans Franciscans (frănsĭs`kənz), members of several Roman Catholic religious orders following the rule of St.
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, Carmelites Carmelites (kär`məlīts), Roman Catholic order of mendicant friars.
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, and Augustinians Augustinians, religious order in the Roman Catholic Church. The name derives from the Rule of St. Augustine (5th cent.?), which established rules for monastic observance and common religious life.
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. Although a general form of address in the New Testament, since the 13th cent. it has been used to describe members of orders forbidden to hold property. They are called mendicants because they were expected to work or, as later developed, beg for a living and were not bound to a particular monastery. The Council of Trent loosened the restriction on property ownership. Friars differ from cloistered, contempletive monks by their widespread outside activity and by their highly centralized organization. See monasticism monasticism (mənăs`tĭsĭzəm, mō–)
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friar
a member of any of various chiefly mendicant religious orders of the Roman Catholic Church, the main orders being the Black Friars (Dominicans), Grey Friars (Franciscans), White Friars (Carmelites), and Austin Friars (Augustinians)


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The friar took Robin Hood on his back, Deep water he did bestride, And spake neither good word nor bad, Till he came at the other side.
"No soft words with me, for I know you, lying rabble," said Don Quixote, and without waiting for a reply he spurred Rocinante and with levelled lance charged the first friar with such fury and determination, that, if the friar had not flung himself off the mule, he would have brought him to the ground against his will, and sore wounded, if not killed outright.
But the good friar shook his head, and bumped himself down on a very hard stone,--at which, no doubt, approving angels were gratified.
 
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