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The Collaborative International Dictionary
defrock

defrock \defrock\ v. t. To divest of the frock, i. e. to deprive (a priest, minister, etc.) of official ecclesiastical authority; -- of church officials.

Syn: unfrock.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
defrock

1580s, from French défroquer (15c.), from de- (see de-) + froque "frock" (see frock). Related: Defrocked. A Modern English verb frock "supply with a frock" is attested only from 1828 and probably is a back-formation from this.

Wiktionary
defrock

vb. 1 (context literally English) to divest of a frock 2 (context figuratively English) to formally remove the rights and authority of a member of the clergy.

WordNet
defrock

v. divest of the frock; of church officials [syn: unfrock]

Usage examples of "defrock".

Oh, he knew the rules, and the rudiments, and even some of the refinements, but he had no grasp whatsoever of such instruments as the gambit, the knight fork, or the defrocked bishop, and while he was all too eager to demonstrate he knew how to castle, he castled kingside when he should have castled queenside, and he castled either side when he did not need to castle at all.

The four hundred ninety-nine volumes preceding it had been given away to Klansmen, defrocked ministers, congressmen, mayors, governors, shriners, a hundred right-wing organizations, and anyone else he thought would be interested.

Beside her, the old defrocked priest Uzfan gripped her arm and began to mutter prayers.

Remember that he was defrocked by the reformers because he would not leave the old ways.

Would a woman who had her breasts reduced have any hesitation about finding a defrocked doctor ready to terminate an unwanted pregnancy ?

The Sacristy, as the Church's highest governing body, had every legal right to act as it had, yet the defrocking of a priest could not but be the gravest of steps.

Worse, she had no idea how Jackson might feel about serving on an infidel's staff—particularly when that infidel had just been involved in the politically charged defrocking of another priest.

Worse, she had no idea how Jackson might feel about serving on an infidel's staff—particularly when that infidel had just been involved in the politically charged defrocking of another priest.

The Sacristy, as the Church’s highest governing body, had every legal right to act as it had, yet the defrocking of a priest could not but be the gravest of steps.

Worse, she had no idea how Jackson might feel about serving on an infidel’s staff—particularly when that infidel had just been involved in the politically charged defrocking of another priest.

The defrocked commissioner was so crushed by Pineiro's stiff sentenceand cutting wordsthat last week he threw in the towel on pending bank fraud and money laundering charges.

Everywhere Grimmy and Winger went, it boomed out off-key operatic arias about henpecked top gods, brothers who plooked their sisters in order to create psychopathic, dwarf-murdering heroes who tended to forget that they were married to defrocked, doomed, and not very bright Choosers of the Slain.