vestry
Americannoun
-
vestries
plural
-
a room in or a building attached to a church, in which the vestments, and sometimes liturgical objects, are kept; sacristy.
-
(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.
-
Episcopal Church. a committee elected by members of a congregation to serve with the churchwardens in managing the temporal affairs of the church.
-
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
-
a room in or attached to a church in which vestments, sacred vessels, etc, are kept
-
a room in or attached to some churches, used for Sunday school, meetings, etc
-
Church of England
-
a meeting of all the members of a parish or their representatives, to transact the official business of the parish
-
the body of members meeting for this; the parish council
-
-
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:
In the vestry, surrounded by racks of well-pressed white surplices and brightly coloured vestments, I met Ian and Paul, one of the couples he has blessed.
From BBC ● Dec. 24, 2025
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
In the town centre, Heidi Jacobsen, who runs the Hope Pantry in the vestry of a beautiful church, is tackling a different problem.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 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
I like the coffee hour with almond cake and snickerdoodles in the vestry.
From "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline
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 he also had a powerful curiosity as to what she would say, and her verdict was of more importance to him than that of all the vestries in the land.
From Thirty by Howard Vincent O'Brien
Barbara—leading up to the roof and down to some vestries under the choir.
From Portuguese Architecture by Walter Crum Watson
Page vi, 'libarary' changed to 'library' Page vii, 'seems' changed to 'seem' Page x, Extraneous line of text removed, original read: 'her ministerial activities; but for vestries and church com- earth.
From A History of the English Church in New Zealand by H. T. (Henry Thomas) Purchas
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
