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“sexton”
sextant, sexton
sextant (SEK stuhnt) (noun)
A navigational instrument incorporating a telescope and an angular scale that is used to work out latitude and longitude of astronomical objects as viewed through the telescope and its angular distance above the horizon is read off the scale: "The captains on the old whaling fleets used a sextant to set the courses for their ships."
sexton (SEK stuhn) (noun)
An employee or officer of a church who is responsible for the care and upkeep of church property and sometimes for ringing bells and digging graves: "One of his friends has a part time job as the sexton at the local church."
The sexton at their church had an interesting career before working at the church. He was previously working on a tall ship and used a sextant to guide the vessel during its voyages.
This entry is located in the following unit:
Confusing Words Clarified: Group S; Homonyms, Homophones, Homographs, Synonyms, Polysemes, etc. +
(page 4)
1. An individual whose responsibility is that of a caretaker of church property including religious items: Frank was the newly appointed sexton at the church and was conscientious in his duties to take care of the holy items.
2. Etymology: from sekesteyn, "a person in charge of the sacred objects of a church"; from Old French segrestien; from Middle Latin sacristanus; which came from Latin sacrista, from sacer, sacri, "sacred".
2. Etymology: from sekesteyn, "a person in charge of the sacred objects of a church"; from Old French segrestien; from Middle Latin sacristanus; which came from Latin sacrista, from sacer, sacri, "sacred".
This entry is located in the following unit:
sacr-, sacro-
(page 5)