definitor
(dɛfɪˈnaɪtə(r))
Also 7 diffinitor
[a. L. dēfīnītor, agent-n. from dēfīnīre to define.]
1. An officer of the chapter in certain monastic orders, charged with the ‘definition’ or decision of points of discipline.
| 1648 Gage West Ind. iii. (1655) 7 When the Provinciall Chapter is kept, then..is there one named by name of Procurator or Diffinitor, who is to goe in the name of the whole Province to the next election of the Generall. 1704 Collect. Voy. (Church.) III. 51/1 [St. Francis] having been Definitor of his Order. 1745 A. Butler Lives Saints, Bonaventure VII. 194 The saint held a general chapter at Narbonne, and in concert with the definitors gave a new form to the old Constitutions. 1867 R. Palmer Life P. Howard 15 note, The order [Dominicans] is governed by a master-general with his council of definitors. |
† 2. A kind of surveying instrument: see quots.
| 1664 Evelyn tr. Freart's Archit. 153 This whole Instrument..consisting of Horizon, Ruler, and Plummet we shall call our Definitor. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §97 The instrument will shew the situation, distance from the center, and depression of any given point..below the plane of the dial..which instrument he calls a Definitor. |