sexton
/ˈsɛk.stən/ noun, proper noun
Forms sextons Sexson
- noun A church official who looks after a church building and its graveyard and may act as a gravedigger and bell ringer.
- noun A sexton beetle.
- proper noun A surname originating as an occupation.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Old French segrestien, from Medieval Latin sacristanus, based on Latin sacer (“sacred”). Doublet of sacristan.
Webster’s 1913
- noun An under officer of a church, whose business is to take care of the church building and the vessels, vestments, etc., belonging to the church, to attend on the officiating clergyman, and to perform other duties pertaining to the church, such as to dig graves, ring the bell, etc. Sexton beetle (Zoöl.), a burying beetle.
Etymology [OE. sextein, contr. fr. sacristan.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “sexton”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details