vestry
Americannoun
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a room in or a building attached to a church, in which the vestments, and sometimes liturgical objects, are kept; sacristy.
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(in some churches) a room in or a building attached to a church, used as a chapel, for prayer meetings, for the Sunday school, etc.
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Episcopal Church. a committee elected by members of a congregation to serve with the churchwardens in managing the temporal affairs of the church.
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Church of England. a meeting attended by all the parishioners or by a committee of parishioners during which the official business of the church is discussed.
noun
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a room in or attached to a church in which vestments, sacred vessels, etc, are kept
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a room in or attached to some churches, used for Sunday school, meetings, etc
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Church of England
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a meeting of all the members of a parish or their representatives, to transact the official business of the parish
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the body of members meeting for this; the parish council
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Episcopal Church Anglican Church a committee of vestrymen chosen by the congregation to manage the temporal affairs of their church
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of vestry
1350–1400; Middle English vestrie, vestrye. See vest (v.), -ery
Vocabulary lists containing vestry
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:
Doreen Golding, 83, the Pearly Queen of Bow Bells and the Old Kent Road, shouted to the group as she led the way to the church vestry.
From New York Times ● Apr. 29, 2023
A week later, it was performed by Elizabeth John in the vestry of Tabor Chapel in Maesteg, Bridgend county.
From BBC ● Nov. 24, 2022
"We put out an appeal on Facebook and that brought people from outside the church, from different walks of life and faiths," said vestry member Samuel Stewart.
From BBC ● Nov. 13, 2022
He also served on the vestry of St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Washington and worked in its thrift shop.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 26, 2021
Her dramas and her emotions had to do with the boys, with the vestry, and with food.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
In the most affluent parishes, vestries levied taxes to construct substantial churches and fill their pulpits with ministers who blessed the planters’ power.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018
Long associated with fire stations, country stores and farmers' kitchens, cribbage has lately crawled into business offices and church vestries.
From Time Magazine Archive
But churches, lecture-rooms, and vestries, and all buildings devoted especially to the good of the soul, are equally witness of the mind’s disdain of the body’s needs, and the body’s consequent revenge upon the soul.
From Household Papers and Stories by Stowe, Harriet Beecher
The vestries, nevertheless, pertinaciously resisted this construction of the law.
From History of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of Virginia by Campbell, Charles
Their jurisdiction includes all the functions of the old vestries and their officers, together with other novel and more drastic prerogatives.
From Social Transformations of the Victorian Age A Survey of Court and Country by Escott, T. H. S. (Thomas Hay Sweet)
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.
