Hypertext Webster Gateway: "pontifical"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Pontifical \Pon*tif"ic*al\, a. [L. pontificalis: cf. F.
pontifical. See {Pontiff}.]
1. Of or pertaining to a pontiff, or high priest; as,
pontifical authority; hence, belonging to the pope; papal.
2. Of or pertaining to the building of bridges. [R.]
Now had they brought the work by wondrous art
Pontifical, a ridge of pendent rock Over the vexed
abyss. --Milton.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Pontifical \Pon*tif"ic*al\, n. [F.]
1. A book containing the offices, or formulas, used by a
pontiff. --South.
2. pl. The dress and ornaments of a pontiff. ``Dressed in
full pontificals.'' --Sir W. Scott.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
pontifical
adj : puffed up with vanity; "a grandiloquent and boastful
manner"; "overblown oratory"; "a pompous speech";
"pseudo-scientific gobbledygook and pontifical hooey"-
Newsweek [syn: {grandiloquent}, {overblown}, {pompous},
{portentous}]
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