| 释义 |
parish clerk
An official appointed by the incumbent of a parish to assist in various duties connected with the church and its services: before the Reformation usually a member of one of the five minor orders; after the Reformation a layman, the office being often conjoined with that of sexton; by the Act of 1844, which at present regulates the office, the duties may be undertaken by a curate. See clerk n. 2 b.
One of his most prominent duties in former times, that of leading the responses (often without any following) is now generally given up (being performed by the choir and congregation), except at baptisms, funerals, etc.
c1386Chaucer Miller's T. 126 Now was ther of that chirche a parissh clerk. 1439E.E. Wills (1882) 114 The brederhede of seynt Nicholas founded by paressh clerkes in London. 1591Spenser M. Hubberd 557 And craftie Reynold was a Priest ordained, And th' Ape his Parish Clarke procur'd to bee. 1674Playford Skill Mus. i. 71 Parish-Clerks,..being the Leaders of those Tunes in their Congregations. 1774Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry xxxiv. (1775) II. 395 Plays acted by the society of the parish⁓clerks of London. 1778Eng. Gazetteer (ed. 2) s.v. Plymouth, This town has..two churches, which..have each so large a cure of souls, that the parish-clerks were, till very lately, in deacon's orders, to enable them to perform all the sacerdotal functions. 1840Dickens Barn. Rudge i, The little man..was the parish-clerk and bell-ringer of Chigwell. 1857Toulmin Smith Parish 197 The ‘Parish Clerk’ is not the clerk to the Parish, in the modern sense of the word ‘clerk’. 1885C. I. Elton in Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 296/1 It is said that the only civil function of the parish-clerk now remaining is to undertake the custody of maps and documents..deposited under the provisions of the Railway Clauses Act, 1845.
Hence parish-ˈclerkly a., characteristic of a parish clerk; parish-ˈclerkship, the office of parish clerk.
1513in Trans. R. Hist. Soc. VI. 361 The parroch clerkschip beand vacand be the deceiss of Thomas Wemys. 1886G. R. Sims Ring o' Bells, etc. i. i. 8 In a..parish-clerkly way he swore to humble the lady's pride. |