promoter
(prəʊˈməʊtə(r))
Forms: α. 5–6 promotour, -oure, 6 Sc. -ar, 6–9 -or, 5– -er. β. 6–8 promooter, 7 -mouter.
[AF. and early mod.E. promotour = F. promoteur (1336 in Hatz.-Darm.) one who promotes, an official procurator in an ecclesiastical court, † a business agent, ad. med.L. prōmōtor, agent-n. f. prōmov-ēre to promove. But from 16th c. commonly spelt with -er, as if f. promote v. + -er1. The β forms occur only in sense 3.]
I. 1. a. One who or that which promotes, advances, or furthers any movement or project; a furtherer, an encourager.
| 1450–1530 Myrr. our Ladye 237 A comforter to them that are desolate, a promoter to the righteful, an helper to the synful. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. 445 Of whiche oppynyou..a great furtherer or promoter. 1553 Becon Reliq. Rome (1563) 85 The firste promoters..to haue Images in churches. a 1568 R. Ascham Scholem. (Arb.) 82 In tyme they be Promoters of both openlie. 1660 Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. xx, That great and learned promoter of experimental philosophy, Dr. Wilkins. 1737 Bracken Farriery Impr. (1756) I. 78 A powerful Diuretic, or Promoter of Urine. 1781 D. Williams tr. Voltaire's Dram. Wks. II. 135 Money is the best promoter of matrimony. 1840 Penny Cycl. XVII. 277/1 In 1837 the bills for making four distinct lines of railway to Brighton had been referred to one committee. An unprecedented contest arose between the promoters of the competing lines. 1847 Helps Friends in C. I. 106 There are two great classes of promoters of social happiness. 1878 Lecky Eng. in 18th C. II. v. 35 [The] leading promoter [of the University] was the Chancellor, Bishop Elphinstone. |
b. Legisl. One who takes steps for, or actively supports, the passing of a law; now spec. one of those who take the necessary steps for obtaining the passing of a local or private act of parliament.
| 1741 Middleton Cicero I. vi. 441 Cicero himself was the promoter of it, and procured a decree to his satisfaction. Ibid. 551 Cælius was the promotor of this law. [Cf. 1840 in 1.] 1863 H. Cox Instit. i. iv. 20 With respect to these [local acts] various preliminaries..are..required to be observed by the promoters of the several bills. Ibid. i. ix. 172 The promoters of each bill are required to prove compliance with the standing orders of both Houses. |
c. Finance. One who promotes, or takes the requisite steps for, the formation of a joint-stock company; one who is a party to the preparation or issue of the prospectus; a company-promoter. In consequence of the amount of swindling too often resorted to, the term has in popular use acquired an opprobrious sense: cf. promoterism.
| 1876 World V. No. 106. 5 A promoter, quoad promoter, is not necessarily a bad man. 1884 W. C. Smith Kildrostan 80 He..cursed Himself, his friend, and all the ravenous crew Of jobbers and promoters. 1889 Times 18 Mar. 9/3 The promoter of a company is accountable for what he omits to do, as well as for what he does. 1890 Act 53 & 54 Vict. c. 64 §3 A promoter in this section means a promoter who was a party to the preparation of the prospectus. 1894 Westm. Gaz. 15 Nov. 8/1 Official Receiver. Is he a company promoter? Witness. Oh, no; he is far too respectable for that. |
d. Chem. A less active additive which increases the activity of a catalyst; more generally, a substance which improves a catalyst in some way. Also, a substance used as an initiator in a catalytic polymerization reaction.
| 1911 J. Y. Johnson Brit. Pat. 19,249 6 Very much better yields can be obtained in the synthetical production of ammonia from its elements if there be employed, as the catalytic agent, iron in admixture with certain bodies as hereinafter explained... These bodies my foreign correspondents [sc. Badische Anilin & Soda Fabrik, Germany], for the sake of brevity, term ‘promoters’. 1927 Jrnl. Amer. Chem. Soc. XLVIII. 2826 The results show that the predominant effect of promoters of the type alumina and potassium aluminate is to increase the number of catalytically active atoms relative to the total number of metal atoms present. 1930 N. K. Adam Physics & Chem. of Surfaces viii. 241 Many promoters are simply refractory supports for a metallic catalyst. 1961 J. N. Anderson Appl. Dental Materials (ed. 2) xxiv. 251 When these promoters meet the benzoyl peroxide in the polymer, they start a chain of events similar to that which occurs when heat is applied. 1963 P. H. Plesch Chem. Cationic Polymerization iv. 149 The patent literature contains a great many combinations of a metal halide and a co-catalyst (often called promoter, especially in American patents), most of which are substances which can combine with the metal halide to form a protonic acid. 1970 G. Odian Princ. Polymerization vii. 464 The reactive cyclic ether used as a component of the catalyst system is referred to as a promoter (or a cocatalyst). 1971 Sci. Amer. Dec. 52/3 It has been found that iron plus a few percent of the oxides of potassium and aluminum, which are known as promoters, give a longer-lived catalyst and one with greater resistance to impurities in the feed stream. |
e. One who organizes or actively supports a sporting event, entertainment, etc., esp. for profit.
| 1936 [see football pool s.v. football 4]. 1950 Sport 7–11 Apr. 22/3 This would involve the full co-operation of sports promoters and the B.B.C. 1951 Sunday Pictorial 21 Jan. 16/3 He's a promoter's dream and has sold {pstlg}450 worth of tickets for this outing. 1956 B. Holiday Lady sings Blues (1973) xxii. 180 If it had been left to the management and promoters, I could have shot myself long ago. 1964 Melody Maker 28 Nov. 3 Deejays and promoters must stop being idiots. 1971 Daily Tel. 27 May 2/6 The Isle of Wight County Council last night rejected all three farm sites proposed by Richard Roscoe, a promoter, for staging a pop festival. |
f. Med. An agent that causes tumour promotion (promotion 2 d) (see quot. 1978).
| 1947 Brit. Jrnl. Cancer I. 390 Dibenzanthracene is undoubtedly a potent Initiator, but a weak Promotor; benzpyrene is moderately potent both as Initiator and Promotor; croton oil, on the other hand, is exceptionally potent as a Promotor, but quite useless as an Initiator. 1969 Progress Exper. Tumor Res. XI. 50 When the initiating agent is given..to mice and this is followed by repeated skin application of the promoter after a lapse of as much as 380 days, tumors arise within 32–42 days from the beginning of promoting treatment. 1970 [see promoting ppl. a. 2 b]. 1976 Maclean's Mag. (Toronto) 27 Dec. 22/3 These carcinogens don't usually cause cancer unless they mix with other agents called promoters. 1978 Nature 20 July 271/1 Tumour promoters are compounds which are not carcinogens but which can induce tumours in mice treated with a subcarcinogenic dose of a chemical carcinogen. |
g. Genetics. An essential part of an operon, situated between the operator and the structural gene(s), at which transcription starts. [The sense is due to F. Jacob et al., who used F. promoteur (Compt. Rend. (1964) CCLVIII. 3128).]
| 1967 C. R. Woese Genetic Code iv. 93 The operator locus comprises both the modulation sequence and the punctuation for tape-reader attachment. Jacob and his associates..have more recently adduced evidence for the existence of the latter, which they call promoter, by a study of deletions. 1971 D. J. Cove Genetics xi. 163 Mutations in the promoter region lead to a reduction in the rate of messenger synthesis from the whole operon. The promoter is thought to be the region for the attachment of the DNA-dependent RNA polymerase, the enzyme responsible for transcription. 1975 Nature 13 Mar. 118/1 The promoter has been loosely defined as the site on the DNA where the RNA polymerase recognises some signal which allows it to bind tightly and initiate transcription. |
2. One who promotes or advances another in dignity or position.
| 14.. [see promover]. 1670 G. H. Hist. Cardinals iii. 301 They are disinterested, and no passionate promoters of their Kindred. 1868 Freeman N. Conq. II. vii. 80 Harold..appears as a special promoter of German churchmen. |
II. 3. a. One whose business was to prosecute or denounce offenders against the law; originally an officer appointed by the crown; later, one who prosecuted in his own name and that of the sovereign, and received a part of the fines as his fee; a professional accuser, an informer. Obs. exc. Hist.
| α 1485 Rolls of Parlt. VI. 347/1 The Office of oure Promotoure, by us graunted unto hym by oure Lettres Patents. 1509 Barclay Shyp of Folys (1570) 140 b, Sergeaunt, Atturney, Promoter, Judge or Scribe, Will not feele thy matter without a priuie bribe. 1566 Roy. Proclam. 10 Nov., Such as be infourmers vpon penall lawes and Statutes, commonly called promoters. 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 421 Aristogiton the sycophant or false promotor, being condemned to death for troubling men with wrongfull imputations. 1603 [see relator 2]. 1607 Cowell Interpr., Promoters..be those, which in popular and penall actions doe deferre the names, or complaine of offenders, hauing part of the profit for their reward... They belong especially to the Exchequer and kings bench. a 1661 Fuller Worthies, Northampton (1662) 287 [Henry VII] made Empson Promoter General, to press the Penal-Statutes all over the land. |
| β 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 147 His eies be promooters, some trespas to spie. 1598 R. Grenewey Tacitus' Ann. iv. vii. (1622) 99 The promooters [L. delatores], a race of men found out for a common ouerthrow and destruction. 1607 R. C[arew] tr. Estienne's World of Wonders 158 Prowling promouters. 1653 Milton Hirelings Wks. 1851 V. 358 Tyndarus and Rebuffus, two canonical Promooters. 1670 Blount Law Dict., Promooters. 1955 W. W. Greg Shakespeare First Folio iv. 150 The Act may well have been a dead letter except for action by professional promooters. |
† b. An officer appointed to prosecute students before the Rector for debts or offences, in some of the Scottish universities. Now only Hist. repr. med.L. promotor.
| [1482 Munim. Univ. Glasguensis (Maitl. Club) II. 9 De electione Promotoris Universitatis et eius officio.] 1854 Ibid. II. Table p. iv, A Promotor or General Sindic to be elected annually for the recovery of University debts, and the detection of contraventions of the Statutes. The Promotor to bring offenders before the Lord Rector... The Promotor's oath. |
c. Eccl. Law. The prosecutor of a suit in an ecclesiastical court.
| 1754 Hume Hist. Eng. I. viii. 172 Laics should not be accused in spiritual courts, except by legal and reputable promoters and witnesses. 1821 Lamb Elia Ser. i. Oxford in Vacation, Amid an incongruous assembly of attorneys, attorneys' clerks, apparitors, promoters, vermin of the law, among whom he sits ‘in calm and sinless peace’. 1876 Ld. Penzance in Willis v. Bp. of Oxf. in Law Rep., Prob. Div. II. 198 The promoter in this proceeding of ‘duplex querela’ complains in his libel that having been duly presented..the bishop has refused to institute him. Ibid., That the result of the examination satisfied him (the defendant) that the promoter was non idoneus et minus sufficiens in literaturâ. 1889 E. S. Roscoe Bp. of Lincoln's Case 1 The promoters in the suit were E. Read, W. Brown, T. F. Wilson, and J. Marshall. The respondent was the Lord Bishop of Lincoln. 1895 R. Phillimore Eccl. Law (ed. 2) 992 The promoter of the office of the judge is bound not only to give in articles, but also a correct copy to the defendant. |
III. 4. A descriptive appellation in the Scottish universities (or some of them) of the official who presents students for degrees.
Properly in Latin form promotor, but sometimes represented historically by the Eng. form.
| 1699 Edin. Gaz. 26–29 June, Munday last being the Day appointed for the publick Graduation..Mr. William Scot..Promoter for this year declam'd an Elegant Harangue. 1858 Min. Univ. St. Andrews (MS.), XVII. 415 The Senatus appoint the ex-Rector to act in the meantime as pro-Rector and Promotor. 1894 W. L. Low D. Thomson iv. 93 It was his turn to act as Promotor or ‘Father’ of the new graduates. 1898 A. C. Fraser T. Reid iv. 46 In the last year of each course, as ‘promoter’, he presented his undergraduates to receive the Master's degree [at King's Coll., Aberdeen]. 1962 Aberdeen Univ. Rev. Autumn 313 The other graduands who have obtained First Class Honours are called up, one by one, by the Promotor. |
Hence proˈmoterism, the reprobated practice or conduct of promoters of joint-stock companies.
| 1882 (title) Last Words of Thomas Carlyle on Trades-Unions: Promoterism and the Signs of the Times. 1882 Edin. Courant 27 Oct. 6/7 Word-painting of the diabolical promoterism of the day. |