See Also: vestry(dictionary)
vestry(dictionary)

vestry (iou)



vestry noun. LME.
[from Anglo-Norman alt. of Old & mod. French vestiaire, vestiarie (see VESTIARY) by assoc. with -erie -ERY: see -RY.]
A room or area within, or a building attached to, a church or chapel, used for keeping vestments, vessels, records, etc., and as a robing-room. Also vestry-room. LME.
b. A cloakroom, a changing-room. Formerly also, a treasure house. Now rare. L16.
An assembly or meeting of parishioners, orig. in the vestry of the parish church, to conduct parish business; a body of parishioners meeting in this way. Chiefly Hist. L16.
Comb.: vestry book a book for recording the proceedings of a parochial vestry or registering the births, marriages, and deaths of the parishioners; vestryman a member of a parochial vestry; vestry-room = sense 1 above.
vestral adjective (rare) of or pertaining to a vestry or vestries L19.