undertaker

English

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈʌndə(ɹ)ˌteɪkə(ɹ)/, /ˌʌndə(ɹ)ˈteɪkə(ɹ)/

Noun

undertaker (plural undertakers)

  1. A funeral director; someone whose business is to manage funerals, burials and cremations
  2. (historical) A person receiving land in Ireland during the Elizabethan era, so named because they gave an undertaking to abide by several conditions regarding marriage, to be loyal to the crown, and to use English as their spoken language.
    In 1588 Edmund Spenser became an undertaker in the first Elizabethan plantation, receiving the forfeited Irish estate of Kilcolman Castle.
  3. (rare) One who undertakes or commits to doing something.
    • 2001, Technology, Humans, and Society: Toward a Sustainable World
      The undertaker of the enterprise is usually known today by the French term entrepreneur because we have surrendered the English word to the undertakers of funerals.

Translations
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.