Sexton

¹ American  

[sek-stuhn] / ˈsɛk stən /

noun

1. Anne (Harvey), 1928–74, U.S. poet.

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sexton ² American  

[sek-stuhn] / ˈsɛk stən /

noun

1. an official of a church charged with taking care of the edifice and its contents, ringing the bell, etc., and sometimes with burying the dead.

2. an official who maintains a synagogue and its religious articles, chants the designated portion of the Torah on prescribed days, and assists the cantor in conducting services on festivals.

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sexton British  

/ ˈsɛkstən /

noun

1. a person employed to act as caretaker of a church and its contents and graveyard, and often also as bell-ringer, gravedigger, etc

2. another name for the burying beetle

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Other Word Forms

• sextonship noun
• undersexton noun

Etymology

Origin of sexton

1275–1325; Middle English sexteyn, sekesteyn, syncopated variant of segerstane, secristeyn < Anglo-French segerstaine sacristan

Example Sentences

He then moved to Portland, Oregon, where he worked as a maintenance worker or sexton at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church.

From Seattle Times

The pair grew up in Seminary, a historically Black community near the Virginia Theological Seminary, where their grandfather worked as a sexton.

From Washington Post

Junior Roop, the sexton of a cemetery near the spill site, said people could smell the oil in town.

From Seattle Times

When she later fell pregnant, Van Gogh was accused by the village sexton of being responsible.

From Washington Post

One of the people who hung the lanterns was Robert Newman, the sexton at that time.

From Seattle Times