servitor
(ˈsɜːvɪtə(r))
Forms: 4–5 servytour, 4–6 servitur, -oure, 4–8 servitour, 5 servytor, (servertor, servitieure), 5–6 servytoure, 6 servyture, serveture, serviteure, -uir, (sarvytor), Sc. schervitour, servatour, 6–8 serviture, -eur, 7 serviter, servatore, 5– servitor.
[a. OF. servitor (mod.F. serviteur), a. late L. servītor, agent-n. f. servīre serve v.1 Cf. Pr., Sp., Pg. servidor, It. servitore.]
1. A (male) personal or domestic attendant (in early use chiefly, one who waits at table); a man-servant. Now arch.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 11300 Þat ilke vsage was at þer feste,..Þe wommen wyþoute men schuld be, But seruiturs of here meyne. 1338 ― Chron. (1810) 165 Statin his stiward spak to þe Emperoure, Als his mete he sat, & was his seruitoure. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xxii. 239 He hathe in his Court many Barouns, as Servytoures, that ben Cristene. c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 682 in Babees Bk., And se þat ye haue seruytours semely þe disches for to bere. 1466 Paston Lett. II. 267 To the prest that cam with the cors from London, iiis. iiiid. To servytors that awaytyd upon hym..xxid... To lxx. servertors, eche of them iiid., xviis. vid. 1473 Exch. Rolls Scot. VIII. 157 note, Our lovete familiare servitieure of houshaulde Johnne of Wardelaw. 1549 Compl. Scot. xiv. 117 He hed ane domestik seruitour. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 189 One diligent seruiture, skilfull to waight, more comelieth thy table than other some eight. 1582 N.T. (Rhem.) Matt. xxiii. 11 He that is the greater of you, shal be your seruiteur [Vulg. minister]. a 1617 Bayne On Eph. i. (1618) 7 We see in earthly seruiters, their glory is so much the greater, by how much their Lords and masters are in greater præeminencie. 1725 Bradley's Fam. Dict. s.v. Pains, It must be set on the Table by a neat handed Servitor, lest it should be broken as it is serving up. 1821 Scott Kenilw. xix, The least servitor of the favourite Earl. 1837 Dickens Pickw. xxx, That favoured servitor entered his bed-chamber. 1877 ‘Rita’ Vivienne iii. vii, The old servitor left him alone with the dead. |
b. gen. A servant. Also transf. and fig.
| 1450–80 tr. Secreta Secret. Prol. 3, I that am servitoure of the kyng, haue put in execucioun his comaundement, and travaylid forto gete the book of good thewes to him. a 1500–34 Coventry Corpus Chr. Plays ii. 128 And so this stare wasse a serveture And vnto iij kyngis a playn cundeture Vnto the mancion of a virgin pure. 1543 Traheron tr. Vigo's Chirurg. 35/2 Nature sendeth bloude or cholere, and spirytes as seruitoures to succour the hurted place. 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1596) 7/2 The office of a Bishop or servitour ecclesiasticall, was in the old law to offer sacrifice. 1570 Homilies ii. Agst. Rebell. iv. (1574) 586 Achitophel..for lacke of an hangman, a conuenient seruitour for suche a traytour, went and hanged vp hym selfe. 1580 Second & Third Blast Plays & Theatres 109 Neede and flatterie are two brothers, and the eldest seruitors in the Court. 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. i. iii. §4 This workman [God], whose seruitor nature is, being in truth but only one. 1594 Shakes. Lucr. 285. 1616 Hieron Three Serm. 10 b, Surely the spirite of Christ Iesus is not in mee;..I am yet a limme of the kingdome of darknesse, a seruitour of the prince of darknes. 1621 G. Sandys Ovid's Met. viii. (1626) 156 A Bore: Dian's reuenge, and horrid Seruatore [orig. famulus]. 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. i. iv. 13 To the performance of w{supc}{suph} [office] the Levits were but as servitors & Deacons. 1654 H. L'Estrange Chas. I (1655) 5 And though he was an universall Scholar, yet did he make other sciences..but drudges and serviteurs to Divinity. 1866 J. Martineau Ess. I. 126 The grandest..are thus but servitors of a grander than themselves. 1874 Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. xcvi. 9 Holiness is the royal apparel of his servitors. |
† c. An attendant or caretaker in a church. Obs.
| 1593 Rites of Durham (Surtees 1903) 38 Alwaies provyded w{supt}{suph} fresh water..by two of y⊇ bell Ringers or servitors of y⊇ church. |
† d. Sc. A person in a subordinate office or employment; an assistant in a school; an apprentice, spec. a lawyer's apprentice or clerk. Obs.
| 1486 Aberd. Reg. in Spalding Club Miscell. V. 30 Thome Gray, tailzour..and in likuiss, gif ony seruitor of his be fundin conuikit in sic faltis [etc.]. 1598 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 1588, 547/2 Patrik Glesfurde and Geo. M{supc}Cartnay schervitouris to the said Wil., Thomas Home schervitour to Mr. Jhone Prestoun advocat. 1601–2 Aberd. Acc. in Spalding Club Miscell. V. 129 Item, to Mr. George Mackie, servitor of the grammer school, for his panis in attending on the school, fra the deceis of the maister thairof till the new maisteris wer admittit..10 lib. 1814 Scott Wav. lxvi, The Bailie was in search of his apprentice (a servitor, as he was called Sixty Years since), Jock Scriever. |
| attrib. 1583 Exch. Rolls Scot. XXI. 559 James Bonar, servitour clerk of the schirefdome of Forfair. |
e. An official or semi-official title of certain officers, e.g. of the Royal Household, or municipal bodies. † servitor of bills, a tipstaff of the court of King's Bench.
| 1543 tr. Act 2 Hen. IV, c. 23 No seruytour of bylles that bereth a staffe of the same courte shall [etc.]. 1597 in Feuillerat Revels Q. Eliz. (1908) 417 A petition of the Creditors & Servitors of the Revels. 1658 Fanshaw Pract. Exch. Crt. 48 All Officers, Ministers and Servitors of the Exchequer. 1671 Jordan London's Resurr. 2 The two City-Marshals, riding each of them on Horse-back, with six Servitors to attend them, with Scarfs and Colours of the Companies. 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing 363 Four Whifflers (as Servitures) by two and two walking before with White Staves in their Hands. |
f. A military attendant, a squire or page. rare.
| a 1513 Fabyan Chron. vii. (1533) 124 b/2 They agreed to puruey at theyr propre costes .v. C. men of armys, wyth a seruyture to eueryche spere. 1839 Mrs. Browning Rom. Page xxiv, She..followed him she wed before, Disguised as his true servitor, To the very battle-place. |
g. A lover; = servant n. 4 b. rare.
| 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxxxiv. 16 The lustiast ladie that nature can devyne, Thocht scho have mony semelie scheruitour, Ȝit [etc.]. a 1529 Skelton Calliope 20 Yet is she fayne Voyde of disdayn, Me to retayne Her seruiture. c 1560 A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) x. 39 Is no{supt} in erd I cure, Bot pleiss my lady pure, Syne be hir scheruiture Vnto I de. a 1850 Rossetti Dante & Circle i. (1874) 145 Till, turning, I beheld the servitor Of Lady Lagia. |
† 2. Used in expressions of humility or politeness. = servant n. 4 d. Obs.
| c 1386 Chaucer Sompn. T. 477 ‘Now, maister’, quod this lord, ‘I yow biseke’. ‘No maister, sir’, quod he, ‘but servitour, Though I have had in scole such honour’. 1470–85 Malory Arthur x. xxvii. 457, I am a poure knyght and a seruytour vnto yow and to alle good knyghtes. 1562 O. Rowe in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. iii. III. 339 Your Honors pore sarvytor. 1580 J. Hay Demandes Ded. in Cath. Tractates (S.T.S.) 34 Yours most humble and obedient Seruiteure, Iohne Hay. 1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, iii. iii. 196 War[wick]... My Noble Queene, let former grudges passe, And henceforth, I am thy true Seruitour. c 1645 Howell Lett. (1655) I. ii. vi. 76 Your truly devoted Servitor, J. H. |
‖ b. In Fr. form serviteur. Obs.
| 1664 G. Etherege Com. Revenge i. ii, Your most humble Serviteur, my Lord. 1697 Vanbrugh 2nd Pt. æsop (end), There's a Tale for your Tale, Old Dad; and so—Serviteur. [Exit.] 1702 ― False Friend i. 9, I like your Daughter very well; but for Marrying her—Serviteur. |
3. One who serves in war; a soldier; spec. one of a class of persons to whom lands were assigned in Ulster in the reign of James I, as having served in a military or civil office in Ireland. Obs. exc. Hist. in the specific use.
| 1561 J. Awdelay Frat. Vacab. (1869) 3 A Ruffeler goeth wyth a weapon to seeke seruice, saying he hath bene a Seruitor in the wars, and beggeth for his reliefe. 1587 T. Sanders Voy. Tripoli B ij b, A Spaniard called Sebastian, which had beene an old seruitor in Flanders. 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, ii. i. 5 Sen[tinel]. Thus are poore Seruitors..Constrain'd to watch in darknesse, raine, and cold. 1598 Barret Theor. Warres iv. ii. 107 Among our English seruitours in the Low Countreis. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. i. 422 The..most venterous Mariners and servitours at sea. 1612 Davies Why Ireland, etc. 127 Our Norman Conqueror..gaue away to his seruitors, the Lands and possessions of such, as did oppose his first inuasion. 1618 Carew Papers in Roy. Engin. Jrnl. Aug. (1909) 126 To survey and make a return of the proceedings and performances of conditions of the undertakers, servitors and natives planted [in Armagh, etc.]. 1634 Ir. Act 10 Chas. I Sess. ii. c. 3 (title) The estates of the undertakers, servitors, natives, and others holding lands..in..the plantations. 1640 Yorke Union Hon. 20 A valiant servitour in sundry wars beyond sea. 1827 Hallam Const. Hist. (1876) III. xviii. 380 Sir Arthur Chichester..advised that the lands should be assigned,..partly to servitors of the crown, as they were called. |
4. Oxford Univ. In certain colleges, one of a class of undergraduate members (later with change of title: see quot. 1852) who received their lodging and most of their board free, and were excused lecture fees.
Originally the servitors acted as servants to the fellows, and although the requirement of menial services from them gradually fell into disuse, they continued to be regarded as socially the inferiors of the commoners. The last mention in the Oxford University Calendar of servitors as an existing class (at Christ Church) is in 1867; in the following year the same persons are called ‘exhibitioners’. In most of the colleges the funds originally used for servitorships are now used for ‘exhibitions’, but at Balliol for scholarships. The scholars of Balliol appear in 1507 as ‘scholastici sive servitores’.
| 1642 Let. Stud. at Oxford, & Answ. 2 My Servitor hath brought mee in the tidings. 1656 Blount Glossogr. s.v. Serviteur, Wee use the word Servitor in our Universities, where the poor or meaner sort of Schollars..execute the office of a Servitor or attendant to those of greater wealth and quality. 1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. I. 305 Whether he was at his first coming a Servitour, or Scholar, I know not. 1731 Gentl. Mag. I. 118 The Bishop, in this case, must take some raw young Man, perhaps a Servitor in a College. 1745 Mrs. Delany Life & Corr. (1861) II. 377 The Dean said if his parents would consent to his entering the college of Dublin as a sizer (which in Oxford and Cambridge are called servitors) he would take care he was treated with a particular regard. 1754 Johnson Let. 28 Nov. in Boswell, Let a servitour transcribe the quotations. 1787 Sir J. Hawkins Johnson 12 It was the practice in his time, for a servitor, by order of the master, to go round to the rooms of the young men, and knocking at the door, to enquire if they were within, and if no answer was returned, to report them absent. 1848 Thackeray Bk. Snobs xiii, The unlucky boys who have no tassels to their caps, are called sizars—servitors at Oxford. 1852 Rep. Oxf. Univ. Comm. 135 Servitors are found, under that name, only at Christchurch, where they used within the last twenty years to bring the first dish into the Hall; but now they differ from other Students of that Society in little, except in academic dues. In some other colleges the class of Servitors are represented by Clerks or Bible-Clerks, of whom there are about forty in the University. 1858 [J. C. Thomson] Almæ Matres 86 Christchurch..is the only College which preserves the odious distinction of servitors, or as they call them, ‘scrivs.’ |
b. Eton. (See quot.)
| 1865 W. L. C. Etoniana viii. 138 At the college dinner three lower boys (called servitors) wait to hand the plates and pour out beer; their dinner is half an hour later, with the ‘upper servitor’—one of the higher boys, who superintends the hall economy. |
5. Glass-making. † a. An assistant to a master workman (obs.). b. Now spec. as the designation of the second of the men composing a ‘chair’: see quots. Also servitary.
| 1662 Merrett tr. Neri's Art of Glass 242 [Of the Furnaces.] Boccarellas, one on each side of the Bocca,..out of these the Servitors take coloured or finer Metall from the piling pot. Ibid. 244, 246, 247. 1849 A. Pellatt Curios. Glass-making 89 [A ‘chair’ consists of] first, a gaffer, or workman; the second, a servitor; and the third, a foot-maker; the latter usually earns about half the wages paid to the chief, and the servitor receives an intermediate amount. 1887 Rep. Patent Cases IV. 273 Shaw was his servitor—the servitor being the man who made the feet of the wine glasses. 1897 Worc. County Express 3 Apr., There were ten chairs at the works each occupied by a glassmaker, servitor, and footmaker. |