Pontiff
Charles Buck Theological Dictionary [1]
or HIGH PRIEST, a person who has the superintendence and direction of divine worship, as the offering of sacrifices and other religious solemnities. The Roman had a college of pontiffs, and over these a sovereign pontiff, instituted by Numa, whose function it was to prescribe the ceremonies each god was to be worshipped withal, compose the rituals, direct the vestals, and for a good while to perform the business of augury, till, on some superstitious occasion, he was prohibited intermeddling therewith. The Jews, too, had their pontiff; and among the Romanists the pope is styled the sovereign pontiff.
Webster's Dictionary [2]
(1): ( n.) A high priest.
(2): ( n.) One of the sacred college, in ancient Rome, which had the supreme jurisdiction over all matters of religion, at the head of which was the Pontifex Maximus.
(3): ( n.) The chief priest.
(4): ( n.) The pope.
