clerk

play

noun \ ˈklərk , British usually ˈklärk \

Definition of clerk

1 :cleric

2 archaic :scholar

3 a :an official responsible (as to a government agency) for correspondence, records, and accounts and vested with specified powers or authority (as to issue writs as ordered by a court)

city clerk

a law clerk

b :one employed to keep records or accounts or to perform general office work

a bank clerk

c :one who works at a sales or service counter

a store clerk

a grocery clerk

—

clerkship

play \-ˌship\ noun

See clerk defined for English-language learners

See clerk defined for kids

Examples of clerk in a Sentence

Have the court clerk file your request with the judge.
He works as a clerk in a local pet store.
a sales clerk at a women's clothing store

Recent Examples of clerk from the Web

The agenda with his amendment wasn't posted by the city clerk until Tuesday afternoon, well short of the 48 hours required under state law.

— hal dardick, chicagotribune.com, "Beale urges ride-sharing driver fingerprinting, surge pricing limits," 30 Aug. 2017
THE CASE Sacco and Vanzetti were arrested several weeks after a payroll clerk and a security guard were shot and killed during an armed robbery at the Slater and Morrill Shoe Company in Braintree in 1920.

— steve leblanc, The Seattle Times, "90 years on, legacy of Sacco and Vanzetti executions lingers," 23 Aug. 2017
Oversight The municipal election will be run by the city clerk's office.

— lawrence specker, AL.com, "War of words escalates, as state takes look at Mobile mayor's race," 20 Aug. 2017
And Ginsburg didn’t just quietly file her dissent with a clerk, as The New Yorker reports, is often the case.

— emma sarran webster, Teen Vogue, "4 Essential Ruth Bader Ginsburg Supreme Court Rulings to Know About," 10 Aug. 2017
His wife, Ruth, was clerk of council from 1963 to 1968 and founded the city’s first nursery school in 1951.

— kelly mcbride, Cincinnati.com, "Montgomery's Hoffman House this year's landmark ornament," 3 Aug. 2017
Authorities have arrested a woman who allegedly played a role in a Lowndes County gas station shooting that critically injured a store clerk, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said.

— jonece starr dunigan, AL.com, "Montgomery woman arrested in Lowndes County gas station shooting that critically injured man," 11 July 2017
Almost all adopt the mien of an infantry grunt, though in truth, most D.I.s, like most Marines, aren’t combat troops but rather part of the corps’s expanding cast of supporting players: mechanics, air traffic controllers, technicians, clerks.

— janet reitman, New York Times, "How the Death of a Muslim Recruit Revealed a Culture of Brutality in the Marines," 6 July 2017
Willard Helander, who served as the Lake County clerk for 20 years, is the regent of the Lake Forest chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution.

— mark lawton, chicagotribune.com, "Shout Out: Willard Helander, former county clerk and DAR officer," 5 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'clerk.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of clerk

Middle English, from Anglo-French clerk & Old English cleric, clerc, both from Late Latin clericus, from Late Greek klērikos, from Greek klēros lot, inheritance (in allusion to Deuteronomy 18:2), stick of wood; akin to Greek klan to break — more at clast

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: before 12th century

See Words from the same year

clerk Synonyms

Synonyms

Antonyms

layman, layperson, secular

Related Words

archivist, bookkeeper, recorder, reporter, transcriptionist; annalist, chronicler, documenter, historian

Near Antonyms

lay reader, lector

Other Job Terms

factotum, milliner, ostler, scrivener, tinker, webster, wordsmith

clerk

verb

Definition of clerk

intransitive verb

:to act or work as a clerk

clerked for a court judge

See clerk defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of clerk from the Web

Kathy Strube is the only deputy clerk of Germantown, and the only employee now carrying out clerking duties.

— brittany seemuth, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Germantown clerk Barb Goeckner resigns, has 30 days to find job before she is stripped of WMCA presidency," 28 Aug. 2017
Stephanos Bibas, nominated to the Third Circuit, is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, clerked for centrist Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, and served as an assistant U.S. attorney during the Clinton administration.

— mark holden, Time, "The Democrats' Logic Is Upside-Down on Judicial Confirmations," 24 Aug. 2017
Bibas is a professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania who clerked for Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.

— steve kurtz, Fox News, "Restoring credibility? Trump’s slate of 11 judicial nominees could shake up courts," 8 June 2017
After graduating from the University of Chicago Law School, in 1985, Comey clerked for Judge John Walker, Jr., George H. W. Bush’s cousin, in the Southern District of New York.

— nicholas schmidle, The New Yorker, "James Comey’s Intellectual History," 7 June 2017
But additionally, the trolley work serves as an unglamorous rite of passage, guarding the gilded summit of clerking from interlopers.

— simon akam, Bloomberg.com, "The Exquisitely English (and Amazingly Lucrative) World of London Clerks," 23 May 2017
Prior to clerking with Souter from 2001-2001, Newsom was a clerk to Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

— kent faulk | kfaulk@al.com, AL.com, "Alabama, Florida, Georgia attorneys general back Birmingham attorney for appeals court," 22 May 2017
Before joining the Notre Dame faculty, Barrett clerked for Judge Laurence H. Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

— fatima hussein, Indianapolis Star, "Trump nominates Notre Dame professor for federal judgeship," 9 May 2017
Amy Coney Barrett, who once clerked for the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, currently serves as the Diane and M.O. Miller II Research Professor of Law at the Notre Dame University Law School.

— fatima hussein, Indianapolis Star, "Trump nominates Notre Dame professor for federal judgeship," 9 May 2017

Origin and Etymology of clerk

see ¹clerk

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1551

See Words from the same year

CLERK Defined for English Language Learners

clerk

play

noun

Definition of clerk for English Language Learners

: a person whose job is to keep track of records and documents for a business or office
: an elected or appointed official whose job is to take care of official papers and business for a court or government
: a person who works in a store

clerk

verb

Definition of clerk for English Language Learners

: to work as a clerk

CLERK Defined for Kids

clerk

play

noun \ ˈklərk \

Definition of clerk for Students

1 :a person whose job is to keep records or accounts

2 :a salesperson in a store

clerk

verb

Definition of clerk for Students

clerked; clerking

:to act or work as a clerk

Medical Dictionary

clerk

play

noun \ ˈklərk \

medical Definition of clerk

:a third- or fourth-year medical student undergoing clinical training in a clerkship

—

clerk

intransitive verb

Law Dictionary

clerk

noun

legal Definition of clerk

1 :an official responsible (as to a court) for correspondence, records, and accounts and having specified powers or authority (as to issue writs)

a city clerk

clerk of court

2 a :a person employed to keep records or accounts or to perform general office work

b :a person (as a law student or graduate) employed by an attorney or judge to assist with case-related tasks (as research) — compare paralegal

—

clerkship

noun

clerk

intransitive verb

legal Definition of clerk

:to act or work as a clerk

clerked for a Supreme Court justice

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clerk

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CLERK Defined for English Language Learners

clerk

Definition of clerk for English Language Learners

clerk

Definition of clerk for English Language Learners

CLERK Defined for Kids

clerk

Definition of clerk for Students

clerk

Definition of clerk for Students

Medical Dictionary

clerk

medical Definition of clerk

clerk

Law Dictionary

clerk

legal Definition of clerk

clerkship

clerk

legal Definition of clerk

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