altar boy

American  

noun

1. a male altar server.

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altar boy British  

noun

1. RC Church Church of England a boy serving as an acolyte

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Etymology

Origin of altar boy

First recorded in 1765–75

Example Sentences

Scorsese grew up in New York’s Little Italy as a Catholic altar boy and aspiring priest who was also fascinated by the mafiosos that loomed large in his community.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 28, 2025

The church where Pope Leo XIV attended mass as a child and served as an altar boy is now an empty shell.

From BBC • May 8, 2025

From his childhood serving as an altar boy, he misses “the sense of community that formed on Sunday mornings, with the old lady you’d never see otherwise.”

From Seattle Times • Oct. 4, 2023

I know the Latin Mass. I memorized the Latin Mass as an altar boy.

From Washington Post • Feb. 13, 2023

Dad says when he was my age in Toome he served Mass for years and it’s time for me to be an altar boy.

From "Angela's Ashes: A Memoir" by Frank McCourt