Clerk. [From Latin clericus, clergyman, priest, whence our words clerical, clergy, ecclesiastic, clerk, etc]. In its original sense a learned man; a man of letters; a scholar; formerly a man who could read, an attainment confined chiefly to ecclesiastics. At present by extension, one who is employed in an office, public or private, or in a store or warehouse either to keep accounts or act in the capacity of salesman.