# parish

Pronunciation: say "PA-rish" /ˈpæɹɪʃ/

## Noun

1. A district of a diocese that is run as a unit and has its own church.
   - Simple: A smaller area within a larger church region, with its own church.
   - _The new subdivision falls within the boundaries of St. Anne's parish._
   - _The diocese closed three rural parishes last year and merged their congregations._
2. The community of people who belong to and attend a parish church.
   - Simple: All the people who go to a local church and belong to it.
   - _The entire parish gathered on the lawn after the Easter service._
   - _The parish voted to sell the old rectory and build a youth center._
3. One of the administrative divisions of the U.S. state of Louisiana, equivalent to a county in other states.
   - Simple: One of the areas the state of Louisiana is divided into, like a county elsewhere.
   - _Jefferson Parish voters approved a new tax for road repairs._
   - _Officials in several south Louisiana parishes ordered evacuations before the hurricane._
4. A civil division of a British county, often matching the area of an earlier church parish.
   - Simple: A small part of a county in Britain, often the same area as an old church parish.
   - _The county council handed the upkeep of footpaths and the village green to the parish._
   - _Boundary changes moved the hamlet into a neighboring parish of the same county._
5. In some countries, one of the districts into which an area is divided for administration.
   - Simple: In some countries, one of the areas a region is divided into for government.
   - _Election results were announced parish by parish across the island._
   - _The coastal road crosses three parishes before it reaches the capital._
6. A church society of people who choose to unite under a particular member of the clergy, usually without territorial limits; loosely, the area where its members live. *(US)*
   - Simple: A church group people choose to join under one priest or minister, or the area where its members live.
   - _Families from three counties belong to the parish, drawn by its young pastor._
   - _Their parish reaches well beyond the city limits, out to the farms where many of its members live._

## Verb

7. To go around visiting the residents of a parish.
   - Simple: To go around and visit the people who live in a parish.
   - _As a new curate, he learned to parish properly, calling at every house on his streets._
   - _The rector spent the whole morning parishing among the farms by the river._
8. To arrange for an area or, occasionally, a person to belong to one or more parishes.
   - Simple: To make an area, or now and then a person, part of one or more parishes.
   - _The commission voted to parish the rural areas that had been left out of the plan._
   - _Father Doyle was parished in a small town near the border._
9. Pronunciation spelling of perish, representing an accent in which Mary, marry, and merry sound alike. — Pronunciation spelling of perish, representing Mary–marry–merry merger English.
   - Simple: Pronunciation spelling of perish. Writers use it to show an accent where Mary, marry, and merry sound the same.
   - _'Leave that bread out and it'll parish by morning,' Aunt Ruth said._
   - _'Folks could parish out there in the cold,' the sheriff said slowly._

## Origin

From Middle English parisshe, from Old French paroisse (compare the obsolete variant paroch, from Anglo-Norman paroche, parosse), from Late Latin parochia, from Ancient Greek παροικία (paroikía, "a dwelling abroad").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/parish (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).