Sexton

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Sexton \Sex"ton\, n. [OE. sextein, contr. fr. sacristan.]
     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.


     [1913 Webster]
  
     {Sexton beetle} (Zool.), a burying beetle.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  Sexton
       n 1: United States poet (1928-1974) [syn: {Anne Sexton}]
       2: an officer of the church who is in charge of sacred objects
          [syn: {sacristan}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  39 Moby Thesaurus words for "sexton":
     Bible clerk, Bible reader, acolyte, almoner, anagnost, beadle,
     bedral, capitular, capitulary, choir chaplain, churchwarden, clerk,
     deacon, deaconess, elder, elderman, embalmer, funeral director,
     gravedigger, lay elder, lay reader, lector, lecturer, mortician,
     parish clerk, precentor, reader, ruling elder, sacrist, sacristan,
     shames, sidesman, succentor, suisse, teaching elder, thurifer,
     undertaker, verger, vergeress