pope

noun

1. An honorary title of the Roman Catholic bishop of Rome as father and head of his church, a sovereign of the Vatican city state.

   “Þa wæs in þa tid Uitalius papa þæs apostolican seðles aldorbiscop.”

   “The Pope is not going to issue a bull condemning the Spanish Church's support of France and destroy the Church's right to exist in Spain.”

   “2007 May 5, Ted Koppel (guest), Wait, Wait... Don’t tell me!, National Public Radio I really did want to interview the pope. Any pope. I'm not particular.”

   “A priority for the new pope will be to strengthen the church’s unity amid differing views and expectations within the institution and growing polarisation in the wider world. Some observers believe there is a real risk of schism after 20 years in which there have been popes on either end of the spectrum: the traditional/conservative Benedict XVI, and the liberal/progressive Francis.”

2. (broadly, ironic, often)An honorary title of the Roman Catholic bishop of Rome as father and head of his church, a sovereign of the Vatican city state.

   “We often say, that every man has a pope in his belly.”

   “Burne-Jones... accepted him [Dante Gabriel Rossetti] as the infallible Pope of Art.”

   “Both [discoveries] were rejected offhand by the popes of the field.”

   “Above all, the SED reformers cite the progress inherent in the emancipation of Westem Communist parties from the "red popes in the Kremlin."”

3. (broadly)An honorary title of the Roman Catholic bishop of Rome as father and head of his church, a sovereign of the Vatican city state.

   “In þat yle dwelleth the Pope of hire lawe, þat þei clepen lobassy.”

   “Mufti, the Mahometan pope or chief of the religion.”

   “Although Islam has no formal hierarchy of clergy, Tantawy [Egypt's grand imam] often is called the Muslim pope.”

4. (uncommon)An honorary title of the Roman Catholic bishop of Rome as father and head of his church, a sovereign of the Vatican city state.

   “Eche day there etyn in his court xii erchebeshopis and xx bishopis, and the patriak of Seynt Thomays is as here pope.”

   “Ramone, known as ‘the Pope of Pop’ is one of the top record producer-engineers in the world.”

5. (UK)An honorary title of the Roman Catholic bishop of Rome as father and head of his church, a sovereign of the Vatican city state.

   “This is the only piece in which the author has given a hint of his religion, by ridiculing the ceremony of burning the pope, and by mentioning with some indignation the inscription […]”

   “As York's succession was challenged by burning the pope, the Duke of Monmouth was again heralded in the city as a Protestant alternative.”

6. (US, obsolete)An honorary title of the Roman Catholic bishop of Rome as father and head of his church, a sovereign of the Vatican city state.
7. An honorary title of the Coptic bishop of Alexandria as father and head of his church.
8. An honorary title of the Orthodox bishop of Alexandria as father and head of his autocephalous church.
9. (historical, obsolete)Any bishop of the early Christian church.

   “1563, 2nd Tome Homelyes, sig. Hh.i All notable Bishops were then called popes.”

   “All Bishops in that time had the Stile of Pope given them, as now we call every one of them, My Lord.”

10. (British)The ruffe, a small Eurasian freshwater fish (Gymnocephalus cernua); others of its genus.

    “Byfleet-river, wherein are very large pikes, jack, and tench ; perch, of eighteen inches long ; good carp, large flounders, bream, roach, dace, gudgeons, popes, large chub, and eels.”

    “It resembles the perch (unfortunately for itself) in having a very long and prickly fin on its back, advantage of which is taken by the boys about Windsor, who are very fond of 'plugging a pope.' This operation consists in fixing a bung in the sharp spines on the poor pope's back fin, and then throwing him into the water.”

    “Popes are caught whilst gudgeon-fishing with the red worm, but they are sometimes a great nuisance to the perch-fisher, as they take the minnow.”

11. (Cornwall, Devon, Scotland, UK, regional)The Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica).

    “Alca genus; 6 species, including the razorbill, the penguin, the pope, and others.”

    “The Pope: This is a very singular bird; it is about the size of our widgeon, or somewhat larger, but is not quite so large as the duck: the head is large and rounded; the eyes are small, and stand forward on the head, and lower down than in the generality of birds [...]”

    “"About a hundred yards further North" says Troutbeck, "is a 'subterraneous' cavern called the Pope's Hole, about fifty fathoms under the ground, into which the sea flows, so called from a sort of bird which roosts in it by night, about ninety feet high above the level of the water."!! [...] It derives its name from its being a place of shelter to some puffins, vulgo "popes".”

    “The Norsemen catch great numbers of these popes, parrots, or lunder, as they are variously named, and train dogs to go into the holes where the puffin has its nest, lying in it with feet in the air.”

    “I was informed by a fisherman that there were now hundreds of gannets in the channel off Plymouth, and that he had also met with some puffins (which he called "popes")”

12. (US, regional)The painted bunting (Passerina ciris).

    “The Pope is of a bright blue round the head; on the throat it is of a fine red, and on the back of a gold green colour, it sings very finely and is the size of a canary bird.”

    “The birds [of Louisiana] are the partridge, cardinal and pope, and a species of mocking bird, called the nightingale.”

    “[...] some others, such as the crow, the heron, and the wild goose, which are found in Europe, I also observed ; but the most beautiful are the pope bird, whose head seems bound with the most bright azure blue, and the cardinal, being entirely of dazzling scarlet [...]”

13. (rare)The red-cowled cardinal (Paroaria dominicana).

    “From the sketch of the bird which you have sent us, there is no doubt about its being the Pope Grosbeak, which is a species of the Cardinal, but not the crested one.”

    “The Pope is a native of Brazil, and the female (it is altogether incongrouous to think of a lady pontiff) exactly resembles her mate.”

    “SIR,—I should be glad to learn how to treat Pope birds (Crestless Cardinals) when nesting.”

    “Besides the Bicheno's Finches in this Class, the judge disqualified, in other Classes, a pair of Magpie Mannikins and a pair of Popes. These entries were presumably all disqualified on the ground that they were not true pairs: they are all birds in which the outward differences between the sexes (if there be any outward difference at all) are of an extremely slight and uncertain nature.”

    “The wisest plan is always to keep the Pope Cardinal in an aviary, and to have only one pair to each aviary.”

14. Garlic, when used in addition to the Holy Trinity of celery, bell peppers and onions.
15. Any mulled wine (traditionally including tokay) considered similar and superior to bishop.

    “When made with Burgundy or Bordeaux, the mixture was called Bishop; when with old Rhenish, its name was Cardinal; and when with Tokay, it was dignified with the title of Pope.”

    “‘Pope’, i.e. mulled burgundy, is Antichristian, from no mere Protestant point of view.”

    “Pope, a spiced drink made from tokay..., ginger, honey and roasted orange.”

    “Many of these hot drinks have clerical names—Bishop being a type of mulled port, Cardinal using claret, and Pope Champagne.”

16. (alt-of, alternative)Alternative form of pop, a Russian Orthodox priest.

    “The other Ecclesiastical Orders are distinguish'd into Proto-popes, Popes, (or Priests) and Deacons.”

    “Every priest is called pope, which implies father.”

    “In the non-Roman rites diocesan priests are often referred to as popes.”

17. (US, dialectal, obsolete)The whippoorwill (Antrostomus vociferus, syn. Caprimulgus vociferus).

    “The Whipperwill has so named itself by its nocturnal songs. It is also called the pope, by reason of its darting with great swiftness, from the clouds almost to the ground, and bawling out Pope!”

18. (US, dialectal, rare)The nighthawk (Chordeiles minor).

    “Common Nighthawk... Pope (Conn[ecticut]. From the sound made by its wings while dropping through the air).”

19. (alt-of)Alternative letter-case form of pope.

    “For quotations using this term, see Citations:Pope.”

verb

1. (intransitive)To act as or like a pope.

   “1537, T. Cromwell in R. B. Merriman, Life & Lett. Cromwell (1902), II. 89”

   “Vrban the eight, that now Popeth it.”

   “He would pope it in his own way, God guiding him.”

   “I saw where the Pope poped and where the pigeons flocked. Pretty interesting if you're Catholic and like pigeons.”

2. (colloquial, intransitive)To convert to Roman Catholicism.

   “I'm not going to ‘Pope’ until after the war (if I'm alive).”

   “A prominent Anglican priest had, to use the term generally employed on these occasions, ‘Poped’—that is, left the Church of England in order to become a Roman Catholic.”

name

1. An English surname transferred from the nickname originating as a nickname.
2. A number of places in the United States:
3. A number of places in the United States:
4. A number of places in the United States:
5. A number of places in the United States: