Definition of "impropriator" []

• A layperson in possession of ecclesiastical property (noun)

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• "And I must further say, that the dowager and the doctor were justified in their choice by the life and principles of the young man — as far as any father can be justified in choosing such a profession for his son, and as far as any lay impropriator can be justified in making such a promise."
• "Man's thought, which seems imperishable, loses its form, and runs along from proprietor to impropriator, like any other transitory thing, unless it is invested so becomingly and nobly that no successor can improve upon it by any new fashion or combination."
• "At the Dissolution, like many of the Tewkesbury possessions, it became private property, the site, the buildings and the tithes being conveyed to George Throgmorton, a local personage, who became the lay impropriator."