clerks

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of clerk.

   The bank hired three new clerks to handle the rush of applications.

   Court clerks recorded the verdict and stamped each page of the transcript.

   Note

   One spelling does two jobs: the same form is also the present-tense verb, so "the clerks" names people while "she clerks" names work. The plural covers every kind of clerk: office workers, salesclerks, hotel staff and law clerks. A legislature's clerks are senior figures, chief legal advisors who keep the minutes. Among Quakers, clerks facilitate meetings for business.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of clerk.

   He clerks for a federal judge during his final year of law school.

   The accountant clerks part-time at a small insurance office downtown.

   Note

   A verb with two lives. In offices, shops and courts it usually takes for or at: a student clerks for a judge, a salesclerk clerks at a store. In medicine it takes a direct object. A doctor clerks a patient by taking a detailed history and doing a physical examination at the first assessment.

   She clerks every new admission before the morning round.

   He clerks at his uncle's hardware store on weekends.

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