▪ I. proctor, n.1
(ˈprɒktə(r))
[A syncopated form of procuraˈtour, procurator, through procutour, procketour, proctour, etc. Cf. proxy = procuracy, also the ME. weakening of procure v. to proker.]
A. Illustration of Forms.
(α) 3–7 procuratour (5–6 -oure, 6 Sc. -ure), 5 prokeratour, 3– procurator. See procurator.
(β) 5–6 procutour, 5–8 -or (5 -oure, -ur, procatour(e, proketowre, procketur), 6–7 procutar, 9 prokitor. After c 1500 only Sc.
| c 1386 Chaucer Friar's T. 298 May I nat.. answere there by my procutour? [v.rr. procatour(e; Harl. 7334 procuratour]. 14.. Cursor M. 16023 (Gött.) Pilate þair procketur [v.r. procuratur]. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 414/2 Proketowre (K. prokeratour), procurator. c 1450 Godstow Reg. 649 The procutur of the mynchons. 1459 Paston Lett. I. 454 The wardeyn and the procutoris..of the parishe chirche. 1641 Sc. Acts Chas. I (1817) V. 413/2 The humble supplication of Mr. Archibald Johnstoun procutor for the Kirk. ? a 1700 Truth's Trav. in Pennecuik's Poems (1715) 106 The Procutars bad him be stout, Care not for Conscience a Leek. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xvi, Great preferment for poor Madge..to speak wi' provosts, and bailies, and town-clerks, and prokitors. |
(γ) 4–7 proctour, (5–6 proktur(e, 6 proctoure, 6–7 procter), 5– proctor.
| c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. I. 412 Many ben traitours to God, and proctours to þe fend. 1432–50 Proctor [see B. 1, 4]. 1483 Cath. Angl. 292/2 A Prokture, accurator, procurator. a 1548 Hall Chron., Rich. III 44 b, Affiances made and taken by procters and deputies. 1613 R. Cawdrey Table Alph. (ed. 3), Proctour, a factour or solicitor. c 1618 Procter [see B. 2 c]. |
B. Signification.
† 1. Rom. Hist. = procurator 1. Obs.
| 14.. [see A. β]. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) IV. 391 Felix was..made the proctor of the Iewes. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. iv. (1520) 28/2 Pontius Pilate was Judge and proctour in the Jury under the Emperoure. |
2. A person employed to manage the affairs of another; an agent, deputy, proxy, attorney: = procurator 2. Obs. or arch. exc. in technical use.
| c 1449 Pecock Repr. iii. xvii. 396 Thei schulden be punyschid..in her procutour or attorney occupiyng..in her names. a 1450 Myrc 22 All þat consenten thereto in hermyng of the person or of þe vicary or her proketours. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. ccxxxvii. 274 Y⊇ kyng sent ouer bysshoppis & proctours to complayn vpon hym to y⊇ pope. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 365 Others..whan they had obtained license, sente theyr Proctours. 1643 Prynne Sov. Power Parl. App. 206 But he neither vouchsafed to appeare, nor yet to send any one to us in the name of a Proctor. |
† b. A steward: = procurator 2 b. Obs.
| c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 279 Alle þes goodis ben pore mennus goodis, & clerkis ben not lordis of hem but proctours. 1382 ― Gen. xv. 2 The sone of the proctour [1388 procuratour] of myn hows, this Damask of Elyzar. c 1449 Pecock Repr. iii. xvii. 389 The Lorde of the Vyner..seide to his procutour thus ‘Clepe thou the werkmen and ȝeelde to hem her meede’. 1538 London in Lett. Suppress. Monasteries (Camden) 215 We founde the prior of the Charterhowse in hys shortt gowen and velvytt cappe..and the proctor of that howse in lyke apparell. 1565–78 Cooper Thesaurus, Castaldius, a proctor: a steward: a baily. |
c. An agent for the collection of tithes and other church dues; a tithe-farmer. In full tithe-proctor.
| 1607 Cowell Interpr., Procurator, is vsed for him that gathereth the fruites of a benefice for another man... They are at this day in the West parts called Proctors. c 1618 Moryson Itin. iv. iii. vi. (1903) 288 Both Ministers and Bishops non resident sent to theire remote liuings only Procters to gather theire tythes and profitts. 1780 A. Young Tour Irel. I. 217 Tythes..were a real grievance; the proctors let the first, and perhaps the second year with them run by bond. 1807 Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 102 Tyranny and extortion..exercised by the tithe-proctors, or other persons renting the great tithes from the church of Exeter. 1898 M. MacDonagh Irish Life xiii. 229 The tithe-proctors—the men who collected the impost, or, in default of payment, seized the stock of the Catholic peasants—were objects of intense popular hatred. |
3. In a University, one of two or more officers periodically elected by the members of the University or one of its constituent sections, whose duties have varied at different times and in different places. The primary function of the office seems to have been representative, esp. in law-suits, and in the administration of corporate funds. a. In reference to mediæval (and Scottish) universities, an occasional anglicized form of the L. term procurator actually used: see procurator 3.
| 1895 Rashdall Univ. Europe in Middle Ages I. 315 (Paris) The first document in which the Rector and Proctors are clearly distinguished from one another is a Statute of the Faculty of Arts in 1245. Ibid. II. 121 [At Montpellier] as at Oxford, the Masters are more directly represented by two Proctors, the office circulating among them. The functions of these Proctors were primarily financial, as originally were those of the Proctors of Paris and Oxford. Ibid. 298 [At St. Andrews] The Masters and students—divided into the Four Nations of Fife, Lothian, Angus, and Britain, each with its Proctor— elected the Rector. Ibid. 306 [At Glasgow] Only on occasions of the Rectorial elections was the organization of Nations and student Proctors called into actual existence—for which purpose it has lasted down to the present day. |
b. In modern use, as at Oxford and Cambridge, each of two officers appointed annually to discharge various functions in connexion with the meetings of the University and its various Boards, the examinations and conferment of degrees, and the like; they are also charged with the discipline of all persons in statu pupillari, and the summary punishment of minor offences.
In the old English Universities, they were formerly called Northern Proctor and Southern Proctor respectively (see procurator 3); they are now distinguished as Senior Proctor and Junior Proctor, in accordance with their university seniority. They are appointed or elected by the various colleges in rotation. At Oxford they are the representatives of the body of Masters of Arts, and, as such, are assessors to the Chancellor or Vice-Chancellor, and ex-officio members of the Hebdomadal Council and of almost all University Boards and Delegacies; they exercise a joint veto upon the proceedings and decrees of Congregation and Convocation, ask graces for degrees in the Ancient House of Convocation, nominate delegates not otherwise specially appointed, supervise the examiners and examinations conjointly with the Vice-Chancellor, and concur with him in the conferring of all degrees. At Cambridge their powers and functions are similar, but less extensive. Proctors also exist with certain functions at Dublin and at Durham.
proctors' dogs or bulldogs (Univ. slang), the sworn constables whose original function was to accompany the proctors in their nightly perambulation of the streets for the purpose of preventing disorder.
[(For the sake of historical continuity earlier examples in the Latin form procurator are also given here.)
| 1248 Rot. Claus. 33 Hen. III, m. 15 dorso (in Rashdall II. 369 note), Presentibus apud Woodstocke tam procuratoribus scolarium universitatis quam Burgensibus Oxon. c 1250 in Mun. Acad. Oxon (Rolls) 12 De assensu Cancellarii et Procuratorum Universitatis. 1257 Ibid. 30 Faciant Procuratores congregationem fieri, quæ ultra triduum non differatur. 1314–15 Rolls of Parlt. I. 327/1 Quotiens..per Cancellarium & Procuratores Universitatis fuerint premuniti. 1407 in Mun. Acad. Oxon. (Rolls) 237 Magister Ricardus Flemmyng, Canonicus ecclesiæ cathedralis Eboracensis, et Procurator borealis Universitatis Oxoniæ. 1411–12 Rolls of Parlt. III. 651/2 Visitatio Cancellarii ac Procuratorum dicte Universitatis..necnon omnium Doctorum, Magistrorum, regentium et non regentium, ac Scolarium ejusdem Universitatis.] |
| 1536 Rem. Sedition 16 In Oxford..the name of the northern, and southerne proctour, hath been the cause, that many men haue ben slayne. 1536 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford (1880) 136 Y⊇ Proctor did thrust his pole-axe at him. 1573 G. Harvey Letter-bk. 7 M. Alin, then and now senior proctor. 1574 M. Stokys in Peacock Stat. Cambr. (1841) App. A. p. ix, Then shall the Proctours apoynt them [Determiners] their Senioritie. a 1613 Overbury Charact., Meere Scholer Wks. (1856) 88 University jests are his universall discourse, and his newes the demeanor of the proctors. 1663 Wood Life 24 Sept. (O.H.S.) I. 495, 16 Masters in proctors' gownes. 1797 Cambr. Univ. Cal. 140 Proctors are two officers chosen annually from the regent masters of arts on the 10th of October: they are called proctors, from their managing (procurandis) the affairs and business of the university, and also rectors from their superintending or governing (regendis) the schools. 1828 Gunning Ceremonies Cambr. 3 Cycle for the nomination of proctors. 1841 Peacock Stat. Cambr. 24 The two proctors,..after the chancellor or vice-chancellor were the most important administrative officers in the university. They were chosen annually by the regents. 1847 Tennyson Princ. Prol. 113 We, unworthier told Of college: he had climbed across the spikes..And he had breath'd the Proctor's dogs. Ibid. 141 Pretty were the sight If our old halls could change their sex, and flaunt With prudes for proctors, dowagers for deans, And sweet girl-graduates in their golden hair. 1863 ‘Ouida’ Held in Bondage (1870) 39, I had been shown up before the proctor on no less than six separate occasions. 1899 Oxf. Univ. Cal. p. xxiii, Cycle for the nomination of proctors... 1899. Trinity, Jesus. 1900. Merton, Lincoln [etc.]. |
| fig. a 1667 Cowley Elegy J. Littleton 37 He..might find A little Academy in his mind; Where..Reason, and Holy Fear the Proctors were, To apprehend those words, those Thoughts that err. |
4. Law. One whose profession is to manage the causes of others in a court administering civil or canon law; corresponding to an attorney or solicitor in courts of equity and common law. (Now in England retained only in courts of ecclesiastical and Oxford university jurisdiction.)
King's (Queen's) Proctor, an official of the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division of the High Court of Justice, who has the right to intervene in probate, divorce, and nullity cases, when collusion between the parties or suppression of material facts is alleged. (The title is a survival from the time when these cases belonged to the ecclesiastical courts.)
| 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) III. 201 Promisenge to hym a grete summe of moneye in that day he scholde be a proctor a fore a iuge and haue þe victory in his causes. 1538 Starkey England i. iii. 83 Prokturys and brokarys of both lawys..are to many. 1546 Langley Pol. Verg. De Invent. viii. ii. 145 Pius the II..instituted the new College of Solicitors & Proctors by whose Counsaill and aduise all bulles and grauntes wer made. 1603 Const. & Canons Eccl. §133 The loud and confused cries and clamours of proctors in the courts of the archbishop are..troublesome and offensive to the judges and advocates. 1605–6 Act 3 Jas. I, c. 5 §6 No Recusant convict shall..practise the Common Lawe..as a Councellor, Clerke, Attourney, or Sollicitor..nor shall practise the Civill Lawe as Advocate or Proctor. 1693 Congreve Double Dealer iv. x, I've a cousin who is a proctor in the Commons. 1849 Dickens Dav. Copp. xxiii, ‘What is a proctor, Steerforth?’ said I. ‘Why, he is a sort of monkish attorney... He is, to some faded courts held in Doctors' Commons..what solicitors are to the courts of law and equity’. 1860 Act 23 & 24 Vict. c. 144 §5 In every case of a petition for a dissolution of marriage it shall be lawful for the Court..to direct all necessary papers in the matter to be sent to Her Majesty's Proctor, who shall..instruct counsel to argue before the Court any question in relation to such matter. 1899 Oxf. Univ. Cal. 21 Proctors in the Vice-Chancellor's Court. William Henry Walsh [etc.], Solicitors. 1908 Whitaker's Alm. 181/2 Treasury..Department of Solicitor to the Treasury, Director of Public Prosecutions and King's Proctor. |
† 5. An advocate, patron, defender, guardian: = procurator 5. Obs.
| a 1413 in Hall Chron., Hen. IV (1548) 21 Henry Percy our eldest sonne..and Thomas Percy erle of Worcester beyng proctours and protectours of the comon wealth. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 591–2 Swythelyne, þat was bysshop þo, Was made cheffe procutour of þat place; And so he was procutour and gret helper þerto, For a fully holy mone forsothe he was. c 1450 tr. De Imitatione ii. i. 40 He shal be þi prouisour, þy true procutour in all þinges. 1548 Gest Pr. Masse in H. G. Dugdale Life (1840) App. i. 74 Whether he bee an hartie hearer or proctour of the sayd masse. 1553 Becon Reliques of Rome (1563) 85 The firste promoters & chiefe proctors to haue Images in churches. 1594 Southwell M. Magd. Fun. Teares (1823) 171 Thy teares were the procters for thy brother's life. 1608 Topsell Serpents 252 Imputing that to the Patron and Proctor some-times of Musick, which ought rather to be attributed to Musicke it selfe. 1653 H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. xxvii. (1663) 106 This hard proceeding much astonished these two Proctors for the poor. |
6. A deputy elected to represent the chapter of a cathedral or collegiate church, or the clergy of a diocese or archdeaconry (proctor of the clergy), in the Lower House of Convocation of either province.
| 1586 J. Hooker Hist. Irel. in Holinshed II. 122/1 The bishop ought..to summon and warne all deanes and arch⁓deacons within his diocesse to appeere in proper person at the parlement, vnlesse they haue some sufficient and reasonable cause of absence, in which case he may appeere by his proctor, hauing a warrant or proxie for the same. 1607 Cowell Interpr., Procters of the clergie.., are those which are chosen and appointed to appeare for cathedrall, or other Collegiat churches, as also for the common clergie of euery Dioces, at the Parlament, whose choice is in this sort [etc.]. 1823 Lingard Hist. Eng. VI. 421 To elude the opposition of the clergy, their proctors, who had hitherto voted in the Irish parliaments, were by a declaratory act pronounced to be nothing more than assistants, whose advice might be received, but whose assent was not required. 1875 Stubbs Const. Hist. II. xiv. 129 The archbishops and bishops are to bring [to Parliament] one proctor for the clergy of each cathedral, and two for the clergy of each diocese. 1878 Ibid. III. xx. 447 On the occasions on which the clerical proctors are known to have attended, their action is insignificant, and those occasions are very few. 1888 Ld. Coleridge in Law Rep. 20 Q.B.D. 744 In the Northern Convocation the parochial clergy are and have been for centuries represented by two proctors from each archdeaconry within the province of York. |
† 7. One who collected alms on behalf of lepers or others who were debarred from begging for themselves; esp. one having a patent or license to collect alms for the occupants of a ‘spital-house’. (Held in evil repute from the abuse of the system.)
| 1529 More Suppl. Soulys Wks. 292/1 And they be also our proctoures & begge in our name, and in our name receiue your money. 1538 Fitzherb. Just. Peas 102 b, Al proctours and pardoners goinge about without sufficient auctorite..shalbe punyshed by whyppynge. 1561 J. Awdelay Frat. Vacab. (1869) 14 Proctour is he, that will tary long, and bring a lye, when his Maister sendeth him on his errand. 1567 Harman Caveat (1869) 46 Proctors and Factores all of Spyttell houses. 1577 Harrison England ii. x. (1877) i. 220 Among roges and idle persons..we find to be comprised all proctors that go vp and downe with counterfeit licences. 1608 Dekker 2nd Pt. Hon. Whore Wks. 1873 II. 149 Y'are best get a clap-dish, and say y'are Proctor to some Spittle⁓house. |
Hence ˈproctorage, management by a proctor; ˈproctoral, ˈproctorly adjs. = proctorial; ˈproctorling, a petty or subordinate proctor.
| 1641 Milton Reform. ii. Wks. 1851 III. 65 As for the fogging *proctorage of money, with such an eye as strooke..Simon Magus with a curse, so does she looke. |
| 1573 G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 47 Saiing in his Proctors vois that I shuld read no lecture there; as he bi his *Proctoral autoriti had suspendid me before. |
| 1738 Gray Let. to R. West in W. Mason Mem. (1807) I. 171 The University has..created half a dozen new little *procterlings to see its orders executed. |
| 1601 Deacon & Walker Spirits & Divels 64 Howsoeuer your selfe may haply stand in some neede of a *proctorly bribe: my cause, it standes in no neede of bribe-pursing. |
▪ II. ˈproctor, v.
[f. prec. n.]
1. intr. To officiate as a university proctor.
| 1676 Marvell Mr. Smirke 37 If a man went out by night on Tranelling, or Bat-fowling, or Proctoring, he might catch these Exposers by Dozens. |
2. intr. (See quots., and cf. prec. 7.)
| c 1730 Dorsets. Voc. (MS. in N. & Q. 6th Ser. VIII. 45/1), To proctor, to scold or lord it. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Proctor, to hector, swagger, bully... The Proctors connected with this verb were..sturdy beggars. |
¶ Warburton in his ed. of Shakespeare, 1747, substituted ‘procter’ for ‘project’ in Ant. & Cl. v. ii. 121, remarking ‘Project signifies to invent a cause, not to plead it; which is the sense here required. It is plain then we should read, {oqq}I cannot procter [etc.].{cqq} The technical term, to plead by an advocate’. But no example of proctor in this sense has been found, while project is abundantly supported: see project v. 3.