▪ I. censor, n.
(ˈsɛnsə(r), -ə(r))
Forms: 5–6 sensour, 6 sensor, 6–7 censour, 6– censor.
[a. L. censor, f. censēre: see cense v.2]
1. The title of two magistrates in ancient Rome, who drew up the register or census of the citizens, etc., and had the supervision of public morals.
| 1533 Bellenden Livy iv. (1822) 323 In this yere began the office of censouris. 1607 Shakes. Cor. ii. iii. 252 Twice being Censor. 1742 Middleton Cicero I. 117 These Censors were the guardians of the discipline and manners of the City. 1838–43 Arnold Hist. Rome III. xliv. 172 Censors, to whom the duty of making out the roll of the senate..belonged. |
2. a. transf. One who exercises official or officious supervision over morals and conduct.
| 1592 Greene Upst. Courtier in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) II. 224 A severe sensor to such as offend the law. 1622 Massinger, etc. Old Law v. i, Cleanthes..for his manifest virtues, we make such judge and censor of youth. 1776 Gibbon Decl. & F. I. xx. 564 The bishop was the perpetual censor of the morals of his people. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xxxiv, Regarding his father as a rigid censor. 1871 J. Duncan Colloquia Perip. 118 Punch is a censor, but not censorious. |
b. spec. An official in some countries whose duty it is to inspect all books, journals, dramatic pieces, etc., before publication, to secure that they shall contain nothing immoral, heretical, or offensive to the government. More explicitly dramatic censor, film censor.
| 1644 Milton Areop. (Arb.) 56 He..must appear in print like a punie with his guardian, and his censors hand on the back of his title, to be his bayl and suretye that he is no idiot or seducer. 1732 Fielding Covent Gard. Jrnl. No. 3 A record in the censor's office. 1796 H. Hunter tr. St. Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) III. 607, I prevailed so far as to have it submitted to the inspection of a Censor. 1820 W. Irving Sketch Bk. I. 103 Information..received with caution by the censors of the press. 1839 Lytton Let. 20 Dec. in C. H. Shattuck Bulwer & Macready (1958) 148 Wd the office of censor (Dramatic) be one..agreeable to yourself? 1872 Morley Voltaire (1886) 140 A man of letters whose life was tormented by censors of the press. 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 227/2 The master of the revels appears to have been the dramatic censor from 1545 to 1624. 1912 Times 30 Nov. 4/6 Mr. G. A. Redford..now Censor of Cinematograph Films, is engaged in organizing the British Board of Film Censors, of which he is the director. 1930 G. B. Shaw in Times 17 Feb. 15/5 Mr. Edward Shortt, who lately succeeded the late T. P. O'Connor as Film Censor. |
c. In Universities and Colleges, the title of various officials.
At Oxford and Cambridge it is the title of the official Head of the Non-collegiate or ‘Unattached’ Students; in the Royal College of Physicians, the officers who grant licenses.
| 1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. II. 359 Intolerably impudent, saucy and refractory to the Censor. 1876 Grant Burgh Sch. Scotl. ii. iv. 146 The providing of Censors and examiners. 1885 Oxf. Univ. Calendar 281 The [Non-collegiate] Students are under the supervision of the Censor, who is charged with the care of their conduct and studies. 1885 Med. Directory s.v. Coll. of Physicians, All other candidates for Membership shall be examined on the subjects of General Education by the President and Censors of the College. |
d. U.S. (See quot.)
| [1635 N. Carpenter Geog. Del. ii. xv. 257 The Censors and moderators to decide controuersies in matters of state.] 1794 S. Williams Vermont 349 A council of censors, to consist of thirteen persons to be elected by the people every seventh year. The duty assigned to them is to inquire whether the constitution has been preserved inviolate. 1876 Bancroft Hist. U.S. V. xxii. 577 Once in seven years an elective council of censors was to take care that freedom and the constitution were preserved in purity. |
e. An official whose duty it is to censor private correspondence (as in time of war: cf. censor v.).
| 1914 (Stamped on envelope of soldier's letter from the Front) Passed by Censor. 1915 ‘Ian Hay’ First Hundred Thou. xix. 290 These [letters]..are stamped with the familiar red triangle and forwarded to the Base, where they are supposed to be scrutinised by the real Censor. 1918 B. Miall tr. A. Hamon's Lessons of World-war 146 In a letter written from England to a French non-commissioned officer, the censor cut out all that concerned the miners' strike in Wales! Ibid. 147 Correspondence from neutrals was examined and bore the paper band now well known in the United Kingdom: ‘Opened by the censor’. |
3. † a. One who judges or criticizes (obs.). b. esp. One who censures or blames; an adverse critic; one given to fault-finding.
| 1599 Marston Sco. Villanie ii. vi. 199 Hence, thou misiudging Censor. 1615 Crooke Body of Man 502 Referred or brought hereunto as vnto their Iudge and Censor. 1631 Gouge God's Arrows v. Ded. 406 Baited by the differing censures of diverse censors. 1751 Johnson Rambl. No. 172 ¶5 Nor can the most..steady rectitude escape blame from censors, who have no inclination to approve. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 661 Not..understood either by eulogists or by censors. 1868 M. Pattison Academ. Org. 4 A defence of the Universities against their censors. |
4. Psychol. [Mistranslation of G. zensur censorship.] A mental power or force which represses certain elements in the unconscious and prevents them from emerging into the conscious mind. Also attrib. Cf. censorship 3.
| 1912 Maclean's Mag. Nov. 152/1 But the ‘censor’, to use the Freudian terminology, is easily deceived. 1913 Brill tr. Freud's Interpr. Dreams vi. 287 We may state, as a second condition which the elements must satisfy in order to get into the dream, that they must be withdrawn from the censor of resistance. 1920 B. Low Psycho-Analysis 63 This force of the Unconscious..at times so powerful that the Censor-barrier..is swept aside. 1926 G. Coster Psycho-Analysis 200 The endopsychic censor, the judge within the soul. |
▪ II. ˈcensor, v.
[f. prec. n.]
trans. To act as censor to; see censor n. 2 b; spec. with reference to the control of news and the departmental supervision of naval and military private correspondence (as in time of war) or to the censorship of dramatic or cinematographic productions. Often in ppl. a.
| 1882 H. Foley Rec. Eng. Society of Jesus VII. Introd. 35 The Fathers were constantly engaged by the Inquisitors in censoring books infected with heresy. 1895 Blackw. Mag. Feb. 320/1 The severely censored columns of the Russian daily press. 1897 Daily News 13 Sept. 5/2 All news is being rigorously censored. 1899 Westm. Gaz. 9 Mar. 5/3 Everything read to him is carefully censored. Ibid. 22 Nov. 2/1 Finally the correspondent is handed back his censored despatch, probably reduced to a mere sequence of words conveying little intelligence. 1904 Daily Chron. 13 May 4/4 Censoring is very strict during the war. No news is allowed to be published which has anything to do with the movements of the army. 1907 Westm. Gaz. 21 Oct. 9/2 Ibsen's censored play entitled ‘Ghosts’. 1915 R. Brooke Let. Apr. (1968) 681, I must go & censor my platoon's letters. |
▪ III. censor
obs. form of censer.