Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. One who assists the celebrant in the performance of liturgical rites.
- n. A devoted follower or attendant.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. One who waits on a person; an attendant; an assistant.
- n. In the Roman Catholic Church, one ordained to the fourth and highest of the minor orders, ranking immediately below the subdeacon. See orders. His office is to serve those of the superior orders in the ministry of the altar, light the candles, prepare the wine and water, etc. The name is now commonly extended to the boys who exercise these offices without ordination.
- n. In astronomy, an attendant or accompanying star or other heavenly body; a satellite.
- n. Sometimes written acolyth, and formerly also acholithite, acolythe, acolythist, acolothist.
Wiktionary
- n. One who has received the highest of the four minor orders in the Catholic church, being ordained to carry the wine and water and the lights at the Mass.
- n. One who attends; an assistant.
- n. A follower or helper.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. One who has received the highest of the four minor orders in the Catholic church, being ordained to carry the wine and water and the lights at the Mass.
- n. One who attends; an assistant.
WordNet 3.0
- n. someone who assists a priest or minister in a liturgical service; a cleric ordained in the highest of the minor orders in the Roman Catholic Church but not in the Anglican Church or the Eastern Orthodox Churches
Etymologies
- Middle English acolit, from Old French, from Medieval Latin acolytus, from Greek akolouthos, attendant; see anacoluthon.
Examples
“It was Craig himself who introduced the term acolyte to The Twelve Detectives as a way to refer to their assistants.”
“But you will find yourself summarily booted O-U-T of the DD club if you do that, since no actual scientist or sciency-acolyte is allowed to belong to both per this debate about telic design in life.”
“Police can only assume an acolyte is at large, a maniac basing his attacks on the twisted medical techniques of the madman he so admires.”
The Apprentice: Summary and book reviews of The Apprentice by Tess Gerritsen.
“Warren is most definitely not a [Robert] Rubin acolyte.”
“For America's most famous libertarian, an Ayn Rand acolyte, that is more than troubling.”
“But look more closely and it is clear that change is afoot in this mineral-rich former Soviet acolyte which is on the cusp of a mining boom that has led investors to describe Mongolia as the "Kuwait of Central Asia".”
“I did; but when I found the priest would not assist me at first, and admit that the acolyte was a girl, I preferred to let him think I was deceived in giving a fortune to another, and leave it to his own conscience to permit it or frustrate it.”
“Maybe we could get him to add an 'acolyte' to the group from his local chapter. ”
“Greenspan, meanwhile, was so shaken that he recanted his belief in the rational market, quite something from an Ayn Rand acolyte.”
“The deacon ascends to the altar with the burse in hand, and extends the corporal; at the same time, an acolyte places the Missal on the Gospel side, with a purification vessel and purificator for the purification of the priest's fingers after Communion.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘acolyte’.
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religion
who is this god person, anyway? (--Douglas Adams)
sachristy, vestry, diocese, papal, cardinal, pope, polygamy, seven, father, chaplain, vestments, blessing and 227 more...
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a beginners' list
a beginner's list should be about novices and all those that start on new journeys
noob, beginner, new, left foot, threshold, dawn, start, go, adventurer, undeterred, brave, foolish and 61 more...
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