curator
(kjʊˈreɪtə(r), ˈkjʊərətə(r))
Forms: 4 curatour, 5 couratour, curature, 5–6 -oure, 6– curator.
[Partly a. AF. curatour = F. -ateur (13th c. in Godefroy Supp.), ad. L. cūrātor, -ōrem, overseer, guardian, agent-n. f. cūrāre (see cure); partly directly from Latin. The former derivation gave the pronunciation ˈcurator in senses 1 and 2; the latter gave cuˈrator.]
One who has the care or charge of a person or thing.
I. Senses derived through AF. curatour.
1. One appointed as guardian of the affairs of a person legally unfit to conduct them himself, as a minor, lunatic, etc.; used in Roman Law, esp. for the guardian of a minor after the age of tutelage; hence a current term in Scotch Law.
| 1413 Lydg. Pilgr. Sowle iv. xxxviii. (1859) 64 They leden the kynge at theyr owne lust, ryght as tutours, and couratours. 1463 Aberdeen Burgh Rec. 12 July (Jam. Suppl.), Henry of Culan..of lauchful aige, out of tutoury and has chosine til his curat[our]is to gowerne him. 1555 Sc. Act Mary (1597) §35 Quhen onie Minor passis the ȝeires of his Tutorie, and desiris Curatoures. 1590 Swinburne Testaments 102 b, When he is of the age of 14. yeeres..the minor maie then..choose a curator, either the same person that was tutor or some other. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Hist. Jas. V, Wks. (1711) 86 A quarrel..arising between the curators of the laird of Langton, and one of his uncles. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. i. xvi. 82 Mad-men that have no use of Reason, may be Personated by Guardians, or Curators. 1753 W. Stewart in Scots Mag. Mar. 132/2 He is tutor and curator..to several orphans. 1848 Wharton Law Lex. 281/2 In England, the guardian performs the offices both of a tutor and a curator, under the Roman law. 1891 Pall Mall G. 12 Nov. 6/1 The Dukes of Fife and Westminster as curators for the Duke of Sutherland's younger sons, oppose the petition. |
† 2. One who has the cure of souls; = curate 1.
| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. i. 169 Curatours þat schulden kepe hem clene of heore bodies Þei beoþ cumbred in care. 1377 Ibid. B. xx. 279 For persones and parish prestes þat shulde þe peple shryue, Ben curatoures called to knowe and to hele, Alle þat ben her parisshiens. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. vii. vi. 29 He wald..Mak for þis man swa gret prayere, As if he had bene his curature. c 1450 Myrc 11 Wharefore þou preste curatoure, Ȝef þou plese thy sauyoure. |
II. Modern senses, from L. curator.
3. gen. A person who has charge; a manager, overseer, steward.
| 1632 Lithgow Trav. ix. (1682) 364 The Oven producing at one time three or four hundred living Chickens..for the Hatcher or Curator, is only Recompenced according to the living numbers. 1691 T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. 34 They who.. are by the Crown made..Curators of the Health and Safety of its Ships. 1755 Gentl. Mag. XXV. 495 The orthography might be in some measure altered by the curator of the impression. 1862 Ruskin Munera P. (1880) 29 The real state of men of property being, too commonly, that of curators, not possessors, of wealth. |
4. spec. in Universities. a. In some foreign universities: A member of a board (or an individual official) having the general superintendence of the whole university, and the power to select or nominate professors. b. In the University of Oxford: A member of one of the committees or boards having the charge of various portions of University property, as the Curators of the University Chest, of the Bodleian Library, etc. So at Durham. c. In the Scottish Universities: A member of the body charged with the election of a number of the professors.
| a. 1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. I. 406 The curators of that University [Leyden] gave him an yearly stipend. 1727–51 Chambers Cycl. s.v., The curators are chosen by the states of each province: the university of Leyden has three; the burghermasters of the city have a fourth. 1834 Sir W. Hamilton Discuss. 358 The curator [at Pisa] was charged with the general superintendence of student and professor; and whatever directly or indirectly concerned the well-being of the University, was within his sphere. 1840 Penny Cycl. XVIII. 322/1 An excellent system of public education..was introduced by the university of Vilna under the superintendence of its curator Prince Adam Czartoryski. |
| b. 1693 Oxford Act ii. 11 Next the Curators [of the Theatre] must take care No breach of Peace be suffer'd there. 1710 in H. Bedford Vind. Ch. Eng. 172 The Curators in their Annual Visitation of the Library. 1893 Oxford Univ. Cal., Curators of the Bodleian Library..Curators of the Indian Institute..Curators of the Park, etc. |
| c. 1858 Universities of Scotl. Act (21–2 Vict. c. 83 §13) The Right of Nomination or Presentation to the Office of Principal and to all Professorships in the University of Edinburgh..exercised by the Town Council of Edinburgh..shall be transferred..to..Seven Curators. |
5. The officer in charge of a museum, gallery of art, library, or the like; a keeper, custodian.
In many cases the official title of the chief keeper.
| 1661 Evelyn Diary 19 July, In which [diving-bell] our curator continued half an hour under water. 1667 Phil. Trans. II. 486 The Curator of the Royal Society. 1767 Hunter Ibid. LVIII. 42 The Curators of the British Musæum. 1837 Lockhart Scott vii, In June 1795 he was appointed one of the Curators of the Advocate's library. 1889 Whitaker's Almanack 160 Museum of Practical Geology..Curator, Registrar and Librarian. |
6. A designation of public officers of various kinds under the Roman Empire.
| 1728 H. Herbert tr. Fleury's Eccl. Hist. II. 16 Callidius Gratianus who was Curator in the year 314. 1841 W. Spalding Italy & It. Isl. I. 103 The city was..divided into fourteen regions, each of which had two police superintendents, called Curators. |