Definition of: vicar

(vik′ər) noun
1. In general, one who is authorized to perform functions, especially religious ones, in the stead of another; a substitute in office.
2. Hence, an agent; deputy.
3. Brit. The priest of a parish of which the main revenues are appropriated or impropriated by a layman, the priest himself receiving but a stipend; any incumbent of a parish who is not a rector.
4. In the Roman Catholic Church, a substitute or representative of an ecclesiastical person; in a strict sense, one whose jurisdiction is confined to the external forum.
5. In some parishes of the Protestant Episcopal Church, the clergyman who is the head of a chapel; also, a clergyman having charge of a church or mission as the bishop's deputy. [<AF vikere, vicare, OF vicaire <L vicarius a substitute <vicis a change]