Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A member of the clergy.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A clerk; a clergyman or scholar.
  • Same as clerical, 1.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun rare A clerk, a clergyman.
  • adjective Same as clerical.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A clergy member.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a clergyman or other person in religious orders

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Late Latin clēricus; see clerk.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin clēricus, from Ancient Greek κληρικός (klērikos), from κλῆρος (klēros, "a casting lots, drawing lots"), (Europe; many officers at Athens obtained their offices by lot, as opposed to election [Liddell and Scott])

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