DEACON • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Deacon

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/dˈikən/ Listen

noun

Deacon n.

(Eccl.) 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.

The chairman of an incorporated company. (Scot.)

verb

Deacon v. t.

To read aloud each line of (a psalm or hymn) before singing it, usually with off. (Colloq. New. Eng.) See Line, v. t. Note: The expression is derived from a former custom in the Congregational churches of New England. It was part of the office of a deacon to read aloud the psalm given out, one line at a time, the congregation singing each line as soon as read; called, also, lining out the psalm.

With humorous reference to hypocritical posing: To pack (fruit or vegetables) with the finest specimens on top; to alter slyly the boundaries of (land); to adulterate or doctor (an article to be sold), etc. (Colloq., U. S.)

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Etymology of 'Deacon'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Deacon" Quotes from Famous Books

... mother gave me is Andre; but when I came to be a deacon in our Bielo-Osero, Father Hilarion, who presided at the raising, asked me how I wished to be known in the priesthood, and I answered him, Sergius. Andre was a good christening, and serves well to remind me of my dear mother; but Sergius is better, because at hearing it I am always reminded ...

— The Prince of India - Or - Why Constantinople Fell - Volume 1 • Lew. Wallace

... oneself, bow down and worship. pray, invoke, supplicate; put up, offer up prayers, offer petitions; beseech &c (ask) 765; say one's prayers, tell one's beads. return thanks, give thanks; say grace, bless, praise, laud, glorify, magnify, sing praises; give benediction, lead the choir, intone; deacon, deacon off propitiate [U.S.], offer sacrifice, fast, deny oneself; vow, offer vows, give alms. work out one's salvation; go to church; attend service, attend mass; communicate &c (rite) 998. Adj. worshipping &c v.; devout, devotional, reverent, pure, solemn; fervid ...

— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget

... not even a sub-deacon. I am only a lector; but next month I shall be an exorcist, ...

— The Cloister and the Hearth • Charles Reade

... modification of language, I observe in a daily paper how much a worthy old lady puzzled her minister, for a moment, by inquiring the meaning of "silver shiners for Diana," in the Bible; but a good deacon, at an evening meeting in the chapel of their house of worship, in our town, sadly disturbed the gravity of the religious assembly, by reading it silver shins ...

— Old New England Traits • Anonymous

... new theory made a great sensation at Alexandria, and it was not without much hesitation and delay that Alexander ventured to excommunicate his heterodox presbyter with his chief followers, like Pistus, Carpones, and the deacon Euzoius—all of whom we shall meet again. Arius was a dangerous enemy. His austere life and novel doctrines, his dignified character and championship of 'common sense in religion,' made him the idol of the ladies and the common people. He had plenty of telling arguments for them. ...

— The Arian Controversy • H. M. Gwatkin

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