officiators

Updated: May 7, 2025

Nay, the high priests of this worship had the man before them as a protest against their meanness. The multitude worshipped on trust though always distinctly knowing why but the officiators at the altar had the man habitually in their view. They sat at his feasts, and he sat at theirs.

Charles Dickens - Little Dorrit

Wild geese, herons, kingfishers, sparrows, and pheasants were the principal officiators; the mourning rites, which included singing, and dancing,* continued for eight days and eight nights, and the proceedings were rudely interrupted by the prince's brother-in-law, who, coming to condole and being mistaken for the deceased, is so enraged by the error that he draws his sword, cuts down the mortuary house, and kicks away the pieces.

F. (Frank) Brinkley - A History of the Japanese People : From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era

But for ordinary procedures priests and other officiators everywhere were disposed to give favorable responses, especially to the questions of prominent men; and military and other political enterprises were usually in such form that they could not conveniently be modified in accordance with unfavorable omens the omen had to be favorable. There were exceptions, but this was the general rule.

Crawford Howell Toy - Introduction to the History of Religions: Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume IV

Blanche and Horatio were the chief officiators, and were tremendously busy ministering to the wants of others, while they satisfied their own hunger and thirst hurriedly between whiles. The damsel sat on the grass with a big crockery teapot in her lap, while her brother watched and managed the kettle, and ran to and fro with cups and saucers.

M. E. (Mary Elizabeth) Braddon - The Golden Calf