verger

• virger

From verge (“rod”) +‎ -er.

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)dʒə(ɹ)

verger (plural vergers)

1. One who carries a verge, or emblem of office.
2. (chiefly Britain) A lay person who takes care of the interior of a church and acts as an attendant during services, where he or she carries the verge (or virge). An usher; in major ecclesiastical landmarks, a tour guide. In the United States, the office is generally combined with that of sexton.
   • 1857, Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit, book 1, chapter 14

     ‘We have often seen each other,’ said Little Dorrit, recognising the sexton, or the beadle, or the verger, or whatever he was, ‘when I have been at church here.’

   • 1942, Emily Carr, The Book of Small, “The Blessing,”

     As soon as we were all in the night the verger rolled shut the doors and blotted out the chandeliers.

3. (Britain) An attendant upon a dignitary, such as a bishop or dean, a justice, etc.
   • 1725, John Strype, Annals of the Reformation and Establishment of Religion, and Other Various Occurrences in the Church of England, during Queen Elizabeth’s Happy Reign, Oxford: Clarendon, 1824, Vol. I, Part I, Chapter 23, p. 408,

     When she came to her place she opened the book, and perused it, and saw the pictures, but frowned and blushed; and then shut it, (of which several took notice,) and calling the verger, bade him bring her the old book, wherein she was formerly wont to read.

From Middle French vergier, from Old French vergier, from Vulgar Latin *virdiariu, syncopated form of Latin viridiārium, variant of viridārium, from viridis.

• IPA^(key): /vɛʁ.ʒe/

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verger m (plural vergers)

1. orchard

• vert

• “verger” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).