Definition of "lay reader" []

• A layperson in the Anglican or Roman Catholic church authorized by a bishop to read some parts of the service. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The Savoy Conference proved a failure, and no lay reader of Baxter's account of it can profess wonder."