CLERK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does clerk mean? 

• CLERK (noun)
  The noun CLERK has 2 senses:

1. an employee who performs clerical work (e.g., keeps records or accounts)

2. a salesperson in a store

  Familiarity information: CLERK used as a noun is rare.

• CLERK (verb)
  The verb CLERK has 1 sense:

1. work as a clerk, as in the legal business

  Familiarity information: CLERK used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CLERK (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An employee who performs clerical work (e.g., keeps records or accounts)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("clerk" is a kind of...):

employee (a worker who is hired to perform a job)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "clerk"):

desk clerk; hotel clerk; hotel desk clerk (a hotel receptionist)

file clerk; filer; filing clerk (a clerk who is employed to maintain the files of an organization)

paper-pusher (a clerk or bureaucrat who does paperwork)

pencil pusher; penpusher (a clerk who does boring paperwork)

mapper; plotter (a clerk who marks data on a chart)

mail clerk; postal clerk (a clerk in a post office)

settler (a clerk in a betting shop who calculates the winnings)

shipping clerk (an employee who ships and receives goods)

sorter (a clerk who sorts things (as letters at the post office))

tally clerk; tallyman (one who keeps a tally of quantity or weight of goods produced or shipped or received)

timekeeper (a clerk who keeps track of the hours worked by employees)

Derivation:

clerical (appropriate for or engaged in office work)

clerical (of or relating to clerks)

clerk (work as a clerk, as in the legal business)

clerkship (the job of clerk)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A salesperson in a store

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

clerk; salesclerk; shop assistant; shop clerk

Hypernyms ("clerk" is a kind of...):

sales rep; sales representative; salesperson (a person employed to represent a business and to sell its merchandise (as to customers in a store or to customers who are visited))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "clerk"):

shop boy (a young male shop assistant)

shop girl (a young female shop assistant)

Derivation:

clerkship (the job of clerk)

• CLERK (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they clerk    ... he / she / it clerks   
Past simple: clerked   
Past participle: clerked   
-ing form: clerking   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Work as a clerk, as in the legal business

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "clerk" is one way to...):

work (exert oneself by doing mental or physical work for a purpose or out of necessity)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

clerk (an employee who performs clerical work (e.g., keeps records or accounts))

clerking (the activity of recording business transactions)

 Context examples 

"Did Mr. Brissenden leave any address?" he asked the clerk, who looked at him curiously for a moment.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

But the greatest danger I ever underwent in that kingdom, was from a monkey, who belonged to one of the clerks of the kitchen.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

“Well, sir,” returned the clerk, “there’s a rather singular resemblance; the two hands are in many points identical: only differently sloped.”

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

There was a pause after the stockbroker’s clerk had concluded his surprising experience.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The will was duly finished, signed, and witnessed by my clerk.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a card was brought in to me by one of the clerks.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He was twenty-seven years of age, unmarried, and a clerk at Woolwich Arsenal.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It chanced that the soldier looked up and saw the questioning glance which the young clerk threw upon him.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

When I am in doubt, sir, the law provides me with a clerk with whom I may confer, and I ask no other assistance.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

When the day arrived, my very carpet-bag was an object of veneration to the stipendiary clerks, to whom the house at Norwood was a sacred mystery.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)