Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A cleric who directs the choral services of a church or cathedral.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A leader or director of a church choir or congregation in singing.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The leader of the choir in a cathedral; -- called also the
chanter ormaster of the choir. - noun The leader of the congregational singing in Scottish and other churches.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The person who is the song and/or prayer leader in a
cathedral ,church ,monastery , orsynagogue and generally facilitates worship.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the musical director of a choir
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word precentor.
Examples
-
Russian prince to that of a simple singer, a considerable drop; but the precentor was a musician, and he asserted that the voice was of the finest quality, and trained to perfection.
The Heavenly Twins Madame Sarah Grand
-
The precentor was a cobbler, though he never knew it, shoemaker being the name in those parts, and his dwelling-room was also his workshop.
Auld Licht Idylls 1898
-
The precentor was a cobbler, though he never knew it, shoemaker being the name in those parts, and his dwelling-room was also his workshop.
Auld Licht Idyls 1898
-
The official in charge of such a schola is usually called the "precentor".
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 13: Revelation-Stock 1840-1916 1913
-
a psalm from the dear old Scottish paraphrase, with its primitive inversion of the simple perfect Bible words; and a kind of precentor stood up, and, having sounded the note on a pitch-pipe, sang a couple of lines by way of indicating the tune; then all the congregation stood up, and sang aloud, Mr Bradshaw's great bass voice being half
Ruth Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell 1837
-
Keen to echo J F Bentley's vision, Thomas Wilson, the Cathedral precentor, sought Byzantium with a twist.
Update on Some Liturgical Details for the Installation of Archbishop Vincent Nichols 2009
-
The unworldly Septimus Harding, precentor at the great cathedral, is drawn into a furious dispute about church corruption, his only solace being the sublime sound of the cathedral choir as its songs ascend to heaven.
Ten of the best 2011
-
And Brother Anselm the precentor, who acknowledged few disruptions other than a note offkey, or a sore throat among his best voices, accepted all other events with utter serenity, assumed the best, wished all men well, and gave over worrying.
A River So Long 2010
-
So, at any rate, Brother Cadfael hoped, as he trotted away through the garden to go and spend a pleasant half, hour with Brother Anselm, the precentor, in his carrel in the cloister, where he would certainly be compiling the sequence of music for the burial of Gilbert Prestcote.
-
The family was liberal and religious: at home her mother had a kosher kitchen and the Jewish holidays were observed without any taint of fanaticism; her father was a carpenter and a shul yid (a Jew who went to the synagogue) whose fine voice led to his being a “baaltfile” (precentor).
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.