clerk

[klurk, klahrk]

noun

1. a person employed, as in an office, to keep records, file, type, or perform other general office tasks.

2. a salesclerk.

3. a person who keeps the records and performs the routine business of a court, legislature, board, etc.

4. law clerk.

5. a member of the clergy; ecclesiastic.

6. a lay person charged with various minor ecclesiastical duties.

7. Archaic.

   1. a person who is able to read, or to read and write.

   2. a scholar.

verb (used without object)

1. to act or serve as a clerk.

clerk

/ klɜːrk, klɑːk /

noun

1. a worker, esp in an office, who keeps records, files, etc

2. (in England) a legally qualified person who sits in court with lay justices to advise them on points of law

3. an employee of a court, legislature, board, corporation, etc, who keeps records and accounts, etc

   a town clerk

4. Also called: clerk of the House. a senior official of the House of Commons

5. Also called: clerk in holy orders. a cleric

6. short for salesclerk

7. Also called: desk clerk. a hotel receptionist

8. archaic,  a scholar

verb

1. (intr) to serve as a clerk

Other Word Forms

• clerkish adjective
• clerklike adjective
• clerkship noun
• outclerk noun
• subclerk noun
• subclerkship noun
• underclerk noun
• underclerkship noun
• clerkdom noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of clerk¹

before 1000; Middle English, Old English clerc, variant of cleric < Late Latin clēricus cleric

Word History and Origins

Origin of clerk¹

Old English clerc, from Church Latin clēricus, from Greek klērikos cleric, relating to the heritage (alluding to the Biblical Levites, whose inheritance was the Lord), from klēros heritage

Example Sentences

Collins taught home economics in high school and math in junior high before she transitioned into politics, elected clerk of the Kentucky Court of Appeals in 1975 and then lieutenant governor in 1979.

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As America expanded by building canals, steamboats and early railroads, demand soared for wage labor in factories, transportation and among office workers like clerks.

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After they had gone, she addressed the clerk.

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Pen-and-ink clerks who struggled to top 20 words a minute were displaced by typists who could top 60 wpm, especially if they used new touch-typing techniques pioneered by a Cincinnati stenographer, Elizabeth Longley.

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The Kentucky legislature later enacted a law removing the names of all county clerks from state marriage licenses.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• agent 
• auditor 
• bookkeeper www.thesaurus.com
• cashier 
• employee 
• operator 
• receptionist 
• salesperson 
• secretary 
• teller 
• worker