deaconed

The blanc mange was lumpy, and the strawberries not as ripe as they looked, having been skilfully 'deaconed'.

Little Women Louisa May Alcott 1860

Uncle Sam took off his hat, tied a red handkerchief round his head and, adjusting his glasses, read the hymn through, and then deaconed out two lines at a time for the people to sing.

Letters from Port Royal Written at the Time of the Civil War (1862-1868) Elizabeth Ware [Editor] Pearson

He read a hymn through, "Am I a soldier of the Cross?" etc., and then deaconed out two lines at a time, while the negroes sang it in their peculiar, nasal manner, one always leading.

Letters from Port Royal Written at the Time of the Civil War (1862-1868) Elizabeth Ware [Editor] Pearson

They were almost unintelligible as he deaconed them out, but I daresay they were his own, unconsciously caught, perhaps, in part from what he had heard in the white people's church.

Letters from Port Royal Written at the Time of the Civil War (1862-1868) Elizabeth Ware [Editor] Pearson

The blancmange was lumpy, and the strawberries not as ripe as they looked, having been skilfully ` deaconed '.

Little Women 1921

And again, when you catch a fellow off guard who seemed all right the first time, you may find that he deaconed himself for your benefit, and that all the big strawberries were on top.

Old Gorgon Graham Lorimer, George H 1903

So the psalms were "lined" or "deaconed"; that is, a line was read by the deacon, and then sung by the congregation.

Home Life in Colonial Days Alice Morse Earle 1881

Then there are quieter prayer-meetings, with pious invocations and slow psalms, "deaconed out" from memory by the leader, two lines at a time, in a sort of wailing chant.

Army Life in a Black Regiment Thomas Wentworth Higginson 1867

His apples were not deaconed, his seeds were sure and reliable, and his milk was never watered.

Early Letters of George Wm. Curtis George William Curtis 1858

These shared their task; one deaconed out the psalm,

The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes — Complete Oliver Wendell Holmes 1851