ostiary, n. and a.
(ˈɒstɪərɪ)
[ad. L. ostiāri-us adj., of or pertaining to a door, n. doorkeeper, f. osti-um door, entrance, river-mouth.]
A. n.
1. Eccl. A doorkeeper, esp. of a church; the lowest of the minor orders in the R.C. Church. Also in L. form ostiarius.
| 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) V. 97 Gayus the pope..ordeyndede diverse degres of ordres in þe churche, as hostiary, reder, benette, accolette, and oþer. 1647 N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. x, Lastly [come] Ostiaries; which used to ring the bells, and open and shut the Church-doors. 1720 Strype Stow's Surv. (1754) I. i. xxiv. 165/1 The Library..had at first a Library keeper and an under library keeper, and an Ostiary. 1839 J. Yeowell Anc. Brit. Ch. App. v. (1847) 182 If any clerk, from an ostiary to a priest, appear without his tunic. 1899 Westm. Gaz. 22 Nov. 1/3 As Ostiarius of the Lower House of Convocation..he knew every dignified clergyman in the Southern Province. |
† 2. The mouth of a river; = ostium. Obs.
| 1646 Sir. T. Browne Pseud. Ep. vi. viii. 312 The River of Nilus hath seven ostiaries. 1650 Fuller Pisgah iv. v. 82 Some onely counted the grand and solemn ostiaries of Nilus. 1682 Sir T. Browne Chr. Mor. iii. §4 For we are carried into the dark Lake, like the ægyptian River into the Sea, by seven principal Ostiaries. |
B. adj. That has charge of the door. rare.
| 1866 Blackmore Cradock Nowell xlviii. (1883) 320 He pushed the ostiary footman back. |