A parish officer responsible for the administration of church property and funds; a church official or administrator.
From church + reeve (from Old English gerēfa, meaning 'chief' or 'official'). The reeve was a historical title for administrators of land or property.
The word 'reeve' survives in modern English mainly in 'sheriff' (shire-reeve) and place names, making 'churchreeve' feel deeply archaic—it's a window into how medieval English parishes appointed officials before modern bureaucratic structures.
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