sextoness
(ˈsɛkstənɪs)
Also 5 sexteynes, sextenesse.
[f. sexton + -ess.]
A female sexton (or sacristan).
| c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 2843 Þe sexstenes rong þe belles þo alle abouȝte. c 1450 in Aungier Syon (1840) 306 The sexteynes schal ordeyne be fore the profession the bere with fayre newe erthe,..and thys bere sche schal sette forthe at the dore. c 1450 J. Capgrave Life St. Gilbert xl. 121 Þe nunne, þe sextenesse, rang to mateyns. 1826 Miss Mitford Village Ser. ii. 117 He..even dug a grave for the sextoness, an old woman of eighty. 1842 Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. ii. Sir Rupert, It reach'd such a pass That the sextoness hasten'd to turn on the gas. 1888 Burgon Lives Twelve Gd. Men I. iv. 397 Rebecca (the dear old sextoness of S. Mary's). |