nomenclator
(ˈnəʊmənkleɪtə(r))
Also 6 Sc. -our.
[a. L. nōmenclātor (also -culātor), f. nōmen name + calāre to call.]
† 1. A student appointed as a kind of monitor or prefect over a certain part of his class. Obs. rare.
| 1563–7 Buchanan Reform. St. Andros Wks. (S.T.S.) 8 The nomenclatouris to haif charge to gather the lessons writtin, euery ane in hys awyne decurio, and bring thayme to the regent, and schaw hym quha has faltis. And geif the regent find falt quhairof the nomenclator has nocht advertysit hym, than he sal punyss baith the writar and the nomenclator. |
† 2. Used as the title of works containing collections or lists of words; hence, a book of this kind; a vocabulary.
Obs.| 1585 Higins (title), The Nomenclator, or Remembrancer of Adrianus Junius, Physician. ? 1608 Bodley in Reliq. B. (1703) 79, I have sent you, by this Carrier, three several Nomenclators, which I have only borrowed. 1635 Jackson Creed viii. xxxi. 363 The full importance of this word..will not be easily found in ordinary Lexicons or Nomenclators. 1698 Phil. Trans. XX. 355 'Tis then most natural..to furnish him..with a Nomenclator; containing a competent number of Names. 1707 R. Browne (title), The English Expositor improv'd, a Complete Dictionary,..also an Index and Nomenclator. |
† b. A compiler of such a work.
Obs. rare.
| 1609 [Bp. W. Barlow] Answ. Nameless Cath. 330 Let all the Onomastiks, and Nomenclators, or Mathematicians, or Schoolemen be searched, and 'twill not be found. 1622 M. Fotherby Atheom. Pref. 21 Any Nomenclator, or Dictionarie maker. |
3. Rom. Antiq. a. A servant or dependent whose business it was to inform his master or patron of the names of persons,
esp. when engaged in canvassing for office.
b. A steward or usher who assigned or indicated the places of guests at a banquet.
| 1601 Holland Pliny II. 437 A certain Nomenclator or Controller belonging to one of our prodigall and wastful spendthrifts here at Rome. 1605 Camden Rem. 96 Do not looke that I should as the Nomenclators in olde time marshall every name according to his place. 1656 North's Plutarch 639 note, This Prompter is usually call'd Nomenclator, Monitor and Factor. 1713 Addison Guardian No. 107 ¶2 When a great man stood for any publick office,..he had always one of these Nomenclators at his elbow. 1741 Middleton Cicero I. ii. 77 The use of these Nomenclators was contrary to the laws. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. xxx. (1787) III. 208 The nomenclators, who are commonly swayed by interested motives, have the address to insert in the list of invitations, the obscure names of the most worthless of mankind. 1834 Lytton Pompeii iv. iii, Diomed..had appointed a nomenclator, or appointer of places, to each guest. 1839 De Quincey Lake Poets, Wordsw. Wks. 1889 II. 235 There needed no Roman nomenclator to tell me that this he was Wordsworth. |
4. One who announces, or imparts to another, the names of persons or guests.
| 1599 B. Jonson Cynthia's Rev. v. iii, Cup. Hedon thy master is next. Mer. What, will Cupid turn nomenclator, and cry them? 1609 ― Sil. Wom. iii. ii, Daw. My ladie Havghty, this my lady Centavre, mistresse Dol Mavis..Mor. What nomenclator is this! 1625 K. Long tr. Barclay's Argenis iv. ii. 275 Are you so forgetful of Astioristes that you need a Nomenclator? 1641 Milton Animadv. Wks. 1851 III. 187 Their names are knowne to the all⁓knowing power above, and..doutlesse they wreck not whether you or your Nomenclator know them or not. 1713 Addison Guardian No. 107 ¶2, I have with much pains..qualified myself for a Nomenclator to this great city. 1811 L. M. Hawkins C'tess & Gertrude II. 49 She began to speculate, with the great advantage of a most intelligent nomenclator. 1816 Scott Old Mort. iii, ‘You forget..,’ said her nomenclator, ‘that the young gentleman comes here to discharge suit and service in name of his uncle’. 1827 Lytton Pelham xl, Let me despatch Lady Babbleton, and I'll then devote myself to being your nomenclator. |
† b. One who reckons up or recounts.
Obs. rare.
| 1628 Earle Microcosm. (Arb.) 53 Hee is a great Nomenclator of Authors. 1692 Washington tr. Milton's Def. People viii. M.'s Wks. 1851 VIII. 191 You are become of a sudden a wonderful Nomenclator of our Statutes. |
5. One who gives a name to, or invents a designation for, something:
spec. one who classifies natural objects under appropriate designations.
| 1644 Bulwer Chiron. 124 The Nomenclators seeme to have excluded the left hand from all actions of decencie and importance. 1647 Cowley Mistr., Her Name v, Adam (God's Nomenclator) could not frame One that enough should signify. 1680 H. More Apocal. Apoc. 337, I will ask R. H. whether he takes himself to be a more wise and just Nomenclator than the Holy Ghost. 1785 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. viii. (1794) 77 The science which distinguishes the true botanist from the mere herbarist or nomenclator. 1811 Pinkerton Petral. I. Introd. 18 Those who collect, and the nomenclators properly so called, do not like these doubtful sorts, which it is too difficult to arrange under the known genera. 1852 S. Bailey Disc. Var. 70 Our scientific nomenclators glue long words together with little or no abridgment. 1875 Whitney Life Lang. v. 77 Reasons which were satisfactory to the nomenclators. |
| fig. 1708 Swift Agst. Abol. Christ. Wks. 1751 IV. 110 Are Envy, Pride, Avarice, and Ambition such ill Nomenclators, that they cannot furnish Appellations for their Owners? |
Hence
ˈnomenˌclatorship.
rare—1.
| 1695 J. Edwards Perf. Script. 184 This nomenclatorship of Adam. |