Also 5 clerk(h)ed, clerkehode. [f. as prec. + -HOOD.]
1. The status or position of a clergyman. arch.
c. 1400. Apol. Loll., 43. Noiþer in clerked of pore to be maid riche.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., 380. Officis of Bischophode or louȝer preesthode or louȝer Clerkhode.
1849. Rock, Ch. of Fathers, I. ii. 185. The Tonsure, or mark of clerk-hood.
2. The status or position of an office clerk.
1873. Anne Beale, in Argosy, XV. 308. He had plodded diligently through clerkhood to merchanthood.
