chorister
/ˈkɒrɪstə
/noun
1A member of a choir, especially a choirboy or choirgirl.Even the police could be seen tapping their feet along to Gareth's unmistakable voice, which developed from his years as a chorister in Bradford Cathedral choir....
- Bach would have known the members of his audience quite as well as he knew his choristers and instrumental players.
- The son of an Irish bandmaster, Sullivan entered the Chapel Royal as a chorister in 1854 and had a sacred song published by Novello in 1855.
2US A person who leads the singing of a church choir or congregation.Mr. Chas. E. Peck, presided at the organ, and Mr. D. B. Gulick, as chorister, led the singing, which was congregational, and rarely has more inspiriting or better sacred music been heard in the Tabernacle....
- After we were ‘comfortably’ seated on the rough wooden benches, a chorister led us in a hymn.
- It is not strange that with such a chorister in charge, all solicitude about anthems and voluntaries vanished from the preacher's mind.
Origin
Late Middle English queristre, from an Anglo-Norman French variant of Old French cueriste, from quer (see choir). The change in the first syllable in the 16th century was due to association with obsolete chorist 'member of a choir or chorus', but the older form quirister long survived.