clerk

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
clerk /klɑːk/

▶noun

• 1 a person employed in an office or bank to keep records or accounts and to undertake other routine administrative duties.

• 2 an official in charge of the records of a local council or court.

  ■ a senior official in Parliament.

  ■ a lay officer of a cathedral, church, or chapel.

• 3 (also desk clerk) N. Amer. a hotel receptionist.

  ■ (also sales clerk) a shop assistant.

• 4 (also clerk in holy orders) formal a member of the clergy.

• 5 archaic a literate or scholarly person.

▶verb N. Amer. work as a clerk.

– phrases
clerk of the course an official who assists the judges in horse racing or motor racing.
clerk of (the) works Brit. a person who oversees building work in progress.

– derivatives
clerkess noun (chiefly Scottish),
clerkish adjective,
clerkly adjective,
clerkship noun.

– origin OE cleric, clerc, from eccles. L. clericus (see cleric); reinforced by OFr. clerc, from the same source.