prothonotary
Americannoun
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a chief clerk or official in certain courts of law.
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Roman Catholic Church.
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any of the seven members of the college of prothonotaries apostolic, charged chiefly with the registry of pontifical acts and canonizations.
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an honorary title for certain other prelates.
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Greek Orthodox Church. the chief secretary of the patriarch of Constantinople.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of prothonotary
1400–50; late Middle English < Medieval Latin prōthonotārius, Late Latin prōtonotārius < Greek prōtonotā́rios. See proto-, notary
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.
See Examples For:
Preparing to release a prothonotary warbler after banding it at the Fort Morgan State Historic Site in Fort Morgan, Ala., last month.Credit...
From New York Times ● Nov. 14, 2023
Christina O’Brien, an elected prothonotary in Westmoreland County who came to the convention to back Navy veteran Pam Iovino, said she had watched lifelong Democratic voters grow more hostile since Trump’s campaign began.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 21, 2017
The area is a breeding place for the prothonotary warbler and habitat for dragonflies and damselflies.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 21, 2016
If you’ve never seen an indigo bunting, a rose-breasted grosbeak, or a prothonotary warbler, you really need to watch this film.
From Slate ● Jul. 16, 2012
The enterprise was difficult, but the power of her relation, the prothonotary of Aragon, and of the Count Duke de Olivares, overcame every obstacle.
From The History of the Inquisition of Spain from the Time of its Establishment to the Reign of Ferdinand VII. by Llorente, Juan Antonio
The name comes from the bird’s bright gold feathers, which resembles the equally brilliant yellow robes worn by papal clerks in the Roman Catholic church, called prothonotaries.
From Washington Times ● May 12, 2018
The attorney-general, registers, and prothonotaries are appointed for five years, removable in like manner.
From The Government Class Book Designed for the Instruction of Youth in the Principles of Constitutional Government and the Rights and Duties of Citizens. by Young, Andrew W.
He was preceded and followed by cardinals, bishops, arch-bishops, monsignori, abbots, the apostolic prothonotaries, generals of the religious orders, officers of the state, of the army, of his household, and the Guardia Nobile.
From Seeing Europe with Famous Authors, Volume 7 Italy, Sicily, and Greece (Part One) by Halsey, Francis W. (Francis Whiting)
In this strange museum lord chancellors, councillors of state, learned benchers, barons of the exchequer, masters of the rolls, treasurers, readers, prothonotaries, poets, and authors jostle each other in dusty confusion.
From Old and New London Volume I by Thornbury, Walter
These records, obtained in the offices of the respective prothonotaries, produced thirty-seven cases in Northumberland and twenty-two in Lycoming County dealing with former Fair Play settlers.
From The Fair Play Settlers of the West Branch Valley, 1769-1784 A Study of Frontier Ethnography by Wolf, George D.
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.
