Undertaker

/ˈʌndə(ɹ)ˌteɪkə(ɹ)/ · noun

Meaning

A funeral director; someone whose business is to manage funerals, burials and cremations..

Definitions by Sense

1. A funeral director; someone whose business is to manage funerals, burials and cremations.
2. (historical) A person receiving land in Ireland during the Elizabethan era, so named because they gave an undertaking to abide by several conditions regarding marriage, to be loyal to the crown, and to use English as their spoken language.
3. (historical) A contractor for the royal revenue in England, one of those who undertook to manage the House of Commons for the king in the Addled Parliament of 1614.
4. (rare) One who undertakes or commits to doing something.

Example Sentences

In 1588, Edmund Spenser became an undertaker in the first Elizabethan plantation, receiving the forfeited Irish estate of Kilcolman Castle.

A company shall not be appointed to be a water undertaker unless it is a limited company or a statutory water company and shall not be appointed to be a sewerage undertaker unless it is a limited company.

The undertaker of the enterprise is usually known today by the French term entrepreneur because we have surrendered the English word to the undertakers of funerals.

Synonyms for undertaker

Antonyms for undertaker

Related Words

Word Forms

• undertakers

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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