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Glite Dictionary
💰 A fee collector 🔔 A bell ringer
toller

toller

9.9
A person who rings church bells to call people to service
  • noun
  • /ˈtɑːlər/
  • Archaic
translation icon : campanero
  • The toller climbed the tower before sunrise to prepare for the morning service.

Examples

  • Every Sunday, the toller calls the faithful to worship.

  • Every Sunday, the toller rings the church bells to gather the congregation for worship.

  • In the old days, a toller would signal important community events from the church tower.

  • Visitors watched as the toller pulled the ropes to create a melody for the festival.

  • The toller rang the bells at dawn.

  • In medieval times, a toller was responsible for summoning people to the church service.

  • The toller skillfully rang the bells to mark the beginning of the wedding ceremony.

Synonyms

ringer
vstoller
  • UK
8 8.0

A person who rings church bells to call people to a service

has identical meaning but uses a different traditional name
bell ringer
vstoller
3 4.3

A person who rings bells in a church or musical group

is specific to church use and often means summoning the congregation

Surface Forms

toller singular
tollers plural

Morphology

toller = toll (transparent) = toll + er

Standard agentive formation from the verb 'toll' plus '-er', meaning 'one who tolls (bells)'.

Etymology

Toller for a person who rings church bells comes from the verb toll meaning 'to ring' a bell. So a toller is the person who rings the bell to call people to service or to mark funerals, which is why we talk about the 'tolling' of a bell.