1.
[syn: laity, temporalty]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Laity \La"i*ty\ (l[=a]"[i^]*t[y^]), n. [See Lay, a.]
1. The people, as distinguished from the clergy; the body of
the people not in orders.
[1913 Webster]
A rising up of the laity against the sacerdotal
caste. --Macaulay.
[1913 Webster]
2. The state of a layman. [Obs.] --Ayliffe.
[1913 Webster]
3. Those who are not of a certain profession, as law or
medicine, in distinction from those belonging to it.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
laity
n 1: in Christianity, members of a religious community that do
not have the priestly responsibilities of ordained clergy
[syn: laity, temporalty] [ant: clergy]
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
LAITY. Those persons who do not make a part of the clergy. In the United
States the division of the people into clergy and laity is not authorized by
law, but is, merely conventional.