- a person whose function is to make sacrificial offerings and perform other religious rites as an intermediary between deity and worshipers
- in the early Christian church, a presbyter, or elder
- in hierarchical Christian churches, a clergyman ranking next below a bishop and authorized to administer the sacraments
- any clergyman
Origin of priest
Middle English prest from Old English preost (? with -o- by associated, association with profost, provost) from Ecclesiastical Late Latin presbyter, an elder from Classical Greek presbyteros, elder, comparative of presbys, old, old man (in LGr(Ec), an elder) from Indo-European an unverified form pres-, ahead from base an unverified form per- (see per, pre-) + an unverified form gwou-, cow, ox (hence, origin, originally , lead-ox)
