Emily Dickinson Lexicon

MIN'IS-TER, v.i.

1. To attend and serve; to perform service in any office, sacred or secular. I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons, to minister to in the priest's office. Ex. xxix.
2. To afford supplies; to give things needful; to supply the means of relief; to relieve. When saw we thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick; or in prison, and did not minister to thee? Matth. xxv.
3. To give medicines. Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased? Shak. In this sense, we commonly use administer.