butt-woman

English

Alternative forms

• butt woman

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.