vestry

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vestry

/ˈvɛstɹi/

Where it comes from

From Anglo-Norman vesterie, from Old French vestiaire (“room for vestments, dressing room”), from Latin vestiarium (“wardrobe”). Doublet of vestiary.

noun vestries

A room in a church where the clergy put on their vestments and where these are stored; also used for meetings and classes. The choirboys change into their cassocks in the vestry.
Similar: vestiary, sacristy
An assembly of persons (ad hoc or recurrent) who manage parochial affairs; so called because usually held in a vestry.
A committee of parishioners elected to administer the temporal affairs of a parish. Near-synonyms: parochial church council, PCC, parish council (ecclesiastical sense, uncommon)
Similar: parochial church council, PCC, parish council

Translations

Every language

noun room in a church

Français	sacristie
Deutsch	Sakristei
Ελληνικά	αποδυτήριο apodytírio
Русский	ри́зница ríznica, сакристия sakristija

noun committee of parishioners

Русский	приходское управле́ние prixodskoje upravlénije

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MLA

"vestry." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/vestry. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

vestry. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/vestry

Chicago

"vestry." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/vestry.

BibTeX

@misc{vestry_2026,
  title = {vestry},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/vestry},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}