servant

From Middle English servaunt, from Old French servant, from the present participle of the verb servir. Doublet of sergeant and servient. Morphologically serve + -ant. Displaced native Old English þeġn.

(religion) A person who dedicates themselves to God.


abstractionist

(art) Someone who supports or creates abstract art.

abstraccionista

someone who paints or creates abstract art


accoucheur

Attested since 1727. Borrowed from French accoucheur, from accoucher (“to go to childbed, be delivered”), from Old French culcher (“to lie”), from Latin collocō (“I place, put, set in order, assign”), from con- + locō (“I put, place, set”). See accouchement.

der

And lastly, obstetrical chairs seemed most natural to the accoucheurs of the middle ages.

1951 February, Forrest H. Howard, “The Physiologic Position for Delivery”, in Northwest Medicine, volume 50, number 2, Portland, Ore.: Northwest Medical Publishing Association, page 98:

Family story: on the day of his birth the accoucheur approached his father, the baby wrapped in a cloth.

1992, Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety, Harper Perennial, published 2007, page 163:

(medicine) A person, especially a man, who delivers a baby (in childbirth).


century

/ˈsɛnt͡ʃʊɹi/

From Middle English centurie (“a count of one hundred (of anything); a division of the Roman army; century; a division of land”), from Old French centurie, from Latin centuria, from centum (“one hundred”). The most common modern use is a shortening of century of years.

inh

Holonyms: maniple, cohort, legion

A unit in ancient Roman army, originally of 100 army soldiers as part of a cohort, later of more varied sizes (but typically containing 60 to 70 or 80) soldiers or other men (guards, police, firemen), commanded by a centurion.

A political division of ancient Rome, meeting in the Centuriate Assembly.

(sports) A race a hundred units (as meters, kilometres, miles) in length.


chairman

When I got ready to leave, why, Chairman Mao came down to the plane. Chairman Mao gave me some Chinese rugs and told me that I was the only prisoner of war that had ever come through there from North China.

2003, William L. Taylor, Wake Island : the Alamo of the Pacific, History Channel, →OCLC:

Unsurprisingly, the Group was highly critical of the BTC's organisation and finances, and this prompted Marples to bring forward the Transport Act 1962, which created BR as a standalone entity with its own Board, headed by a full-time chairman. Beeching accepted this latter position, and initially became the BTC chairman in June 1961.

2023 March 8, David Clough, “The long road that led to Beeching”, in RAIL, number 978, page 43:

The head of a corporate or governmental board of directors, a committee, or other formal entity.


lexicographer

/ˌlɛksɪˈkɒɡɹəfə(ɹ)/

From French lexicographe + -er, from Ancient Greek λεξικός (lexikós, “of words”) + γράφω (gráphō, “write”). By surface analysis, lexico- + -grapher.

der

Lexico′grapher. […] A writer of dictionaries; a harmleſs drudge, that buſies himſelf in tracing the original, and detailing the ſignification of words.

[1755 April 15, Samuel Johnson, “Lexico′grapher”, in A Dictionary of the English Language: […], volume II (L–Z), London: […] J[ohn] and P[aul] Knapton; […], →OCLC, column 1:

Pitt has furnish'd us a word or two / Which lexicographers declined to do.

1811, George Gordon Byron, Hints from Horace:

The best lexicographer may well be content if his productions are received by the world with cold esteem.

1860, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Biographies contributed to the Encyclopædia Britannica:

One who writes or compiles a dictionary.


musician

Inherited from Middle English musician, musicien, from Old French musicien (“musician”), equivalent to music + -ian.

Jenny is a talented musician, playing the cello, saxophone, piano and guitar.

He joined Little Jewford and other musicians — all with outlandish stage names, like Wichita Culpepper and Sky Cap Adams — to form Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys in 1973.

2024 June 27, Clay Risen, “Kinky Friedman, 79, Dies; Musician and Humorist Slew Sacred Cows”, in The New York Times:

Mr. Smith, a flesh-and-blood musician, produced A.I.-generated music and played it billions of times using bots he had programmed, according to the indictment.

2024 May 9, Maia Coleman, “The Bands and the Fans Were Fake. The $10 Million Was Real.”, in The New York Times:

A composer, conductor, or performer of music; specifically, a person who sings and/or plays a musical instrument as a hobby, occupation, or profession.

эʼйӈэнэӈэткульын

ėʼjṇėnėṇėtkulʹyn


webmaster

A person responsible for designing, developing, and maintaining a website or websites.

gwiasvester

the person responsible for maintaining a website


shrink

From Middle English schrynken, from Old English sċrincan, from Proto-Germanic *skrinkwaną. Cognate with Dutch schrinken (“to shrink”).
The sense “psychologist, psychotherapist” is a clipping of head-shrinker.

Coordinate term: shrinkette

You need to see a shrink, you crazy fool.

My shrink said that he was an enabler, bad for me.

I went to a shrink to analyze my dreams / She says it's lack of sex that's bringing me down

1994 August, Green Day (lyrics and music), “Basket Case” (track 7), in Dookie, Reprise Records:

"From behind the counter of this provincial train station coffee shop, Joanna was barista and unofficial shrink to wildly varied London-bound travellers," writes author Laline Paull. Confessions of a Barista on Platform 1 was published on February 9 by The Firle Press [...].

2021 March 10, “Stop & Examine”, in RAIL, number 926, page 70:

(slang, sometimes derogatory) A psychiatrist or psychotherapist.

психотерапевт

psychiatrist or therapist (informal, belittling)


accountant

desctree

→ Dutch: accountant
→ Indonesian: akuntan

[əˈkæʊn.ʔn̩ʔ]

From Middle English, from Middle French acuntant. Equivalent to account + -ant. First attested in the mid 15th century.

One who renders account; one accountable.

cuntasóir

one who renders account; one accountable

A reckoner, or someone who maintains financial matters for a person(s).

rekenmeester

a reckoner, or someone who maintains financial matters for a person(s)

(accounting) One who is skilled in, keeps, or adjusts, accounts; an officer in a public office, who has charge of the accounts.

مُحَاسِب

one who is skilled in, keeps, or adjusts, accounts

Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis
When I was dead broke, man, I couldn't picture this
50-inch screen, money-green leather sofa
Got two rides, a limousine with a chauffeur
Phone bill about two G's flat
No need to worry, my accountant handles that
And my whole crew is loungin'
Celebratin' every day, no more public housin'

1994, 2:40 from the start, in Juicy (Hip Hop), spoken by The Notorious B.I.G.:

(accounting) One whose profession includes organizing, maintaining and auditing the records of another. The records are usually, but not always, financial records.

llogaritar

one whose profession includes organizing, maintaining and auditing the records of another

(euphemistic) A sex worker, particularly one who does not want to be publicized as one


general

en-noun

general (countable and uncountable, plural generals)

From Middle English general, in turn from Anglo-Norman general, generall, Middle French general, and their source, Latin generālis, from genus (“class, kind”) + -ālis (“-al”); thus morphologically parallel with, and a doublet of, generic.

general of the air force
general of the air force

(military) The holder of a senior military title, originally designating the commander of an army and now a specific rank falling under field marshal (in the British army) and below general of the army or general of the air force in the US army and air forces.

My general is sister to your second housemaid.

1918 March, Rebecca West [pseudonym; Cicily Isabel Fairfield], chapter I, in The Return of the Soldier, 1st US edition, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 18:

(colloquial, now historical) A general servant; a maid with no specific duties.


president

From Old French president, from Latin praesidēns (“presiding over; president, leader”) (accusative: praesidentem). The Latin word is the substantivized present active participle of the verb praesideō (“preside over”). The verb is composed from prae (“before”) and sedeō (“sit”). The original meaning of the verb is 'to sit before' in the sense of presiding at a meeting. A secondary meaning of the verb is 'to command, to govern'. So praesidēns means 'the presiding one on a meeting' or 'governor, commander'.

der

Well, nobody else can make a decision but me because I was the President and the final decision comes to the President, you know. I used to have a sign on my desk that said, "The Buck Stops Here." The buck stops at the president's desk when he's president of the United States, and he either makes the decisions or he lets them go by default, and you can't afford to do that when you're president.

1965, Harry S. Truman, 0:20 from the start, in MP2002-401 Former President Truman Discusses "The Buck Stops Here", Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives Identifier: 595162:

[…] to change the pattern of the last 220 years of only voting for a white male president, and elect a woman president […]

2007, Benjamin Camins, Hillary Is the Best Choice, Page 144

The vast majority of presidents have been male.

глава́ госуда́рства m or f (glavá gosudárstva, literally “head of state”)

སྲིད་འཛིན (srid 'dzin, literally “dominion-holder”)

In presidential republics, the head of government and head of state.

Primary leader of a corporation. Not to be confused with CEO, which is a related but separate position that is sometimes held by a different person.


king

Tok Pisin: king

desc

⇒ American Sign Language: K@Shoulder K@Abdomen

→ Burmese: ကင် (kang)

→ Isubu: kinge

→ Japanese: キング (kingu)

→ Korean: 킹 (king)

→ Maori: kingi

→ Marshallese: kiin̄

→ Thai: คิง (king)

From Middle English king, kyng, from Old English cyng, cyning (“king”), from Proto-West Germanic *kuning, from Proto-Germanic *kuningaz, *kunungaz (“king”), equivalent to kin + -ing. Doublet of cyning and knez.
Cognate with Scots keeng (“king”), North Frisian köning (“king”), West Frisian kening (“king”), Dutch koning (“king”), Low German Koning, Köning (“king”), German König (“king”), Danish konge (“king”), Norwegian konge, Swedish konung, kung (“king”), Icelandic konungur, kóngur (“king”), Polish ksiądz (“priest”), Russian князь (knjazʹ, “prince”), Old Church Slavonic кънѧѕь (kŭnędzĭ), Romanian chinez, Finnish kuningas (“king”), Estonian kuningas, Ingrian kunigas, Karelian kuninkas, Livvi kuńingas, Ludian kuńingas, Veps kuningaz, Võro kuning and Votic kunikaz. Eclipsed non-native Middle English roy (“king”) (Early Modern English roy), borrowed from Old French roi, rei, rai (“king”).
The verb is inherited from Middle English kyngen, *kingen (“To perform the duties of a king”), itself from the noun king, kyng.

Audio — the king

акрал

a male of a royal family who is the supreme ruler of his nation

in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king

Henry VIII was the king of England from 1509 to 1547.

A male monarch; a man who heads a monarchy; in an absolute monarchy, the supreme ruler of his nation.

(chess) The principal chess piece, that players seek to threaten with unavoidable capture to result in a victory by checkmate. It is often the tallest piece, with a symbolic crown with a cross at the top.


king

en-verb

king (third-person singular simple present kings, present participle kinging, simple past and past participle kinged)

kings (present singular third-person)
kinging (participle present)
kinged (participle past)
kinged (past)

Audio — the king

The seating arrangement of the temple was the Almanach de Gotha of Congregation Emanu-el. Old Ben Reitman, patriarch among the Jewish settlers of Winnebago, who had come over an immigrant youth, and who now owned hundreds of rich farm acres, besides houses, mills and banks, kinged it from the front seat of the center section.

1917, Edna Ferber, Fanny Herself, page 32:

To assume or pretend preeminence (over); to lord it over.

If the machine does this, it will lose only one point, and as it is not looking far enough ahead, it cannot see that it has not prevented its opponent from kinging but only postponed the evil day.

1957, Bertram Vivian Bowden, editor, Faster Than Thought: A Symposium on Digital Computing Machines, page 302:

I was about to make a move that would corner a piece that she was trying to get kinged, but I slid my checker back[…].

1986, Rick DeMarinis, The Burning Women of Far Cry, page 100:

To promote a piece of draughts/checkers that has traversed the board to the opposite side, that piece subsequently being permitted to move backwards as well as forwards.

Through the ex-centric diaspora, kinging in postcolonial Australia has become a site of critical hybridity where diasporic female masculinities have emerged through the contestations of "home" and "host" cultures.

2008, Audrey Yue, “King Victoria: Asian Drag Kings, Postcolonial Female Masculinity, and Hybrid Sexuality in Australia”, in Fran Martin, Peter Jackson, Audrey Yue, Mark McLelland, editors, AsiaPacifQueer: Rethinking Genders and Sexualities, page 266:


queen

Tok Pisin: kwin

desc

⇒ American Sign Language: G@Shoulder-PalmDown G@Abdomen-PalmDown

→ Burmese: ကွင်း (kwang:)

→ German: Queen

→ Japanese: クイーン (kuīn), クィーン (kwīn)

→ Korean: 퀸 (kwin)

→ Marshallese: kwiin

→ Sikaiana: kuini

→ Spanish: cuina

→ Thai: ควีน (kwiin)

From Middle English quene, queen, cwen, from Old English cwēn (“queen”), from Proto-West Germanic *kwāni, from Proto-Germanic *kwēniz (“woman”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷénh₂s (“woman”).
Cognate with Scots queen, wheen (“queen”), Old Saxon quān ("wife"; > Middle Low German quene (“elderly woman”)), Dutch kween (“woman past child-bearing age”), Swedish kvinna (“woman”), Norwegian kvinne (“woman”), Danish kvinde (“woman”), Icelandic kvon (“wife”), Gothic 𐌵𐌴𐌽𐍃 (qēns, “wife”), Norwegian dialectal kvån (“wife”). Related to and possibly merged with and/or absorbed some senses of English quean, from Middle English quene, from Old English cwene (“woman; female serf, quean”), see quean. Generally eclipsed non-native Middle English regina (“queen”), borrowed from Latin rēgīna (“queen”) (see Modern English regina). Doublet of quean and gyne.

gloss

"wife"; > Middle Low German <i class="Latn mention" lang="gml">quene</i> (“elderly woman”)

cog

Holonym: royal family

But our mercifull Queene Elizabeth hath not burned the popiſh prieſtes on the alters where they committed idolatrie in ſaying of Maſſe, and worſhipped a piece of breade for the bodie of Chriſte (which ſhee might haue done if ſhee would) and yet you count not her for a godly and mercifull Queene.

1582, Thomas Lupton, The Christian Against the Jesuite, London, retrieved 2022-01-14, page 50v:

In 1952, at the last accession, there were only eight members of the new entity taking shape in the outline of the British Empire. The Queen was the head of state in seven of them, and she was proclaimed Head of the Commonwealth to accommodate India’s lone status as a republic.

2017 March 17, Sam Knight, “‘London Bridge Is Down’: The Secret Plan for the Days After the Queen’s Death”, in The Guardian, London, retrieved 2022-01-16:

[…] and yet I will not ſay but amongſt duſt there is Pearle found, and in hard rockes Dyamonds of great value, and ſo amongſt many women there are ſome good, as that gracious and glorious Queene of all woman kinde the Virgin Mary the mother of al bliſſe, what wun her honour, but an humble minde and her paines and loue vnto our Sauiour Chriſt.

1620, Thomas Tell-Troth [pseudonym of Joseph Swetnam], The Araignment of Lewd, Idle, Froward, and Unconstant Women: Or the Vanitie of Them, Choose You Whether, London, published 1807, retrieved 2022-01-14:

A woman whose pre-eminence, power, or forcefulness is comparable to that of a queen.

(Christianity) The Virgin Mary (especially in formulations such as Queen of Heaven, Queen of Glory).


quack

en-verb

quack (third-person singular simple present quacks, present participle quacking, simple past and past participle quacked)

quacks (present singular third-person)
quacking (participle present)
quacked (participle past)
quacked (past)

From Middle English *quacken, queken (“to croak like a frog; make a noise like a duck, goose, or quail”), from quack, qwacke, quek, queke (“quack”, interjection and noun), also kek, keke, whec-, partly of imitative origin and partly from Middle Dutch quacken (“to croak, quack”), from Old Dutch *kwaken (“to croak, quack”), from Proto-West Germanic *kwakōn, from Proto-Germanic *kwakaną, *kwakōną (“to croak”), of imitative origin. Cognate with Saterland Frisian kwoakje, kwaakje (“to quack”), Middle Low German quaken (“to quack, croak”), German quaken (“to quack, croak”), Danish kvække (“to croak”), Swedish kväka (“to croak, quackle”), Norwegian kvekke (“to croak”), Icelandic kvaka (“to twitter, chirp, quack”).

cog

(intransitive) Of a queen bee: to make a high-pitched sound during certain stages of development.


quack

Clipping of quacksalver (see there for more), of Dutch origin; ultimately related to Etymology 1 above.

հեքիմ

fraudulent or incompetent doctor of medicine

That doctor is nothing but a lousy quack!

1662, Rump: or an Exact Collection of the Choycest Poems and Songs Relating to Late Times, Vol. II, by ‘the most Eminent Wits’
Tis hard to say, how much these Arse-wormes do urge us, We now need no Quack but these Jacks for to purge us, …

After ſome Months, the Quack gets privately to Town, [...]

‘if we are ourselves valets, there shall ‘exist no hero for us; we shall not know the hero when we see him;’ - we shall take the quack for a hero; and cry, audibly through all ballot-boxes and machinery whatsoever, Thou art he; be thou King over us!

1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “ch. 8, The Electon”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book II (The Ancient Monk):

The advertising quack who wearies / With tales of countless cures, / His teeth, I've enacted, / Shall all be extracted / By terrified amateurs.

1885, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, composer, “A More Humane Mikado”, in […] The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu, London: Chappel & Co., […], →OCLC, Act II, page 36:

Polly (to security guard, referring to Dr. Feingarten): Are you going to let that shyster in there?
Dr. Feingarten: I could sue you, Polly. A shyster is a disreputable lawyer. I'm a quack.

"I don't want to get into specifics, but when I was born, my parts were considered... ambiguous. The quack of a doctor that delivered me, had trouble assigning a gender. So at his recommendation - and surgical intervention - I was raised as a boy."

2017 March 1, Jocelyn Samara D., Rain (webcomic), Comic 920 - Quack:

(derogatory) A fraudulent healer, especially a bombastic peddler in worthless treatments, a doctor who makes false diagnoses for monetary benefit, or an untrained or poorly trained doctor who uses fraudulent credentials to attract patients

The very quaik of faſhions, the very hee that / VVeares a Steletto on his chinne.

c. 1635–1636 (date written), Iohn Ford [i.e., John Ford], The Fancies, Chast and Noble: […], London: […] E[lizabeth] P[urslowe] for Henry Seile, […], published 1638, →OCLC, Act III, page 32:

(figuratively, derogatory) Any similar charlatan or incompetent professional.

That quack wants me to quit smoking, eat less, and start exercising. The nerve!

(humorous slang, mildly derogatory) Any doctor.


quack

Seek out for Plants with Signatures
To Quack of Universal Cures

1684, Samuel Butler, Hudibras, London, Part 3, Canto 1, p. 18:

(obsolete) To make vain and loud pretensions.


mikado

en-noun

mikado (countable and uncountable, plural mikados)

Borrowed from Japanese 御門 (mikado), from 御 (mi, “honorable”) + 門 (kado, “gate, portal”).

com

A game of skill, in which identically shaped (but differently colored and valued) wooden sticks must be removed from a pile without disturbing the remaining stack.


astronaut

/ˈæstɹəˌnɔːt/

/ˈæstɹəˌnɔt/

/ˈæstɹəˌnɑt/

From astro- + -naut. Coined from Ancient Greek ἄστρον (ástron, “star”) and ναύτης (naútēs, “sailor”).

astronout

member of the crew of a spaceship or other spacecraft, or someone trained for that purpose — see also cosmonaut

(Hong Kong) A person (typically man) working abroad away from their family.


chairperson

en-noun

chairperson (plural chairpersons or chairpeople)

chairpersons (plural)
chairpeople (plural)

From chair + person, after chairman and chairwoman.

She was the chairperson of the board and she presided over the meeting.

A chairman or chairwoman, someone who presides over a meeting, board, etc.

voorsitter

a person who presides over a meeting, a board


minister

Pijin: minista

→ Hausa: ministà

From Middle English ministre, from Old French ministre, from Latin minister (“an attendant, servant, assistant, a priest's assistant or other under official”), from minor (“less”) + -ter; see minor. Doublet of Minorite.

der

The minister said a prayer on behalf of the entire congregation.

(Protestantism) A person who is trained to preach, to perform religious ceremonies, and to afford pastoral care at a Protestant church.

predikant

person who is trained to perform religious ceremonies at a Protestant church


priest

From Middle English prest, preest, from Old English prēost (“priest”), from Late Latin presbyter, from Ancient Greek πρεσβύτερος (presbúteros), from πρέσβυς (présbus, “elder, older”). Reinforced in Middle English by Old French prestre, also from Latin presbyter. Doublet of presbyter and prester.

The priest at the Catholic church heard his confession.

The Shinto priest burnt incense for his ancestors.

The Israelite priests were descended from Moses' brother Aaron.

It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.

1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

A religious clergyman (clergywoman, clergyperson) who is trained to perform services or sacrifices at a church or temple.

كَاهِن

generic term - for example for the “High Priest” of Judaism or Samaritanism; not used in Christianity

Pfaffe (jeder Christenmann sei ein Pfaffe)

Pfäffin (jedes Christenweib eine Pfäffin)

ксёндз

Polish Catholic priest (sometimes used in Catholic churches in Belarus and Ukraine)


handmaid

Inherited from Middle English handemayde, hand-maide, handmaide, handmayd, hand mayde, hand-mayde, haundmaid, hondemayde, hondmaide, hond-mayde. By surface analysis, compound of hand + maid, the first component in the sense of "ready at hand".

surf

And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 2:18:

(now historical) A maid that waits at hand; a female servant or attendant.


AB

en-noun

AB (countable and uncountable, plural ABs)

In this Ordinance, unless the context otherwise requires— A.B. means an able-bodied seaman […]

Section 2(1), Merchant Shipping (Seafarers) Ordinance (Cap. 478)

Initialism of able seaman; able-bodied seaman.


MC

MC (countable and uncountable, plural MCs or MC's)

Alternative form: M.C.

master of ceremonies
master of ceremonies#English

Three MC's and one DJ / We be getting down with no delay

1999, “Three MC’s and One DJ”, in Hello Nasty, performed by Beastie Boys:


MC

en-verb

MC (third-person singular simple present MCs, present participle MCing, simple past and past participle MCed)

MCs (present singular third-person)
MCing (participle present)
MCed (participle past)
MCed (past)

master of ceremonies
master of ceremonies

To emcee, to act as a master of ceremonies.


gaffer

Likely a contraction of godfather, but with the vowels influenced by grandfather. Compare French compère, German Gevatter.

If thou return not, Gammer o'er her pail
Will sing in sorrow, 'neath the brinded cow,
And Gaffer sigh over his nut-brown ale […]

1845, Thomas Cooper, The Purgatory of Suicides, Book the Fourth, Stanza IX:

(colloquial) An old person, usually a man.


cadre

Borrowed from French cadre, from Italian quadro (“framed painting, square”), from Latin quadrum, from quattuor (“four”).

der

A small group of people specially trained for a particular purpose or profession.


grafter

(slang) Someone who works in market stalls.


businessman

→ French: businessman

→ Irish: fear gnó (calque)

→ Macedonian: би́знисмен (bíznismen)

→ Polish: biznesmen

→ Romanian: businessman

desctree

→ Russian: бизнесме́н (biznɛsmén)
→ Armenian: բիզնեսմեն (biznesmen)

→ Serbo-Croatian:

Cyrillic script: бѝзнисмен

Latin script: bìznismen

→ Slovak: biznismen

From business + -man. Displaced earlier merchant, ultimately from Latin mercāns (“merchant, buyer”).

I'm not a businessman, I'm a business, man

2005, “Diamonds From Sierra Leone (Remix)”, in Late Registration, performed by Kanye West ft. Jay-Z:

BERTIE Ahern's explanation that he received an envelope stuffed with £8,000 in cash following a whip-around by a group of Manchester-based businessmen was branded untrue by the Mahon Tribunal.

2012 March 23, Colm Kelpie, “Claim of 'whip-around' by friends rubbished”, in Irish Independent:

Needless to say the obituaries for Hefner, even if they acknowledge the seaminess, have been full of encomia for his great deeds: Hef the vanquisher of puritanism, Hef the political progressive, Hef the great businessman and all the rest.

2017 September 30, Ross Douthat, “Speaking Ill of Hugh Hefner”, in The New York Times:

A man in business, one who works at a commercial institution.

biznesmen

a man in business, one who works at a commercial institution


man-of-war

Samoan Plantation Pidgin: manua

Tok Pisin: manua

→ Dhivehi: މަނަވަރު (manavaru)

→ Swahili: manowari

Chatto & Windus
Isla Contoy
National Maritime Museum

From Late Middle English man of wer, man of werre (“fighting man, soldier”). It has been suggested that sense 2 (“powerful armed naval vessel”) derives from the fact that such vessels were manned by men-of-war (“soldiers”; sense 1).

any of a number of seabirds, especially one which attacks other seabirds for their food

not used in Finnish (no equivalent collective term; see the translation tables below)

The LORDE is the right man of warre, LORDE is his name. The charettes of Pharaor his power, hath he caſt in to the ſee.

1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble, […] (Coverdale Bible), [Cologne or Marburg]: [Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?], →OCLC, Exodus xv:[3], folio xxx, recto, column 1:

In an hour more, the whole house was awakened by a violent noise of howling, curses, and pots clattering to and fro. […] [T]he landlord was undermost, and the Ensign's arms were working up and down his face and body like the flaps of a paddle-wheel: the man of war had clearly the best of it.

1839 May – 1840 February, Ikey Solomons, Jun. [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], “Catherine: A Story. Chapter VI. The Adventures of the Ambassador, Mr. Macshane.”, in Catherine: A Story. Little Travels. The Fitz-Boodle Papers. etc. etc. (Works of William Makepeace Thackeray in Twenty-four Volumes; 22), London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1869, →OCLC, page 79:

[T]he distinguished man of war, and worshipful scholar, Master Bloxham, was now promoted to take the tolls, and catch all the rebels around our part.

1869, R[ichard] D[oddridge] Blackmore, chapter XVI, in Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor. […], volume III, London: Sampson Low, Son, & Marston, […], →OCLC, page 241:

(military, archaic except humorous) A man whose occupation is fighting in wars; a soldier, a warrior.

[W]e cannot be ſecure, vvhile ſuch huge Fleets of Men of VVar, both Spaniſh, French, Dutch, and Dunkirkeers, ſome of them laden vvith Ammunition, Men, Arms, and Armies, do daily ſail on our Seas, and confront the Kings Chambers; […]

1633 February 9 (Gregorian calendar), James Howell, “XI. To Sir Arthur Ingram, at York.”, in Epistolæ Ho-Elianæ. Familiar Letters Domestic and Forren. […], 3rd edition, volume I, London: […] Humphrey Mos[e]ley, […], published 1655, →OCLC, section VI, page 233:

In the lobby I spoke with Mr. George Montagu, and advised about a ship to carry my Lord Hinchingbroke and the rest of the young gentlemen to France, and they have resolved of going in a hired vessell from Rye, and not in a man of war.

1661 August 6 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “July 27th, 1661”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume II, London: George Bell & Sons […]; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1893, →OCLC, page 71:

[W]e ventured up to the mouth of the inner harbour, […] the entrance of the harbour blocked up by ſeveral old galleons and tvvo men of vvar that the enemy had ſunk in the channel.

1748, [Tobias Smollett], chapter XXXIII, in The Adventures of Roderick Random. […], volume I, London: […] [William Strahan] for J[ohn] Osborn […], →OCLC, page 292:

[N]o wonder that, although junior partner, and as modest as he was high-spirited, he trod his counting-house floor with a step vigorous and springy as the young captain of a man-of-war, for he felt that he was an emancipated slave; nay, more, a British merchant.

1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVIII, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 229:

Well, I've not served the king for seven years for nothing, […] and I hope, sir, not heard the bullets whistling about my head like hail in a hail storm, without knowing how to take care of my ship. I like every thing man-of-war fashion, and then one's always prepared.

1840, [Frederick] Marryat, “More Cry than Wool—Bramble would Dig a Pit for Another and Tumbles in along with Him”, in Poor Jack. […], London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longmans, […], →OCLC, page 240:

And there is kind of no ship or boat, built to swim in the sea, […] which does not lie at anchor in the Thames, somewhere between Greenwich Reach and London Bridge. […] [A]lso His Majesty's men-of-war—frigates, sloops-of-war, cutters, fire-ships, and every kind of vessel employed to beat off the enemies of the country, who would prey upon our commerce and destroy our merchantmen.

1887, Walter Besant, “How Jack Came to Deptford”, in The World Went Very Well Then […], volume I, London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, page 52:

His little man-o'-war top and unmentionables were full of sand but Cissy was a past mistress in the art of smoothing over life's tiny troubles and and^([sic]) very quickly not one speck of sand was to be seen on his smart little suit.

1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 13: Nausicaa]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 332:

(military, nautical, chiefly historical) A powerful armed naval vessel, primarily one armed with cannon and propelled by sails; a warship.

[H]ee is firſt broken to the Sea in the Herring mans Skiffe or Cockboate, vvhere hauing learned to brooke all vvaters, and drinke as he can out of a tarrie Canne, and eate poore Iohn out of ſvvuttie platters vvhen he may get it vvithout butter or muſtard, there is no ho vvith him but once hartned thus, hee vvill needes be a man of vvarre, or a Tobaco taker, and vveare a ſiluer VVhiſtle.

1599, [Thomas] Nashe, Nashes Lenten Stuffe, […], London: […] [Thomas Judson and Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and C[uthbert] B[urby] […], →OCLC, page 27:

(obsolete, rare) In full man-of-war's-man: a sailor serving on board an armed naval vessel.

magnificent frigatebird
magnificent frigatebird

Fregata magnificens
Fregata magnificens#Translingual

Short for man-of-war bird or (obsolete) man-of-war hawk: any of a number of seabirds, especially one which attacks other seabirds to take their food.

(specifically, archaic) A frigatebird (family Fregatidae), especially the magnificent frigatebird (Fregata magnificens).

Stercorarius parasiticus
Stercorarius parasiticus#Translingual

(specifically, US) The Arctic skua (Stercorarius parasiticus).

военен

man fighting in a war — see also soldier, warrior

But there is a Bird they call, a Man of vvar, and he is much bigger than a Heron, and flies out to Sea upon diſcoveries, (for they never light upon the Sea) to ſee vvhat ſhips are comming to the Iland; and vvhen they return the Ilanders look out, and ſay, A ſhip is comming, and finde it true.

1657, Richard Ligon, “[Birds]”, in A True & Exact History of the Island of Barbados. […], London: […] Humphrey Moseley, […], →OCLC, page 61:

man-of-war bird or

Portuguese man-of-war
Portuguese man-of-war#English

Physalia physalis
Physalia physalis#Translingual

Short for Portuguese man-of-war (“Physalia physalis, a jellyfish-like marine cnidarian consisting of a floating colony of hydrozoans attached to a float”)


maid

From Middle English mayde, maide, abbreviation of Middle English maiden from Old English mæġden (Old English mǣden). Ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *magaþ, from Proto-Germanic *magaþs (“girl, virgin”).

She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace, […]; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid,[…]—all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth, and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher.

1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter II, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

A female servant or cleaner (short for maidservant).


prime minister

This is a list of all prime ministers since Churchill.

Yesterday we had a visit from the Prime Minister / prime minister. (See usage notes below.)

The chief member of the cabinet and head of the government, especially in a parliamentary democracy; often the leader of the majority party.

eerste minister

второ́е лицо́ n (vtoróje licó, literally “the second person”)


nurse

→ Bengali: নার্স (narśo)

→ Cebuano: nars

→ Danish: nurse

→ Hausa: nâs

→ Hindi: नर्स (nars)

→ Indonesian: ners

→ Kalenjin: nas

→ Kamba: nasi

→ Limburgish: nurs

→ Luo: nas

→ Maltese: ners

→ Nepali: नर्स (narsa)

→ Romanian: nursă

→ Tagalog: nars

→ Urdu: نرس (nars)

→ Welsh: nyrs

From Middle English norice, from Old French norrice, from Late Latin nūtrīcia, noun based on Latin nūtrīcius (“that which nourishes”), from nūtrīx (“wet nurse”), from nūtriō (“to suckle”).

verpleegkundige

person trained to provide care for the sick


entertainer

A person who entertains others, esp. as a profession, as a singer, actor, presenter, dancer, musician, magician, comedian, etc.


linguist

Etymology tree
Latin lingua
English -ist
English linguist
Borrowed from Latin lingua (“language”) + -ist.

etymon

The words of these songs were either without meaning, or derived from an idiom with which Watt, a very fair linguist, had no acquaintance.

1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Grove Press, published 1959, →OCLC:


bull

en-noun

bull (countable and uncountable, plural bulls)

bear

investor who sells in anticipation of a fall in prices

From Middle English bole, bul, bule, from a conflation of Old English bula (“bull, steer”) and Old Norse boli, both from Proto-Germanic *bulô (“bull”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰl̥no-, from *bʰel- (“to blow, swell up”). Cognate with West Frisian bolle, Dutch bul, German Low German Bull, German Bulle, Swedish bulla; also Old Irish ball (“limb”), Latin follis (“bellows, leather bag”), Thracian βόλινθος (“wild bull”), Macedonian вол (vol, "ox"), Slovene vol ("ox"), Albanian buall (“buffalo”) or related bolle (“testicles”), Ancient Greek φαλλός (phallós, “penis”).

rozzer. See also Thesaurus:police officer

You never waited until the train stopped to get off. The railroad bulls were waiting at the stops searching for freeloaders.

2021, Rickie Lee Jones, Last Chance Texaco, Grive Press 2022, p. 93

The Bat—they called him the Bat.[…]. He'd never been in stir, the bulls had never mugged him, he didn't run with a mob, he played a lone hand, and fenced his stuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face.

1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, chapter I, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 01:

(US, slang) A policeman; a detective; a railroad security guard.


bull

From Middle English bulle, from Old French bulle, from Latin bulla, from Gaulish. Doublet of bull (“bubble”) and bulla.

A papal bull, an official document or edict from the Pope.


conductor

Borrowed from Middle French conductour, from Old French conduitor, from Latin conductor.

(music) A person who conducts an orchestra, choir or other music ensemble; a professional whose occupation is conducting.


actor

→ Scottish Gaelic: actair

→ Welsh: actor

Inherited from Middle English actour, from Anglo-Norman actor, Middle French actor, and their source, Latin āctor (“doer”), from agō (“to do”). Equivalent to act + -or. Cognate with Ancient Greek ἄκτωρ (áktōr, “leader”), from ἄγω (ágō, “lead, carry, convey, bring”).

Seems like everyone's an actor / Or they're an actor's best friend / I wonder what was wrong to begin with / That they should all have to pretend

1991, Ani DiFranco (lyrics and music), “Anticipate”, in Not So Soft:

Exactly. Marijuana is something we just all gradually decided is okay, like Mark Wahlberg as a serious actor. “You know what? Sure, I’ve decided I’m fine with that.”

2017 April 2, “Marijuana”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 4, episode 7, John Oliver (actor), via HBO:

"I'm an actress -- actor, as we have to say these days."

2010, Peter Corris, Torn Apart, Allen and Unwin, page 88:

A person who acts a part in a theatrical play or (later) in film or television; a dramatic performer.

jilaa

person who performs in a theatrical play or film — see also actress


comic

From Latin comicus, from Ancient Greek κωμικός (kōmikós, “relating to comedy”), from κῶμος (kômos, “carousal”).

der

She started out as a joke-writer on the radio, and first performed as a comic at the ages of 30.


secretary

→ Punjabi: ਸਕੱਤਰ (sakattar)

From Medieval Latin secrētārius (“one entrusted with secrets”), from Latin secrētus (“private, secret”), past participle of secernere (“to separate, set apart”), from se- (“apart”) + cernere (“to separate”).

I have a personal secretary to help me organize my clients.

The secretary at the school is in charge of communication between parents, students, and staff.

en:person keeping records and handling clerical work

A person who keeps records, takes notes and handles general clerical work.


whistler

From Middle English whisteler, whistlar, whystelare, from Old English hwistlere (“a player on a flute; a piper”), equivalent to whistle + -er.

inh

Someone or something that whistles, or who plays a whistle as a musical instrument.

Any of several passerine birds of the genera Pachycephala and Coracornis, of Australasia and the western Pacific.

A goldeneye (any of certain ducks of genus Bucephala).


stevedore

French: stevedore

From Spanish estibador (cognate with Portuguese estivador, and compare Medieval Latin stivator), from estivar, estibar (“to load”), from Medieval Latin stivare, stīpāre (compare Italian stivare, stipare), the present active infinitive of stīpō (“to cram, fill, stuff”), derived from Proto-Indo-European *steypos, which is from the root Proto-Indo-European *steyp-. It is cognate with stiff through Proto-Indo-European.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word was attested in 1788 in the early form stowadore (see the quotations). It was included in the 1st edition of Webster’s Dictionary (1828) as stevedore.

Stowadores.

1788 July 2, The Massachusetts Spy, Boston, Mass.: Zechariah Fowle, Isaiah Thomas, →OCLC, page 3:

The work of discharging and loading cargoes other than coal is undertaken by master stevedores, who are employed by the shipowner.

1945 January and February, T. F. Cameron, “Dock Working”, in Railway Magazine, page 12:

The hatch foreman or gang boss supervises the longshore gang and directs their loading and discharge efforts. He assigns each member of the gang to a specific job, usually the same job each day or each shift; discusses operational problems with the stevedore superintendent who is in charge of the entire ship operation; inspects the stowage area; supervises the positioning and rigging of booms, etc. The stevedore superintendent and hatch foreman occupy strategic positions from a safety viewpoint.

1956, Maritime Cargo Transportation Conference (U.S.), “The Longshore Industry and Its Hazards”, in Longshore Safety Survey: A Survey of Occupational Hazards in the Stevedore Industry: By the Maritime Cargo Transportation Conference. As Part of a Program Undertaken at the Request of the Departments of Defense and of Commerce (National Research Council; publication 459), Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences; National Research Council, →OCLC, page 15:

Stevedores differed from most other strategically placed port workers in that they were to some extent mobile. […] A master stevedore would contract to load vessels for shipping-lines whose vessels might be berthed at a number of docks, or even in the river. In following up the work of their employers stevedores might be required to work sometimes at the Victoria Dock, sometimes at the East India Dock, and so on.

1969, John [Christopher] Lovell, “The Earliest Unions, 1870–89”, in Stevedores and Dockers: A Study of Trade Unionism in the Port of London, 1870–1914, London: Macmillan and Co., →DOI, →OCLC, page 77:

For the past several years the stevedore [footnote: The term "stevedore" commonly refers to the contractor who employs longshoremen, who physically load and unload ships' cargo], one of the newest members of the maritime family, has found himself drifting helplessly onto the rocks of legal peril. […] However, recent developments appear to offer the stevedore new hope that may in time result in judicial deliverance.

1970 March, R. Layton Mank, “The Stevedore: Hope for Rescue”, in American Bar Association Journal, volume 56, Chicago, Ill.: American Bar Association, →OCLC, page 254:

[T]he stevedore works for the account of he who has requested his services, and he is liable only to this person, who alone can bring an action as against him. Attempts to sidestep this statutory rule have been unsuccessful. For instance, a cargo owner tried to being a direct action as against a stevedore, who had been appointed by the sea carrier's agent in the port of loading and who had damaged the goods during loading. On the grounds that in appointing the stevedore this agent had acted on behalf of the cargo owner, the latter submitted that he had a direct contractual action ex lege as against the stevedore.

2003, Ralph De Wit, “The Concept of Statutory Rights of Action in Carriage of Goods”, in Eric Van Hooydonk, editor, English and Continental Maritime Law: After 115 Years of Maritime Law Unification: A Search for Differences between Common Law and Civil Law, Antwerp, Belgium, Apeldoorn, Netherlands: Maklu-Uitgevers, →ISBN, page 39:

A dockworker involved in loading and unloading cargo, or in supervising such work.


cook

Sranan Tongo: kukru (via cook room)

Aukan: kukuu

Tok Pisin: kuk

→ Norman: couque

→ Portuguese: cuca

→ Thai: กุ๊ก (gúk)

→ Tokelauan: kuka

From Middle English cook, from Old English cōc (“a cook”), from Latin cocus, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pekʷ- (“to cook, become ripe”).
Cognate with Low German kokk, Dutch kok, German Koch, Danish kok, Norwegian kokk, Swedish kock, Icelandic kokkur (“cook”). Also compare Proto-West Germanic *kokōn (“to cook”).

Audio (UK) "to cook"

some speakers from Northern England and Ireland

cuck (most accents without the foot-strut split)

I'm a terrible cook, so I eat a lot of frozen dinners.

Police found two meth cooks working in the illicit lab.

By late October, the pressure on the Dark Arrows' ecstasy cook had eased. Other suppliers had moved in with product.

Owsley Stanley was a pioneer LSD cook, and the Purple Owsley pill from his now-defunct lab was Dad's prized possession, a rare, potent, druggie collector's item, the alleged inspiration for the Hendrix song “Purple Haze.”

2011, Mackenzie Phillips, High on Arrival:

(slang) One who manufactures certain illegal drugs, especially meth.


cook

en-verb

cook (third-person singular simple present cooks, present participle cooking, simple past and past participle cooked)

cooks (present singular third-person)
cooking (participle present)
cooked (participle past)
cooked (past)
cook (infinitive)

→? Cantonese: 焗 (guk⁶)

→ Norman: coutchi

From Middle English coken, from the noun cook. In the slang sense of "proceed with some plan", coined by American rapper from California Lil B in 2010 and popularized in viral tweets and TikToks in mid-2022.

coinage

Audio (UK) "to cook"

there's more than one way to cook an egg

We had to deal with some problems at first, but now we're cooking.

My bar was built by Frazier, Gary Manson, Robert Feck, Jeff Picoli — that's who built my bar. When I hired those people, that's when my bar started cookin'. 'Cause Frazier gets along with anybody — he has a magnetic personality, and he can make the worst piece of shit feel like king for a day.

1977 August 27, Steve Savage, Susan "Suki" Eagan, “Everything You Wanted to Know About Suki, But Were Too Distracted In Chaps to Ask Her”, in Gay Community News, volume 5, number 8, page 9:

Asensio as AMF might just be the truth man. Bro is cooking and now he has added a goal to top it all off.

2023 April 2, @WolfRMFC, Twitter, archived from the original on 2023-10-05:

WAIT YOU'RE ACTUALLY COOKING RN. Emberwake ring. Quick math says that's about 21% more damage than just using tawhoa. Ring also gives fire damage and ignite chance, which is great.

2023 July 30, u/tokyo__driftwood, “How are we feeling about Earthquake ignite chieftain post-patch?”, in Reddit, r/PathOfExileBuilds, archived from the original on 2023-10-05:

With the shot clock winding down, LA's superstars got accustomed to deferring to [Austin] Reaves and letting him cook for either open jumpers or moves that ultimately led to and-one's and free-throw attempts.

2023 August 6, Noel Sanchez, “Lakers News: Re-Signed LA Starter Reveals He Was Prioritizing A Free Agency Return”, in Sports Illustrated, New York, N.Y.: Arena Group Holdings, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-10-05:

digging into a hole
dig oneself in a hole

(intransitive, slang, humorous) To proceed with some plan or course of action, or develop some train of thought towards its conclusion (whether this is advantageous, or comical, or digging into a hole).

(intransitive, slang, humorous) To proceed with some advantageous course of action; (more generally) to be successful.

The furlough of workers during The Lockdowns left many with a conspiracy bent ample time to cook.

(intransitive, slang, derogatory, Australia) To develop insane or fringe ideas.

Hol' up, let that boy cook!


anchor

→ Chuukese: angko

From Middle English anker, from Old English ancor, ancra, from Latin ancora, from (or cognate with) Ancient Greek ἄγκυρα (ánkura). The modern form is a sixteenth-century modification after the Medieval Latin spelling anchora. Doublet of ancora and anker.

(cricket) A batter who remains in for a long time.


poetess

/ˌpəʊ.ɪˈtɛs/

From poet + -ess. Compare Middle English poetresse (“poetess”).

The ancient poetess singeth, that Hesperus all things bringeth, / Smoothing the wearied mind: bring me my love, Rosalind.

1830, Alfred Tennyson, “Leonine Elegiacs”, in Juvenilia:


sovereign

en-adj

sovereign (comparative more sovereign, superlative most sovereign)

more sovereign (comparative)
most sovereign (superlative)

From Middle English sovereyn, from Old French soverain (whence also modern French souverain), from Vulgar Latin *superānus (compare Italian sovrano, Spanish soberano) from Latin super (“above”). Spelling influenced by folk-etymology association with reign. Doublet of soprano, from the same Latin root via Italian. See also suzerain, foreign.

We acknowledge him [God] our sovereign good.

1594–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, →OCLC, (please specify the page):

Predominant; greatest; utmost; paramount.


sovereign

→ Irish: sabhran

→ Russian: соверен (soveren)

→ Scottish Gaelic: sòbharan

→ Welsh: sofren

souverain

one who is not a subject to a ruler or nation

The petty ſtreames that paie a dailie det
 To their ſalt ſoveraigne with their freſh fals haſt,
 Adde to his flowe, but alter not his taſt.

1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC:

Is this the Region, this the Soil, the Clime,
 Said then the lost Archangel, this the seat
 That we must change for Heaven?, this mournful gloom
 For that celestial light? Be it so, since hee
 Who now is Sovran can dispose and bid
 What shall be right : fardest from him is best
 Whom reason hath equald, force hath made supream
 Above his equals. […]

1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 242-249:

No question is to be made but that the bed of the Missisippi^([sic]) belongs to the sovereign, that is, to the nation.

1785, Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia:

en:coin with nominal value of one pound sterling

A gold coin of the United Kingdom, with a nominal value of one pound sterling but in practice used as a bullion coin.

No, someone who wears loads of sovereigns as well loads of gold and has uh a curly perm and peroxide blonde hair, orange, orange sunbed skin and a fringe like this blow-dried to death, that’s a ‘scally’.

2004, December 11, "Birkenhead, Merseyside" BBC Voices recording (0:06:52)

No visible tattoos, sovereigns, mismatched jewellery, scrunchies, large clips or hoop earrings.

2011 July 1, Caroline Davies, “Harrods 'ladies' code' drives out sales assistant”, in The Guardian:

(UK, slang) A large, garish ring; a sovereign ring.


spaceman

I want to be a spaceman when I grow up.

(informal, childish) An astronaut, often a male astronaut.


drawer

Middle English drawer, from draw + -er (agent noun suffix). Attested from the 14th century.

/ˈdɹɔː.ə(ɹ)/

/ˈdɹɔːɹə(ɹ)/

There is no doubt that the stipulation of nonguarantee of an acceptance inserted in a bill of exchange by the drawer has the effect of excluding the liability of guarantee for the indorsers as well as for the drawer.

1913, United States Congressional Serial Set, volume 6526, page 276:

(banking) One who writes a bank draft, check/cheque, or promissory note.

出票人

one who writes a bank draft, check/cheque or promissory note

When the good lieutenant applied himself to the door, he applied himself likewise to the bell; and the drawer immediately attending, he dispatched him for a file of musqueteers and a surgeon.

1749, Henry Fielding, chapter XII, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book VII:

He came down to the Pied Horse Inn, where I was a drawer, at Newmarket, twice.

1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:

A barman; a person who draws the beer from the taps.

(mining, historical) A wagoner or person who pushes underground tubs.


violin

→ Japanese: バイオリン (baiorin)

→ Korean: 바이올린 (baiollin)

From Italian violino (“little viola”), from viola + -ino (forming diminutives).

The first violin often plays the lead melody lines in a string quartet.

(music, metonymically) The position of a violinist in an orchestra or group.


judge

→ Assamese: জজ (zoz)

→ Bengali: জজ (joj)

→ Hindustani:

Hindi: जज (jaj)

Urdu: جَج (jaj)

→ Odia: ଜଜ୍ (jaj)

→ Tamil: ஜட்ஜி (jaṭji)

→ Telugu: జడ్జ (jaḍja)

From Middle English juge, jugge, from Old French juge, from Latin iūdex. Displaced native Middle English deme (from Old English dēma (“judge”)) and demere (from Old English dēmere (“judge”)), see also deemer, deemster.

The parts of a judge in hearing are four: to direct the evidence; to moderate length, repetition, or impertinency of speech; to recapitulate, select, and collate the material points of that which hath been said; and to give the rule or sentence.

1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Judicature”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:

A public official whose duty it is to administer the law, especially by presiding over trials and rendering judgments; a justice.


doctor

Sranan Tongo: datra

Tok Pisin: dokta

→ Brunei Malay: doktor

→ Cebuano: doktor

→ Dari: داکتر (dâktar)

→ Ewe: ɖɔkta

→ Hausa: doktā̀

→ Hebrew: דוקטור (dóktor)

→ Bengali: ডাক্তার (ḍaktar)

→ Hindi: डॉक्टर (ḍŏkṭar)

→ Lote: dokta

→ Luo: dokta

→ Malay: doktor

→ Nepali: डाक्टर (ḍākṭar)

→⇒ Sidamo: doktorichcha

→ Swahili: daktari

desc

→ Thai: ดอกเตอร์ (dɔ́k-dtə̂ə)

→ Thai: ดอกเตอร์ (dɔ́k-dtə̂ə)

→ Unami: ntaktël

→ Urdu: ڈاکٹر (ḍākṭar)

→ Welsh: doctor

From Middle English doctor, doctour (“an expert, authority on a subject”), from Anglo-Norman doctour, from Latin doctor (“teacher”), from doceō (“I teach”). Displaced native Middle English lerare (“doctor, teacher”) (from Middle English leren (“to teach, instruct”) from Old English lǣran, lēran (“to teach, instruct, guide”), compare Old English lārēow (“teacher, master”)). Displaced Old English lǣċe (“doctor, physician”).

cog

Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine

Doctor of Science in Veterinary Medicine

A veterinarian; a medical practitioner who treats non-human animals.


salt

en-noun

salt (countable and uncountable, plural salts)

Bislama: sol

Tok Pisin: sol

PIE word
 *séh₂ls
From Middle English salt, from Old English sealt, from Proto-West Germanic *salt, from Proto-Germanic *saltą, from Proto-Indo-European *séh₂ls (“salt”). Doublet of sal, ultimately from Latin sāl (“salt”), which it superseded as the general term for "salt".

(cryptography) A sequence of random data added to plain text data (such as passwords or messages) prior to encryption or hashing, in order to make brute force decryption more difficult.

sůl

additional bytes inserted into an encryption

A person who seeks employment at a company in order to (once employed by it) help unionize it.

(historical, in the plural) Epsom salts or other salt used as a medicine.


salt

en-verb

salt (third-person singular simple present salts, present participle salting, simple past and past participle salted)

salts (present singular third-person)
salting (participle present)
salted (participle past)
salted (past)

The brine begins to salt.

(intransitive) To deposit salt as a saline solution.


whip

→ Irish: fuip

⇒ Jamaican Creole: wip

From Middle English whippen, wippen (“to flap violently”), from Middle Dutch wippen (“to swing, leap, dance, oscillate”) and Middle Low German wippen (“to move quickly”), from Proto-Germanic *wipjaną (“to move back and forth”). Some similarity to Sanskrit root वेप् (vep, “shake, flourish”), Latin vibrō (“I shake”). (See Swedish vippa and Danish vippe (“to shake”)).
The unetymological wh- is probably expressive of the sound of a whip; compare the same development in whisk and onomatopoeias such as whack and whoosh.
The political senses are from whipper-in (“huntsman who keeps the hounds from wandering”), 18th century hunting terminology.

der

Lord Carington […] led the way with his chestnuts, having a distinguished brother whip, Lord Londesborough, by his side.

1871, Baily's Magazine of Sports & Pastimes, volume 20, page 308:

(historical) A coach driver; a coachman.


emperor

From Middle English emperour, from Anglo-Norman emperour, from Latin imperātorem, derived from imperāre (“to command”). Doublet of imperator.

In 690 Wu usurped the throne and became Emperor herself, which proved a unique event in the history of China.

1994, Het Spinhuis, Transactions: Essays in Honor of Jeremy F. Boissevain:

After his death in 683 she ruled for seven years as regent and then, deposing her son, became emperor herself, the only woman in Chinese history to hold the title.

2002, The Heritage of World Civilizations: To 1700, page 226:

Empress, imperial regent, and even emperor herself (r. 797–802), Irene was an important and powerful figure at the Byzantine court in the late eighth and early ninth century.

2008, Encyclopedia of Barbarian Europe: Society in Transformation, page 211:

Originally the wife of the emperor, she engineered the imperial succession so that she could serve first as regent to a boy emperor and then as emperor herself.

2013, Voyages in World History, page 213:

Where is Sindbad? I have a summons for him direct from the galactic emperor herself. He is to be brought here immediately to give an explanation for his recent actions.

2016, Commander Pakydus, Sindbad & the 7 Galaxies:

Any monarch ruling an empire, irrespective of gender, with "empress" contrasting to mean the consort of an emperor.

The Investiture Controversy was a conflict between the Emperor and the Pope.

(political theory) Specifically, the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire; the world-monarch.

But marbles are not only used to play games: they are also traded. In this market, the value of the different kinds of marbles (oilies, emperors, etc.) is determined by local supply and demand and not by the price of the marbles […]

2001, Paul Webley, The economic psychology of everyday life, page 39:

A large, relatively valuable marble in children's games.

(entomology) Any of various large dragonflies of the cosmopolitan genus Anax.


empress

From Middle English emperice, emperesse, from Anglo-Norman and Old French empereriz, from Latin imperatrix, equivalent to emperor + -ess. Doublet of imperatrix. Compare modern French impératrice.

Sit downe by her: adorned with my Crowne,
As if thou wert the Empreſſe of the world.

c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene iii:

The female monarch (ruler) of an empire.

The wife or widow of an emperor or equated ruler.


monarch

From Middle French monarque, from Late Latin monarcha, from Ancient Greek μονάρχης (monárkhēs), variant of μόναρχος (mónarkhos, “sole ruler”), from μόνος (mónos, “only”) + ἀρχός (arkhós, “leader”), equivalent to mono- + -arch.
* (butterfly): See monarch butterfly.

Never was monarch better fear'd and lov'd / Than is your Majesty.

1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], page 25:

constitutional monarchy
constitutional monarchy

The ruler of an absolute monarchy or the head of state of a constitutional monarchy.

But I know the monarchs are close by, their orange-and-black wings folded, dusted, and baked by heat, ready to flee south.

2019, Ocean Vuong, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, Jonathan Cape, page 223:

Danaus plexippus
Danaus plexippus#Translingual

A monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) and others of genus Danaus, found primarily in North America.


head of state

en-noun

head of state (plural heads of state or (rare) heads of states)

heads of state (plural)
heads of states (plural rare)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Qwertygiy-head of state.wav

The chief public representative of a nation having duties, privileges and responsibilities varying greatly depending on the constitutional rules; a monarch in a monarchy, and often styled president in a republic, but variations such as collegiality exist.

staatshoof

the chief public representative of a nation


washer

From Middle English wasshere, wassher, equivalent to wash + -er. Cognate with Dutch wasser, German Wäscher.

A £1.2 million carriage washer has opened at Norwich Crown Point, enabling Greater Anglia to clean its 58 Stadler trains. It is one of two new washers (the other is for '720s' at Southend), […]

2021 January 13, “GA opens new carriage washers”, in RAIL, issue 922, page 15:

Something that washes; especially an appliance such as a washing machine or dishwasher.

A person who washes (especially clothes) for a living; a washerman or washerwoman.

obsessive-compulsive disorder
obsessive-compulsive disorder

A person who washes his or her hands compulsively, as a symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder.


washer

Unclear. First recorded in the 14th century.

A flat annulus, placed beneath a nut or at some joint, to distribute pressure, alleviate friction, provide directionally differentiated friction (e.g. making the nut turn counter-clockwise only with difficulty), or prevent leakage.

blotter

flat annulus to distribute pressure or to alleviate friction


prostitute

From Latin prōstitūtus, past participle of prōstituō, from prō̆ (“for, before”) + statuō (“to set up, to erect”).

af

Madonna would do anything for money, you know, she's a total prostitute. And I've got nothing against prostitutes.

2019 May 18, Jack Shepherd, quoting Bobby Gillespie, “Primal Scream frontman calls Madonna a 'total prostitute' for performing at Eurovision in Israel”, in The Independent:

A person who does, or offers to do, a demeaning or dishonourable activity for money or personal gain; someone who acts in a dishonourable way for personal advantage.

pekerja seks komersial

literal meaning: "commercial sex worker"


bass

A respelling of base under the influence of Italian basso (“low”).

SATB

Initialism of soprano, alto, tenor, bass.

The musician swung the bass over his head like an axe and smashed it into the amplifier, creating a discordant howl of noise.

(music) An instrument that plays in the bass range, in particular a double bass, bass guitar, electric bass or bass synthesiser.


brewer

From Middle English brewere; cognate with Dutch brouwer, Swedish bryggare.

But through the oligopoly, charcoal fuel proliferated throughout London's trades and industries. By the 1200s, brewers and bakers, tilemakers, glassblowers, pottery producers, and a range of other craftsmen all became hour-to-hour consumers of charcoal.

2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion:

Someone who brews, or whose occupation is to prepare malt liquors.


attorney

en-noun

attorney (plural attorneys or (obsolete) attornies)

attorneys (plural)
attornies (obsolete plural)

→ Punjabi: ਅਟਾਰਨੀ (aṭārnī)

→ Welsh: atwrnai

From Middle English attourne, from Old French atorné, past participle of atorner, atourner, aturner (“to attorn”), in the sense of "one appointed or constituted".

If those attempts are unsuccessful, the attorney requesting the interrogatories may file a motion for sanctions with the court. The sanctions range from attorney fees to prohibiting the nonanswering party from presenting or defending claims.

2013, James J. Gross, It's Splitsville: Surviving Your Divorce, page 240:

“Conflicting out” attorneys is the way a husband will make sure his wife doesn't hire any of the most aggressive lawyers in town.

(US) A lawyer; one who advises or represents others in legal matters as a profession.

(Philippines, sometimes US) An honorific given to lawyers and notaries public, or those holders by profession who also do other jobs. Usually capitalized or abbreviated as Atty.


attorney

en-verb

attorney (third-person singular simple present attorneys, present participle attorneying, simple past and past participle attorneyed)

attorneys (present singular third-person)
attorneying (participle present)
attorneyed (participle past)
attorneyed (past)

(intransitive, rare) To work as a legal attorney.


sensei

Borrowed from Japanese 先生(せんせい) (sensei, “teacher; elder”), from Middle Chinese 先生 (MC sen sraeng, “master, elder”), from 先 (MC sen, “earlier, first”) + 生 (MC sraeng, “born”). Compare modern Mandarin 先生 (xiānshēng, “Mr.”). Doublet of sinseh, from Hokkien 先生 (sin-seⁿ).

A Japanese (language) teacher (sometimes used as a suffix attached to the name of a teacher, principally in translations from Japanese).


CEO

en-noun

CEO (countable and uncountable, plural CEOs)

CEOs who once made 50 times the average worker’s salary made more than 500 times as much in 2001.

2010 December 4, Evan Thomas, “Why It’s Time to Worry”, in Newsweek:

Stack ranking had come into fashion after GE CEO Jack Welch used a similar system, called rank-and-yank, to turn around that company in the 1980s and 1990s.

2015 January 2, Nicholas Carlson, “The Day Marissa Mayer's Honeymoon At Yahoo Ended”, in Business Insider, archived from the original on 2022-09-24:

Swisher then looked back at a number of tech CEOs booked for the conference in the past — from Steve Jobs to Elon Musk — and relayed that “we never promised anything or gave them any heads up. We’re journalists FFS.”

2023 September 28, Benjamin Lindsay, quoting Kara Swisher, “Kara Swisher Defends Ex-Twitter Exec Upstaging CEO Linda Yaccarino”, in TheWrap:

chief executive officer
chief executive officer#English

(countable, business) Initialism of chief executive officer.

director / gerente / presidente ejecutivo / general

civil enforcement officer
civil enforcement officer#English

(UK, countable) Initialism of civil enforcement officer.

(aviation) Acronym of current engine option.


CEO

en-verb

CEO (third-person singular simple present CEOs, present participle CEOing, simple past and past participle CEOed)

CEOs (present singular third-person)
CEOing (participle present)
CEOed (participle past)
CEOed (past)

Daddy-David's answer was CEOing. He'd CEOed at three companies, most recently as head of an electronic sensor manufacturer. “He's completely turned them around in less than a year,” Lise trilled, “and never missed Friday afternoon Bible study.”

2018, Michael Andreoni, The Window Is a Mirror, Livonia, MI: BHC Press, →ISBN, page unknown:

“We’d like you to be our CEO,” the board would say, and the CEO would say “sounds great but I am also the CEO of another company, is that a problem,” and the board would say “yes of course that’s a problem, we meant you’d quit your other CEO job and work for us, that’s how CEOing works, […]”

2020 March 2, Matt Levine, “Twitter Owner Wants Full-Time CEO”, in Bloomberg:

chief executive officer
chief executive officer

(intransitive, informal) To serve as the chief executive officer (CEO) of an organization or company.


tenno

Borrowed from Japanese 天皇(てんのう) (tennō), from Middle Chinese 天皇 (tʰen ɦwɑŋ) with the original sense of “heavenly sovereign”.

The emperor of Japan as head of state and the head of the Japanese imperial family.


band

Cantonese: band

→ German: Band (colloquial)

→ Japanese: バンド (bando)

→ Korean: 밴드 (baendeu)

Derived from Middle English band, from Old French bande, from Old Occitan banda (“regiment of troops”), perhaps from Frankish *bend, from Proto-Germanic *bandiz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ- (“to tie; bond, band”). Compare German Bande (“band”).

der

A group of musicians who perform together as an ensemble, usually for a professional recording artist.

A type of orchestra originally playing janissary music.


mayor

→ Cebuano: mayor

→ Swahili: meya

→ Tok Pisin: meya

Circa 1300; from Middle English maire, from Old French maire (“head of a city or town government”) (13th century), from Latin maior (“bigger, greater, superior”), comparative of magnus (“big, great”). Doublet of major. Displaced Old English burgealdor.

provost

of Scottish burghs & historical French bourgs

mayor of the palace
mayor of the palace#English

(historical) Short for mayor of the palace, the royal stewards of the Frankish Empire.

mayor of the palace

(Ireland, rare, obsolete) A member of a city council.

(chiefly US) A largely ceremonial position in some municipal governments that presides over the city council while a contracted city manager holds actual executive power.

In some parts the burlesque civic official was designated ‘Mayor of the Pig Market’.

The Mayor of Castro Street, that was Harvey's unofficial title.

1982, Randy Shilts, The Mayor of Castro Street

(figurative, humorous) A local VIP, a muckamuck or big shot reckoned to lead some local group.


instrumentalist

One who plays a musical instrument, as distinguished from a vocalist.


mason

From Middle English masoun, machun, from Anglo-Norman machun, masson, Old French maçon, from Late Latin maciō (“carpenter, bricklayer”), from Frankish *makjō (“maker, builder”), a derivative of Frankish *makōn (“to work, build, make”), from Proto-Indo-European *mag- (“to knead, mix, make”), conflated with Proto-West Germanic *mattjō (“cutter”), from Proto-Indo-European *metn-, *met- (“to cut”).

A bricklayer, one whose occupation is to build with stone or brick

One who prepares stone for building purposes.

A member of the fraternity of Freemasons. See Freemason.


mason

en-verb

mason (third-person singular simple present masons, present participle masoning, simple past and past participle masoned)

masons (present singular third-person)
masoning (participle present)
masoned (participle past)
masoned (past)

to mason up a well or terrace

to mason in a kettle or boiler

(transitive, normally with a preposition) To build stonework or brickwork about, under, in, over, etc.; to construct by masons


masseur

You each get a regular massage by a naked masseur.

1978, Ted Bistroff, Massage Parlor Stud:

(massage) A person (especially male) who performs massage.

Masseuse

dated feminine form or sexual connotation


magician

/məˈd͡ʒɪʃən/

From Middle English magicien, from Middle French magicien.

A person who plays with or practices allegedly supernatural magic.

magjistar

practitioner of allegedly supernatural magic


neurotomist

One who is skilled in or practices neurotomy.


translatress

[…] I shall forbear to speak of the incomparable worth and pregnant parts of some Gentlewomen lately deceased, as Mrs. Philips the ingenious Translatress of Pompey, &c. since what is extant of hers, or her Contemporaries will more at large express their matchless merit;

1673, Hannah Woolley, The Gentlewomans Companion, London: Dorman Newman, page 30:


kidney

From Middle English kedney, kydeney, from earlier kidnēre, kidenēre (“kidney”), of obscure origin and formation. Probably a compound consisting of Middle English *kid, *quid (“belly, womb”), from Old English cwiþ, cwiþa (“belly, womb, stomach”) + Middle English nēre (“kidney”), from Old English *nēora (“kidney”), from Proto-West Germanic *neurō, from Proto-Germanic *neurô (“kidney”), from Proto-Indo-European *negʷʰr- (“kidney”). If so, then related to Scots nere, neir (“kidney”), Saterland Frisian Njuure (“kidney”), Dutch nier (“kidney”), German Niere (“kidney”), Danish nyre (“kidney”), Norwegian nyre (“kidney”), Swedish njure (“kidney”), Ancient Greek νεφρός (nephrós).
Alternate etymology traces the first element to Old English *cydde (“sack, belly, scrotum”), from Proto-Germanic *kuddijā (“sack”) as the terms for testicle and kidney were often interchangeable in Germanic (compare Old High German nioro (“kidney", also "testicle”), Old Swedish vig-niauri (“testicle”)). More at codpiece.

unk

obscure

cog

I once more desire my readers to consider that as I cannot keep an ingenious man to go daily to Will's under twopence each day merely for his charges, to White's under sixpence, nor to the Grecian without allowing him some plain Spanish, to be as able as others at the learned table; and that a good observer cannot speak with even Kidney at St. James's without clean linen; […]

1709, Richard Steele, The Tatler, volume 1:


group

→ Gulf Arabic: قروب (grūp)

→ Japanese: グループ (gurūpu)

→ Korean: 그룹 (geurup)

→ Tongan: kulupu

From French groupe (“cluster, group”), from Italian gruppo, groppo (“a knot, heap, group, bag (of money)”), from Vulgar Latin *cruppo, Renaissance Latin grupus, from Frankish *krupp, from Proto-Germanic *kruppaz (“lump, round mass, body, crop”), from Proto-Indo-European *grewb- (“to crumple, bend, crawl”). In the sense of group theory coined (in French, as groupe) by Évariste Galois.
Cognate with German Kropf (“crop, craw, bunch”); Old English cropp, croppa (“cluster, bunch, sprout, flower, berry, ear of corn, crop”) (whence English crop); Dutch krop (“craw”), Icelandic kroppr (“hump, bunch”). Doublet of crop and croup.

der

(music) A number of eighth, sixteenth, etc., notes joined at the stems; sometimes rather indefinitely applied to any ornament made up of a few short notes.


duo

PIE word
 *dwóh₁
From French duo or Italian duo, from Latin duo (“two”), from Proto-Italic *duō, from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁. Doublet of two, which was inherited via Proto-Germanic.

Two people who work or collaborate together as partners; especially, those who perform music together.


dancer

→ Japanese: ダンサー (dansā)

From Middle English dauncer, dawncere, dancere, equivalent to dance + -er.

I'm a terrible dancer.

(dance) A person who dances, usually as a hobby, an occupation, or a profession.

dancanto dancisto virdancisto m dancistino


mayoress

From Middle English meyresse, mayresse, mairasse; equivalent to mayor + -ess.

The blonde mayoress was apparently a member of the MPLA and there were indications that spies in the town were sending radio messages to the enemy. Life was monotonous and the troops took to fishing to supplement their rations.

1993, Ian S. Uys, Bushman soldiers, their alpha and omega, page 39:

With the Spanish port of Cadiz doubling for the Cuban capital Havana, its striking blonde Mayoress Teofila Martinez was offered a small role as a nurse, but she politely declined.

2002, Andy Lane, Paul Simpson, The Bond Files: An Unofficial Guide, →ISBN, page 276:


bellboy

A male worker, usually at a hotel, who carries luggage and runs errands.


tailor

→ Esperanto: tajloro

→ Hausa: tēlà

desc

→ Telugu: టైలరు (ṭailaru), టైలర్ (ṭailar)

→ Yoruba: télọ̀

From Middle English taillour, from Anglo-Norman taillour, from Old French tailleor, from taillier, from Late Latin tāliō, from Latin tālea (“a cutting”). Doublet of tailleur.

He works as a tailor on Swanston Street.

A person who makes, repairs, or alters clothes professionally, especially suits and men's clothing.

rrobaqepës

person who makes, repairs, or alters clothing as profession

xastre (Portugal: Beira, Trás-os-Montes)


developer

designer

person or company who writes computer software

(computing) A software developer; a person or company who creates or modifies computer software.


accompanist

First attested in 1833. From accompany + -ist.

(music) The performer in music who takes the accompanying part.

akkompagnatør

performer who takes the accompanying part


launderer

/ˈlɔːndəɹə(ɹ)/

[...] the Westminster City Council has arranged with a large firm of launderers to wash blankets, sheets, pillow cases, and counterpanes, at low standard prices, and to return them the same day.

1941 September, Charles E. Lee, “Sheltering in London Tube Stations”, in Railway Magazine, page 389:

One who engages in the business of laundering.

blanquejador

one who engages in the business of laundering


missionary

en-noun

missionary (countable and uncountable, plural missionaries)

→ Maori: Mihinare

→ English: Mihanere

/ˈmɪʃ.əˌnɛɹ.ɪ/


trumpeter

From trumpet + -er (occupational suffix) or + -er (agent noun suffix).


apothecary

desc

அப்போதிக்கரி

→ Tamil: அப்போதிக்கரி (appōtikkari)

/əˈpɒθəkəɹi/

/əˈpɑθəˌkɛəɹi/

From Old French apotecaire (whence French apothicaire), from Medieval Latin apothecarius (“storekeeper”), from Latin apotheca (“(originally) repository, storehouse, warehouse; (later) shop, store”), from Ancient Greek ἀποθήκη (apothḗkē, “a repository, storehouse”), from ἀπό (apó, “away”) + τίθημι (títhēmi, “to put”), literally “a place where things are put away”. Doublet of boutique and bodega.

af

[T]he poticaries and barbarus wryters call it [the iris] Irios in the genetiue caſe.

1562, Wylliam Turner [i.e., William Turner], “Of the Herbe Called in Latin Irio”, in The Second Parte of Guilliam Turners Herball⸝ […], Cologne: […] Arnold Birckman, →OCLC, folio 23, recto:

O true Appothecarie! / Thy drugs are quicke. Thus with a kiſſe I die.

c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], page 75, column 2:

The girls, though their illness was long and dangerous, recovered under Mrs. Palmer's care, who watched over them as if they had been her own; and from that time an affection, as valuable as it was pleasant, sprang up between them. When Lady Anne returned, she called, and talked about every thing but the apothecary's bill.

1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter V, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 62:

It amused me to see the bustle and the life in the apothecary's shop across the street.

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 2:

(archaic in US, dated in UK) Synonym of pharmacist: a person who sells medicine, especially (historical) one who made and sold their own medicines in the medieval or early modern eras.


accoucheuse

Borrowed from French accoucheuse, female of accoucheur.


phalanx

Borrowed from Latin phalanx or Ancient Greek φάλαγξ (phálanx, “battle order, array”). Doublet of phalange, planch, plancha, planche, and plank.

doublet

(historical, plural phalanxes) An ancient Greek and Macedonian military unit that consisted of several ranks and files (lines) of soldiers in close array with joined shields and long spears.


operator

en-noun

operator (countable and uncountable, plural operators)

/ˈɒpəˌɹeɪtə/

/ˈɑpəˌɹeɪtɚ/

Borrowed from Latin operātor, from operor (“work, labour”). Equivalent to operate + -or.


slave

Inherited from Middle English sclave, from Old French sclave, from Medieval Latin sclavus (“slave”), from Late Latin Sclavus (“Slav”), traditionally assumed to be because Slavs were often forced into slavery in the Middle Ages. The Latin word is from Byzantine Greek Σκλάβος (Sklábos); see that entry and Slav for more. Displaced native Old English þēow. Thrall and bondsman/bondswoman, however, remain common synonyms. Doublet of ciao and Slav.
An alternative hypothesis derives sclavus from Ancient Greek σκῡλεύω (skūleúō), σκῡλάω (skūláō, “to strip or despoil a slain enemy”).

Fear of their cargo bred a savage cruelty into the crew. One captain, to strike terror into the rest, killed a slave and dividing heart, liver and entrails into 300 pieces made each of the slaves eat one, threatening those who refused with the same torture. Such incidents were not rare.

1963, C.L.R. James, The Black Jacobins, 2nd Revised edition, page 9:

A person who is held in servitude as the property of another person, and whose labor (and often also whose body and life) is subject to the owner's volition and control.

(figuratively) A drudge; one who labors or is obliged (e.g. by prior contract) to labor like a slave with limited rights, e.g. an indentured servant.

Art thou the ſlaue that with thy breath haſt kill'd / Mine innocent child?

1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, Much Adoe about Nothing. […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

A sex slave, a person who is forced against their will to perform, for another person or group, sexual acts on a regular or continuing basis.

奴隸 /奴隶

person forced to perform sexual acts; (nonconsensual) sex slave

If you administer your own reverse DNS zones, remember to include them in your slave configuration.

2011, Roderick W. Smith, LPIC-2 Linux Professional Institute Certification Study Guide, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN:

(engineering, computing, photography) A device (such as a secondary flash or hard drive) that is subject to the control of another (a master).

slave

device that is controlled by another device


investor

→ German: Investor

→ Polish: inwestor

→ Russian: инве́стор (invéstor)

[…] (it was the town's humour to be always gassing of phantom investors who were likely to come any moment and pay a thousand prices for everything) — “[…] Them rich fellers, they don't make no bad breaks with their money. […]”

1899, Stephen Crane, chapter 1, in Twelve O'Clock:

Across Japan, technology companies and private investors are racing to install devices that until recently they had little interest in: solar panels. Massive solar parks are popping up as part of a rapid build-up that one developer likened to an "explosion."

2013 June 21, Chico Harlan, “After Fukushima, Japan beginning to see the light in solar energy”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 30:

A person who invests money in order to make a profit.


translator

[ˌtʰɹænzˈleɪtʰɚ]

[ˌtʰɹænzˈleɪɾɚ]

Directly from Latin trānslātor and French translator, and also from Middle English translatour, from Old French translatour, translateur, etc., from Latin trānslātor, from trānslātus (“carried across”) + -or (“-er: forming agent nouns”), from trānsferō (“carry across”), from trans (“across”) + ferō (“bear, carry”), q.v. Equivalent to translate + -or.

vertaler

someone or something that translates meaning from one language to another

... the translator of the life and miracles of the saints, like the translator of the relics, need not have been "literate"; nor did he have to be a clerk.

2019, Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski, Images of Sainthood in Medieval Europe, page 100:

(chiefly obsolete) Synonym of carrier, a person who transports something, now particularly (Roman Catholicism, rare) holy relics.


actress

→ Cebuano: aktres

→ Tagalog: aktres

From actor + -ess. Probably formed independently of Middle French actrice.

A while ago somewhere I don't know when / I was watchin' a movie with a friend / I fell in love with the actress / She was playin' a part that I could understand

1972, Neil Young (lyrics and music), “A Man Needs a Maid”, in Harvest:

"I'm an actress -- actor, as we have to say these days."

2010, Peter Corris, Torn Apart, Allen and Unwin, page 88:

Court documents appear to show that Ian Edmondson, a senior News of the World journalist, had authorised Mr Mulcaire to hack phones belonging to Sienna Miller, an actress.

2011 January 27, “Not going quietly”, in The Economist:

A female who performs on the stage or in films.


blacksmith

From black (color of forged iron) + smith (related to smite)..

compound

The blacksmith may forge what Religion he pleases.

1640, I. H. [i.e., James Howell], ΔΕΝΔΡΟΛΟΓΊΑ [DENDROLOGIA]. Dodona’s Grove, or, The Vocall Forrest, London: […] T[homas] B[adger] for H. Mosley [i.e., Humphrey Moseley] […], →OCLC:

Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out.[…]. Ikey the blacksmith had forged us a spearhead after a sketch from a picture of a Greek warrior; and a rake-handle served as a shaft.

1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter II, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:

Close to the hump-backed bridge on the lane leading into the Hambleden Valley is a mid-19th-century smithy, its inside walls hung with tools of the blacksmith's trade, though decorative wrought-ironwork is now the main product from its glowing forge.

1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 214, about Hambleden:


whitesmith

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-whitesmith.wav

A person who forges things out of tin or pewter; a tinsmith.


businesswoman

→ French: businesswoman

→ Polish: bizneswoman

desc

бизнесву́мен

→ Russian: бизнесву́мен (biznesvúmen)


interpreter

/ɪnˈtɝpɹɪɾɚ/

/ɪnˈtɝpɹɪtɚ/

/ɪnˈtɜːpɹɪtə/

From Middle English interpreter, interpretour, etc., from Old French interpreteur, interpreteeur, etc., from Late Latin interpretātōr, from classical Latin interpretātus (“explained, translated”) + -or (“-er: forming agent nouns”), from interpretārī (“to explain, to translate”), from interpres (“go-between, translator”) + -ārī (“to be ~ed”), q.v. In reference to divine emissaries, a calque of Mercury's Latin epithet interpres divum (“go-between of the gods”). In reference to the rhetorical device, a calque of Latin interpretatio. Equivalent to interpret + -er.
Displaced native Old English wealhstod.

der

A person or thing that interprets the meaning of something for another, particularly:

(obsolete) Synonym of translator, one who translates various forms of texts.

linguister

colonial contexts, particularly West & Central Africa


songster

From Middle English songster, sangester, sangstere, from Old English sangestre (“a female singer; songstress”), equivalent to song + -ster. Cognate with Scots sangstar (“singer; songster”). Compare also West Frisian sjongster (“singer; female singer; vocalist”).

cog

A man who sings songs, especially as a profession; a male singer.


songstress

From songster + -ess. Compare West Frisian sjongeres (“songstress”), Dutch zangeres (“songstress”).


police officer

A peace officer who is a member of a police force.


coppersmith

More noises came from a dusty tree, where brown birds creaked and floundered about looking for insects; another bird, the invisible coppersmith, had started his ‘ponk ponk’.

1924, EM Forster, A Passage to India, Penguin, published 2005, page 104:

A South Asian barbet, Psilopogon haemacephala, with crimson forehead and throat, best known for its metronomic call that has been likened to a coppersmith striking metal with a hammer.


silversmith

Inherited from Middle English silver smyth, from Old English seolforsmiþ (“silversmith”), from Proto-Germanic *silubrasmiþaz (“silversmith”), equivalent to silver + smith. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Säälwersmid (“silversmith”), West Frisian sulversmid (“silversmith”), Dutch zilversmid (“silversmith”), German Low German Sülversmitt (“silversmith”), German Silberschmied (“silversmith”), Danish sølvsmed (“silversmith”), Norwegian Bokmål sølvsmed (“silversmith”), Norwegian Nynorsk sølvsmed (“silversmith”), sylvsmed (“silversmith”), Swedish silversmed (“silversmith”), Icelandic silfursmiður (“silversmith”). Eclipsed non-native Middle English argentarie (“silversmith”) from Latin (faber) argentārius (“dealer in silver, silversmith”).

noncog

A person who makes articles out of silver usually larger than jewellery.


goldsmith

From Middle English goldsmith, from Old English goldsmiþ (“goldsmith”), from Proto-Germanic *gulþasmiþaz (“goldsmith”), equivalent to gold + smith. Cognate with Scots goldsmyth, gouldsmeth (“goldsmith”), Saterland Frisian Gouldsmid (“goldsmith”), West Frisian goudsmid (“goldsmith”), Dutch goudsmid (“goldsmith”), German Goldschmied (“goldsmith”), Danish guldsmed (“goldsmith”), Swedish guldsmed (“goldsmith”), Icelandic gullsmiður (“goldsmith”). Eclipsed non-native Middle English orbatour, orbatur (“goldsmith”) and orfever, orfevre (“goldsmith”), both borrowed from Old French.

cog

(obsolete) A banker (because the goldsmiths of London used to receive money on deposit, being equipped to keep it safely).


vocalist

→ Japanese: ボーカリスト (bōkarisuto)

lead vocalist

amateur vocalist

talented vocalist


violinist

[…] on Sunday four more violinists, a second violist and a harpsichordist were added to give the ripieno sections of the fast movements a heftier punch than the smaller group delivered.

2009 January 20, Allan Kozinn, “Shafts of Sun in Winter From the Italian Baroque”, in The New York Times:

Founded in 1975 and led by the violinist Richard Tognetti since 1989, the orchestra looks youthful and hip onstage, its players clad in varying shades of black semiformality.

2009 May 5, Steve Smith, “A Group That Doesn’t Sit, Adding Bounce to Haydn”, in The New York Times:


botanist

A German botanist gave 'Gandoge' as the locality of an American plant; a package sent by express to 'Sevaber' (an English name), and a letter posted to the town of 'Scur E Quss, Nu Yourck,' arrived safely; and I have seen a handboard directing the traveller to the English-named town of 'Bintgrof'.

2020, S.S Haldeman, Pennsylvania Dutch, page 9:

It’s one of the world’s longest-running experiments, having already gone on for 142 years. And the botanists in East Lansing hope that it will last for at least another 80.

2021 April 21, Cara Giaimo, “One of the World’s Oldest Science Experiments Comes Up From the Dirt”, in The New York Times:

(botany) A person engaged in botany, the scientific study of plants.


pianist

From French pianiste, from Italian pianista. Analyzable as piano + -ist.

By the time she became the world's greatest pianist, she had already practised for thousands of hours on her prized piano.

Table IV shows that the pianists were significantly better on both motor and perceptual timing than the nonpianists.

1987, Gordon H Bower, The psychology of learning and motivation: advances in research and theory:

The pianist was Jason Moran, another Houstonian, for whom the past converges with the present: he sometimes likes to find an unobtrusive sequence inside an old standard and turn it into fresh headlines.

2010 April 19, Ben Ratliff, “A Mischievous Convergence of Past and Present Jazz”, in The New York Times:

(music) A person who plays the piano, particularly with skill or as part of an orchestra.


firefighter

From fire + fighter. Created as a gender-neutral term for fireman and firewoman.

(firefighting) A person who has been trained to put out fires.


goalie

→ German: Goalie

Clipping of goalkeeper, goaltender + -ie.

(sports, colloquial) A goalkeeper or goaltender.

вратар

colloquial form of goalkeeper or goaltender


goalie

en-verb

goalie (third-person singular simple present goalies, present participle goalieing, simple past and past participle goalied)

goalies (present singular third-person)
goalieing (participle present)
goalied (participle past)
goalied (past)

(ice hockey, colloquial, intransitive) To act as a goalie, to tend the goals, to mind the net.


builder

Etymology tree
Proto-West Germanic *buþlijan
Old English bytlan
Middle English bylden
Latin -ariusbor.
Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz
Proto-West Germanic *-ārī
Old English -ere
Middle English -er
Middle English byldere
English builder
From Middle English byldere, buyldere, from bylden + -er. By surface analysis, build + -er. Compare Old English bylda, bytla (“hammerer, builder”).

etymon

bouer

a person who builds or constructs things

(trade) Master artisan, who receives his instructions from the architect, and employs workers.

To cut coding time and to insure maintainability of the algorithms, an "algorithm builder tool" was constructed.

1987, Proceedings, International Foundation for Telemetering Conference - Volume 23, page 287:

A map builder uses map layers from several sources and adds data to make a custom map.

1999, Michael Zeiler, Modeling Our World: The ESRI Guide to Geodatabase Design, page 46:

Many users may find this easier to use as each field is clearly displayed and the user interface provides a formula builder and a Check formula function.

2013, David Feldman, Jason Himmelstein, Developing Business Intelligence Apps for SharePoint, page 217:

Software that allows the user to create a certain kind of (often automated) output.

In the competitions, bodybuilders go through "mandatories"—a set of mandatory poses—in the morning, where the judges compare the body parts of the builders.

1991, Samuel Wilson Fussell, chapter 4, in Muscle: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder:

(rare, bodybuilding) Clipping of bodybuilder.


guitarist

kitarist

person playing or performing on the guitar


saxophonist

They enjoyed music from a live saxophonist during the journey before visiting Braintree Town Hall for refreshments and Christmas cake.

2021 December 29, “Network News: Music train for dementia sufferers”, in RAIL, number 947, page 19:

A person who owns, plays or practices with the saxophone.

սաքսոֆոնահար

person who plays or practices with the saxophone


worker

From Middle English werkere, worcher, wercher, equivalent to work + -er. Displaced the older term wright, from Old English wyrhta.

Near-synonym: employee

Fret not thy ſelfe becauſe of euill doers, neither bee thou enuious againſt the workers of iniquitie.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 37:1:

Writer Ta Chen, in a statistical study of industrial labor in China in 1933, recorded that 66.6 percent of the total number of workers in the four main industrial regions of Kwangtung were women. In Shun-te, 81.2 percent of the labor force were women.

1986, Janice G. Raymond, A Passion for Friends: Toward a Philosophy of Female Affection, Boston: Beacon Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 124:

Manganism has been known about since the 19th century, when miners exposed to ores containing manganese […] began to totter, slur their speech and behave like someone inebriated. The poisoning was irreversible, and soon ended in psychosis and death. Nowadays workers are exposed to far lower doses and manganism is rare.

2014 April 21, “Subtle effects”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8884:

Although the radiation levels identified are high, a threat to human health is very unlikely because apart from workers at the site, no-one goes there.

2017 February 2, Jeff Farrell, “Fukushima nuclear disaster: Lethal levels of radiation detected in leak seven years after plant meltdown in Japan”, in The Independent, London:

One who works: a person who performs labor for a living; traditionally, especially, manual labor.


archaeologist

Working around an ancient monument has meant having an archaeologist on site whenever there were excavations.

2024 January 24, Peter Plisner, “Rising to the University challenge”, in RAIL, number 1001, page 61:

Someone who studies or practises archaeology.

arkeolog

someone who studies or practises archaeology


dermatologist

/ˌdɜːməˈtɒlədʒɪst/

From dermatology + -ist or dermato- + -logist.

We have offered our products to our own burn surgeons and to other specialists of our and other hospitals, namely dermatologists, plasticians and specialists for long-term illnesses.

1997, Nather Abdul Aziz, Phillips Glyn O, Strong D Michael, Advances In Tissue Banking - Volume 1, →ISBN, page 171:

From now on, too, general practitioners should, as Southard emphasized, be urged to be at least as familiar with the general principles and methods of the psychiatrist as they are with those of the gynecologist, the dermatologist, and the pædiatrist.

2006, various authors, A Psychiatric Milestone, The Echo Library, →ISBN, page 29:

A person who is skilled in, professes or practices dermatology.

մաշկաբան

one who is skilled, professes or practices dermatology


psychiatrist

Says Colonel Thomas Murray, chief Army psychiatrist in South Viet Nam: “Some of our psychiatrists are the most improbable military guys: soft, flabby, unexercised.”

1969 October 10, “Dividend from Viet Nam”, in Time:

Pass the chalk. Dr. Levine was there with a friend and fellow psychiatrist (detect a pattern?), Alexa Albert, Coco’s mother, who squinted up into the sun as her daughter effortlessly sailed skyward. Dr. Albert is an acrophobe.

2009 July 19, Lizette Alvarez, “Whee! Also, There’s a Net”, in The New York Times:

(medicine) A medical doctor specializing in psychiatry.


Egyptologist

/ˌid͡ʒɪpˈtɑləd͡ʒɪst/

An Egyptologist's mind immediately turns to the ancient Egyptian counterpart to such an imagined protosactuary: a reed hut that all late Egyptian temples, in their archaizing longing to return to the origins, sought to emulate in stone through the typically Egyptian temple features of inward-sloping walls, torus and corvetto cornice.

2018, Jan Assmann, The Invention of Religion:

A person; one who is skilled in or professes or practices Egyptology.

misirşünas

A person; one who is skilled professes or practices Egyptology


hydrologist

Someone who is skilled in or practises hydrology.


thermologist

/θə(ɹ)ˈmɒləd͡ʒɪst/


climatologist

To most people, the huge ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland are merely water that once was snow. To glaciologists and climatologists, they are storehouses of the Earth's former atmospheres.

1988 April 14, Richard Fifield, “Frozen assets of the ice cores”, in New Scientist, number 1608, page 28:

“The lack of an agreement to phase out fossil fuels was devastating,” said Prof Michael Mann, a climatologist and geophysicist at the University of Pennsylvania in the US.

2023 December 14, Damian Carrington, quoting Michael E. Mann, “Failure of Cop28 on fossil fuel phase-out is ‘devastating’, say scientists”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

A person who studies, professes or practices climatology.


genealogist

A person who studies or practises genealogy, an expert in genealogy.

نَسَّاب

person who studies or practises genealogy, expert in genealogy


technician

The lift technician found the reason the lift wasn't working.

A person who studies or practises technology; an expert in a particular technology.


mycologist

‘Iʼm not a mycologist but I believe you only get this formation when the fungus is forming reproductive organs.’

2019, Ben Aaronovitch, The October Man, Gollancz, pages 15–16:

A person who studies, professes or practices mycology.

міко́лаг

a person who studies, professes or practices mycology