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perform other duties pertaining to the church, such as to dig graves, ring the bell, etc. Sexton beetle (Zoöl.), a burying beetle.

A female sexton; a sexton's wife.

Sextonship. [Obs.] Ld. Bernes.

The office of a sexton. Swift.

beetle (Zoöl.), the general name of many species of beetles, of the tribe Necrophaga; the sexton beetle; -- so called from their habit of burying small dead animals by digging away the earth beneath them. The larvæ feed upon decaying flesh, and are useful scavengers. -- To bury the hatchet, to lay aside the instrument…

Carrion beetle (Zoöl.), any beetle that feeds habitually on dead animals; -- also called sexton beetle and burying beetle. There are many kinds, belonging mostly to the family Silphidæ. -- Carrion buzzard (Zoöl.), a South American bird of several species and genera (as Ibycter, Milvago, and Polyborus), which act as s…

f the genus Necrophorus and allied genera; -- called also burying beetle, carrion beetle, sexton beetle.

the church who has the care of the utensils or movables, and of the church in general; a sexton.

as a bell, with strokes slowly and uniformly repeated; as, to toll the funeral bell. "The sexton tolled the bell." Hood.