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.
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            A rising up of the laity against the sacerdotal
            caste.                                --Macaulay.
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   2. The state of a layman. [Obs.] --Ayliffe.
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   3. Those who are not of a certain profession, as law or
      medicine, in distinction from those belonging to it.
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	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]

	

	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.