butt-woman

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Compound of butt (“hassock”) +‎ woman.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈbʌtwʊmən/

Noun

butt-woman (plural butt-women)

  1. (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: Smith and Elder, page 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 September, Annie Thomas, “The Honourable Jane.”, in Belgravia: a London magazine, volume 79, page 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 March, Edna Bourne Holman, “At Herrick's home in Devon”, in Scribner's Magazine, volume XLV, number 3, page 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.
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