Also 6 lectorer. [f. LECTURE v. + -ER1: it is possible that the earlier lectorer is not a misspelling, but an extension of LECTOR, and lecturer an interpretative alteration.]
† 1. = LECTOR 1. Obs.
1570. Foxe, A. & M. (ed. 2), 94/2. [He] was commended of Cyprian to certayne brethren to haue hym for theyr lectorer.
1647. N. Bacon, Disc. Govt. Eng., I. x. (1739), 18. Lecturers came next, who served to read and expound.
2. One of a class of preachers in the Church of England, usually chosen by the parish and supported by voluntary contributions, whose duty consists mainly in delivering afternoon or evening ‘lectures.’
1583. Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. (1882), 87. Preachers and lecturers, that haue no peculiar flockes, nor charges appointed them.
a. 1654. Selden, Table-t. (Arb.), 67. Lecturers do in a Parish Church what the Fryers did heretofore, get away not only the Affections, but the Bounty, that should be bestow’d upon the Minister.
1666. Pepys, Diary, 15 July. To church, where our lecturer made a sorry, silly sermon.
1696. Phillips (ed. 5), Lecturer.… Used now-a-days for a Minister that preaches at a Parish Church in the Afternoon, having no settled Benefits, but only the free gift of the Parishioners.
a. 1715. Burnet, Own Time (1724), I. 178. That the half conformity of the Puritans before the war had set up a faction in every city and town between the lecturers and the incumbents.
1732–8. Neal, Hist. Purit., II. 207. These Lecturers were chiefly Puritans, who … only preached in the afternoons.
1827. Oxf. Univ. Guide, 10. Four Lecturers, appointed to preach in rotation before the Mayor and Corporation, are elected by the Mayor, Recorder, Alderman, and Assistants.
1844. Act 7 & 8 Vict., c. 59. § 1. Whereas in divers Districts, Parishes, and Places there now are or hereafter may be certain Lecturers or Preachers in the Holy Orders of Deacon or Priest … appointed to deliver or preach Lectures or Sermons only, without the Obligation of performing other clerical or ministerial Duties.
3. One who gives lectures or formal discourses intended for instruction, esp. in a college or university. In some universities, one who assists a professor in his department or performs professorial duties without having the corresponding rank or title (equivalent to the ‘Reader’ of Oxford and Cambridge).
1615. Sir G. Buck, in Stow, Annals, 980. [Gresham College] To euery lecturer or reader is provided … fiftie pounds of Annuall Fee.
1622. Peacham, Compl. Gent., ix. (1634), 77. Doctour Hood, sometime Mathematicall Lecturer in London.
a. 1642. Sir W. Monson, Naval Tracts, IV. (1704), 437/2. The Maintenance of a Lecturer of Navigation.
1705. Hearne, Collect., 16 July (O. H. S.), I. 8. Mr. Swinfin … was chosen Lecturer of Grammar for the University.
1845. Miss Mitford, in L’Estrange, Life, III. xi. 199. Mr. Taylor, the medical lecturer at Guy’s.
1882. Jean L. Watson, Life R. S. Candlish, viii. 94. An institution, consisting of a professor and lecturer, should be established.
