pewdom
nounEtymology From pew + -dom.
1
Christianity Historical The system according to which certain people or certain social classes were allocated particular pews in the local church.
- […] that the people who we say have been driven away, and kept away, from the church by pewdom, do go and build Dissenting meeting-houses. The supporters of these are not the very poor, nor the working classes, […]1879, Authorised Report of the Church Congress, page 113:
- […] and it was from the middle class that this system of pewdom took its rise.1886, The Parliamentary Debates, page 939: