Advanced Vocabulary - Jobs in the Past

Jobs in the Past

alderman noun

in the past, a male politician who was a senior member of a town council in England or Wales.

alderwoman noun

in the past, a female politician who was a senior member of a town council in England or Wales.

apothecary noun

an old word for someone whose job was to prepare and sell medicines.

barrow boy noun

British in the past, a boy or man whose job was to sell fruit and vegetables from a barrow.

cabin boy noun

a boy who worked on a ship as a servant in the past.

chronicler noun

a writer of history, especially in the past.

eunuch noun

a man whose testicles have been removed, especially, in the past, a man whose job was guarding women in a harem.

fool noun

a man in the past whose job was to entertain a king, queen, or other important person by making them laugh.

governess noun

a woman whose job was to look after and teach her employer’s children in their home, especially in the past.

innkeeper noun

an old word for someone whose job was to manage an inn.

jester noun

someone in the past whose job was to entertain an important person by saying and doing funny things.

page noun

a boy whose job was to be the servant of someone of a high social class in the past.

parlourmaid noun

a woman servant in a large house in the past whose job included serving meals.

press gang noun

in the past, a group of men whose job was to force other men to join the armed forces.

scribe noun

someone whose job was to copy documents and books before printing was invented.

steward noun

someone whose job was to look after a house or land for someone else in the past.

swineherd noun

an old word for someone whose job was to look after pigs.

tinker noun

in the past, a man who travelled from place to place repairing metal objects such as pans.

town clerk noun

British in the past, someone whose job was to keep the official records of a town or to give legal advice to the people living there.

town crier noun

someone whose job in the past was to walk around a town shouting news and important announcements.

tribune noun

a government official in ancient Rome whose job was to protect the rights of ordinary people.

washerwoman noun

a woman in the past whose job was to wash other people’s clothes.

wheelwright noun

someone in the past whose job was to make or repair wooden wheels.

total words = 23