sexton









sexton


noun

  1. an official of a church charged with taking care of the edifice and its contents, ringing the bell, etc., and sometimes with burying the dead.
  2. an official who maintains a synagogue and its religious articles, chants the designated portion of the Torah on prescribed days, and assists the cantor in conducting services on festivals.

noun

  1. Anne (Harvey),1928–74, U.S. poet.

noun

  1. a person employed to act as caretaker of a church and its contents and graveyard, and often also as bell-ringer, gravedigger, etc
  2. another name for the burying beetle

n.c.1300, sekesteyn, “person in charge of the sacred objects of a church,” from Old French segrestien, from Medieval Latin sacristanus (see sacristan). Sense of “custodian of a church” first recorded 1580s. Fem. forms sextress, sextrice are recorded 15c., but the usual form is sextoness (early 15c.).

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