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shammes

American  
[shah-muhs] / ˈʃɑ məs /
Or shames

noun

plural

shammosim

  1. sexton.

  2. the candle used to kindle the candles in the Hanukkah menorah.

shammes British  
/ ˈʃɑːməs, ʃaˈmaʃ /

noun

  1. an official acting as the beadle, sexton, and caretaker of a synagogue

  2. the extra candle used on the Feast of Hanukkah to kindle the lamps or candles of the menorah

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of shammes

1945–50; < Yiddish shames < Hebrew shammāsh server, attendant

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.

Nathanson was the Shammes and treasurer of the Khille.

From Project Gutenberg

Rabbi Dr. Merzbach has been dead a long time, and Cantor Elias, and Meyer Nathanson the Shammes, and Saul Feuerstein, the professional bankrupt, and Dr. Krakauer, saving your reverence, and all the others.

From Project Gutenberg

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.