sexton (sekston)

[Also dial. saxton (which appears also in the surname Saxton beside Sex ton); early mod. E. also sexten, sext in; ristan, secristan, a sexton, sacristan: see sacris tan. Cf. sextry, similarly contracted.] 1. An under-officer of a church, whose duty it is to act as janitor, and who has charge of the edifice, utensils, furniture, etc. In many instances the sexton also prepares graves and attends burials, Usually, in the Church of England, the sexton is a life-officer, but in the United States he is hired in the same manner as the janitor of any public building. See sacristan. The sexesten went [weened] welle than That he had be a wode man. MS . Cantab . Ff. ii. 38, f. 240. ( Hall i well .) The sexton of our church is dead, And we do lack an honest painful man Can make a grave, and keep our clock in frame. Dekker and Webster (?), Weakest Goeth to the Wall, iii. 1. They went and told the sexton , And the sexton toll'd the bell. Hood, Faithle Sally Brown. 2. In entom., a sexton-beetle; a burying-beetle; any member of the genus Necrophorus. See also cut under Necrophorus. Sextons, or Sexton-beetles (Necrophorus), burying a dead bird. terous insect of the genus Necrophorus: same as burying - beetle.