provedore
(prɒvɪˈdɔə(r))
Also 6 proveador, -vedor, 7 -vido(u)r, 7–9 -vidore, 8 -viedore.
[ad. various Romanic forms, as Pg. provedor, Sp. proveedor, ? Venetian dial. providore, all the agent-n. from the vb. repr. L. prōvidēre to provide; cf. prec. and F. pourvoyeur purveyor.]
1. A chief officer; a commander, governor, overseer; = proveditor 1.
| 1578 in Hakluyt Voy. (1600) III. 701, I talked with the Prouedor and the Captaine. 1598 W. Phillip Linschoten 4/2 By fauour and good will of the Proueador, which is the chiefe officer of the Admiraltie. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 6 The Gouernor of the Iland [Zante]..whom they call the Prouidore, with two Consiglieri, all gentlemen of Venice. 1658 Phillips, Proveditor, (..as it were a providour) a great Military Officer among the Venetians. 1805 T. Lindley Voy. Brazil 130 Till they should obtain the permission also of the provedore of the custom-house. |
2. A purveyor, caterer, steward;
= proveditor 2.
| 1686 Goad Celest. Bodies ii. xiv. 355 A Providore, who looks abroad into the Country for the supply of his Charge. 1719 De Foe Crusoe 249 The Proviedore, or Steward of the Monastery, had taken great Care all along. 1814 Scott Swift's Wks. II. 182 note, Mr Richard Estcourt, a player..was Providore of the Beef-steak Club. 1878 A. Brassey Voy. Sunbeam I. xiv. 231 Watching our proveedor, as he went about collecting things by ones and twos. |
| fig. 1693 The Rake, or Libertine's Relig. Pref. A ij b, [He] considers the whole Creation as only his Garden and Confectionary, and the God of it as no more than his Providore. 1826 T. I. Wharton in Pa. Hist. Soc. Mem. I. 151 Jewels and diamonds to be sold by Robert Bell, humble provedore to the sentimentalists. |
† 3. A storehouse, a larder.
Obs. rare—1.
| 1658 R. Franck North. Mem. (1821) 68 To observe..what stock of provisions is stored in their providors. |