medic

Borrowed from Latin medicus m (“of or belonging to healing, curative, medical; as a noun, medicus, masculine, a physician, doctor, surgeon”), Late Latin medica f (“a female physician, midwife”), from mederi (“to heal”).


supermodel

From super- + model. First written example dates from 1942 in the English language, in common use since the late 1980s. Sometimes incorrectly attributed to supermodel Janice Dickinson.

Kendall Jenner first earned the title of the "world's highest paid supermodel" in 2018 when Forbes released an article asserting that she had raked in $22.5 million that year.

2022 March 11, Sophie Lee, “How Kendall Jenner Became the Highest Paid Supermodel in the World”, in L'Officiel:


caretaker

(chiefly Canada, US) Someone who takes care of a person; a parent, carer or other guardian.


hepcat

From hep + cat, from hep (“sophisticated, aware”). Compare cat (“jazz enthusiast”). Attested in the sense of “sophisticated person” from the 1920s.

Everybody is asking, Why is Harry such a solid sender? Well, hear my version. As you are seated or are trying to stay seated you feel that sensation that hits every hep-cat. First your feet get the sensation, then it runs up your leg and you start to keep time to the music with your feet and you feel like getting up and jiving to that fine music that comes out of the magic trumpet of Harry James.

1943 May 9, Orlando Suero, “Jive, as a Hep-Cat Hears it”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Leaders of the eight or nine name dance bands, who can throw a cordon of jitterbugging youths around any big city's theatre on a half hour's notice, are not complaining aloud these days, but privately they admit that “government competition” is having a lot to do with their ability to get it hot or sweet to suit the mood of the hepcats.

1943 June 20, John Desmond, “Making Catnip for the Hepcats”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(informal, dated, now often humorous) A person associated with the jazz subculture of the 1940s and 1950s.


scrimshander

en-noun

scrimshander (countable and uncountable, plural scrimshanders)


lollipop man

They were out of the park gates and about to cross the road now. The lollipop man smiled at Jess, who smiled shyly back.

2005, Helen Oyeyemi, The Icarus Girl, Bloomsbury, page 176:

school crossing attendant
school crossing attendant

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A male school crossing attendant.

klaarover

a male school crossing attendant — see also lollipop lady, crossing guard, school crossing attendant


cashier

en-verb

cashier (third-person singular simple present cashiers, present participle cashiering, simple past and past participle cashiered)

cashiers (present singular third-person)
cashiering (participle present)
cashiered (participle past)
cashiered (past)

From Dutch casseren, kasseren, from Old French casser (“to break (up)”). During a ceremonial cashiering of a ranking military officer, the breakup was often symbolized dramatically by literally breaking the officer’s sword.

His ninth Legion having mutined neere unto Placentia, he presently cassiered the same with great ignominie unto it[…].

1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 34, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

The recent cashiering for disobedience of orders of a Major-General who is claimed, we know not with what truth, to be of the "conservative" order, has raised this outcry louder and fiercer than ever.

1863 February 1, “Politics of Military Commanders.”, in The New York Times:

They found an Army officer who had been a military failure until Bernard Baruch promoted him to General, and who in 1945 should have been able to hope for nothing better than that he could escape a court martial and thus avoid being cashiered, if he could prove that all the atrocities and all the sabotage of American interests of which he had been guilty in Europe had been carried out over his protest and under categorical orders from the President.

1968, Revilo P. Oliver, “What We Owe Our Parasites” (speech)

The Directory had been deregulating the economy since Thermidor; but it had not cashiered the police spies on which the Terror had depended, and these allowed the government to keep abreast of the threat.

2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 510:

Inevitably his appeals for financial assistance were ignored and, though not cashiered from the army, he was pointedly cold-shouldered by his brother officers.

2012, Jonathan Keates, “Mon Père, ce héros”, in Literary Review, section 402:

(transitive, now rare) To dismiss (someone, especially military personnel) from service.

Once Princess in Love was published, Diana threw both Hewitt and Pasternak under the bus. Besotted to the end, her cashiered toy soldier never revealed whether or not he had done her bidding.

April 5 2022, Tina Brown, “How Princess Diana’s Dance With the Media Impacted William and Harry”, in Vanity Fair:


cashier

→ Punjabi: ਕੈਸ਼ੀਅਰ (kaiśīara)

Borrowed from Dutch cassier or French caissier, from French caisse.

The chefs never cooked before, the cashiers never cashiered before, the dishwashers never dishwashed before, the waitresses never waitressed before, and the managers never managed before.

So when everyone was stopping at the grocery store for one or two things on the way home from work, inundating each express lane with at least ten custies, the cashier on the express lane was due for a break […]

2012, Freeman Hall, Coworker Hell: A Retail Hell Underground Digital Short:

One who works at a till or receives payments.

arkëtar

one who works at a till or receives payments

Person in charge of the cash of a business or bank.

arkëtar

person in charge of the cash of a business or bank


picaroon

From Spanish picarón, from pícaro (“rogue”).

/ˌpɪkəˈɹuːn/


picaroon

From French piqueron, from pique (“pike”) + -oon

/ˌpɪkəˈɹuːn/

A tool consisting of a curved spike or hook, fitted to a long shaft, used in logging and fishing to snag, move and hold.


space cadet

From the title of the 1948 science fiction novel Space Cadet, by Robert A. Heinlein.

(originally) A person in training to be a (generally military) astronaut, especially in science fiction.

(slang, derogatory) One who deals with reality in a way consistent with being under the influence of (or "spaced out on") drugs.

(slang, derogatory) One who forgets, daydreams, or otherwise is distracted from reality more often than most.


realtor

From real (in real estate) and -or. Coined by Charles N. Chadbourn in 1916, on the model of Latin agent nouns ending in -tor (such as actor, creator), to refer to real-estate professionals who are members of the National Association of Realtors, a trade association in the United States. Equivalent to realt(y) + -or.

It was composed of an engineer, if I remember correctly, a town planner, a realtor, and occasionally an architect […]

1919, Mr. Shannon, U.S. Housing Corporation. Hearings Before a Subcommittee, United States Senate:

First place, we ought to insist that folks call us ‘realtors’ and not ‘real-estate men.’ Sounds more like a reg’lar profession.

1922, Sinclair Lewis, Babbitt, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, →OCLC:

Intrigued by the prospect of an additional commission, the realtor hurriedly assured me he foresaw no problem in obtaining the lease.

1975, Jerzy Kosiński, Cockpit, Grove Press, published 1998, page 189:

The terms agent, broker, and realtor are often used interchangeably.

1997, Douglas A. Gray, Canadian home buying made easy, second edition, page 72:

The realtor was like a carnivore, ready to spring. He was originally from New York and he seemed like the kind of guy who could smell a deal.

2003, Gary Andrew Dresden, Confessions of a Gynecologist, iUniverse, page 111:

(Canada, US) A person or business that sells or leases out real estate, acting as an agent for the property owner.

National Association of Realtors
realtor


able seaman

able-bodied seaman
able-bodied seaman#English

(nautical) Synonym of able-bodied seaman.


stewardess

en-noun

stewardess (plural stewardesses or (humorous, nonstandard) stewardii)

stewardesses (plural)
stewardii (humorous nonstandard plural)

flight nurse

obsolete form for air stewardess, from when medical qualifications were needed

She usually rang for the stewardess early, but this morning of course there had been no ring. The stewardess had gone in all the same about eight o'clock and found the cabin empty.

1888 September, Henry James, “The Patagonia”, in The English Illustrated Magazine, volume 5, page 782:

Certainly a stewardess who may have fifty or even a hundred passengers to look after cannot give much attention to nursing, even if she knows how.

1905, The Trained Nurse and Hospital Review - Volume 35, page 296:

He regarded the tray with apprehension, then with dismay as the stewardess said: "She's just rung for breakfast in bed, going to stay there all day as she feels a cold coming."

1997, Violet Jessop, John Maxtone-Graham, Titanic Survivor: The Newly Discovered Memoirs of Violet Violet Jessop who Survived Both the Titanic and Britannic Disasters, page 195:

I came into the industry as a chef with restaurant and catering experience but no real understanding of what the whole role of "stewardess" entailed on board.

2013, Julie Perry, The Insiders' Guide to Becoming a Yacht Stewardess:

A woman who works at housekeeping and passenger service aboard a ship, yacht, or other type of boat that carries passengers.


governess

From Middle English governesse, a contracted form of governeresse, from Old French governeresse (“female ruler or administrator”). In later senses, equivalent to govern(or) + -ess.

der

“The Gates Ajar” seems to be the favorite song and inspiration of Ma Ferguson in her four years as governor. The lady governess pardoned criminals as soon as they were convicted and was so chronic in her actions that the courts had just about refused to function in convicting anyone.

1927 January 21, “Hints and Dints”, in New Castle News, volume XLVII, number 117, New Castle, Pa., page four, columns 4–5:

I cannot begin to tell you how tired I am of this woman and all she stands for and all those shallow people who think an Alaskan governess has what it takes to be a VP.

2008, @tiredofher, CNN, archived from the original on 2023-04-11:


stockbroker

(finance) A person who buys and sells shares (stock) on a stock exchange on behalf of clients. May also provide investment advice and/or company information, depending on the level of service offered (or chosen by the client).


shearer

A person employed in a roller mill to shear off the uneven side of the hot metal plate.


garbo

en-noun

garbo (countable and uncountable, plural garbos)

Clipping of garbage + -o (colloquialising suffix).

Then believe it or not, I worked for some time as a garbo, collecting the rubbish in the wee hours of the morning.

1986, Emily George, Merri Lee: A Feminist Fantasy, page 124:

The referendum papers, accompanied by a strong statement of Council′s position, was to be letterboxed by the Council′s “garbos” (rubbish collectors) and inspectors on a Thursday and collected by volunteers over the weekend.

1998, Hall Greenland, Red Hot: The Life & Times of Nick Origlass, 1908-1996, page 253:

As far as Jasper was concerned, his mum being a garbo was pretty cool. She got to drive a truck and be home in time to take his little sisters to school. Before she got the job as a rubbish collector, his mum had done shift work and it was left to Jasper to get his sisters to school.

2010, Zana Fraillon, Monstrum House: Locked In, unnumbered page:

The priest would bring salvation while the garbo took the rubbish.

2010, Adam Shand, The Skull: Informers, Hit Men and Australia′s Toughest Cop, page 350:

(countable, Australia, informal) A rubbish collector; a garbage man.


gravedigger

/ˈɡɹeɪvˌdɪɡ.ə(ɹ)/

/ˈɡɹeɪvˌdɪɡ.əɹ/


odalisque

Borrowed from French odalisque, from Ottoman Turkish اوطهلق (odalık, “chambermaid”), from اوده (oda, “room”).

der

When the young Mauretanians were his guests in the little houses before the town gates, and he was of a good humour, it would come about that he displayed his odalisques as others would their jewels.

1947 [1939], Ernst Jünger, translated by Stuart Hood, On the Marble Cliffs, New Directions, translation of Auf den Marmorklippen (in German), →LCCN, →OCLC, page 12:

Though I could see the titan odalisques and their garden and knew them to be no more than dream-stuff recalled, I could not escape from their fascination and the memory of the dream.

1981, Gene Wolfe, chapter VIII, in The Claw of the Conciliator (The Book of the New Sun; 2), New York: Timescape, →ISBN, page 72:

The Sector is borne in a padded Waggon, like some mechanickal Odalisque.

1997, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 30, in Mason & Dixon, 1st US edition, New York: Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN, part Two: America, page 296:

(historical) A female slave in a harem, especially one in the Ottoman seraglio.


fighter pilot

(CB slang) An erratic driver who changes lanes often.


headhunter

→ German: Headhunter m

Theirs was the spirit which upheld Darwin among the gauchos of the Argentine or Wallace among the head-hunters of Malaya.

1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

(anthropology) A person who practises headhunting, the taking and preserving of a person's head after killing them.


cable guy

(Canada, US, informal) A man who works for the cable television service and installs cable television.


chorister

/ˈkwɪɹɪstəɹ/

/ˈkwɒɹɪstəɹ/

/ˈkwæɹɪstəɹ/

Derived from late Middle English queristre, from an Anglo-Norman variant of Old French cueriste, from cuer (see Middle French cuer). Equivalent to choir + -ster.

None of the new choristers can sing in tune but they will learn soon enough.

These be my querysters
To helpe me to synge,
My hawkes to mattens rynge!

c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 65, lines 122–124:

Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen collars, and red neckbands.

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

And a Salisbury Cathedral chorister complained that after working late into Christmas Day, an absence of trains meant he and his brother would not be able to get home for "our proper Christmas" until the 27th.

2023 December 27, David Turner, “Silent lines...”, in RAIL, number 999, page 30:


gymnast

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek γυμναστής (gumnastḗs, “trainer of athletes”), from γυμνάζω (gumnázō, “I train naked, exercise”), from γυμνός (gumnós, “naked”).

lbor

One who performs (the sport of) gymnastics.


mortician

/mɔː(ɹ)ˈtɪʃən/

“And I prefer mortician to funeral director. It sounds more professional and, well, it is more precise. I deal with more than mere funerals; I deal with death, passing on, the transition.”

2021, Percival Everett, The Trees, Influx Press (2022), page 91:

(US) An undertaker or funeral director; especially, one who is also the embalmer or cremator.


columnist

From column + -ist, from Latin and Greek, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷel-.

a sports columnist

a news columnist

a sporadic columnist

Ann Landers, who sometimes wrote her columns from her bathtub, called herself “the general manager of the world,” which pretty much describes the types of questions an advice columnist might be called upon to answer.

2006, Alecia T. Devantier, Carol A. Turkington, Extraordinary Jobs in Media, Infobase Publishing, →ISBN, page 1:

As soon as it was suggested that it was considering the Swedish model – in which men are criminalised for buying sex, but the women working in prostitution are decriminalised – a slew of prominent male columnists started arguing against this infringement on a man's right to purchase a woman's body.

2008 February 27, Kira Cochrane, “How could it happen again?”, in The Guardian:

A regular writer of a column, such as in a magazine or newspaper.


bassist

And the cello concerto was strikingly different on Sunday: at Weill, the ensemble included two violinists and one violist, cellist, bassist and lutenist, but 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:

By and large back then, bassists weren’t bandleaders; Mingus was an anomaly.

2024 May 1, Marcus J. Moore, “5 Minutes That Will Make You Love Jazz Bass”, in The New York Times:

A musician who plays a bass instrument, especially the bass guitar.


paralegal

(law) One who assists a lawyer in routine legal work, but who is without qualified status as a solicitor or barrister (England and Wales), attorney (U.S.), or advocate; known more commonly in the U.S. as a legal assistant.


pizzaman

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


garçon

/ɡɑː(ɹ)ˈsɒn/

/ɡɑː(ɹ)ˈsɒ̃/

From French garçon m (1788), from Old French garçon, oblique case of gars m (“servant”), from Medieval Latin garciō m, from Frankish *wrakjō m (“servant, boy”), from Proto-Germanic *wrakjô m (“exile, driven one”), from Proto-Indo-European *wreg- (“to drive”).
Cognate with Old High German wrecheo, recko (“exile, warrior, hero”) (Modern German Recke), Old Saxon wrekkio (“a banished person, exile, stranger”), Old English wreċċa (“a wretch, stranger, exile”), and perhaps to Old Norse rekkr (“man, warrior, hero”). More at wretch, wreak.

cog

A male waiter (especially at a French restaurant).

garçon

a male waiter (in a French context) — see also waiter


nursing

en-noun

nursing (countable and uncountable, plural nursings)

She went into nursing as a career.

Nursing is an art; and, if it is to be made an art, requires as exclusive a devotion, as hard a preparation, as any painter's or sculptor's work; […]

1871, Florence Nightingale, Una and the Lion, page 6:

The process or profession of caring for patients as a nurse.


groundskeeper

Someone who takes care of the upkeep of grounds (gardens, a playing field, woodlands, etc.)


barmaid

At one of the way-stations on his long journey a barmaid at a tavern speaks to Gilgamesh and tries to give him common sense on the human condition.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 201:

A woman who serves in a bar. [from 18th c.]


barman

→ Catalan: bàrman

→ Czech: barman

→ Dutch: barman

→ French: barman
→ Turkish: barmen

→ Hebrew: בַּרְמֶן (bármen)

→ Polish: barman

→ Portuguese: barman

→ Romanian: barman

desctree

→ Russian: бармен (barmen)
→ Armenian: բարմեն (barmen)
→ Georgian: ბარმენი (barmeni)
→ Kazakh: бармен (barmen)

→ Spanish: barman

NOT so long ago there was a beer commercial on British TV in which two pointy-headed aliens order a pint in a rural pub. “Up from London, are we?” the barman asks politely.

2013 September 28, Kenan Malik, “London Is Special, but Not That Special”, in New York Times, retrieved 2013-09-28:


glam rocker

Lady Gaga has announced two UK dates – when she will be supported by glam rockers the Darkness – as part of her world tour.

2012 April 10, “Lady Gaga announces two UK dates as part of Born This Way Ball tour”, in the Guardian:


paperboy

Our current paperboy does a nicely consistent job of throwing the paper onto the porch. Our old paperboy sometimes would fling it into the bushes!

A boy who delivers newspapers to houses on a paper round.


legman

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Mélange a trois-legman.wav

From leg + -man, modelled after legwork, in reference to the walking such a person does.

During the nine-month Great Lakes shipping season, the ore hogs—shovelers, "larry" car weighers, bulldozer operators, car pushers and "leg" men—unite in this miracle of supply that stock-piles enough iron ore to last through the winter. The leg man on a Hulett iron-ore unloader must possess a special blend of brawn, brains and a "go for broke" attitude. He must also be conscious of the safety of fellow workers below him as he deftly maneuvers a 75-ton vertical ramrod and iron-jawed grab bucket.

1953 May, Dwight Boyer, “Giant Jaws Unload Ore Ship”, in H[enry] H[aven] Windsor, Jr., editor, Popular Mechanics, volume 99, number 5, Chicago, Ill.: Popular Mechanics Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 76:

[W]ell, anyway, he sent a chap who acts as his confidential ‘leg-man’ and ‘Man Friday’.

1958, Harry Stephen Keeler, Hazel Goodwin Keeler, “The Affair of the Two Other Men”, in The Case of the Two-headed Idiot: A Double-mystery Novel, 2nd edition, [United States]: Ramble House, published 2005, →ISBN, page 215:

Guillam was boss and legman, and twice a day he dropped the tapes on the Berne residency, using a parked car as a letter-box.

1974, John le Carré [pseudonym; David John Moore Cornwell], chapter 21, in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, London: Hodder and Stoughton, →ISBN; trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Pocket Books, October 2002, →ISBN, page 181:

A large ship was discharging LASH (lighter aboard ship) barges at its aft end. [...] The crane broke down and a repairman was called. One legman descended from his post on a small raised platform to the deck next to the crane. Once repaired, the crane operator sounded a warning siren. Thinking all was clear, he started the crane toward the aft. The legman next to the crane ran aft and attempted to climb a small ladder next to his post. He was caught between the ladder and the crane, suffering multiple injuries.

1992 August, “Analysis”, in Selected Occupational Fatalities Related to Marine Cargo Handling as Found in Reports of OSHA Fatality/Catastrophe Investigations, [Washington, D.C.]: Office of Statistics, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, →OCLC, page 39:

Once in Hollywood he [Andrew J. Fenady] became a legman for Paul Coates, which led to writing and producing Coates' controversial television series, Confidential File, winner of three Emmy awards.

1998, Andrew J. Fenady, “[Biography of Andrew J. Fenady]”, in Yes Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus: A Play in Two Acts: […], Woodstock, Ill., London: Dramatic Publishing Company, →ISBN:

He [Walter Lippmann] studied at Harvard with [George] Santayana, took tea with William James, worked as a legman for Lincoln Steffens, debated socialism with [George] Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells, was in Belgium when the Germans invaded and at the House of Commons when Britain declared war in 1914.

1999, Ronald Steel, “Prologue: The Name that Opened Every Door”, in Walter Lippmann and the American Century, new edition, New Brunswick, N.J., London: Transaction Publishers, published 2008, →ISBN, page xv:

Their targets included kings and commoners, civilians and soldiers, military recruits and senior commanders, political legmen and party chairmen, businessmen and academicians, journalists and belletrists—and ultimately a train of victims' families: husbands, wives, and children.

2015, Howard M[orley] Sachar, “Preface”, in The Assassination of Europe, 1918–1942: A Political History, Toronto, Ont.: University of Toronto Press, →ISBN, page xii:

(originally US) A person hired to carry out errands or (often) menial tasks, frequently requiring travel from place to place; an errand boy or errand girl, a runner.

فَيْج

person hired to carry out errands or (often) menial tasks, frequently requiring travel from place to place — see also errand boy, runner


lady-in-waiting

From lady + in + waiting (“attendance, service”).

refn

From the collection of the Musée du Second Empire in the Château de Compiègne, Compiègne, Oise, France.

[T]he electreſs [Sophia Charlotte of Hanover] was heard to ſay to one of her ladies in waiting, "that it vexed her to the very heart to go and act in Pruſſia the theatrical queen along with her Eſop.["]

1751, [Frederick the Great], “Frederick III. the First King of Prussia”, in Memoirs of the House of Brandenburg. From the Earliest Accounts, to the Death of Frederick I. King of Prussia. […], Dublin: Printed by S. Powell, for G. Faulkner […], and Matt[hew] Williamson […], →OCLC, page 100:

This night, after eleven o'clock, as the royal family were returning from Drury-lane theatre, when the carriages had reached the end of John-street, Pall Mall, a stone was flung with such force as to break one of the glass pannels in the coach, in which were their majesties and the lady in waiting; which, after striking the queen on the cheek, fell into lady Harrington's lap.

1796, “Chronicle. [February 1st.]”, in The Annual Register, or A View of the History, Politics, and Literature, for the Year 1796, 2nd edition, volume XV, London: Printed by B[uchanan] McMillan, […], for the proprietors of Dodsley’s Annual Register, […], published 1807, →OCLC, page 5:

Of a sudden a man leapt up to the top of the wall from the other side, and then, hanging for a moment, dropped lightly upon the grass within. All the ladies-in-waiting shrieked at the suddenness of his coming, but the man ran to the Queen and kneeled at her feet, and she saw it was Robin Hood.

1883, Howard Pyle, “The Chase of Robin Hood”, in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood […], New York, N.Y.: […] Charles Scribner’s Sons […], →OCLC, part seventh, page 250:

The political influence wielded by many of the court ladies, and especially by the first lady-in-waiting (mother of the present Emperor), bears a certain resemblance to that which the eunuchs wielded under the later Manchus at the court of Peking. [...] And behind the 30 ladies-in-waiting there are the rank and file of female palace attendants, some 300, all of Kyoto stock—quite sufficient to keep any conscientious chamberlain on the qui vive.

1920, J[ohn] O[tway] P[ercy] Bland, “[Exhibit G.] Three Palaces.”, in Administration of Immigration Laws: Hearings before the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization: House of Representatives, Sixty-sixth Congress, Second Session: […], Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 373:

In the Queen's coach are the Queen's stateroom and bathroom, the Royal Family lounge, lady-in-waiting's compartment and bathroom, and dresser's room. […] Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret are accommodated in one coach, and each of the two suites comprises a stateroom with its adjoining bathroom. A bedroom is provided for each of two ladies-in-waiting, and a separate compartment for the maid.

1947 January and February, “South African Royal Train”, in Railway Magazine, page 47:

At last she [Makeda, the Queen of Sheba] was overcome by a desire to go to Jerusalem and see with her own eyes the things about which she had heard. [...] She chose as her companion on the journey her lady-in-waiting, and the two of them travelled in sedan chairs mounted on the backs of camels.

1986 September–October, Harold Courlander, “How Makeda Visited Jerusalem, and How Menelik Became King”, in Robert G. Forman, editor, Michigan Alumnus, volume 93, number 1, Ann Arbor, Mich.: Published by the Alumni Association of the University of Michigan, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 37, columns 2–3:

Young girls from wealthy families were often sent to the royal court to help the queen and noblewomen. After becoming a teenager, a girl could then be named a lady-in-waiting. These ladies assisted their mistress in any way and usually went with her when she traveled.

2013, Joanne Mattern, “A Life at Court”, in Dona Herweck Rice, editor, Geoffrey Chaucer: Medieval Writer, Huntington Beach, Calif.: Teacher Created Materials, →ISBN, page 14:

A lady, often a noblewoman, in the household of a queen, princess, or other woman of higher rank who attends her as a personal assistant, generally a role considered an honour.

Château de Compiègne
Compiègne
Eugénie de Montijo
Franz Xaver Winterhalter
Napoleon III

plac'h-enor

lady in the household of a woman of higher rank who attends her as a personal assistant

kamarineiti

woman who is a maid or servant to a lady


lamplighter

1,000 crossing-sweepers; another thousand chimney-sweeps, and the same number of turncocks and lamp-lighters;

1851, Henry Mayhew, “Costermongers”, in London Labour and the London Poor:

I did the hurdles over two or three garden-walls, but so did the flyer who was on my tracks, and he drove me back into the straight and down to High Street like any lamplighter.

1905, E. W. Hornung, A Thief in the Night:

(historical) A person employed to light streetlights at dusk and snuff them at dawn.


lutenist

Borrowed from Medieval Latin lutanista, from lutana (“lute”), from Middle French lut.

A group of composers, variously known as the madrigalists, the lutenists, or the virginalists (depending on the medium for which they were writing), produced vast quantities of attractive music, mostly for amateur consumption.

2003, Edward L. Kottick, A History of the Harpsichord, page 200:

And the cello concerto was strikingly different on Sunday: at Weill, the ensemble included two violinists and one violist, cellist, bassist and lutenist, but 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:


Locke

Sacramento County
Sacramento County#English

A number of places in the United States:

An unincorporated community and historic district in Sacramento County, California.

A township and unincorporated community therein, in Elkhart County, Indiana.

A town in Cayuga County, New York, named after John Locke.


migrant worker

And since Brexit, the number of migrant workers has fallen by almost a third, with new immigration laws and the points-based system possibly reducing the flow even further.

2021 September 8, Howard Johnston, “HS2 jobs boost - but skills shortage a concern”, in RAIL, number 939, page 17:

A person with temporary permission to work in another country; a guest worker.


swinger

And now that swing appears on a certain playground in the dusk, still swinging without the swinger, who has disappeared[…]

2009, Peter Handke, Krishna Winston, Crossing the Sierra de Gredos, page 438:

A performer of swing music or whose style is influenced by swing.

Shorten went to Blacktown to try and summon the spirit of Gough Whitlam to persuade the swingers it was time for a change of government. Shorten said vote one Labor, for the future.

2019 May 16, Katharine Murphy, “Campaign catchup 2019: close race sparks pre-election jitters”, in The Guardian:


swinger

/ˈswɪnd͡ʒəɹ/


letterer

A particular profession in the production of comics, an artist specializing in neatly writing written material such as dialogue.


lansquenet

en-noun

lansquenet (countable and uncountable, plural lansquenets)

Borrowed from French lansquenet, from German Landsknecht, from Lands (“of the land”) + Knecht (“servant”). Doublet of Landsknecht.

“I'm through with all pawn-games,” I laughed. “Come, let us have a game of lansquenet. Either I will take a farewell fall out of you or you will have your sevenfold revenge”.

1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter I, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

One could see part of the dimly lit court where under an enclosed poplar two soldiers on a stone bench were playing lansquenet.

And so it was over the game of lansquenet that I scored my first triumph.

1782, Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, translated by Helen Constantine, Dangerous Liaisons, published 2007, page 196:

(uncountable) A gambling card game in which the dealer is given an initial card and the players another; cards are then turned up until the value (rank) of one of those cards is met.


puffer

From puff + -er.
The cellular automata definition is a clipping of puffer train.


supply teacher

(UK, Ireland) A teacher who fills a temporary position in a school on a short-term basis; often supplied by an agency.


lithographer

A person who makes lithographs, who does lithography.


sociologist

The great sociologist Zygmunt Bauman argued that philo-Semitism and anti-Semitism both fall under “allosemitism”: literally Othering the Jew. He defined it not as resentment of what is different, which is xenophobia, but rather of what defies order and clear categories. In 1997, he wrote, “The Jew is ambivalence incarnate. And ambivalence is ambivalence mostly because it cannot be contemplated without ambivalent feeling: it is simultaneously attractive and repelling.”

2020 January 28, Mairov Zonszein, “Christian Zionist philo-Semitism is driving Trump’s Israel policy”, in The Washington Post:

A scientist studying the field of sociology; a social scientist.


housemaid

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

A female domestic worker attached to the non-servant quarter part of the house, as opposed to a scullery maid.

աղախին

female servant attached to the non-servant quarter part of the house


sutler

A person who follows an army, selling provisions.

markytán

a person who follows an army, selling provisions

A modern business that provides period uniforms and supplies to reenactors.


syndic

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-syndic.wav

Borrowed from French syndic (“delegated representative; a chief magistrate of Geneva; a censor; critic (obsolete)”), from Late Latin syndicus (“representative of a corporation or town, syndic”), from Ancient Greek σύνδικος (súndikos, “advocate of a defendant”), from σῠν- (sŭn-, prefix meaning ‘together, with’) + δῐ́κη (dĭ́kē, “law, order; right; judgment; justice; lawsuit; trial”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- (“to point out”)) + -ος (-os, suffix forming nouns).

ref

From the collection of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

der

The Bailiffes and Syndicks of Merindoll appeare the ſecond time.

1610 October, John Foxe, “A Notable History of the Persecution and Destruction of the People of Merindol and Cabriers in the Country of Prouince: […]”, in The Second Volume of the Ecclesiasticall Historie, Containing the Acts and Monuments of Martyrs, […], 6th edition, volume II, London: […] [Humphrey Lownes] for the Company of Stationers, →OCLC, book VII, marginal note, page 867, column 2:

[T]he two Syndicks and the reſt of the Magiſtrates of that City began to pry more narrowly into their ſtay, and more neerely into their actions; […]

1640, John Reynolds, “History XVII”, in The Triumphs of Gods Revenge against the Crying and Execrable Sinne of (Wilfull and Premeditated) Murther. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Edward Griffin for William Lee, […], →OCLC, book IV, page 269:

This City is govern'd by a Syndick and Twenty Five Senators, who meet every Day to conſult about the Affairs of the Commonwealth, and to decide all Cauſes, whether Criminal or Civil.

1694, [Giovanni Paolo Marana], “Letter I. To Hamet, Reis Effendi, Principal Secretary of the Ottoman Empire.”, in [Daniel Saltmarsh], transl., The Eighth and Last Volume of Letters Writ by a Turkish Spy, Who Liv’d Five and Forty Years Undiscover’d at Paris: […], volume VIII, London: […] J. R. for J. Hindmarsh and R. Sare, […], →OCLC, book IV, page 232:

A syndic shall be appointed for every canal not being administered by a corporation or other public body on behalf of any part of the community.

1905, Mauritius, Sir Francis Taylor Piggott, Louis Arthur Thibaud ·, Ordinances, page 819:

To-morrow, after the midday prayer, mount an ass and make for the Habbānīyah quarter and there inquire for the house of the syndic Barakah, known as Abū Shāmah.

1923, J[oseph] C[harles] Mardrus, “The Tale of the Christian Broker”, in [Edward] Powys Mathers, transl., The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night […], London: Routledge & Kegal Paul […], published 1956, →OCLC, page 253:

In 1760 one Intendant went so far as to dissolve the militia altogether and appointed syndics to carry on the local government.

1963, C.L.R. James, The Black Jacobins, 2nd Revised edition, Vintage Books, published 2023, →ISBN, page 35:

(government) A government official having different duties depending on the country; also, a magistrate, especially one of the Chief Magistrates of Geneva, Switzerland.


process server

The process server could not effect service of process because the defendant was nowhere to be found.

The bailiff does not like to see himself as the brutal oppressor of the poor or as the agent of malicious creditors... This distinction between warrant officer and process server is not at all dissimilar to the gulf that divides the law officer and the peace officer in the police force... Warrant officers execute warrants whilst process servers distribute court summonses and cajole debtors.

1973, Paul Rock, Making People Pay, page 162:

(law enforcement) A deliverer of processes or summonses, the formal announcements of the beginning of a legal action; a huissier de justice or other equivalent position in other legal systems.


chippy

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang) A carpenter.


carny

en-noun

carny (countable and uncountable, plural carnies)

The Reverend Foster, self-ordained—or directly ordained by God, depending on authority cited—had an instinct for the pulse of his times stronger than that of a skilled carnie sizing up a mark.

1961, Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land, New York: Avon, →OCLC, page 276:

Bart spies an opportunity to make a quick buck so he channels his inner carny and posits his sinking house as a natural wonder of the world and its inhabitants as freaks, barking to dazzled spectators, “Behold the horrors of the Slanty Shanty! See the twisted creatures that dwell within! Meet Cue-Ball, the man with no hair!”

2012 May 20, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Marge Gets A Job” (season 4, episode 7; originally aired 11/05/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club:

(informal, countable) A person who works in a carnival (often one who uses exaggerated showmanship or fraud).


taxidermist

One who practices taxidermy, the stuffing of animals.


psychotherapist

From psycho- + therapist or psychotherapy + -ist.

A psychotherapist I visited a few years ago [...] told me that my mother leaving my father, and my father letting us both go, has coloured my view of all relationships.

2020, Avni Doshi, Burnt Sugar, Hamish Hamilton, page 178:


publican

Probably from public house (“(Britain) bar or tavern, often also selling food and sometimes lodging, pub”) or public (“open to all members of a community”) + -an (suffix forming agent nouns), apparently originally used humorously.

suffix

I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o' beer, / The publican 'e up an 'sez, 'We serve no red-coats here.'

1890, Rudyard Kipling, “Tommy”, in Barrack-Room Ballads and Other Verses, 3rd edition, London: Methuen & Co. […], published 1892, →OCLC, page 6:

(chiefly UK, Ireland) The landlord (manager or owner) of a public house (“a bar or tavern, often also selling food and sometimes lodging; a pub”).


publican

From Middle English publican [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman publican, pupplican, Middle French publicain, and Old French publican, publicain, pupplican (“tax collector”) (modern French publicain), and from their etymon Latin pūblicānus (“tax collector”), from pūblicum (“state revenue”) + -ānus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’, usually indicating relationships of origin, position, or possession). Pūblicum is a noun use of the neuter form of pūblicus (“of or belonging to the people, state, or community; general, public”), ultimately from Proto-Italic *poplos (“army”), further etymology unknown.
Sense 3.2 (“person excommunicated from the church; person who does not follow a Christian religion”) refers to Matthew 18:17 of the Bible: see the King James Version quotation under sense 1.
Cognates
* Catalan publicà
* Italian pubblicano
* Middle Dutch publicaen, puppilicaen, pupplicaen (modern Dutch publicaan (obsolete), publikaan)
* Middle High German publicān, publicāne (early modern German Publican).
* Middle Low German pūblicān
* Old Occitan publican, puplican
* Portuguese publicano
* Spanish publicano

ref

The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 1611, →OCLC, Luke 19:9–10, column 2: “This day is ſaluation come to this houſe, forſomuch as he alſo is the ſonne of Abraham. For the ſonne of man is come to ſeeke, and to ſaue that which was loſt.”

nb...

publicane, publycan, publycane, pubplican, pubplycan, pupblican, pupblycan, puplican, puplicane, pupplican, pupplicane

Matthevv vvhiche vvas other vvyſe alſo called Leui, beyng of a Puplican made an Apoſtle, firſt of all others compoſed and vvrote in Jevvrye, the ghoſpell of Chriſte in the Hebrue tounge, […]

1549 February 10 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1548), Jerome, “The Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Gospell of Saincte Matthew. The Lyfe of Sainct Matthew […].”, in Nicolas Udall [i.e., Nicholas Udall], transl., The First Tome or Volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Newe Testamente, London: […] Edwarde Whitchurche, →OCLC, folio xix, recto:

[T]he Publicans, that is to ſaye, the cuſtomers and takers vp of tolles, […]

1549 February 10 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1548), Erasmus, “The Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Ghospell of S. Luke. The .iii. Chapter.”, in Nicolas Udall [i.e., Nicholas Udall], transl., The First Tome or Volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Newe Testamente, London: […] Edwarde Whitchurche, →OCLC, folio xliii, verso:

Hovv like a favvning Publican he lookes.

c. 1596–1598 (date written), W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. […] (First Quarto), [London]: […] J[ames] Roberts [for Thomas Heyes], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

[I]f he [a brother who trespasses against one] neglect to heare the Church, let him be vnto thee as an heathen man, and a Publicane.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 18:17, column 1:

[T]here was a man named Zacheus, which was the cheefe among the Publicanes, and he was rich.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 19:2, column 2:

The provinces groaned at once under all the severity of publick imposition, and the rapaciousness of private usury. They were overrun by publicans, farmers of the taxes, agents, confiscators, usurers, bankers, those numerous and insatiable bodies, which always flourish in a burthened and complicated revenue.

1760, Edmund Burke, “An Essay towards an Abridgment of the English History. […]. Chapter III. The Reduction of Britain by the Romans.”, in [Walker King], editor, The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, new edition, volume X, London: […] [R. Gilbert] for C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington, […], published 1826, →OCLC, book I, page 232:

Now, Mrs. Varden, […] believing, moreover, that the publicans coupled with sinners in Holy Writ were veritable licensed victuallers; was far from being favourably disposed towards her visitor.

1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge. Chapter 13.”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume III, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, pages 5–6:

He brings twelve men with him, fishermen, tillers of the soil, one a publican, all of the humbler class; and he and they make their journeys on foot, careless of wind, cold, rain, or sun.

1880 November 12, Lew[is] Wallace, chapter II, in Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, book eighth, page 486:

(Ancient Rome, historical) A tax collector, especially one working in Judea and Galilee during New Testament times (1st century C.E.) who was generally regarded as sinful for extorting more tax than was due, and as a traitor for serving the Roman Empire.

عَشَّار

Another ſort there be vvho vvhen they hear that all things ſhall be order'd, all things regulated and ſetl'd; nothing vvritt'n but vvhat paſſes through the cuſtom-houſe of certain Publicans that have the tunaging and the poundaging of all free ſpok'n truth, vvill ſtrait give themſelvs up into your hands, mak 'em, & cut 'em out vvhat religion ye pleaſe; […]

1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 27:

[…] I am fallen into the hands of Publicans and Sequeſtrators, and they have taken all from me, vvhat novv? let me look about me. They have left me the Sun and the Moon, Fire and vvater, a loving vvife, and many friends to pity me, and ſome to relieve me, […]

1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, “Of Christian Sobriety”, in The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], →OCLC, section VI (Of Contentedness in All Estates and Accidents), page 140:

Nor could the Treasury effectually restrain the chimneyman from using his powers with harshness: for the tax was farmed; and the government was consequently forced to connive at outrages and exactions such as have, in every age, made the name of publican a proverb for all that is most hateful.

1851, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XI, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume III, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, pages 36–37:

(by extension, archaic) Any person who collects customs duties, taxes, tolls, or other forms of public revenue.

One regarded as extorting money from others by charging high prices.

kiskuri

one regarded as extorting money from others by charging high prices

(Christianity) A person excommunicated from the church; an excommunicant or excommunicate; also, a person who does not follow a Christian religion; a heathen, a pagan.


anesthesiologist

(American spelling, Canadian spelling) A physician who specializes in anesthesiology and administers anesthesia.

анестэзіёлаг

physician specializing in anesthesiology

anesthetist may refer to a nurse anesthetist


anaesthetist

(British spelling) Alternative spelling of anesthetist; an anaesthesiologist.


keyboardist

The absence of keyboardist Sadie Shaw (who split for the Bay Area garage rawkers the Husbands) allows the group more space to indulge in dark wordless experiments; […]

2004, CMJ New Music Monthly, number 129, page 59:


paperhanger

/ˈpeɪpəhæŋə/

/ˈpeɪpɚhæŋɚ/

(slang) A con man who passes bad cheques or counterfeit paper money; a forger, a con artist.

escroc

slang: a con man who passes bad cheques or counterfeit paper money; a forger, a con artist


aurist

I remembered I hadn't sent that wire to Kipper Herring, inviting him to come and join the gang. I went to Aunt Dahlia's boudoir and repaired this omission, telephoning the communication to someone at the post office who would have been well advised to consult a good aurist.

1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter VIII:

(medicine, dated) One skilled in treating and curing disorders of the ear.

отолог

one skilled in treating and curing disorders of the ear


longshoreman

From alongshoreman, from alongshore + -man.

One who makes a living along the shore by oyster-fishing, etc.


archiater

/ˈɑɹkiˌeɪtɚ/

/ˈɑːkiˌeɪtə/

From French archiâtre, from Latin archīāter. Compare arch-, iatro-, -iatry.

in his edition of Cicero's Oration for Archias , Lemgo , and Denmark , however , the dignity of Archiater still exists

1834, “ARCHIATER”, in Penny Cyclopaedia:

He brought into private practice and made the best use of these methods of precision which he had employed as a teacher, soon became the archiater of New York, and was esteemed as much for his gentle qualities as for his professional ability

1884, J. W. S. Gouley, “Recollecions of Dr. Alonzo Clark”, in Transactions of the New York State Medical Association for the Year 1884:

(historical) The chief, or highest-ranked physician of a prince, city or country, such as the Holy Roman Empire


skinner

From Middle English skynner, skinner, skynnere, schynnere, equivalent to skin + -er. Cognate with Old Norse skinnari (“skinner”), Old Swedish skinnare (“skinner”), Middle Low German schinder, schinner (“skinner”).

One who deals in skins, pelts, or hides.

(prison slang, derogatory) A sex offender.

(gambling, slang) An instance of skinning the lamb, i.e. a bookmaker winning all of his bets where nobody backed the winner.


mpret

From Albanian mbret. Doublet of imperate.


schoolmaster

From Middle English skolemayster, scolemaister, scol-meister, equivalent to school + master.

A male teacher in charge of a school, usually a small one.

johtajaopettaja

male teacher in charge of a small school


schoolmaster

en-verb

schoolmaster (third-person singular simple present schoolmasters, present participle schoolmastering, simple past and past participle schoolmastered)

schoolmasters (present singular third-person)
schoolmastering (participle present)
schoolmastered (participle past)
schoolmastered (past)

To teach in the capacity of schoolmaster.


sculptor

A person who sculpts; an artist who produces sculpture.


urinator

From urinate + -or (suffix forming an agent noun, indicating a person who does something).

af

/ˈjʊəɹɪˌneɪtə/

/ˈjʊəɹɪˌneɪtɚ/

[In The Strawberry Statement (1969)] James Simon Kunen chronicled his role as an activist at Columbia University during the student takeover of several campus buildings. He overcame police barricades, climbed through windows, and joined his fellows in occupying the offices of President Grayson Kirk. Then in the company of his olive-drab colleagues he urinated in Kirk's wastepaper basket and read his mail. Reviewers esteemed the book highly and pronounced the youthful urinater an authentic Voice of Protest.

1996, R[obert] Emmett Tyrell, Jr., “The Making of the Clinton Cabal”, in Boy Clinton: The Political Biography, Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing, →ISBN, page 94; Boy Clinton: The Political Biography, 1st e-book edition, Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing, 2015, →ISBN:

Being an orthodox Jew, he kept his store closed on the Sabbath, and when one of his customers bemoaned his action with the remark, "It is a pity on your investment if you keep closed on Saturday; you are bound to lose it." My grandfather retorted, "Pisherke, ich huff tsu dir? Ich hab a Gutt." ("Urinator, do you think I pray to you? I have a God.")

2000, H. Charles Bluming, chapter 2, in Jew Boy in Goy Town: A Catskill Mountain Odyssey, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 17:

Swamped by so much serious crime, the New York police had all but given up on misdemeanor arrests and the streets teemed with an army of malefactors—beggars, scavengers, squeegee men, graffiti artists, vandals, public urinaters, jostlers, drug pushers, and purse snatchers—fostering the climate for still more violence.

2000, Michael Stone, “The Homicide Investigation Unit”, in Gangbusters: How a Street-tough Elite Homicide Unit Took Down New York’s Most Dangerous Gang, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, →ISBN; 1st Anchor Books edition, New York, N.Y.: Anchor Books, Random House, June 2002, →ISBN, page 28:

Florida needs a special prison for tourists. [...] Let the police snatch the boor off the highway and drag his sorry butt straight to Tourist Court. Same goes for the drunks, stoners, and public urinators.

2001 May 30, Carl Hiaasen, “Go Away [May 30, 2001: Haul the Rampaging Nitwits off to Tourist Court]”, in Diane Stevenson, editor, Dance of the Reptiles: Selected Columns, New York, N.Y.: Vintage Books, published January 2014, →ISBN, page 5:

The urinator had not had the flu or a cold for ten years, not since he started urinating wherever he pleased. He didn't make a connection. He was not superstitious about his secret. All he knew is that the good life accompanied urinating wherever he pleased.

2014, Jim Heynen, “Keeping One’s Secret”, in Ordinary Sins: After Theophrastus, Minneapolis, Minn.: Milkweed Editions, →ISBN, page 82:

I then looked down and was startled to see a darkish, uncircumcised willy being waggled dry; its owner, relieving himself against the garden wall, quite unaware of my presence. [...] [A] horizontal strip of white tiles, with religious images, had been embedded, a little below penis-level, along the beach side of the garden wall; tiles with images of Shiva, Jesus, Koranic calligraphy, a Sikh guru, the Buddha and a Zoroastrian angel. But it hadn't really worked. The urinators simply passed along the wall to a spot where someone else's religious symbol had been placed.

2014, Sam Miller, “Prologue”, in A Strange Kind of Paradise: India through Foreign Eyes, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN; republished London: Vintage Books, 2015, →ISBN, pages 8–9:

While doing my business at the urinal trough, along with maybe half dozen other guys, one guy started spouting this and that in a know-it-all manner. [...] Another "urinator" rolled his eyes at me as if to say, "This guy doesn't know his ass from hole in ground."

2014, Jim Worsley, “Harry Steinfeldt”, in Nickel a Pack, Victoria, B.C.: FriesenPress, →ISBN, page 87:


notary public

en-noun

notary public (plural notaries public or (rare) notaries publics)

notaries public (plural)
notaries publics (plural rare)

Anglo-Norman/Law French, on model of notaire publique, hence the unusual order of adjective following noun, instead of idiomatic English *public notary. Compare attorney general, court martial, fee simple, secretary general, surgeon general.

(law) An officer who can administer oaths and statutory declarations, witness and authenticate documents and perform certain other acts varying from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.


poulterer

From earlier poulter (with the addition of -er), from Middle English pulter, from Old French pouletier, from poulet (“fowl”).


blue heeler

Shorty the Sixth, as he was sometimes called, had been a very winning puppy, and they had kept him at home until he began to exhibit the same tendencies that Duane's blue heelers always exhibited, that is, a tendency to herd children in the same way they would have herded cattle or sheep: they nipped their heels.

2003, Larry McMurtry, Duane's Depressed, page 75:

He always has his blue heeler dog in his office tucked away under his feet or near the door.

2007, Graham Greenwood, A Truckie's Dream: The Allan Scott Story : His Official Biography, page 113:

For some time, Dan and Pat had been at me to get a dog so we took a trip to the Yagoona RSPCA and came back with a blue heeler pup.

2008, Elizabeth Bruce, A Show Off, Just Like Your Father, page 92:

Australian Cattle Dog
Australian Cattle Dog

(Australia) A blue-coated variety of the Australian Cattle Dog breed.


screamer

'Don't be frightened, mistress,' said Quilp, after a pause. 'Your son knows me; I don't eat babies; I don't like 'em. It will be as well to stop that young screamer though, in case I should be tempted to do him a mischief. Holloa, sir! Will you be quiet?'

1840 April – 1841 November, Charles Dickens, “Chapter the Twenty-first”, in The Old Curiosity Shop. A Tale. […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1841, →OCLC:

He stood almost appalled for a moment, as he said to himself that she would take her up and the girl would be ruined, would force her note and become a screamer.

1885–1886, Henry James, chapter IX, in The Bostonians […], London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., published 16 February 1886, →OCLC:

In my opinion, Sarah was a total screamer. […] She screams in BRAIN OF MORIBUS, PYRAMIDS OF MARS, PLANET OF EVIL, REVENGE OF CYBERMEN, GENESIS OF DALEKS, SEEDS OF DOOM, ARK IN SPACE, etc, etc. In just about all her stories. When she is not screaming she is yelping, "Run Doctor RUNNNNNN!"

1999 June 27, J2rider, “Favourite companions to hate or love”, in rec.arts.drwho (Usenet):

One who screams; one who shouts; one who sings harshly.

His screamer into the right field bleachers in the sixth with Scarborough and Viau on base put Hickory out in front 9 to 8 and the lead held for the rest of the game.

2006, R. G. Utley, Tim Peeler, Aaron Peeler, Outlaw Ballplayers: interviews and profiles from the Independent Carolina Baseball League:

(music) A march played at a circus to enliven the crowd.


cupbearer

/ˈkʌpˌbɛəɹə/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-cupbearer.wav

[W]hile the King [Edward the Confessor] and Godwine [Godwin, Earl of Wessex] ſate at the table, accompanied with others of the nobilitie, it chanced the Cupbearer (as he brought wine to the bourd) to ſlip with the one foote, and yet by good ſtrength of his other leg, to recouer himſelfe without falling: [...]

1596, William Lambarde, “The Goodwine, or Goodwine Sands: Lomea after Twyne”, in A Perambulation of Kent: Conteining the Description, Hystorie, and Customes of that Shyre. […], London: […] Edm[und?] Bollifant, →OCLC, page 107:

[P]rosper, I pray thee, thy ſeruant this day, and grant him mercie in the ſight of this man. For I was the kings cup-bearer.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Nehemiah 1:11, column 1:

This Princeſs [Elizabeth I], in imitation of her Father Henry the Eighth did admit none about her for Penſioners, Privy Chamber-men, Squires of the Body, Carver's, Cupbearers, Sewers, &c. (that were not a few in number) but perſons of ſtature, ſtrength, and birth, [...]

1683, Francis Osborn[e], “Some Traditional Memorials on the Reign of Q. Elizabeth”, in The Works of Francis Osborn, Esq; […], 9th edition, London: Printed, and are to be sold by the booksellers of London and Westminster, published 1689, →OCLC, paragraph 10, page 374:

[C]alling for Drink, one of the King's Cup-bearers that was accuſtomed to ſerve me, preſented the Cup with a troubled Look, and diſcompoſed Countenance: [...] taking the Cup from his Hands, I was carrying it to my Mouth, when Arſanes enter'd the Chamber, and haſtily running up to me, juſt as I touched the Cup with my Lips, he ruſhed against my Arm ſo rudely, as he made me let fall the Cup, [...]

1736, [Gauthier de Costes, seigneur de la Calprenède], translated by Robert Loveday, Hymen’s Præludia: Or, Love’s Master-piece. Being that So-much-admir’d Romance, intitled, Cleopatra. […], volume I, London: […] J. Watson, […], →OCLC, part II, book I, page 78:

The cup-bearer shrugged his shoulders in displeasure. "I thought to have lodged him in the solere chamber," said he; "but since he is so unsocial to Christians, e'en let him take the next stall to Isaac the Jew's.— [...]"

1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter VII, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 101:

The routine of the royal household required great swarms of servants, designated variously as cupbearers (scantiones), squires (scutiferi), pantlers (panetarii), cooks, and falconers, all of lesser importance than the chamberlain.

1986, John W[esley] Baldwin, “The King’s New Men”, in The Government of Philip Augustus: Foundations of French Royal Power in the Middle Ages, 1st paperback edition, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Calif., Oxford, Oxfordshire: University of California Press, published 1991, →ISBN, page 109:

The hands were washed with perfumed water before commencing, and frequently wiped on a napkin as the meal proceeded, while cupbearers stood by to replenish the drinking cup and bowls of the king and his guests.

2015, Kaori O’Connor, “The Assyrians and Achaemenid Persians: Empires of Feasting”, in The Never-ending Feast: The Anthropology and Archaeology of Feasting, London, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Academic, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 78:

(chiefly historical) One who ceremonially fills and hands out the cups in which a drink is served.

سَاقٍ

one who ceremonially fills and hands out the cups in which a drink is served


sangoma

Borrowed from Zulu isángoma (“diviner, witch doctor, sangoma”), possibly from i- + sa- (prefix meaning ‘of’) + íngoma (“dance song performed at a festival; hymn”). The English word is cognate with Afrikaans sangoma, Swazi sángoma.

bor

The Natal Zulu believes in witchcraft, prophesy, love philtres, and such like. He is firmly fixed in his mind that the witch doctors and sangomas (female diviners) have power to bring rain, to trace spells of witchcraft, to heal by incantation, and to perform sundry other wonders and miracles.

1895, J. Forsyth Ingram, “Section III. People, Language, Government, and Settlements”, in The Colony of Natal: An Official Illustrated Handbook and Railway Guide, London: […] Sir Joseph Causton and Sons, […], →OCLC, page 21:

Sangoma is a type of healer rare in the surveyed area, but seems to be more common in other parts of Botswana. [...] In the majority of cases the Sangoma is a female, but some male Disangoma are found. The Sangoma would often, as a young person during a severe illness, be 'called' by the Badimo through a dream and then seek guidance and training from an elder Sangoma. [...] In some cases the Sangoma would specialise in some types of exorcism during which she would engage in singing, dancing and in some cases using her drum, often entering into a state of trance.

1986, Frants Staugard, “Traditional Health Care in Botswana”, in Murray Last, G[ordon] L[loyd] Chavunduka, editors, The Professionalisation of African Medicine (International African Studies; 1), Manchester: Manchester University Press in association with the International African Institute, →ISBN, part I (Professional Associations and Government), page 57:

Sangomas nowadays tend to have at least two or three, and at times as many as fifteen or more, spirits that guide and assist them in their healing practice. Sangomas describe a division of labour among such spirits whereby each tends to have a specialized purpose, ranging from guidance in diagnosis to help in collecting overdue patient fees.

1989, Edward C. Green, “Mystical Black Power: The Calling to Diviner-mediumship in Southern Africa”, in Carol Shepherd McClain, editor, Women as Healers: Cross-cultural Perspectives, New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, published 1995, →ISBN, page 188:

This case also attracted a large crowd – not to see me, but to find out whether the white man's laws could be applied to a sangoma.

1994, Nelson Mandela, chapter 16, in Long Walk to Freedom, London: Abacus, published 2010, →ISBN, page 176:

The coffins eventually reached cold storage, where they were to lie for another six weeks. Enter the sangomas. The antidote for zombies requires that sangomas reunite the zomboid spirits with their bodies. A Cape Town sangoma told me that once she had danced herself into a trance, she was able to spiritually enter the cupboard and catch the zombies (who, she assured me, are terribly strong).

2003, Brett Bailey, “The Horror! The Horror!”, in The Plays of Miracle & Wonder: Bewitching Visions and Primal High-jinx from the South African Stage, Cape Town, South Africa: Double Storey Books, →ISBN, page 33:

Lesedi was a sangoma, you know. I think she tried to put a curse on me because I was spying on her. But I wasn't really spying, I just thought that she was nice and wanted her to be my friend and then I saw the mask and I didn't anymore.

2014, Miranda Sherry, Black Dog Summer, New York, N.Y.: Washington Square Press, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 187:

(South Africa and other parts of Southern Africa) A (usually female) traditional healer or herbalist, or witch doctor.

sangoma

traditional healer or herbalist, or witch doctor — see also witch doctor


light porter

Nearly all bitter drinks are good.... Here at least I think England cannot match Ireland, for our stouts are, as a rule, too sweet and "clammy." But there used to be in the country districts a sort of light porter which was one of the most refreshing liquids conceivable for hot weather.

1920, George Saintsbury, Notes on a Cellar Book:

A type of porter ale lighter in color than the typical dark porter.


caregiver

Coordinate term: practitioner

‘Caregivers in this role can suffer as much as the patients. It can be very stressful.’

2020, Avni Doshi, Burnt Sugar, Hamish Hamilton, page 76:

(Canada, US, Philippines) A carer; a person who looks after another person.


acupuncturist

A healthcare professional who is qualified or professionally engaged in the practice of acupuncture.


paparazzo

en-noun

paparazzo (plural paparazzi or paparazzos)

/ˌpæ.pəˈɹæ.tsəʊ/

Borrowed from Italian paparazzo, from the name of Coriolano Paparazzo, a character in Federico Fellini's La dolce vita.

You may decide to shove the lens down the throat of your aggressor, in the style of an aggrieved celebrity seeking primal redress against a mischievous paparazzo; but then again, most ecstatic rituals are pacific in intent and you may find such violence inappropriate.

2005 April 30, Peter Aspden, “Bright Lights, Big Pity”, The Revolver, in FT magazine, number № 103 (election special), page 46:

A freelance photographer who sells photographs of celebrities to the media, especially one who pursues celebrities and attempts to obtain candid photographs.

Federico Fellini
La dolce vita
paparazzi


backing band

(British) A group of musicians who accompany an artist at a live performance or on a recording. This can either be an established group, or else an ad hoc group assembled for the purpose.


costermonger

From costard (“cooking apple”) + monger.

(UK, Ireland, originally) An apple-seller, usually itinerant and selling from a cart.


fitter

For the fitter of film music in the silent era visual reference was the surest indicator of content.

2012, Stephen Neale, The Classical Hollywood Reader, page 268:

(film, historical) A person employed to find suitable music to accompany silent films.


mahout

PIE word
 *méǵh₂s
The noun is borrowed from Hindustani (Hindi महौत (mahaut)/Urdu مَہَوت (mahaut)), महाउत (mahāut), variants of महावत (mahāvat)/مَہاوَت (mahāvat), from Sanskrit महामात्र (mahāmātra, “elephant keeper; high official; king’s minister”), from महा (mahā, “great”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s (“big, great”)) + मात्र (mātra, “measure; quantity”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- (“to measure”)).
The verb is derived from the noun.

ref

From the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England, United Kingdom.

der

The Serrievvan hath the overſight of the Camels, and the Mahout, that of the Elephants.

1662, Adam Olearius, “The Voyages & Travels of J. Albert de Mandelslo [i.e., Johan Albrecht de Mandelslo] […] into the East-Indies. […]”, in John Davies, transl., The Voyages & Travels of the Ambassadors from the Duke of Holstein, to the Great Duke of Muscovy, and the King of Persia. […], London: […] Thomas Dring, and John Starkey, […], →OCLC, book I, page 81:

The very best of all the elephants belonged to the very worst of all the drivers or mahouts; and the superior beast's name was Moti Guj. He was the absolute property of his mahout, which would never have been the case under native rule, for Moti Guj was a creature to be desired by kings; and his name, being translated, meant the Pearl Elephant.

1891 August, Rudyard Kipling, “Moti Guj—Mutineer”, in Life’s Handicap: Being Stories of Mine Own People, London, New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., […], published October 1891, →OCLC, page 307:

[I]n a cabinet were about a hundred little elephants made of ivory. They were of different sizes, and some had their mahouts or palanquins on their backs.

1910 November – 1911 August, Frances Hodgson Burnett, “‘There Was Some One Crying—There Was!’”, in The Secret Garden, New York, N.Y.: Frederick A[bbott] Stokes Company, published 1911, →OCLC, page 71:

Around mid-day elephants were taken into the forest by their mahouts to forage on foods of their choice, and then carried back a supply of food gathered by mahout and elephant. During the relaxed mid-day period, it was common to see mahouts sleeping on their elephants' backs, under an umbrella for shade.

2005, Lynette A. Hart, “The Elephant–Mahout Relationship in India and Nepal: A Tourist Attraction”, in John Knight, editor, Animals in Person: Cultural Perspectives on Human–Animal Intimacies, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, published 2020, →ISBN, page 172:

(South Asia) An elephant trainer, keeper, and driver.


sawyer

From Middle English sawyer, sawier, sawior, equivalent to saw + -yer. Doublet of sawer.

One who saws timber, especially in a sawpit.

‘A’most used-up I am, I do declare!’ she observed. ‘The jolting in the cars is pretty nigh as bad as if the rail was full of snags and sawyers.’

1842 December – 1844 July, Charles Dickens, The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1844, →OCLC:

(US) A large trunk of a tree brought down by the force of a river's current.

A beetle, mostly in the genus Monochamus, that lives and feeds on trees, including timber.


bookbinder

From Middle English bokebynder, bok-bindere, equivalent to book + binder.

A person whose profession is binding pages together to form books.

صَحَّاف

person whose profession is binding books


peon

From a combination of Middle French pion, peon and Spanish peón, both from Late Latin pedōnem (“pedestrian”). Doublet of pawn.

(India, historical) A messenger, foot soldier, or native policeman.


free agent

(sports) A professional athlete who is free to play for or sign a contract to play for any team.

A person who acts freely, or without constraint to a higher power.


gunsmith

a person skilled in the repair and servicing of firearms.


sex slave

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


kanone

Borrowed from German Kanone (literally “cannon”).


ophthalmologist

A medical doctor specializing in the eye: deficiencies of vision requiring correction, and diseases. Compare optometrist.


ichthyologist

An expert in ichthyology: one who studies fishes. [from 18th c.]


silviculturist

someone who practices silviculture; a forester


iatrochemist

Around 1604, Ribit and Mayerne helped a fellow Huguenot and iatrochemist named Jean Béguin establish a pharmaceutical laboratory in Paris, where he offered public lectures on chemical medicine.

2006, Philip Ball, The Devil's Doctor, Arrow, published 2007, page 374:


forester

Inherited from Middle English forester, a borrowing from Old French forestier, from forest + -ier; equivalent to forest + -er. Displaced native Old English wuduweard.

(obsolete or colloquial) A person who lives in a forest.


anesthetist

(American spelling, Canadian spelling, medicine) One who gives an anesthetic.


authoress

/ˈɔː.θə.ɹɛs/

From Middle English aucteuresse; equivalent to author + -ess.

This obſervation is verified in our authoreſs, who, without deſign, without art, and without inſtruction is arrived at a wonderful perfection in the art of poetry, and may be placed amongſt poets of the firſt claſs.

1765 January, “A further Account of the celebrated German Poeteſs”, in The Gentleman's Magazine, page 5:

Eve was the authoress of sin, Mary the authoress of merit… the one wounded, the other healed.

1841, Thomas Butler, The Truths of the Catholic Religion, page 102:


Dadaist

/ˈdɑːdɑːɪst/


Dadaist

/ˈdɑːdɑːɪst/


furrier

From Anglo-Norman, from Old French forreor, from fourrer (“to line or trim with fur”).

The furrier went on to say that he had a real beaute of a Canadian three-quarter squirrel just in.

1972, H. E. Bates, The Song of the Wren:

A person who sells, makes, repairs, alters, cleans, or otherwise deals in clothing made of fur.

кожар

person who sells, makes and deals otherwise with fur


furrier

From Middle English forreour, from Old French forrier, forrour, feureur. See foray.

The Furriers sent before, to divide the Quarters.

1637, Robert Monro, chapter 1, in Monro, His Expedition with the Worthy Scots Regiment (called Mac-Keyes-regiment) Levied in August 1626, page 33:

(historical, British) A person who secures accommodation for an army.


impressionist

One who adheres to the theory or method of impressionism.

A performer who does impressions; a mimic.


patternmaker

One soon learned, however, that it was no easy thing to make wood do exactly as one required it. It looked quite easy in the masterly hands of the experienced pattern-maker, but the mysteries of dowelling and mortice and tenon were not uncovered in a week or two.

1944 November and December, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—II”, in Railway Magazine, page 341:

Someone whose occupation is to make patterns, especially those used as a guide in the manufacture of something else.


pizzaiolo

en-noun

pizzaiolo (plural pizzaiolos or pizzaioli)

The wood-burning ovens and rock-star pizzaioli that seemed exotic not long ago are becoming familiar.

2010 August 24, Oliver Strand, “New York Pizza Enters a Golden Age”, in The New York Times:

Mr. Arena routinely travels to pizzerias, and also responds to questions from pizzaiolos from around the world, including Brazil and China. […] Evel Pie, where Mr. Rotolo was once the head pizzaiolo, has a punk-rock-meets-Evel-Knievel aesthetic, replete with a Knievel-themed pinball machine, ’70s-era bunting and music, and the words “Live Hard, Ride Fast, Eat Pizza” in lights above the bar.

2020 June 3, Robert Spuhler, “In Las Vegas, the Home-Style Pizza Is an Everything Pie”, in The New York Times:

A person who makes pizzas in a pizzeria; a pizzamaker.


estate agent

(UK, Ireland) A person or company that acts in the sale, purchase, lease or maintenance of land, property, real estate etc for another.

سمسار

one acting for another in sale, purchase or lease of real estate


coxswain

From Middle English cokswain; equivalent to cock (“a boat”) + swain (“boy, servant”); hence “the master of a boat”.

compound

In a ship's boat, the helmsman given charge of the boat's crew.

загребни

a crew member in a rowing team who gives the rhythm


investigator

Attested in the mid‐16th century; from Latin investigator, from investigare, equivalent to investigate + -or.


signalman

Somebody employed to direct rigging or crane operations by providing a different point of view.


pure finder

The pure-finders meet with a ready market for all the dogs’-dung they are able to collect, at the numerous tanyards in Bermondsey.

1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, volume 2, page 14:

(obsolete) Someone who collected dog faeces for sale to tanneries (which used it as a siccative for bookbinding leather). Undertaken by poor people in Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries.


stoker

From Middle Dutch stoker (“stoker”), from Middle Dutch stoken (“to stoke, incite”, literally “to poke, jab, thrust”), ultimately equivalent to stoke + -er. More at stoke.

der

For this was a line so little frequented, especially at this hour, when the driver, the stoker, the guard and the station staffs all along the line, were anhelating towards their wives, after the long hours of continence, that the train would hardly draw up, when it would be off again, like a bouncing ball.

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

He held strongly to the black-ganger's philosophy - what is the use of all the radar and guns and torpedoes if you don't have the engineers and stokers to put them in the right position?

1960, J.E. Macdonnell, Escort Ship, Sydney: Horwitz Publications, published 1972, page 22:

A person who stokes, especially one on a steamship or steam train, who stokes coal in the boilers.


hotpresser

(historical) A person, in a laundry or in a paper mill, whose job was to hotpress.


public servant

And whosoever shall refuse any one of his three Essays [...] shall be deem'd a Helot or public Servant, shall pay a fifth part of his yearly Revenue, besides all other Taxes, to the Common-wealth for his Protection, and be incapable of bearing any Magistracy except such as is proper to the Law.

Immediately / Was Samson as a public servant brought, / In thir state Livery clad; before him Pipes / And Timbrels, on each side went armed guards, / Both horse and foot before him and behind / Archers, and Slingers, Cataphracts and Spears.

[…]notwithstanding an order which was given by Governor Phillip, in which the colony were informed, that the public servants (convicts) had no property, their clothing, time, and labour, being the property of the Government, and not at their own disposal.

1802, George Barrington, The history of New South Wales including Botany Bay, Port Jackson, Parramatta, Sydney, and all its Dependancies, page 250:

For special reasons, the use of convicts as public servants warrants separate attention.

1994, Noel George Butlin, Forming a Colonial Economy: Australia 1810-1850, page 75:

(historical) Someone who labours for the public good; a convict assigned to work on public projects.


housemother

The mother of a family; the female head of household, or of any collection of persons living as a family or in common, as in a primitive community.


aerialist

/ˈɛəɹɪəlɪst/

[…] I chanced once, when I called during the day, to meet at the rehearsal M’lle Clarisse, the aerialist […] I looked at her carefully, and I could not divest myself of the impression that she was, in spite of her compact and strongly built little frame, much too delicate and fragile a person to go flying through the air from trapeze to trapeze.

1879 December, Edward Dusseault, “Recollections of Other Days”, in Ballou’s Monthly Magazine, volume 50, number 6, page 564:

Of the two ways of making love, adultery must seem the safer, as the aerialist engaged in it swings to an eventual stop, or else lands in marriage itself which is strung out protectively under the highwire. Whereas a man failing in marriage has nothing to break the tumble.

1959, Peter De Vries, chapter 14, in The Tents of Wickedness, Boston: Little Brown, page 210:

The migratory birds
have flown the coop
but they’ll be back
with their built-in compass.
They’ll come back the way
the circus does each year—
with aerialists, our angular
birds that loop the loop.

1969 December 14, Anne Sexton, “Eighteen Days Without You”, in The Complete Poems, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, published 1981, pages 216–217:

There was a good-looking Argentinian couple standing in the open flap of their tent. They were aerialists, checking over each other’s harnesses, testing the strength of the metal grommets where the guy wires would be attached to them.

2015, John Irving, chapter 16, in Avenue of Mysteries, New York: Simon & Schuster:

Videos of their feats, showing Spiderman^([sic])-like aerialists clinging to stone facades and balcony edges before plunging streets into darkness with the flick of an elevated switch, have been popular on social media since the start of the trend.

2022 October 13, Constant Méheut, “With Leaps and Bounds, Parkour Athletes Turn Off the Lights in Paris”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-10-13:

An acrobat performing high off the ground, defying a fall to earth, as on a trapeze or a tightrope.

Abramenko, a top aerialist in freestyle skiing, a five-time Olympian and the country’s flag-bearer for the opening ceremony, garnered more attention after the event, when a photograph of his hug with a Russian rival was widely circulated.

2022 March 4, John Branch, “He Won an Olympic Silver for Ukraine. Now He’s Hiding in a Kyiv Garage.”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-03-05:

(skiing) A specialist in aerials, a freestyle skiing discipline.

1803, A Dictionary of the Wonders of Art, London: T. Hurst, entry “Aeronautics,” p. 32,
The balloon, however, having been torn in the lower part, both the cords and netting of the railing of the car broke, the wind again forced away the gentlemen from the tree they were strongly clasping; but with the assistance of a new, though last exertion, the aerialists had an opportunity of leaving the car and balloon, which fell upwards of 200 yards farther.

The Frenchman, Paulhan, made several spectacular flights, but it is noticeable that while the American aerialists are less spectacular they are doing more to further the art of flying.

1910 January 20, Homestead, volume 55, number 3, page 8:

(obsolete) One who operates a flying machine; a balloonist or aviator.


aide-de-camp

Unadapted borrowing from French aide de camp, from aide + de (“of”) + camp (“(military) camp”).

ubor

Unlike the orderly or batman, a humble low-ranking servant, an aide-de-camp is often a general, who before the institution of the chief of staff could hold a similar position to his chief.

The police uncovered the plot after recovering information from the phone of Bolsonaro’s former personal secretary, Lt Col Mauro Cid, who served as Bolsonaro’s aide-de-camp during his 2019–2023 presidency.

2024 November 19, Tiago Rogero, “Brazilian police arrest five over plot to assassinate Lula after 2022 election win”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

A military officer who serves as an adjutant to a higher-ranking officer, prince or other high political dignitary.


harvester

A North American butterfly, Feniseca tarquinius, whose larvae eat aphids and are the only entirely carnivorous caterpillars in North America


chambermaid

A maid who handles the chores in a bedroom.

خَادِمَة

a maid who handles the chores in a bedroom


scaffolder

A person who erects and dismantles scaffolding.

steigerbouwer

a person who erects and dismantles scaffolding


interviewer

→ Dutch: interviewer

→ French: interviewer

→ German: Interviewer

→ Japanese: インタビュアー (intabyuā)

→ Russian: интервью́ер (intɛrvʹjújer)

“I don't consider myself a nebbish,” Woody told interviewers early in his career, “but everyone else does.”

2001, Foster Hirsh, quoting Woody Allen, Love, Sex, Death, and the Meaning of Life: The Films of Woody Allen:

"I am glad to know you preserve that old signal box at the top of the incline. Is it not the oldest in Scotland?" an interviewer asks John Conacher, General Manager of the North British Railway, in 1898.

2021 November 3, Dr Joseph Brennan, “Boxes with functions across the centuries”, in RAIL, number 943, page 54:


stonecutter

A machine that is used to cut stone or concrete.


thatcher

/ˈθæt͡ʃ.ə(ɹ)/

A person who installs thatch as a roofing material.


neurosurgeon

A surgeon specializing in brain surgery.


bottler

From Middle English boteller, botullere, equivalent to bottle + -er. Piecewise doublet of butler.

A Punchman's assistant who collects money ("bottle") from the audience.


custodian

From a shortening of Latin custōdiānātus, from Latin custōdia (“a keeping, watch, guard, prison”), from custōs (“a keeper, watchman, guard”).

der

After their parents' death, their aunt became the children's custodian.

The building's custodian could fix nearly anything. The place always looked great!

A person entrusted with the custody or care of something or someone; a caretaker or keeper.

qəyyum

a person entrusted with the custody or care


chamberlain

From Middle English chamberlein, chaumberlein, chaumberleyn, from Anglo-Norman chamberlenc, Old French chamberlayn, chamberlenc (“chamberlain”), from Frankish *kamarling (“chamberlain”), equivalent to *kamer (“chamber”) + *-ling (“-ling”). Cognate with Old High German chamarling (“chamberlain”). Compare also Late Latin camerārius. More at chamber, -ling.

cog

A senior royal official in charge of superintending the arrangement of domestic affairs and often charged with receiving and paying out money kept in the royal chamber, especially in the United Kingdom and in Denmark.

侍從 /侍从

an officer in charge of managing the household of a sovereign


graver

From Middle English gravere, graver, gravoure, from Old English græfere, grafere (“graver; engraver; sculptor”), equivalent to grave (“to engrave”) + -er. Cognate with Dutch graveur, German Graveur, Danish gravør, Swedish gravör, Icelandic grafari.

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

1852-1854, Charles Tomlinson, Cyclopaedia of Useful Arts and Manufactures
The graver, in ploughing furrows in the surface of the copper, raises corresponding ridges or burrs.

[…] the parts within the contorno are drawn by the incisions of the graver […]

a. 1798, James Barry, Observations on different works of art in France and Ital:

(obsolete) a carver, sculptor, or engraver


retiree

/ɹəˈtaɪ.ə(ɹ)ˌiː/

He has been a retiree since 2001.

Someone who has retired from active working.

مُتَقَاعِد

someone who has retired from active working


dish pig

A dish pig washes dishes for a living.

2003, “Steve Baker review of Rob Longstaff Ten Tracks At A Reasonable Price”, in Australian Broadcasting Commission, archived from the original on 2004-01-02:

(slang) A person employed to wash dishes at a restaurant or similar location.


adjudicator

[əˈd͡ʒu.dɪˌkeɪ.ɾɚ]

/əˈd͡ʒʉː.dɪ.kæɪ.tə/

[əˈd͡ʒʉː.dɪ.kæɪ.ɾə]

Rimmer ducked his body low into his chair, so just his head remained above the table top, and peered past the backs of the examinees in front of him, waiting for the adjudicator to make his move.

1989, Grant Naylor, Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers:

The State Department has hired hundreds of new passport adjudicators, put employees to work around the clock and opened a new processing facility in Arkansas but has still been unable to meet the demand [for the issuance of new passports].


anatomist

But we can no longer regard the mere fact of these diffuse condensations of the lung becoming yellow and caseous as an evidence of their tuberculous nature, especially since the pathological anatomists, and among them Virchow, have shown that formations of the most different kind, having not the slightest connection with tubercule— as, for example, old cancerous masses, lymphatic glands swollen by a hyperplasia of cells, hæmorrhagical infarctions, abscesses, &c.— undergo exactly the same caseous transformation.

1868, Felix von Niemeyer, J. L Parke, Clinical Lectures on Pulmonary Phthisis, Moorhead, Simpson & Bond, page 3:

A plant anatomist receiving such samples can remove pickled wood and bark for anatomical study, then dry the remaining portions for inclusion in a xylarium.

1996, Tod F. Stuessy, S. H. Sohmer, Sampling the Green World: Innovative Concepts of Collection, Preservation, and Storage of Plant Diversity:

Gall's science of “bump reading” would ultimately be abandoned as much for its fixation on social categories as for an inability within the scientific community to replicate its findings. These scientific failings would be exposed by anatomists like Paul Broca (1861) and Carl Wernicke (1874) who pioneered the alternative neuroscientific method of lesion–symptom mapping.

2018 September, O. Parker Jones, F. Alfaro-Almagro, S. Jbabdi, “An empirical, 21st century evaluation of phrenology”, in Cortex, volume 106, pages 26–35:

One who studies, teaches, writes on, or does research on anatomy and anatomical structures.

مُشَرِّح

one involved in the science of anatomical structures


attorney general

en-noun

attorney general (plural attorneys general or attorney generals)

attorneys general (plural)
attorney generals (plural)

From Anglo-Norman/Law French, (modern French avocat général or procureur général), hence the unusual order of adjective following noun, instead of idiomatic English *general attorney. Compare court martial, notary public, secretary general, surgeon general.

Janet Reno was US Attorney General under Bill Clinton.

If you do wrongfully ſeize Herford's right, / call in his Letters Patents that he hath / By his Atturneyes generall, to ſue[…]

1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 29, column 2:

A major government officer throughout the English-speaking world, generally responsible for interpreting the law for the head of government and executive department and functioning as chief prosecutor, with the ability to bring civil and criminal actions directly.


autoworker

In the United States, the main autoworkers' union is the UAW, the United Auto Workers.

Someone who works as an assembly line worker in an automobile assembly plant.


auditor

From Anglo-Norman auditour, from Latin audītor (“hearer, auditor”).

In many jurisdictions, an elected or appointed public official in charge of the public accounts; a comptroller.

One who audits an academic course; who attends the lectures but does not earn academic credit.

There is another of better notice, and whispered through the world with some attention; credulous and vulgar auditors readily believing it, and more judicious and distinctive heads not altogether rejecting it.

1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC:

Thus (as you will see with half an eye, my wise little auditors) these good old dames had fallen into a strange perplexity.

1851 June–July (date written), Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Gorgon’s Head”, in A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, published November 1851 (indicated as 1852), →OCLC, page 32:

Sampson's tongue was still flying with rapidity, as if his auditors had not been void of a number, while Mr. Alboni and Natalie were holding a consultation aside.

1859, Ferna Vale, Natalie; or, A Gem Among the Sea-Weeds:

As we crossed the hall the telephone-bell rang, and we were the involuntary auditors of Professor Challenger's end of the ensuing dialogue.

1913, Arthur Conan Doyle, “(please specify the page)”, in The Poison Belt […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

(rare) One who listens, typically as a member of an audience.

(Scientology) One trained to perform spiritual guidance procedures.


embalmer

One who embalms a corpse; a practitioner of mortuary science.


epidemiologist

In his first book since the 2008 essay collection Natural Acts: A Sidelong View of Science and Nature, David Quammen looks at the natural world from yet another angle: the search for the next human pandemic, what epidemiologists call “the next big one.”

2013 January, Katie L. Burke, “Ecological Dependency”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 1, United States: Sigma Xi, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2017-02-09, page 64:

(epidemiology) A scientist (often a medical doctor) who specializes in epidemiology.

համաճարակաբան

scientist who specializes in epidemiology


headsman

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

From Middle English heddysman, equivalent to head + -s- + -man. Cognate with Scots hedisman, heidisman (“head man; chief; commander”). Compare also Danish høvedsmand (“captain”), Swedish hövitsman (“captain”), Icelandic höfuðsmaður (“captain”), German Hauptmann (“captain”).

(obsolete or Scotland) A chief person; a head man


keyboarder

tallentaja

one who enters data into a computer system


cryptozoologist

From crypto- + zoologist or cryptozoology + -ist.

(cryptozoology) One who studies cryptozoology.


pharmacologist

/ˌfɑɹməˈkɒləd͡ʒɪst/

From pharmacology + -ist.
*
 Audio (Southern England): (file)

(pharmacology) A student of pharmacology; one versed in the science of pharmacology.

farmakoloog

student of or one who is versed in pharmacology


maharani

From Hindustani مہارانی / महारानी (mahārānī), from Sanskrit महा (mahā, “great”) and रानी (rānī, “queen”).

Nonetheless, for many years afterward, she was often referred to as maharani, though that eventually gave way to the less glamorous but more respectful title of rajmata, the equivalent of queen mother.

2009 July 31, Bruce Weber, “Gayatri Devi, 90, a Maharani and a Lawmaker, Dies”, in The New York Times:

The wife of a maharajah; approximately, a queen consort.


paternoster

/ˈpɑtəɹˌnɔstɚ/

From Middle English paternoster, pater noster, from Old English Paternoster, from Latin Pater noster (“our father”) (the first two words of the Oratio Dominica (“the Lord's prayer”)), from pater (“father”) + noster (“our”). The lift and the fishing equipment are named from their resemblance to a rosary.

(Christianity) The Lord's Prayer, especially in a Roman Catholic context.


radiographer

Someone who works with radiography. This term seems to be more common in British English.


telegraphist

/ˈtɛləɡɹɑːfɪst/

/təˈlɛɡɹɑːfɪst/

/ˈtɛləɡɹæfɪst/

/təˈlɛɡɹæfɪst/

He had taken the wife to his raw new palace in San Diego, where she and her people occupied a wing of great price, and Cheyne, in a veranda-room, between a secretary and a typewriter, who was also a telegraphist, toiled along wearily from day to day.

1896 November – 1897 May, Rudyard Kipling, “Captains Courageous”, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, published 1897, →OCLC:

But the next stations, Wamphray, and Dinwoodie, were small places, very probably with no night telegraphists.

1950 January, David L. Smith, “A Runaway at Beattock”, in Railway Magazine, page 54:


telegrapher

(historical) A telegraph operator, one who sent telegrams.


Pythagoras

/paɪˈθæɡ.əɹ.əs/

/pɪˈθæɡ.əɹ.əs/

/paɪˈθæɡ.ɚ.əs/

From Ancient Greek Πῡθαγόρᾱς (Pūthagórās).

Pitagora

Ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher

Serge Lang and Gene Murrow (1988) Geometry, →ISBN, page 203: “By Pythagoras, we find the length of the third side, |AB|² = (2a)² – a² = 4a² – a² = 3a²”

Pythagoras' theorem
Pythagoras' theorem#English

(mathematics, colloquial) Ellipsis of Pythagoras' theorem.


footballer

/ˈfʊtbɔːləɹ/

It is footballers though, rather than commentators, presenters or pundits, who when interviewed have provided some of the best Colemanballs.

2004, George Best, Scoring At Half-Time: Adventures On and Off the Pitch, →ISBN, page 259:

association football
association football

(soccer, UK) One who plays association football.


aromatherapist

alternative medicine
alternative medicine

(alternative medicine) A practitioner of aromatherapy.


soda jerk

Looking at it, serenely topping that crazy-quilt house, I had the impression of its being an outrageously squashed cherry topping, the whipped cream of as madly a concocted sundae that a soda jerk ever made. A pleasant impression.

1943 January, John York Cabot, “Rats in the Belfry”, in Amazing Stories:

(US, idiomatic, dated) A person who works at a soda fountain.


gamekeeper

A person employed to maintain the game for hunting and all associated materials and effects. Often shortened to keeper.


herdsman

herdsman feminine: herdswoman (canonical)
herdsmen (plural)

A person who tends livestock, especially cows and sheep; especially, the foreman among a group of such farmworkers, usually with more knowledge and experience.

رَاعٍ

a person who tends livestock, especially cows and sheep


law clerk

A clerk who assists a judge with legal proceedings. Depending on the court, such positions may be professional careers or may be temporary positions for graduating law students.

assistant de justice or assistant du contentieux


iceman

(historical) A person who trades in ice; a person employed to deliver block ice to those lacking electric refrigeration.


scenarist

What was acted out in the American and French Revolutions had been thought out beforehand in the writings of Locke and Rousseau, the scenarists for the drama of modern politics.

1987, Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today's Students:

(cinematography) A writer of screenplays; a screenwriter.


doorkeeper

The manager at Carnegie Hall was told to get another usher in his stead; the doorkeeper at the theatre was warned not to admit him to the house; and Charley Edwards remorsefully promised the boy's father not to see him again.

1920, Willa Cather, Youth and the Bright Medusa.:

The person in charge of an entryway, sometimes just a doorman, sometimes something more.


field marshal

From field + marshal, calque of German Feldmarschall or its source, Middle French maréchal de camp.

(military) In certain nations the highest military rank, ranking below only the commander in chief; now essentially disused.

field marshall

highest military rank after the commander in chief


fire marshal

(US, Philippines) A public official with police powers responsible for enforcing fire safety regulations, and sometimes, who also investigates suspicious fires.


stableman

In fact, a horse that has been accustomed to be attended by a stableman will want to have little niceties done to him that a hawbuck of a groom never thinks of doing.

1851, Harry Hieover, The Pocket and the Stud, page 93:

A person employed to take care of horses in a stable.


warbird

(chiefly poetic) A crew member of a warplane; airman.


heptathlete

“Heptathlon is very geared and favorable to those who are quick,” said Gray’s coach, Andy Eggerth, who trains both heptathletes and decathletes. “A lot of world-class heptathletes are relatively bad at javelin and shot-put.”

2021 June 7, Shauna Farnell, “An Olympic Hurdle: Why Is the Decathlon Only for Men?”, in The New York Times:

He comes from a family of athletes: Greg, his father, was an elite vaulter for the U.S. Helena, his Swedish mother, was an international heptathlete and volleyball player.

2024 May 8, Liam Tharme, “Mondo Duplantis: Breaking down the biomechanics behind the best-ever pole vaulter”, in The New York Times:

(athletics) An athlete who competes in the heptathlon.


pentathlete

In Tokyo, that led to accusations of abuse after a German pentathlete and medal contender, Annika Schleu, was assigned a stubborn horse that refused to jump at all.

2021 March 11, Victor Mather, “Modern Pentathlon Drops Equestrian Competition After Abuse Claims”, in The New York Times:

While the pentathletes at the Paris Games are indeed riding horses over a series of jumps as part of the event, they will face an entirely different fifth discipline when they get to Los Angeles in 2028: a race the organizers are calling a “‘Ninja Warrior’-style obstacle course.”

2024 October 8, Sarah Lyall, “Dear Pentathletes: Enjoy Your Last Ride. Get Ready for the Obstacle Course.”, in The New York Times:

(athletics) An athlete who competes in the pentathlon.


biathlete

(sports) An athlete who competes in the biathlon.


scam artist

A person who attempts to defraud others by presenting a fraudulent offer and pretending that it is legitimate; a con artist.


gasfitter

A person who installs and services gas fixtures and appliances.

აირგამყვანი

a person who installs and services gas fixtures and appliances