sexton
1 Americannoun
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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.
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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.
noun
noun
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a person employed to act as caretaker of a church and its contents and graveyard, and often also as bell-ringer, gravedigger, etc
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another name for the burying beetle
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He then moved to Portland, Oregon, where he worked as a maintenance worker or sexton at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 23, 2024
When she later fell pregnant, Van Gogh was accused by the village sexton of being responsible.
From Washington Post • Jul. 14, 2022
It means I’m its chief executive officer, as well as its chief of police, tree warden and cemetery sexton, and I wind the clock in the Scotland Congregational Church.
From New York Times • May 7, 2022
Mark Sealey digs graves for a living - although the more accurate description for his job is a sexton.
From BBC • Jan. 26, 2022
When in London, some years ago, I went to the sexton of a churchyard and asked him if I could go among the graves at 12 o’clock at night.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
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.
