chorister

plural choristers · alternative quirister

1. A singer in a choir; especially a child in a church or cathedral choir.

   None of the new choristers can sing in tune but they will learn soon enough.

   3 more examples

   These be my querysters To helpe me to synge, My hawkes to mattens rynge!

   c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 65, lines 122–124

   Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen collars, and red neckbands.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

   And a Salisbury Cathedral chorister complained that after working late into Christmas Day, an absence of trains meant he and his brother would not be able to get home for "our proper Christmas" until the 27th.

   2023 December 27, David Turner, “Silent lines...”, in RAIL, number 999, page 30

2. USA director or leader of a choral group.

   Jane was the chorister of her congregation's choir, and that occupied much of her time on the weekends.