Noun

(en noun)

The person who maintains the sacristy and the sacred objects it contains.

*1793,

And hence the custom and law began

That still at dawn the sacristan ,

Who duly pulls the heavy bell,

Five and forty beads must tell

Between each stroke

*{{quote-book, year=1932, author=

, title=Friday's Business , chapter=10 citation , passage=The church was looked after by an old sacristan who lived in a cottage on the shore of the lake.}}

Noun

(en noun)

The act of publicly reciting something previously memorized.

The material recited.

A regularly scheduled class, in a school, in which discussion occurs of the material covered in a parallel lecture.

*1882 , Wayside Gleanings for Leisure Moments , , page 20,

*:I shall now endeavor to give some account of the College.... Some then go to a recitation' of the lesson they have learnt the previous evening. Some return to their rooms till the breakfast-bell, about seven or after. At eight the sludy bell rings. All must then go in their rooms and continue there, even if they have no lessons to learn, unless they attend a ' recitation which occupies an hour.

*1896 , , "The 'English Courses' of the University of California", reprinted in, 1986, Novels and Essays , Library of America, ISBN 0940450402, page 1109,

*:In the "announcement of courses" published annually by the faculty of the University of California the reader cannot fail to be impressed with the number and scope of the hours devoted by the students to recitations and lectures upon the subject of "literature."

*1999 October 29, J. Levine "Re: Debate on accreditation of Jones International", alt.education.distance , Usenet,

*:Many of my courses, however, were offered in recitation'-lecture format. We would attend class, say twice a week, and a lecture once a week. ... I do seem to recall that my ' recitation sections seldom had less than 40 to 50 students and my lecture classes often had upwards of 100 to 300 students.