Lictor

//ˈlɪktə// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An officer in Ancient Rome, attendant on a consul or magistrate, who bore the fasces and was responsible for punishing criminals.

    "Hee brought-in likevvise the ancient cuſtome againe, that in vvhat moneth hee had not the Knitches of rods vvith Axes borne before him, a publique Officer called Accensvs ſhould huiſher him before, and the Serjeants or Lictours follovv after behinde."

Example

More examples

"Hee brought-in likevvise the ancient cuſtome againe, that in vvhat moneth hee had not the Knitches of rods vvith Axes borne before him, a publique Officer called Accensvs ſhould huiſher him before, and the Serjeants or Lictours follovv after behinde."

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin līctor.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.