deacon

Meanings

1. A designated minister of charity in the early Church (see Acts 6:1-6).
2. A modern-day member of a church who handles secular and/or administrative duties in a priest's stead, the specifics of which depends on denomination.
3. A clergyman ranked directly below a priest, with duties of helping the priests and carrying out parish work.
4. An ordained clergyperson usually serving a year prior to being ordained presbyter, though in some cases they remain a permanent deacon.
5. A lay leader of a congregation who assists the pastor.
6. A separate office from that of minister, neither leading to the other; instead there is a permanent deaconate.
7. A junior lodge officer.
8. The lowest office in the Aaronic priesthood, generally held by 12 or 13 year old boys or recent converts.
9. A male calf of a dairy breed, so called because they are usually deaconed (see below).
10. The chairman of an incorporated company.

1. To ordain to the diaconate.
2. For a choir leader to lead a hymn by speaking one or two lines at a time, which are then sung by the choir.
3. To kill a calf shortly after birth.
4. To place fresh fruit at the top of a barrel or other container, with spoiled or imperfect fruit hidden beneath.
5. To make sly alterations to the boundaries of (land); to adulterate or doctor (an article to be sold), etc.

1. A surname originating as an occupation.
2. A male given name from English.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English deken, dekne, from Old English diacon, from Ecclesiastical Latin diāconus, from Ancient Greek διᾱ́κονος (diā́konos, “servant, minister”).