majordomo

See also: major-domo

English

WOTD – 12 June 2009

English Wikipedia has an article on:

majordomo

Wikipedia

From Italian maggiordomo and Spanish mayordomo, from Late Latin māior domūs (“steward”), from Latin māior (“main, principal”) + genitive singular of domus (“household”).

majordomo (plural majordomos)

The head servant or official in a royal Spanish or Italian household; later, any head servant in a wealthy household in a foreign country; a leading servant or butler.
- 1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 22, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC:
  Pancho, the major-domo, came up to say that Colonel Morales was waiting below. Appleby bade him bring out cigars and wine, and rose from his seat when Morales came in.
- 2002, Marta VanLandingham, chapter 7, in Transforming the State: King, Court and Political Culture in the Realms of Aragon (1213-1387), →ISBN, page 164:
  In return for ruling over the king's palace, serving as the monarch's alter ego in the domestic sphere, and bearing the burden of accountability, the majordomo was compensated amply.
(US, Southwest) A manager of a hacienda, ranch or estate.
- 2006, Gray A. Brechin, chapter 5, in Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin, →ISBN, page 212:
  She called upon a Missouri cousin named Edward Hardy Clark, who became the indispensable majordomo of the Hearst estate.
(chiefly US) Any overseer, organizer, person in command.
- 2009 June 7, The Economic Times:
  The United Nation's climate majordomo -- tasked with herding 192 nations toward a do-or-die deal by year's end -- does not have the power to impose an agreement on how to curb greenhouse gases and cope with its consequences.