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pastoral |
3 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Pastoral \Pas"tor*al\, a. [L. pastoralis: cf F. pastoral. See {Pastor}.] 1. Of or pertaining to shepherds; hence relating to rural life and scenes; as a pastoral life. 2. Relating to the care of souls, or to the pastor of a church; as pastoral duties; a pastoral letter. {Pastoral staff} (Eccl.), a staff, usually of the form of a shepherd's crook, borne as an official emblem by a bishop, abbot, abbess, or other prelate privileged to carry it See {Crook}, and {Crosier}. {Pastoral Theology}, that part of theology which treats of the duties of pastors. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Pastoral \Pas"tor*al\, n. 1. A poem describing the life and manners of shepherds; a poem in which the speakers assume the character of shepherds; an idyl; a bucolic. A pastoral is a poem in which any action or passion is represented by its effects on a country life. --Rambler. 2. (Mus.) A cantata relating to rural life; a composition for instruments characterized by simplicity and sweetness; a lyrical composition the subject of which is taken from rural life. --Moore (Encyc. of Music). 3. (Eccl.) A letter of a pastor to his charge; specifically, a letter addressed by a bishop to his diocese; also (Prot. Epis. Ch.), a letter of the House of Bishops, to be read in each parish. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: pastoral adj 1: of or relating to a pastor; "pastoral work"; "a pastoral letter" 2: relating to shepherds or herdsmen or devoted to raising sheep or cattle; "pastoral seminomadic people"; "pastoral land"; "a pastoral economy" [syn: {bucolic}] 3: used of idealized country life; "a country life of arcadian contentment"; "a pleasant bucolic scene"; "charming in its pastoral setting"; "rustic tranquility" [syn: {arcadian}, {bucolic}, {rustic}] 4: suggestive of an idyll; charmingly simple and serene; "his idyllic life in Tahiti"; "the pastoral legends of America's Golden Age" [syn: {idyllic}] n 1: a musical composition that evokes rural life [syn: {pastorale}, {idyll}] 2: a letter from a pastor to the congregation 3: a literary work idealizing the rural life (especially the life of shepherds)
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