butt-woman
See also: butt woman
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "US, UK" is not valid. See WT:LOL. IPA(key): /bʌt-wʊmən/
Noun
butt-woman (plural butt-women)
- (obsolete, chiefly British) A female lay church worker who tends the pews in a church; a sextoness.
- 1862, Margaret Goodman, Experiences of an English Sister of Mercy, London, publ. Smith and Elder, pg. 26:
- My thoughts always revert to the angry butt-woman when the second chapter of St. James' Epistle is read in its ordinary course.
- 1892, Annie Thomas, "The Honourable Jane.", Belgravia: a London magazine, vol. 79, September, 1892, pg. 10:
- "It was more like a funeral than a wedding," said the butt-woman, who was the sole spectator of the ceremony, with the exception of the bride's uncle and aunt, told her friends afterwards.
- 1909, Edna Bourne Holman, "At Herrick's home in Devon," Scribner's Magazine, March, 1909, vol. XLV, no. 3, pg. 259:
- The butt-woman was just setting forth the need of money for church repairs but she interrupted herself when she found me studying monuments.
- 1862, Margaret Goodman, Experiences of an English Sister of Mercy, London, publ. Smith and Elder, pg. 26: