institutor
(ˈɪnstɪtjuːtə(r))
[a. L. institūtor, agent-n. from instituĕre to institute. Cf. F. instituteur (14th c.). See also instituter.]
1. One who institutes or establishes; a founder; an organizer.
| 1546 Langley Pol. Verg. de Invent. iv. ii. 85 a, There be thre maner of Baptismes..One in water..another in the Holy gost & fyre wherof Christ was institutoure, the third in his blod wherin the Children that Herod slewe were Christened. 1635 E. Pagitt Christianogr. 60 As the institutor speaketh of his body, so also of his blood. 1701 Norris Ideal World i. ii. 47 The exceeding fewness of those laws of motion whereby the Institutor of nature proceeds in the ordinary course and conduct of it. 1738 Warburton Div. Legat. I. 85 Institutors of Civil Policy. 1812 Ld. Ellenborough in Examiner 28 Dec. 832/2 The defendant was not proved to be the institutor, but only the propagator, of the libel. 1841–4 Emerson Essays Ser. ii. iii. (1876) 87 No institution will be better than the institutor. |
† 2. One who teaches; an instructor. Obs.
| c 1675 A. Walker (J.), The two great aims which every institutor of youth should mainly and intentionally drive at. 1797 Godwin Enquirer i. i. 3 When a child is born..his institutor ought to..awaken his mind. a 1822 Shelley Def. Poetry in Ess. & Lett. (Camelot) 37 To declare whether the fame of any other institutor of human life be comparable to that of a poet. |
3. U.S. In the American Episcopal Church: A bishop, or a presbyter acting for him, who institutes a minister into a parish or church.
| 1804–86 Bk. Com. Prayer Episc. Ch. U.S., Instit. Ministers, The Bishop, or the Priest who acts as the Institutor, standing within the rails of the Altar. |