clerk
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /klɑːk/
enpr: klerk
ipa: /klɝk/
ipa: /klɐːk/
ipa: /klɜːk/
homophone: Clark stripped-by-parse_pron_post_template_fn
rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)k
rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)k
Forms: form: clerks
form: clark
Etymology: From Middle English clerc, from Old English clerc, from Late Latin clēricus (“priest, clergyman, cleric”, also generally “learned man, clerk”), from Ancient Greek κληρικός (klērikós, “of the clergy”, adj. in church jargon), from κλῆρος (klêros, “lot, inheritance”, originally “shard used in casting lots”). Doublet of cleric.
Senses: examples: text: As office boy I made such a mark
That they gave me the post of a junior clerk.
ref: 1879, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, composer, “When I Was a Lad”, in H.M.S. Pinafore; […], San Francisco: Bacon & Company, […], →OCLC, page 10:
text: Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between; his clerks, however, understood him very well.
ref: 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:
glosses: One who occupationally provides assistance by working with records, accounts, letters, etc.; an office worker.
glosses: One who occupationally provides assistance by working with records, accounts, letters, etc.; an office worker.
A salesclerk; a person who serves customers in a store or market.
glosses: One who occupationally provides assistance by working with records, accounts, letters, etc.; an office worker.
A law clerk.
glosses: One who occupationally provides assistance by working with records, accounts, letters, etc.; an office worker.
An employee at a hotel who deals with guests.
glosses: One who occupationally provides assistance by working with records, accounts, letters, etc.; an office worker.
The chief legal advisor of a legislature or legislative chamber, who is usually also responsible for keeping minutes of sittings.
glosses: A facilitator of a Quaker meeting for business affairs.
examples: text: God save the King! Will no man say, amen? / Am I both priest and clerk? Well then, amen.
ref: 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act 4, scene 1]:
glosses: In the Church of England, the layman that assists in the church service, especially in reading the responses (also called parish clerk and Bible clerk).
glosses: A cleric or clergyman (the legal title for clergy of the Church of England is "Clerk in Holy Orders", still used in legal documents and cherished by some of their number).
examples: 13th century, Traditional carol,
And all was for an appel, an appel that he toke/As clerkès finden written in their boke.
glosses: A scholar.
Synonyms: register
registrar
scribe
secretary
Derived terms: word: academical clerk
word: articled clerk
word: articling clerk
word: barber's clerk
word: check clerk
word: clerkage
word: clerk-ale
word: clerkdom
word: clerkery
word: clerkess
word: clerkhood
word: clerkish
word: clerkism
word: clerkless
word: clerklike
word: clerkling
word: clerkly
word: clerk of the course
word: clerk of the pells
word: clerk of the pipe
word: clerk of the works
word: clerk of works
word: clerkship
word: clerky
word: courtesy clerk
word: death clerk
english: file clerk
translation: file clerk
word: filing clerk
word: lawclerk
word: law clerk
word: lay clerk
word: mail clerk
word: overclerk
word: parish clerk
word: pox doctor's clerk
word: recording clerk
word: Saint Nicholas' clerk
word: sales clerk
word: sheriff clerk
word: subclerk
english: town-clerk
translation: town-clerk
word: town clerk
word: underclerk
word: vestry clerk
Related terms: clergy
clergyman
cleric
clerical