Abbot

(ab'bot.) [Heb. abba, father.] The superior or governor of an abbey or monastery. Abbots, though having superior power in their monasteries, were originally subject to the bishops of the dioceses in which their convents were situated; but they gradually, to a great extent, threw off this subjection, a uming the authority and insignia of the episcopal office, and taking their seats in councils: hence the mitred and crozicred abbots.-The Abbot of Misrule or Abbot of Unreason, in Scotland, was a sort of histrionic character, who presided over the diversions of Christmas, similarly as the Lord of Misrule in England. [s. 2]