Congregate
(Con"gre*gate) v. t. [imp. & p. p. Congregated; p. pr. & vb. n. Congregating] To collect
into an assembly or assemblage; to assemble; to bring into one place, or into a united body; to gather
together; to mass; to compact.
Any multitude of Christian men congregated may be termed by the name of a church.
Hooker.
Cold congregates all bodies.
Coleridge.
The great receptacle
Of congregated waters he called Seas.
Milton.
Congregate
(Con"gre*gate), v. i. To come together; to assemble; to meet.
Even there where merchants most do congregate.
Shak.
Congregation
(Con`gre*ga"tion) n. [L. congregatio: cf. F. congrégation.]
1. The act of congregating, or bringing together, or of collecting into one aggregate or mass.
The means of reduction in the fire is but by the congregation of homogeneal parts.
Bacon.
2. A collection or mass of separate things.
A foul and pestilent congregation of vapors.
Shak.
3. An assembly of persons; a gathering; esp. an assembly of persons met for the worship of God, and
for religious instruction; a body of people who habitually so meet.
He [Bunyan] rode every year to London, and preached there to large and attentive congregations.
Macaulay.
4. (Anc. Jewish Hist.) The whole body of the Jewish people; — called also Congregation of the Lord.
It is a sin offering for the congregation.
Lev. iv. 21.
5. (R. C. Ch.) (a) A body of cardinals or other ecclesiastics to whom as intrusted some department of
the church business; as, the Congregation of the Propaganda, which has charge of the missions of the
Roman Catholic Church. (b) A company of religious persons forming a subdivision of a monastic order.
6. The assemblage of Masters and Doctors at Oxford or Cambrige University, mainly for the granting of
degrees. [Eng.]
7. (Scotch Church Hist.) the name assumed by the Protestant party under John Knox. The leaders
called themselves (1557) Lords of the Congregation.
Congregational
(Con`gre*ga"tion*al) a.
1. Of or pertaining to a congregation; conducted, or participated in, by a congregation; as, congregational
singing.
2. Belonging to the system of Congregationalism, or to Congregationalist; holding to the faith and polity
of Congregationalism; as, a Congregational church.
Congregationalism
(Con`gre*ga"tion*al*ism) n.
1. That system of church organization which vests all ecclesiastical power in the assembled brotherhood
of each local church.
2. The faith and polity of the Congregational churches, taken collectively.
