clergy

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The body of people ordained or recognized by a religious community as ritual or spiritual leaders.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun Sometimes applied to the ecclesiastics, ministers, and priests of non-Christian religious systems.
• noun A body of men set apart and consecrated by due ordination to the duties of public ministration in the Christian church; the body of ecclesiastics, in distinction from the laity.
• noun The privilege or benefit of clergy. See below.
• noun Persons connected with the clerical profession or the religious orders.
• noun Learning; erudition.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The body of men set apart, by due ordination, to the service of God, in the Christian church, in distinction from the laity; in England, usually restricted to the ministers of the Established Church.
• noun obsolete Learning; also, a learned profession.
• noun The privilege or benefit of clergy.
• noun (Eng., Law) the exemption of the persons of clergymen from criminal process before a secular judge -- a privilege which was extended to all who could read, such persons being, in the eye of the law, clerici, or clerks. This privilege was abridged and modified by various statutes, and finally abolished in the reign of George IV. (1827).
• noun See Regular, n., and Secular, a.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun Body of persons, such as ministers, priests and rabbis, who are trained and ordained for religious service.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun in Christianity, clergymen collectively (as distinguished from the laity)