Hypertext Webster Gateway: "papacy"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Papacy \Pa"pa*cy\, n. [LL. papatia, fr. L. papa a father,
bishop. See {Pope}.]
1. The office and dignity of the pope, or pontiff, of Rome;
papal jurisdiction.
2. The popes, collectively; the succession of popes.
3. The Roman Catholic religion; -- commonly used by the
opponents of the Roman Catholics in disparagement or in an
opprobrious sense.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
papacy
n : the government of the Roman Catholic Church [syn: {pontificate}]
Additional Hypertext Webster Gateway Lookup
Gateway by dict@stokkie.net
stock only wrote the gateway and does not have any control over the contents;
see the Webster Gateway FAQ,
and also the Back-end/database links and credits.