ostiary

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from Latin ostiārius, from ostium (door, entrance). See usher, which may be a doublet.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈɒsti.əɹi/, /ˈɒst͡ʃəɹi/

Noun[edit]

ostiary (plural ostiaries)

  1. (archaic) The mouth of a river; an estuary.
    • 1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: [], 2nd edition, London: [] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, [], →OCLC:
      the river of Nilus hath seven ostiaries, that is, by seven channels disburdened itself into the sea
  2. One who keeps the door, especially the door of a church; a porter.
    Synonym: ostiarius

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “ostiary”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)