Crosier
name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A staff with a hooked end similar to a shepherd's crook, or with a cross at the end, carried by an abbot, bishop, or archbishop as a symbol of office.
"[…]the lives of the Latin clergy were more corrupt, and the Eastern bishops might pass for the successors of the apostles, if they were compared with the lordly prelates, who wielded by turns the crosier, the sceptre, and the sword."
- 2 a staff surmounted by a crook or cross carried by bishops as a symbol of pastoral office wordnet
- 3 A young fern frond, before it has unrolled.
- 1 A surname.
Example
More examples"[…]the lives of the Latin clergy were more corrupt, and the Eastern bishops might pass for the successors of the apostles, if they were compared with the lordly prelates, who wielded by turns the crosier, the sceptre, and the sword."
Etymology
From Middle English; originally referring to the staff bearer, from a merger of Old French words crocier (“bearer of a cross”) and croisier (“one who bears or has to do with a cross”), ultimately from Latin crux (“cross”).
Related phrases
More for "crosier"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.