designer
(dɪˈzaɪnə(r))
Also 7 designor.
[f. design v. + -er1.]
One who designs.
1. One who originates a plan or plans.
| 1670 G. H. Hist. Cardinals ii. ii. 151 Thoughtful and cogitative, a great designor. 1736 Butler Anal. ii. Concl. Wks. 1874 I. 307 Ten thousand thousand instances of design cannot but prove a designer. 1863 J. G. Murphy Comm. Gen. i. 2 The Great Designer. |
2. In bad sense: One who cherishes evil designs or is actuated by selfish purposes; a plotter, schemer, intriguer.
| 1649 Prynne Demurrer 83 The greatest designers, plotters and lifters up of themselves against the interest of Christ. a 1704 T. Brown Praise of Wealth Wks. 1730 I. 84 The cunning designer gets into the princes favour. 1726 in H. Campbell Love-lett. Mary Q. Scots (1824) 20 Where is one faithful friend to be chosen out among a thousand base designers? |
3. a. One who makes an artistic design or plan of construction; a draughtsman; spec. one whose business is to invent or prepare designs or patterns for the manufacturer or constructor.
| 1662 Evelyn Chalcogr. 147 Where the Workman is not an accomplished Designer. 1752 Johnson Rambler No. 190 ¶10 Sculptors, painters, and designers. 1891 Leeds Mercury 21 May 5/1 The designers of these tank vessels. 1892 Labour Commission Gloss. No. 9 Designer, the architect who designs the enrichment for the ‘modeller’ in the plastering trade. Mod. A designer in a textile factory. |
b. Freq. used attrib. in fashion, etc., to denote goods bearing the name or label of a famous designer, with the implication that they are expensive or prestigious. Also transf. and fig. orig. U.S.
| 1966 N.Y. Times 12 Feb. 31/7 (heading) Designer scarves join name-dropping game. 1973 E. Jong Fear of Flying (1974) ii. 37 She was all gotten up in designer clothes. 1977 Washington Post 8 Jan. c1/6 Mrs. Carter has been known to have a sharp eye for price tags, rejecting anything she feels inflated by designer labels. 1978 Ibid. 30 Dec. c2/1 At the moment, designer jeans are such big business that Bloomingdale's has created a department called ‘Pure Jeanius’. 1979 United States 1980/81 (Penguin Travel Guides) 321 For good buys on top-brand and designer sheets and pillowcases, New York is definitely the place. 1984 Times 4 Sept. 12/1 Small wonder Perrier is called Designer Water. My local wine bar has the cheek to charge 70p a glass. 1985 S. Lowry Young Fogey Handbk. viii. 69 He loves seafood..and detests designer dishes. 1985 Mail on Sunday (Colour Suppl.) 3 Mar. 53/1 After all, this is designer-label land where the window boxes have electronic water sprinklers and the cat's manicurist is on a retainer. |
c. Special Comb. designer drug orig. U.S., a drug synthesized to mimic a legally restricted or prohibited drug without itself being subject to such restriction.
| 1983 Sacramento Union 17 Dec. e8/7 Thirty-four people have died in the last four years after using ‘designer drugs’, heroin look-alikes concocted in underground laboratories and hitting the streets one step ahead of government regulations. 1985 Sunday Times 24 Mar. 12/1 A still-growing line of what are known as ‘designer drugs’, new compounds that are synthetic ‘analogues’ of existing illegal mind-altering substances. 1985 Times 3 Dec. 5/8 Designer drugs were an added threat to the rising menace of heroin and cocaine addiction. 1986 Washington Post 2 June b4/1 The accidental discovery a few years ago of a ‘designer drug’ — called MPTP — that produced Parkinson's symptoms in addicts. |
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▸ designer baby n. (a) a baby wearing or having designer clothes or accessories; (b) a baby whose genetic make-up has been artificially selected by genetic engineering combined with in vitro fertilization to ensure the presence or absence of particular genes or characteristics.
| 1982 Forbes 22 Nov. 208/2 The *designer baby market is hot. These days you can walk into a kids' store and find pint-size versions of Christian Dior pajamas. 1985 N.Y. Times 6 Aug. c17/4 Haven't we been told that God determines gender? Isn't choosing sex in advance like ordering a designer baby? 1994 Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 19 Dec. 11 There's also an exclusive range of wooden Swiss rattles for the designer baby. 2002 Chicago Tribune 28 Dec. i. 8/4 Some ethicists believe cloning is wrong in principle, citing the possibility it will lead to an industry of designer babies or hamper a child's ability to form a unique identity. |
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▸ designer stubble n. the short, bristly growth on a man's unshaven face, esp. when purposely cultivated for a supposedly rugged and masculine appearance or to suggest a fashionably casual dishevelment.
| 1986 Campaign 29 Aug. 8/1 The beard trimmer, which allows the user to wear a fashionable ‘*designer stubble’ look without having to shave and grow it every three days, is already popular in the US. 1992 G. Adair Post-modernist always rings Twice 94 Nothing could more neatly puncture the modish absurdity of George Michael's designer stubble than the cactussy bristles of Desperate Dan's off-the-peg chin. 1996 U.S. News & World Rep. (Nexis) 13 May 42 Last week he strode into the White House, designer stubble trimmed neatly, checkered kaffiyeh draped carefully—a renegade reinvented. 2001 Herald (Glasgow) (Electronic ed.) 1 Sept. Neither Robbie Fowler nor Andy Cole received quite such a glowing reference from Boy Wonder, resplendent in designer stubble. |