I hope I'm not wasting bandwidth... but I'm struggling with a word that is driving me insane.
I'm sure I've heard or seen this word before... but for the life of me I cannot find it in any of today's' dictionaries.
The word sounds like "deaner" or "deener" (but I guess could also be spelled diener)... where I THOUGHT I heard it used once as a name for someone who worked as church sexton or verger or morgue or graveyard attendant. I cannot find this word defined anywhere, yet I am sure it is a word.
Please help before I go crazy… If this really is a name for church custodian or a morgue worker (or anything remotely similar) please contact me and provide some info. If not… I guess it's just some nonsense that I made up!
Ogden.w.rogers@uwrf.edu
Ogden Rogers
Professor of Social Work
University of Wisconsin-River Falls, USA
Could it be beadle? "A minor parish official whose duties include ushering and preserving order at services and sometimes civil functions." I know it doesn't begin with a "d" but it could otherwise fit.
“Deaner” is indeed a word and it is an assistant to one conducting an autopsy. “Deaner” (usu. spelt “deener”) is also Australian slang for a shilling.
According to "Police Procedure & Investigation: A Guide for Writers" by Lee Lofland, a "diener" is an autopsy technician and means "servant."
Wordsmith and Timber Beast have it. It's from the German Diener (first sense) and means servant, manservant, server, valet, butler, slave, or attendant, depending upon the context.