apparitor

[In Fr. appariteur; Ital. apparitore; Lat. apparitor = a public servant, such as a lictor, a writer, or a priest; from appareo = to appear.] 266 1. A petty officer in a civil or criminal court who a ists in carrying out the decisions of the judges. In ecclesiastical courts, ene who carries summonses. "They swallowed all the Roman hierarchy, from the pope to the apparitor ."- Ayliffe : Parergon. 2. In other institutions: The beadle or similar functionary.