altar boy

American  

noun

1. a male altar server.

---

altar boy British  

noun

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

---

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

Born in Chicago in 1955 to parents of Spanish and Franco-Italian descent, Prevost served as an altar boy and was ordained as a priest in 1982.

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

He read books, slowly, mouthing words, holding them reverently like an altar boy the missal for the officiating priest.

From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez