Deacon
['diːk(ə)n]
Definition
(noun.) a cleric ranking just below a priest in Christian churches; one of the Holy Orders.
(noun.) a Protestant layman who assists the minister.
Checker: Neil--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) An officer in Christian churches appointed to perform certain subordinate duties varying in different communions. In the Roman Catholic and Episcopal churches, a person admitted to the lowest order in the ministry, subordinate to the bishops and priests. In Presbyterian churches, he is subordinate to the minister and elders, and has charge of certain duties connected with the communion service and the care of the poor. In Congregational churches, he is subordinate to the pastor, and has duties as in the Presbyterian church.
(n.) The chairman of an incorporated company.
(v. t.) To read aloud each line of (a psalm or hymn) before singing it, -- usually with off.
Inputed by Gerard
Definition
n. in Episcopal churches a member of the order of clergy under priests: in some Presbyterian churches an officer distinct from the elders who attends to the secular affairs of the church: in Congregational and some other churches an officer who advises the pastor distributes the elements at the Communion and dispenses charity: in Scotland the master of an incorporated company:—fem. Dea′coness a female servant of the Christian society in the time of the apostles: in a convent a nun who has the care of the altar: one of an order of women in some Protestant churches who nurse the sick and tend the poor.—ns. Dea′conhood Dea′conry Dea′conship.
Editor: Monica
Examples
- I must indeed, I said; for when just now I repeated the offer of serving him for a deacon, he expressed himself shocked at my want of decency. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- He was a deacon in the church which had been defiled by the occupation of Union troops, and by a Union chaplain filling the pulpit. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- Stumpy and Deacon,' said the new-comer. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- And it had a rapidly developing organization of deacons, priests, and bishops. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
Inputed by Diego