▪ I. officer, n.
(ˈɒfɪsə(r))
Also 4 officere, -iser, -yser, oficere, 4–6 offycer, 4–7 -icier, 5 -ycere, -ysere, (-ycyr, -iceer, 6 offecer, -eser, -esar), Sc. 5–7 officiar, (6 -iciare, -iecear).
[a. AF. officer = OF. officier (1334 in Godef. Compl.), ad. med.L. officiārius, f. officium office: see -er2.]
† 1. One to whom a charge is committed, or who performs a duty, service, or function; a minister; an agent. Obs. exc. when qualified as in 2.
| c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 346 So if apostlis..sawen þus prestis serve in þe Chirche, þei wolden not clepe hem Cristis officeris, but officeris of Anticrist. c 1425 Lydg. Assembly of Gods 446 Remembre howe ye made me your offycere, All tho with my dart fynally to chastyse That yow dysobeyed. 1601 Shakes. All's Well iii. v. 18, I know that knaue,..a filthy Officer he is in those suggestions for the young Earle. 1619 J. Sempill Sacrilege Handled 28 So long as God hath Officiars of his worship on Earth; so long must Tithes be their Inheritance. 1634 Milton Comus 218 He, the Supreme Good, to whom all things ill Are but as slavish officers of vengeance. 1669 Penn No Cross xiv. §2 The Luxurious Eater and Drinker..has an Officer to invent, and a Cook to dress..the Species. |
2. One who holds an office, post, or place. a. One who holds a public, civil, or ecclesiastical office; a servant or minister of the king, as one of the great functionaries of the royal household, etc.; a person authoritatively appointed or elected to exercise some function pertaining to public life, or to take part in the administration of municipal government, the management or direction of a public corporation, institution, etc. In early use, applied esp. to persons engaged in the administration of law or justice.
Often with qualification defining the nature of the office, as officer of health (see health 1 b), of the Household, of Justice, of the Law, of State, etc.; government, municipal, public, custom-house, medical, returning, revenue officer, etc.
| c 1325 Song Deo Gratias 73 in E.E.P. (1862) 126 Ȝif þou be made an officer..What cause þou demest loke hit be cler. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 312 Þe Kynge's ansuere was smert, & said, ‘I se [ȝe] wille..so lowe me to chace, myn officers to change, & mak þam at ȝour grace’. 1375 Barbour Bruce i. 191 Schyrreffys and bailȝheys..And alkyn othir officeris, That for to gowern land afferis. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) ii. 7 Afterward was oure Lord ledd before þe bischope and þe officers of þe lawe. 1413 Pilgr. Sowle iv. xxxviii. (1859) 65 In your assyses al your offycers in the countre, done wel theyr deuoyre. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 54 Off all thi warde thou art made officeer. c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. xv. (1885) 148 Þe grete officers off þe lande, as Chaunceler, tresourer, and prive seell. 1479 in Eng. Gilds 423 Paiementes..to the Maire, Shiref, Recorder, and othir officers. 1578 in Spottiswood Hist. Ch. Scot. vi. (1677) 291 According to this division arises a sort of threefold Officiars in the Church. 1607 Shakes. Cor. v. ii. 3, I am an Officer of State, and come to speak with Coriolanus. a 1677 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. i. i. 4 What fashion Cloaths the Roman Officers, Military, Civil or Sacred used. 1802 Hamilton Wks. (1886) VII. 233 The first officer of the government..speaking in his official capacity. 1834 Act 4 & 5 Will. IV, c. 76 §109 The Word ‘Officer’ shall be construed to extend to any..Person who shall be employed in any Parish or Union in carrying this Act or the Laws for the Relief of the Poor into execution. 1845 McCulloch Taxation ii. ix. (1852) 328 Governments have usually consulted the officers employed in the collection of the revenue respecting the best modes of rendering taxes effectual. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. ii. I. 175 Another act..required every officer of a corporation to swear that he held resistance to the king's authority to be in all cases unlawful. a 1860 Order in Archbold Poor Law (ed. 10) 71 The guardians shall..appoint fit persons to hold the under-mentioned offices,..1. Clerk to the Guardians... 4. Medical Officer for the Workhouse. 5. District Medical Officer. 6. Master of the Workhouse... 10. Porter. 11. Nurse. 12. Relieving Officer. 1874 Stubbs Const. Hist. xi. I. 343 The great officers of the household..furnish the king with the first elements of a ministry of state. |
b. A person engaged in the management of the domestic affairs of a great household or collegiate body, of a private estate, etc.; † formerly, also, a subordinate of such an officer; a menial, domestic.
| c 1386 Chaucer Clerk's T. 134 Heer vp on he to hise officeres Comaundeth for the feste to purveye. ― Shipman's T. 65 [This Monk hath] eek an Officer out for to ryde To seen hir graunges and hire bernes wyde. ? c 1475 Sqr. lowe Degre 460 The officers sone can he call, Both ussher, panter, and butler. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 151 For the officers in monasteryes of religyon vseth the workes of the actyue lyfe. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. ii. v. 53 Calling my Officers about me, in my branch'd Veluet gowne. 1611 ― Cymb. iii. i. 65 Cæsar, that hath moe Kings his Seruants, then Thy selfe Domesticke Officers. |
c. A person holding office and taking part in the management or direction of a society or institution, esp. one holding the office of president, treasurer, or secretary; an office-bearer.
| 1711 Steele Spect. No. 78 ¶5 At last the Society was formed, and proper Officers were appointed. 1862 Rules §10 in Trans. Philol. Soc. p. iv, A General Meeting shall be held annually..to elect the Officers for the ensuing year. 1897 T. Holmes in Charity Organis. Rev. Apr. 201 A hospital in old times was a place for the gratuitous reception of cases grave enough, in the judgment of its officers, to need treatment in the wards. |
d. officer of (at) arms, a herald, pursuivant. Cf. arm n.2 15, herald n. 1 d, King-of-Arms.
| c 1500 Three Kings Sons 32 Som officers of armes & purceuantes that had be at this iourney wente in all haste to the kynge, & tolde hym all the maner..therof. a 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV, 229 This counterfeight Herault..there put on his cote of Armes. The Englishe out-skourers perceivyng by his cote, that he was an officer of armes, gently saluted hym. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, i. i. 204 Lord Marshall, command our Officers at Armes, Be readie to direct these home Alarmes. |
3. spec. a. A petty officer of justice or of the peace; a sheriff's serjeant, bailiff, catchpole; a constable (now rare in England); † a jailer; an executioner (obs.). See also peace officer, police officer, sheriff's officer.
| [c 1440 Promp. Parv. 363/1 Offycere of cruelte, as bayly, or iaylere, or other lyke.] 15.. Adam Bel & Clym of Clough 321 Wyllyam sterte to an officer of the towne, Hys axe out of hys hande he wronge. 1584 J. Newbery Let. in Arb. Garner III. 182 With officers, I went divers times out of the Castle in the morning, and sold things; and, at night, returned again to prison. 1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, v. vi. 12 The Theefe doth feare each bush an Officer. 1596 ― Rich. III, v. i. 28 Come leade me Officers to the blocke of shame. 1597 Skene De Verb. Sign. s.v. Schireffe, The Schireffis serjand, or officiar, suld haue ane horne. 1609 ― Reg. Maj. 7 The summons sall be made be ane lawfull summoner (or officiar). 1819 Shelley Cenci v. i. 35, I doubt not officers are, whilst we speak, Sent to arrest us. 1884 Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 23 Aug., Sergeant McBryan.. was set upon by a crowd of roughs, who threw him down and kicked him in a most brutal manner. In trying to use his revolver the officer shot himself through the left thumb. 1888 E. H. Marshall in N. & Q. 7th Ser. VI. 237/2 It is no solecism to call a police constable an ‘officer’..A police-constable is a peace officer, with the rights and duties of such, and is therefore entitled to be styled an ‘officer’. |
b. Used as a mode of address to a police officer.
| 1899 J. S. Clouston Lunatic at Large ii. v. 140 Keep your eye on that man, officer,..and put your plain-clothes' men on his track. 1926 Galsworthy Silver Spoon i. vii. 50 ‘Pardon me, officer,’ he said, ‘but where is Wren Street?’ 1934 D. L. Sayers Nine Tailors 143 It is said..that the plain bobby considers ‘officer’ a more complimentary form of address than ‘my man’, or even ‘constable’. 1946 E. O'Neill Iceman Cometh (1947) iv. 211 She knows I was insane. You've got me all wrong, Officer. I want to go to the Chair... God, you're a dumb dick! 1965 M. Allingham Mind Readers iii. 44 ‘Officer!’ said the voice.., ‘I wish to give this lady in charge.’ 1976 [see officeful]. |
4. a. A person holding a military or naval command, or occupying a position of authority in the army, navy, air force, or mercantile marine; spec. one holding a commission in the army or navy.
Officers in the army and navy are sometimes divided into combatant and non-combatant (the latter comprising medical and commissariat officers, paymasters, etc.). In the army they are distinguished as general, staff, commissioned (field and company), brevet, and non-commissioned officers; in the navy as commissioned, warrant, and petty officers. (See these words.) † commission-officer: see commission n. 13. officer of the day, ‘an officer whose immediate duty is to attend to the interior economy of the corps to which he belongs, or of those with which he may be doing duty’ (Stocqueler). officer of the deck, the officer temporarily in charge of the deck of a vessel, and responsible for the ship's management. flag-officer: see the word. (The appellation was app. used on shipboard earlier than in the army.)
| ? 1565 Sir J. Hawkins' 2nd Voy. in Arb. Garner V. 88 In cutting of the foresail, a marvellous misfortune happened to one of the Officers in the ship. 1598 W. Phillips Linschoten in Arb. Garner III. 422 All the Officers of the ship assembled. Ibid. 423 There grew a great noise and murmuring in the ship, that cursed the Captain and Officers, because the ship was badly provided. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iv. i. 37 Pist...Art thou Officer, or art thou base, common, and popular? King. I am a Gentleman of a Company. 1607 ― Cor. iv. vi. 30 Caius Martius was A worthy Officer i' th' Warre. 1665 Manley Grotius' Low C. Warres 297 Hereupon, the other Officers and Souldiers also earnestly perswaded Frederick to surrender. 1698 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) IV. 392 All the disbanded officers, that are to have half pay, to doe duty in the standing regiments. 1706 Wooden World Diss. (1708) 8 He allows no Distinction betwixt an Officer and a Swabber. 1766 Char. in Ann. Reg. 10 They become colonels, before they are officers, and then generals, without any other difference than time. 1788 Nelson 26 Dec. in Nicolas Disp. (1845) I. 277 The want of good Petty Officers, and consequently good Lieutenants,..[was] most severely felt during the late War. 1844 Regul. & Ord. Army 138 The Captain, or Officer of the Day, is..to inspect the meals, in order to see that they are wholesome, sufficient, and properly cooked. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Officer of the Watch, the lieutenant or other officer who has charge of, and commands, the watch. 1881 Morn. Post 29 Sept. 5/4 The staff is entirely composed of cavalry officers. 1884 Pae Eustace 5, I would rather be a naval officer. 1943 C. H. Ward-Jackson Piece of Cake 4 The Service experiences of all sorts of people—pilots,..old R.N.A.S. and R.F.C. officers, padres,..and the rest. 1948 Partridge Dict. Forces' Slang 148 R.A.F. officer term. 1952 Oxf. Jun. Encycl. X. 493 Members of the three [women's] services..are administered by their own officers. 1959 Chambers's Encycl. I. 184/2 If aircraft were used in attack and defence,..it could be argued that they were manned..by officers and men who could claim to be members of a service which belonged neither to the navy nor to the army. 1973 K. Giles File on Death iii. 63 Miss Sloper..had worked as an officer in the Second World War. |
b. Phr. (an) officer and (a) gentleman, applied to a person embodying the civilized qualities expected of both, freq. used ironically, also (occas. with hyphens) attrib. or as adj. phr. Hence officer-and-gentlemanly adj.
| 1845 Mrs. Gaskell North & S. (1855) I. xiv. 164, I will bear with all proper patience everything that one officer and gentleman can take from another. 1871 Porcupine 29 July 275/3 They want their purchase, their officer-and-gentleman hobby, their..agreeable club of an army left undisturbed. 1888 Kipling Plain Tales from Hills 123 Golightly spent..that summer trying to get the Corporal..tried by Court-Martial for arresting an ‘officer and a gentleman’. 1926 ― Debits & Credits 334 Ignatius is one of the subtlest intellects we have, and an officer and a gentleman to boot. 1946 E. O'Neill Iceman Cometh (1947) i. 48, I give you my word of honour as an officer and a gentleman, you shall be paid tomorrow. 1962 I. Murdoch Unofficial Rose xxxi. 304 He was paying the penalty..for being an officer and a gentleman. 1966 A. Prior Operators iii. 28 Oh, coming the officer and gentleman touch, was he? 1969 K. Giles Death cracks Bottle x. 110 We will just be very nice to the police in an officer-and-gentlemanly way. 1971 ‘H. Calvin’ Poison Chasers ix. 135 ‘'Evening, Sergeant,’ I said. Hard, officer-and-gentleman tone. 1974 ‘J. Graham’ Bloody Passage i. 11 There wasn't much I could do except put my head on the block like an officer and a gentleman. |
c. Officers Training Corps, an organization set up in schools and universities for the preliminary training of boys and young men who may later become officers in the armed forces.
| 1907 Interim Rep. War Office Comm. Provision of Officers 10 (heading) in Parl. Papers (Cd. 3294) XLIX. 549 Proposals respecting the Officers Training Corps at Universities. 1908 Oxford Univ. Officers Training Corps (Misc. Paper) 1 The present Oxford University Volunteer Corps is about to be transformed into a unit of ‘The Officers Training Corps’. 1925 Officers Training Corps Gaz. Nov. 1/1 Though our first number is devoted to the University of London Contingent,..it is proposed to include all University units of the Officers Training Corps. 1957 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 392/2 The Officers' Training corps (O.T.C.) was set up in 1909 under the Haldane scheme... The junior division..consisted of boys in public secondary schools..; the senior division of university contingents... After World War II the training corps was replaced by the Combined Cadet force. |
5. A member of a grade in some honorary orders.
(In the Legion of Honour, a member of the grade next above that of chevalier.)
| 1846 Penny Cycl. Suppl. II. 193/2 Legion of Honor... This order consists of five divisions: chevaliers,..officers, commanders, grand officers, and grand crosses... To obtain the rank of officer it is necessary to have served four years as a chevalier; an officer must serve two years to become commander. |
6. attrib. and Comb. (chiefly in sense 4), as officer cadet (also fig.), officer-caste, officer-class (also attrib. or as adj.), officer-instructor, officer-type; officer-like adj.; officer material: see material n. 7; officer-tree, an officer's saddletree.
| 1925 Officers Training Corps Gaz. Nov. 1/1 Our object..is to foster a spirit of Unity and Co-operation among *Officer Cadets. 1955 T. H. Pear Eng. Social Differences iii. 101 When..the functions of Sandhurst were modified, ‘officer’-cadets succeeded ‘gentleman’-cadets. 1962 L. Deighton Ipcress File xiii. 74 [He] reminded me of those N.C.O.'s who drilled officer cadets. 1973 ‘S. Harvester’ Corner of Playground i. iv. 38 Officer cadets due to receive their commissions at the passing-out parade. 1976 Listener 5 Feb. 139/1 We were a grateful generation... The fittest had survived to become the officer-cadets of the intellect. |
| 1937 ‘G. Orwell’ in New English Weekly 29 July 308/2 The Popular Army..modelled as far as possible on an ordinary bourgeois army, with a privileged *officer-caste, immense differences of pay, etc., etc. |
| 1936 ‘N. Blake’ Thou Shell of Death v. 78 His army training had given him a possibly misplaced belief in the superior wisdom of what he would never have thought of calling ‘the *officer class’. 1950 G. Greene Third Man ii. 25 ‘Be quiet, can't you, sir,’ my driver said. He had an exaggerated sense of officer-class. 1954 ‘N. Blake’ Whisper in Gloom ii. xiii. 173 He treated his church wardens with a certain officer-class brusqueness. 1958 P. Shore in N. Mackenzie Conviction 28 The managers are often described as an officer class and this is..an apt analogy. 1968 A. Laski Keeper i. 10 Ralph's turning to Colin and saying, in the same frankly brutal officer-class manner [etc.]. |
| 1859 Musketry Instr. 63 The diagrams of the performances of each squad or section are..to be handed over to the *officer-instructor, or battalion sergeant-instructor. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 21 Apr. 6/3 The Russians have..insisted on the dismissal of the British officer-instructors in the Chinese naval torpedo schools, who are to be replaced by Russian naval officers. |
| 1778 Hamilton Wks. (1886) VII. 537 Such carelessness and indifference to the service as is subversive to every *officer-like quality. 1862 M. Goodman Exper. Eng. Sister of Mercy 231 The medical officer of the 42nd, an exceedingly officer-like and handsome man. |
| 1894 Harper's Mag. Feb. 350, I carefully adjusted my Whitman's *officer-tree over a wealth of saddle blanketing. |
| 1942 E. Waugh Put out More Flags i. 64 ‘What do you think is the right type of officer?’ ‘The *officer-type.’.. ‘Now three-quarters of your officer-type live in towns’. |
Hence (nonce-wds.) ˈofficerage, the action of an officer; ˈofficeress, a female officer; offiˈcerial a., of or pertaining to an officer or officers; ˈofficerhood, ˈofficerism, the position or function of an officer; a body of officers.
| 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. v. vi, Spanish Field-officerism struck mute at such cat-o'-mountain spirit. 1838 Fraser's Mag. XVII. 687 They were..of the class officerial. 1839 Ibid. XIX. 742 They..say, not only that such an officeress exists, but that she keeps a Clerk. 1841 Blackw. Mag. L. 333 How much have they not to pay for carriage, porterage, overweightage, custom-house officerage. 1884 A. Forbes Chinese Gordon xi. 55 The belief..that he had sufficient influence with the officerhood of Gordon's force to bring them over. |
▪ II. officer, v.
(ˈɒfɪsə(r))
[f. prec. n.]
1. trans. a. To furnish with officers, esp. military or naval (cf. to man). b. To lead, command, or direct as an officer. Esp. in pass.
| 1670 Cotton Espernon i. v. 229 Perhaps no Militia in Europe were better Disciplin'd, nor better Officer'd than they. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 39 ¶29 They seem to be the proper Men to officer, animate, and keep up an Army. 1804 Wellington in Owen Mrq. Wellesley's Desp. (1877) 276 Both these corps were commanded, and in general officered by Frenchmen and other foreigners. 1852 C. M. Yonge Cameos II. xxxiii. 342 The French must have been very badly officered. 1858 Merc. Marine Mag. V. 65 The apprentice system..has officered our ships. 1870 Baldw. Brown Eccl. Truth 276 Our system of officering the army. |
2. transf. To command, direct; to lead, conduct, manage; to escort.
| 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. xvii, Kate..accompanied by Miss Knag, and officered by Madame Mantalini. 1841–4 Emerson Ess., Prudence Wks. (Bohn) I. 97 Society is officered by men of parts, and not by divine men. 1864 Daily Tel. 26 Nov., The fire had only been partially got under,..the steam fire-engines,..although well officered, being apparently powerless. |
Hence ˈofficered ppl. a.; ˈofficering vbl. n.
| 1687 T. Brown Saints in Uproar Wks. 1730 I. 78 Whether you were single or double officer'd. 1785 Paley Mor. Philos. (ed. 21) II. 435 The direction and officering of the army. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xx. IV. 460 An ill drilled and ill officered militia. 1889 Pall Mall G. 29 July 2/1 His troops are all either black or English-officered fellaheen. 1890 Century Mag. Dec. 207 The American system of officering..was superior to that of the English. 1907 Daily Chron. 15 Feb. 7/4 The preponderance of the Japanese forces;..their energetic and capable officering. 1933 Belloc Charles I 231 The army was still quite unfitted to meet the better training, the larger numbers and the superior officering of the enemy. 1977 Listener 16 June 779/4 It was..to the manning of the Empire, or rather the officering of it, that the best products of the classical ‘classical education’ were destined. |