Undertaker

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈʌndÉ™(ɹ)ËŒteɪkÉ™(ɹ)/, /ˌʌndÉ™(ɹ)ˈteɪkÉ™(ɹ)/

Full definition of undertaker

Noun

1. A funeral director; someone whose business is to manage funerals, burials and cremations
2. (historical) A person receiving land in Ireland during the Elizabethan era, so named because they gave an undertaking to abide by several conditions regarding marriage, to be loyal to the crown, and to use English as their spoken language.In 1588 Edmund Spenser became an undertaker in the first Elizabethan plantation, receiving the forfeited Irish estate of Kilcolman Castle.

Related terms

• undertake
• undertaking