os·ti·ar·y

(ŏs′tē-ĕr′ē)

n. pl. os·ti·ar·ies

1. Roman Catholic Church One who is ordained in the lowest of the former minor orders.

2. A church doorkeeper.

[Middle English hostiary, from Latin ōstiārius, doorkeeper, from ōstium, door, from ōs, mouth; see ōs- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ostiary

(ˈɒstɪərɪ)

n, pl -aries

(Roman Catholic Church) RC Church another word for porter²⁴

[C15: from Latin ostiārius doorkeeper, from ostium door]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ostiary

1. a member of the lowest-ranking of the four minor orders in Roman Catholicism.
2. a doorkeeper of a church.

See also: Catholicism

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	ostiary - the lowest of the minor Holy Orders in the unreformed Western Church but now suppressed by the Roman Catholic Church ostiarius, doorkeeper clergyman, man of the cloth, reverend - a member of the clergy and a spiritual leader of the Christian Church Holy Order, Order - (usually plural) the status or rank or office of a Christian clergyman in an ecclesiastical hierarchy; "theologians still disagree over whether `bishop' should or should not be a separate Order"
	2.	ostiary - someone who guards an entrance door guard, doorman, hall porter, porter, gatekeeper, doorkeeper commissionaire - a uniformed doorman guard - a person who keeps watch over something or someone night porter - a porter on duty during the night ticket collector, ticket taker - someone who is paid to admit only those who have purchased tickets