The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Minister \Min"is*ter\, n. [OE. ministre, F. ministre, fr. L.
   minister, orig. a double comparative from the root of minor
   less, and hence meaning, an inferior, a servant. See 1st
   Minor, and cf. Master, Minstrel.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. A servant; a subordinate; an officer or assistant of
      inferior rank; hence, an agent, an instrument.
      [1913 Webster]

            Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua. --Ex. xxiv.
                                                  13.
      [1913 Webster]

            I chose
            Camillo for the minister, to poison
            My friend Polixenes.                  --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. An officer of justice. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            I cry out the on the ministres, quod he,
            That shoulde keep and rule this cit['e]. --Chaucer.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. One to whom the sovereign or executive head of a
      government intrusts the management of affairs of state, or
      some department of such affairs.
      [1913 Webster]

            Ministers to kings, whose eyes, ears, and hands they
            are, must be answerable to God and man. --Bacon.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. A representative of a government, sent to the court, or
      seat of government, of a foreign nation to transact
      diplomatic business.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: Ambassadors are classed (in the diplomatic sense) in
         the first rank of public ministers, ministers
         plenipotentiary in the second. "The United States
         diplomatic service employs two classes of ministers, --
         ministers plenipotentiary and ministers resident."
         --Abbott.
         [1913 Webster]

   5. One who serves at the altar; one who performs sacerdotal
      duties; the pastor of a church duly authorized or licensed
      to preach the gospel and administer the sacraments.
      --Addison.
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: Delegate; official; ambassador; clergyman; parson;
        priest.
        [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Minister \Min"is*ter\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ministered; p. pr.
   & vb. n. Ministering.] [OE. ministren, OF. ministrer, fr.
   L. ministrare. See Minister, n.]
   To furnish or apply; to afford; to supply; to administer.
   [1913 Webster]

         He that ministereth seed to the sower.   --2 Cor. ix.
                                                  10.
   [1913 Webster]

         We minister to God reason to suspect us. --Jer. Taylor.
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Minister \Min"is*ter\, v. i.
   1. To act as a servant, attendant, or agent; to attend and
      serve; to perform service in any office, sacred or
      secular.
      [1913 Webster]

            The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but
            to minister.                          --Matt. xx.
                                                  28.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To supply or to things needful; esp., to supply
      consolation or remedies; as, to minister to the sick.
      --Matt. xxv. 44.
      [1913 Webster]

            Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased? --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

minister
    n 1: a person authorized to conduct religious worship;
         "clergymen are usually called ministers in Protestant
         churches" [syn: curate, minister of religion,
         minister, parson, pastor, rector]
    2: a person appointed to a high office in the government;
       "Minister of Finance" [syn: minister, government
       minister]
    3: a diplomat representing one government to another; ranks
       below ambassador [syn: minister, diplomatic minister]
    4: the job of a head of a government department
    v 1: attend to the wants and needs of others; "I have to
         minister to my mother all the time"
    2: work as a minister; "She is ministering in an old parish"

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

130 Moby Thesaurus words for "minister":
   DD, Doctor of Divinity, Holy Joe, abbe, accommodate,
   administer the Eucharist, agent, aid, alderman, ambassador,
   ambassadress, anoint, apostolic delegate, archon, assist, attache,
   bailie, burghermaster, burgomaster, cabinet member,
   cabinet minister, care for, career diplomat, chancellor, chaplain,
   charge, chrism, churchman, city councilman, city father,
   city manager, clergyman, clergywoman, cleric, clerical, clerk,
   commercial attache, commissar, commissary, commissionaire,
   commissioner, confirm, consul, consul general, consular agent,
   councillor, councilman, councilwoman, county commissioner,
   county supervisor, curate, cure, dean, delegate, diplomat,
   diplomatic, diplomatic agent, diplomatist, divine, do duty,
   ecclesiastic, elder, emissary, envoy, envoy extraordinary,
   evangelist, father, foreign service officer, headman, help, herald,
   impose, induna, internuncio, lay hands on, legate, legislator,
   look after, lord mayor, magistrate, maire, man of God, mayor,
   messenger, military attache, military chaplain, minister of state,
   minister plenipotentiary, minister resident, minister to,
   missionary, nuncio, officiate, padre, parson, pastor,
   perform a rite, perform service, plenipotentiary, portreeve,
   preacher, priest, rector, reeve, resident, reverend, secretary,
   secretary of legation, secretary of state, see to, selectman,
   servant of God, serve, shepherd, sky pilot, supervisor, supply,
   supply clergy, supply minister, support, syndic, the Reverend,
   the very Reverend, tonsured cleric, undersecretary, vicar,
   vice-consul, vice-legate, wait on, warden



Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary:

Minister
   one who serves, as distinguished from the master. (1.) Heb.
   meshereth, applied to an attendant on one of superior rank, as
   to Joshua, the servant of Moses (Ex. 33:11), and to the servant
   of Elisha (2 Kings 4:43). This name is also given to attendants
   at court (2 Chr. 22:8), and to the priests and Levites (Jer.
   33:21; Ezek. 44:11).

     (2.) Heb. pelah (Ezra 7:24), a "minister" of religion. Here
   used of that class of sanctuary servants called "Solomon's
   servants" in Ezra 2:55-58 and Neh. 7:57-60.

     (3.) Greek leitourgos, a subordinate public administrator, and
   in this sense applied to magistrates (Rom. 13:6). It is applied
   also to our Lord (Heb. 8:2), and to Paul in relation to Christ
   (Rom. 15:16).

     (4.) Greek hyperetes (literally, "under-rower"), a personal
   attendant on a superior, thus of the person who waited on the
   officiating priest in the synagogue (Luke 4:20). It is applied
   also to John Mark, the attendant on Paul and Barnabas (Acts
   13:5).

     (5.) Greek diaconos, usually a subordinate officer or
   assistant employed in relation to the ministry of the gospel, as
   to Paul and Apollos (1 Cor. 3:5), Tychicus (Eph. 6:21), Epaphras
   (Col. 1:7), Timothy (1 Thess. 3:2), and also to Christ (Rom.
   15:8).


Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

MINISTER, government. An officer who is placed near the sovereign, and is
invested with the administration of some one of the principal branches of
the government.
     2. Ministers are responsible to the king or other supreme magistrate
who has appointed them. 4 Conn. 134.



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

MINISTER, international law. This is the general name given to public
functionaries who represent their country abroad, such as ambassadors,
(q.v.) envoys, (q.v.) and residents. (q.v.) A custom of recent origin has
introduced a new kind of ministers, without any particular determination of
character; these are simply called ministers, to indicate that they are
invested with the general character of a sovereign's mandatories, without
any particular assignment of rank or character.
     2. The minister represents his government in a vague and indeterminate
manner, which cannot be equal to the first degree; and be possesses all the
rights essential to a public minister.
     3. There are also ministers plenipotentiary, who, as they possess full
powers, are of much greater distinction than simple ministers. These also,
are without any particular attribution of rank and character, but by custom
are now placed immediately below the ambassador, or on a level with the
envoy extraordinary. Vattel, liv. 4, c. 6, Sec. 74; Kent, Com. 38; Merl.
Repert. h.t. sect. 1, n. 4.
     4. Formerly no distinction was made in the different classes of public
ministers, but the modern usage of Europe introduced some distinctions in
this respect, which, on account of a want of precision, became the source of
controversy. To obviate these, the congress of Vienna, and that of Aix la
Chapelle, put an end to these disputes by classing ministers as follows: 1.
Ambassadors, and papal legates or nuncios. 2. Envoys, ministers, or others
accredited to sovereigns, (aupres des souverains). 3. Ministers resident,
accredited to sovereigns. 4. Charges d'Affaires, accredited to the minister
of foreign affairs. Recez du Congres de Vienne, du 19 Mars, 1815; Protocol
du Congres d' Aix la Chapelle, du 21 Novembre, 1818; Wheat, Intern. Law, pt.
3, c. Sec. 6.
     5. The act of May 1, 1810, 2 Story's L. U. S. 1171, fixes a
compensation for public, ministers, as follows
     Sec. 1. Be it enacted, &c. That the president of the United States
shall not allow to any minister plenipotentiary a greater sum than at the
rate of nine thousand dollars per annum, as a compensation for all his
personal services and expenses; nor to any charge des affaires, a greater
sum than at the rate of four thousand five hundred dollars per annum, as a
compensation for all his personal services and expenses, nor to the
secretary of any legation, or embassy to any foreign country, or secretary
of any  minister plenipotentiary, a greater sum than at the rate of two
thousand dollars per annum, as a compensation for all his personal services
and expenses; nor to any consul who shall be appointed to reside at Algiers,
a greater sum than at the rate of four thousand dollars per annum, as a
compensation for all his personal services and expenses; nor to any other
consul who shall be appointed to reside at any other of the states on the
coast of Barbary, a greater sum than at the rate of two thousand dollars per
annum, as a compensation for all his personal services and expenses; nor
shall there be appointed more than one consul for any one of the said
states: Provided, it shall be lawful for the president of the United States
to allow to a minister plenipotentiary, or charge des affaires, on going
from the United States to any foreign country, an outfit, which shall in no
case exceed one year's full salary of such minister or charge des affaires;
but no consul shall be allowed an outfit in any case whatever, any usage or
custom' to the contrary notwithstanding.
     6.-Sec. 2. That to entitle any charge des affaires, or secretary of
any legation or embassy to any foreign country, or secretary of any minister
plenipotentiary, to the compensation hereinbefore provided, they shall,
respectively, be appointed by the president of the United States, by and
with the advice and consent of the senate; but in the recess of the senate,
the president is hereby authorized to make such appointments, which shall be
submitted to the senate at the next session thereafter, for their advice and
consent; and no compensation shall be allowed to any charge des affaires, or
any of the secretaries hereinbefore described, who shall not be appointed as
aforesaid: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to
authorize any appointment, of a secretary to a charge des affaires, or to
any consul residing on the Barbary coast; or to sanction any claim against
the United States for expenses incident to the same, any usage or custom to
the contrary notwithstanding.
     7. The Act of August 6, 1842, sect. 9, directs, that the president of
the United States shall not allow to any minister, resident a greater sum
than at the rate of six thousand dollars per annum, as a compensation for
all his personal services and expenses: Provided, that it shall be lawful
for the president to allow to such minister resident, on going from the
United States to any foreign country, an outfit, which shall in no case
exceed one year's full salary of such minister resident.



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

MINISTER, eccl. law. One ordained by some church to preach the gospel.
     2. Ministers are authorized in the United States, generally, to marry,
and are liable to fines and penalties for marrying minors contrary to the
local regulations. As to the right of ministers or parsons, see Am. Jur. No.
30, p. 268; Anth. Shep. Touch. 564; 2 Mass. R. 500; 10 Mass. R. 97; 14 Mass.
R. 333; 3 Fairf. R. 487.



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

MINISTER, mediator. An officer appointed by the government of one nation,
with the consent of two other nations, who have a matter in dispute, with a
view by his interference and good office to have such matter settled.,



The Devil's Dictionary (1881-1906):

MINISTER, n.  An agent of a higher power with a lower responsibility.
In diplomacy and officer sent into a foreign country as the visible
embodiment of his sovereign's hostility.  His principal qualification
is a degree of plausible inveracity next below that of an ambassador.