pope

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Roman Catholic Church The bishop of Rome and head of the Roman Catholic Church on earth.
2. n. Eastern Orthodox Church The patriarch of Alexandria.
3. n. The Coptic patriarch of Alexandria.
4. n. The male head of some non-Christian religions: the Taoist pope.
5. n. A person considered to have unquestioned authority: the pope of surrealism.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The Bishop of Rome as head of the Roman Catholic Church and hierarchy. The title pope (Latin papa or papas, Greek πάπας, πάππας), literally ‘papa’ or ‘father,’ was given in the early church, both in the East and West, to bishops in general, and has from the middle of the third century to the present day been an especial title of the patriarch of Alexandria. In the Western Church it began to be restricted to the Bishop of Rome in the sixth century, and in 1073 the assumption of the title by any other bishop was formally forbidden. In the Eastern Church the same word (with a different accentuation, παπἀς) became a familiar title of ordinary priests, and is commonly so used at the present day. According to Roman Catholic teaching, the Pope is not only bishop, metropolitan, and patriarch, but, as incumbent of the Roman see, is successor of St. Peter, and as such vicar of Christ and visible head of the whole church, and supreme pastor and teacher of all Christians. From his decision there is no appeal; and when he speaks ex cathedra—that is, in discharge of his office and by virtue of his supreme apostolic authority—his teaching regarding faith and morals is to be accepted as infallible. (See infallibility. 1.) Even in very early times the Bishop of Rome addressed other churches in a tone of authority. The first great asserter of the privileges of the Roman see was Leo I. (440-461); and the medieval papacy reached its climax of spiritual and temporal power under Gregory VII. (1073-85).
2. n. The patriarch of Alexandria.
3. n. A priest in the Greek or Russian Church.
4. n. The head of any church or ecclesiastical system.
5. n. The blacktail, a fish: same as ruff.
6. n. The bullfinch.
7. n. The red-backed shrike, Lanius collurio.
8. n. The puffin, Fratercula arctica. Montagu.
9. n. The painted finch, or nonpareil. See cut under Passcrina.

Wiktionary

1. n. An Eastern Orthodox priest.
2. n. Christianity The bishop of Rome; the head of the Roman Catholic church.
3. n. by extension The head of any religion.
4. n. The Bishop or Patriarch of Alexandria.
5. n. A small Eurasian freshwater fish, Gymnocephalus cernua.
6. n. Any of various birds having reddish plumage on the breast, especially the bullfinch.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. obsolete Any ecclesiastic, esp. a bishop.
2. n. The bishop of Rome, the head of the Roman Catholic Church. See Note under Cardinal.
3. n. A parish priest, or a chaplain, of the Greek Church.
4. n. (Zoöl.) A fish; the ruff.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. the head of the Roman Catholic Church
2. n. English poet and satirist (1688-1744)