crosier
Americannoun
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a ceremonial staff carried by a bishop or an abbot, hooked at one end like a shepherd's crook.
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Botany. the circinate young frond of a fern.
noun
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a staff surmounted by a crook or cross, carried by bishops as a symbol of pastoral office
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the tip of a young plant, esp a fern frond, that is coiled into a hook
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of crosier
1350–1400; short for crosier-staff; Middle English crosier staff-bearer < Middle French; replacing Middle English crocer < Anglo-French. See crosse, -er 2
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Benedict has been laying in state without any papal regalia, such as a crosier, a silver staff with a crucifix, or a pallium, a band of cloth worn around the neck worn by archdiocesan bishops.
From Reuters • Jan. 3, 2023
Archbishop Pierre and Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, the archbishop of New York, then led Bishop Barres to his chair and presented him with the crosier that symbolized his role as the diocese’s new shepherd.
From New York Times • Jan. 31, 2017
He withdraws a bent cross crosier from a nearby cupboard and lays it next to the original on which it was modelled.
From The Guardian • Sep. 10, 2016
How, if at all, the crosier will get to the pope isn’t known.
From Washington Times • Jul. 20, 2015
He was a silk-haired senior, with his cope and crosier, alb and ring —urbane, ecclesiastical, knowing the spiritual power.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
