▪ I. deacon, n.1
(ˈdiːkən, -k(ə)n)
Forms: α. 1 diacon, deacon; β. 2 diacne, diakne, 4 dyakne, pl. diaknen; γ. 2 dæcne, 2–4 deakne, 3–5 dekne, (3 gen. pl. deknene); 3–6 deken (-in, -on, -un, -yn(e), 4 deeken (pl. deeknys), decoun, 4–6 decon, decane, 5–6 deaken, deakon, 6 diacon(e, deacone, 5– deacon.
[ad. L. diāconus, a. Gr. διᾱ́κονος servant, waiting man, messenger, whence spec. in Christian use, servant or minister of the church; an order of ministers in the church. The OE. diacon (deacon) was a learned form immed. from the L.; beside it there appears to have been a popular form *dǽcna (? from *diǽcna, *deǽcna), whence 12th c. dæcne, deakne, and later dêkne, pl. deakn-en. From dêkne, deakne, came deken, deaken, whence under L. influence deacon. The early ME. diacne, dyakne was perhaps immed. a. OF. diacne, dyacne (12th c.; later diacre); it might also represent a semi-popular OE. *diacna: cf. ON. djákn, djákni. There were many intermediate forms of the word, from mixture of popular and learned types.]
1. Eccl. The name of an order of ministers or officers in the Christian church. a. In Apostolic times.
Their first appointment is traditionally held to be recorded in Acts vi. 1–6, where however the title διάκονος does not occur, but only the cognate words διακονεῖν (‘serve’) and διακονία (‘ministration’).
| c 1000 ælfric Homilies (Thorpe) I. 44 Ða apostolas ᵹehádodon seofon diaconas..Ðæra diacona wæs se forma Stephanus. a 1300 Cursor M. 19482 (Cott.) Steuen..was o þe seuen dekens an. 1382 Wyclif Phil. i. 1 Poul and Tymothe..to alle the hooly men..at Philippis, with bischopis and dekenes. c 1450 Mirour Saluacioun 4442 Deken Steven be his name. 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. 419 Deacons were stewards of the Church, vnto whome at the first was committed the distribution of Church-goods. 1611 Bible 1 Tim. ii. 8 Likewise must the deacons bee graue, not double tongued. 1782 Priestley Corrupt. Chr. II. vi. 20 The deacons generally administered the elements. 1875 Manning Mission H. Ghost xv. 417 The Apostles set apart a special order—the Sacred order of deacons—to be ministers of the charity of Jesus Christ to His poor. |
b. In Episcopal Churches, a member of the third order of the ministry, ranking below bishops and priests, and having the functions of assisting the priest in divine service, esp. in the celebration of the eucharist, and of visiting the sick, etc.
| c 900 Bæda's Eccl. Hist. iii. xiv. [xx.] (1891) 220 Honorius se ærcebiscop..ᵹehalᵹode Thomam his diacon to biscope. 1122 O.E. Chron., Se dæcne hæfde ongunnan þone godspel. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 81 Nu comeð þes diakne. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 392/49 Preostes he made and deknene al-so. 1340 Ayenb. 190 He acsede at onen of his diaknen. c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶817 Folk that ben entred into ordre, as sub-dekin, or dekin, or prest. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 6943 A preste sange at ane altere, And his dekyn þat stode him nere. 1513 Bradshaw St. Werburge i. 2221 Whan the Deken redde the holy gospell. 1647 N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. x. (1739) 18 Deacons..attending upon the Presbyters to bring the offerings to the Altar to read the Gospel, to Baptize, and Administer the Lord's Supper. a 1771 Gray Remarks Lydgate's Poems Wks. 1843 V. 292 He was ordained a deacon in 1393, which is usually done in the twenty-third year of a man's age. 1844 Lingard Anglo-Sax. Ch. (1858) I. iv. 133 The three orders of bishops, priests, and deacons. |
c. In the Presbyterian system, one of an order of officers appointed to attend to the secular affairs of the congregation, as distinguished from the elders, whose province is the spiritual. (But they do not always exist, at least under this name, their functions, when they are absent, being performed by the elders.) d. In Congregational churches, one of a body of officers elected to advise and assist the pastor, distribute the elements at the communion, administer the charities of the church, and attend to its secular affairs.
| 1560–1 Bk. Discipline viii. (heading), The Eyght Heid, tuiching the Electioun off Elderis and Deaconis, etc... The office of the Deaconis..is to receave the rentis, and gadder the almous of the Churche, to keip and distribute the same, as by the ministerie of the Kirk shall be appointed. Thay may also assist in judgement with the Ministeris and Elderis. 1584 J. Melvill Diary (1842) 183 Ther salba twa Deacones: an till attend upon the box..to collect and distribut to the outward pure..ane uther to haiff the cair of our awin inward indigent or diseased. 1644 Owen Wks. XIX. 537–8. a 1647 T. Hooker Summe Ch. Discipl. ii. i, This Deacon being the steward or Treasurer of the Church, the thing for which he is mainly to be imployed..is for the husbanding of the estate and temporalls of the Church. 1647 Resolutions, etc. Congreg. Ch. Canterbury 30 Mar. (MS.), The church..did order that..there bee 3 nominated out of w{supc}{suph} on shall bee chose to the office of a Deacon. 1648 J. Cotton Way Congreg. Ch. ii. 10 It is an Ordinance of Christ to elect Officers (Deacons and Elders), for this is the power and privilege of the Church of Brethren. a 1657 W. Bradford New Eng. Mem. 355 They had..in our time four grave men for ruling elders, and three able and godly men for deacons. 1702 C. Mather Magn. Chr. v. vii, The Office and Work of a Deacon is..to keep the Treasury of the Church, and therewith to serve the Tables, which the Church is to provide for, as the Lord's Table, the Table of the Ministers, and of such as are in Necessity, to whom they are to distribute in simplicity. 1884 R. W. Dale Congreg. Manual v. 116 In some Congregational churches there are both ‘elders’ and ‘deacons’. |
e. fig.
| 1642 Milton Apol. Smect. xi. (1851) 311 Their office is to pray for others, and not to be the lip-working deacons of other mens appointed words. 1796 C. Burney Mem. Metastasio III. 170 As an old Deacon of Apollo. 1887 Mission. Herald (Boston) Apr. 153 It [the African Lakes Company] acts as deacon to the mission stations themselves, caring for them in secular things. |
† 2. Applied to the Levites, as an order inferior to the priests in the Jewish Church: cf. bishop 2.
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. John i. 19 Þa Iudeas sendon heora sacerdas and heora diaconas fram Ierusalem. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 79 Þer com a prost be þi weie..and wende forð, þer com an diacne. a 1300 Cursor M. 7009 (Cott.) For luue of a deken wijf,—Mani man þar tint þair lijf [cf. Judges xx. 4]. 1388 Wyclif Num. ii. 51 The dekenes schulen do doun the tabernacle. c 1449 Pecock Repr. iii. i. 280 To the dekenis were ȝouun xlviij citees. |
3. a. In Scotland, the president of an incorporated ‘craft’ or trade in any town; formerly ex officio a member of the town-council.
| 1424 Sc. Acts Jas. I (1597) §39 Ilke Craft suld haue ane Deakon. 1563 Winȝet Four Scoir Thre Quest. xxxix. Wks. 1888 I. 102 As thair is in euery craft almaist ane decane [MS. dekin]. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Hist. Jas. V Wks. (1711) 88 A deacon of the crafts is killed by the faction of the Hamiltons. 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. Wks. 1806 VI. 260 The council [of the Edinburgh magistracy] is composed of deacons, one of whom is returned every year in rotation, as representative of every company of artificers or handicraftsmen. 1787 Burns Brigs of Ayr 154 Ye dainty Deacons, an' ye douce Conveeners. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xx, The presidents, or deacons, as they were termed, of the working classes. |
b. fig. A ‘master’ of his craft; a thoroughly capable man.
| 1814 Scott Wav. xlvi, Yon man is not a deacon o' his craft. 1823 Galt Entail III. x. 98, I had got an inkling o' the law frae my father, who was a deacon at a plea. |
4. Freemasonry. Name of a particular inferior office in a lodge: see quot.
| 1813 J. Ashe Masonic Manual (1825) 227 The Deacons are then named and invested; upon which the new Master addresses them as follows:—‘Brothers J. K., and L. M., I appoint you Deacons of this Lodge. It is your province to attend on the Master, and to assist the Wardens in the active duties of the lodge.’ |
† 5. A set of eucharistic garments for a deacon.
| 1534 in Peacock Engl. Ch. Furniture 201 A whole vestment for a preist w{supt} deacon and subdeacon of white damaske. 1552 Trans. Essex Arch. Soc. N.S. I. 14 Two chesables, oth{supr} ways cawlyd deakyn and subdeaken. 1558 Wills & Inv. N.C. i. (Surtees 1835) 171 One Cope, a vestment and a deacon all..of red silk. |
6. A very young or aborted calf, or its hide. U.S. colloq.
| 1873 Chicago Tribune 2 Jan. 6/2 Hides..deacons, 50 {at} 65 ¢. 1898 E. N. Westcott D. Harum xvii, I guess you got a ‘deakin’ in that lot... That calf died, that's what that calf done. 1923 Dialect Notes V. 234 Deacon, a calf of veal age; the hide or skin of such a calf. ‘That hide ain't worth much; it's only a deacon.’ |
7. Comb., as deacon-seat (U.S.), a long settee in a log-cabin, cut from a single log.
| 1851 J. S. Springer Forest Life 71 Directly over the foot⁓pole..and in front of the fire, is the deacon-seat. This seat constitutes our sofa or settee. 1864 Lowell Fireside Trav. 152 We sat down upon the deacon-seat before the fire. 1889 Farmer Americanisms, Deacon seat, a lumberer's camp term..why so called is difficult to say..unless, indeed, it is an allusion to the seats round a pulpit, facing the congregation, reserved for deacons. |
▪ II. ˈdeacon, v. U.S. colloq. or slang.
[f. prec. n.]
1. trans. (usually to deacon off). To read aloud (a hymn) one or two lines at a time, the congregation singing the lines as soon as read, according to the early practice of the Congregational Churches of New England. Hence fig. U.S. colloq.
| 1845 T. W. Coit Puritanism 232 The insult..was given by deaconing out, as the phrase goes..the following verses from the 52d Psalm. 1848 Lowell Biglow P. Ser. i. ix, Without you deacon off the toon you want your folks should sing. 1888 ― Heartsease & Rue 166 Well he knew to deacon-off a hymn. 1857 Goodrich Remin. I. 77 (Bartlett) The chorister deaconed the first two lines. |
2. To pack (fruit, etc.) with the finest specimens on the top. U.S. slang.
| 1866 Lowell Biglow P. Introd., To deacon berries is to put the largest atop. 1868 L. M. Alcott Lit. Women xi. (Farmer), The strawberries [were] not as ripe as they looked, having been skilfully deaconed. |
b. In various uses connoting unfair or dishonest dealing or the like (cf. to doctor): see quots. U.S. slang.
| 1860 Bartlett Dict. Amer., To deacon a calf is to knock it in the head as soon as it is born.—Connecticut. 1889 Farmer Americanisms, To deacon land, to filch land by gradually extending one's fences or boundary lines into the highway or other common property. 1889 Century Dict., Deacon, to sophisticate; adulterate; ‘doctor’: as, to deacon wine or other liquor. slang. |
3. Eccl. To make (someone) a deacon; to ordain to the diaconate, to admit to deacon's orders. Cf. priest v. 2. Hence ˈdeaconing vbl. n.
| 1980 Church Times 26 Dec. 16/3 Everyone agreed that the cathedral protest had been dignified. But many were puzzled that it should occur now, as ten women had already been deaconed. Ibid. 16/4 This is the first public deaconing of a woman in the Diocese of Llandaff. 1985 Oxf. Diocesan Mag. Sept. 20/3 To be deaconed by the Bishop of Reading..on Michaelmas Day: Brian Blackman, [etc.]. 1986 Church Times 30 May 5/2 She believes that the proposed deaconing of women..is a mark of the respect earned by deaconesses already serving the churches. |