supervisor
(s(j)uːpəˈvaɪzə(r), ˈs(j)uːpəvaɪzə(r))
Also 5–6 -vysour, 5–7 -visour, 7 -viser.
[ad. med.L. supervīsor, f. supervīs- (see supervise). Cf. OF. superviseur (16th c.).]
One who supervises.
1. A person who exercises general direction or control over a business, a body of workmen, etc.; one who inspects and directs the work of others.
Supervisor of the Excise: an officer who supervised and inspected the books, etc. of the inferior officers of the department.
| 1454 in H. Anstey Epist. Acad. Oxon. (O.H.S.) I. 326 William Churche, supervisor of þe werks of þe sayd scollis. c 1520 Skelton Magnyf. 1808 And here I make the vpon Lyberte To be superuysour. 1579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 132 Him he sets not as a suruayour and ouerseer of his manors, but a superuisour of hys childrens conditions and manners. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iii. xxi. 212 Bishop Andrews ever placed the picture of Mulcaster his Schoolmaster over the doore of his study..as to be his Tutour and Supervisour. 1667 in Pettus Fodinæ Reg. (1670) 38 A Supervisor of the Mills and Works. 1689 Lond. Gaz. No. 2428/4 Captain Robert Bathurst, Collector, and John Gilloway, Supervisor, of Excise. 1771 Burke Let. to R. Shackleton 31 July, Mr. Vansittart, and Mr. Ford, and Scraften, were the only supervisors for the company on board the unfortunate Aurora. 1845 Ford Handbk. Spain i. 123 The sole supervisor of all the edifices of the Peninsula. 1883 in A. J. Adderley Fisheries Bahamas 50 Mr. Gregor Buccich, a telegraph supervisor, in the island of Lesina, in Dalmatia. 1884 Manch. Exam. 6 Dec. 5/5 Mr. Constantine, supervisor of excise, seized the plant [of an illicit still]. |
† b. A person appointed by a testator to supervise the executors of the will; = overseer n. 1 b.
| 1456 Paston Lett. I. 372 The said bille to be put up to the Kyng, whiche is chief supervisor of my said Lordis testament. 1496 in Somerset Med. Wills (1901) 340, I make John Fitziames the yonger supervysour and I bequethe to him for his laboure 10 s. 1555 Eden Decades (Arb.) 56 Other famous and godly men (as superuisours of his testamente). 1583–93 Greene Mamillia ii. Wks. (Grosart) II. 240 For the performance of my will, I leaue the whole Senate as superuisors. 1637 Wotton in Reliq. (1672) 54, I do pray the foresaid D{supr}. Bargrave, and M{supr}. Nicholas Pey, together with M{supr}. John Harrison..to be Supervisors of this my last Will and Testament. 1672 Cowell's Interpr. s.v., It was anciently, and still is a Custom among some, especially of the better sort, to make a Supervisor of a Will, but it is to little purpose. 1719 D'Urfey Pills V. 270 Time..do I make The Supervisor of my Will. 1767 Burn Eccl. Law (ed. 2) IV. 97 marg., Supervisors [text, Overseers of a will]. |
c. An inspector of highways; now only U.S. a road-master on a railway.
| 1555 Act 2 & 3 Ph. & M. c. 8 §1 Yf the Cariages..shall not be thought nedefull by the Supervisors to bee occupyed upon any of the said days. 1755 Dict. Arts & Sci. IV. s.v., Supervisor formerly was used for surveyor of the highways. 1868 Road supervisor [see road n. 10 b]. 1898 Engineering Mag. XVI. 65 He is often assisted by..a master carpenter, master mason, and track-supervisors, the latter having charge of the track on a sub-division of the line. |
† d. A keeper or curator. Obs. rare.
| 1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. II. 431 Cosmo the great Duke of Tuscany..made him Supervisor of his Medals. |
e. In some of the United States, An elected officer, or one of a board of such officers, charged with the administration of a township. (Cf. selectman.)
| 1882 A. Shaw in Fortn. Rev. Oct. 491 The supervisor is both a town and a county officer. He is general manager of town business, and is also a member of the County Board, which is composed of the supervisors of the several towns. |
† 2. An onlooker, spectator, observer. Obs.
| 1604 Shakes. Oth. iii. iii. 395 (Qo. 1) Would you the supervisor, grossly gape on? 1610 Histrio-m. ii. 234 These admirable wits of Italy..Are curious supervisours over strangers. |
3. One who reads over, esp. for the purpose of correction; a reviser. Now rare or Obs.
| 1624 Bedell Lett. vi. 101 The Superuisors..of the Canon Law,..acknowledge, that..this sentence is not found. 1687 Dryden Hind & P. Pref. p. iii, I am now inform'd both of the Author and Supervisers of his Pamphlet. 1732 Bentley Milton's P.L. Pref. a iij, That Edition is without Faults; because He [sc. Milton]..had chang'd his old Printer and Supervisor. 1808 W. Wilson Hist. Diss. Ch. I. 44 Archbishop Bancroft, who was supervisor of the present translation, altered it in fourteen places. 1881 N.T. (Rev. Vers.) Pref. 8 These supervisors [of the 1611 version] are said by one authority to have been six in number, and by another twelve. |
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Add: [1.] f. At the University of Cambridge: one appointed to give tutorial instruction to an undergraduate student, a tutor. More widely, one who directs and oversees the work of a postgraduate research student.
| 1923 Ordinances Univ. Cambr. 208 It is not suggested that the same constant touch should be maintained between the Supervisor and his Research Student as generally exists between a Director of Studies and his undergraduate pupils. 1927 Granta 27 May 460/1 I went to a lecture, but after a quarter of an hour I found myself being carried out by a couple of porters. At 12 o'clock I went to my supervisor. 1934 S. C. Roberts Introd. Cambr. iii. 68 While the additional lecturers and supervisors take no part in the government of the college, they are frequently invited to share its social amenities. 1946 Granta 8 Mar. 9/2 How happier far to dance and drink And cut their supervisor's lecture! 1962 Cambr. Univ. Reporter 13 Mar. 1089 Many Colleges find great difficulty in getting enough suitably qualified Supervisors. 1974 Physics Bull. Mar. 87/3 The second candidate had a 2(ii) honours degree, having (according to her supervisors) only narrowly missed a 2(i). 1985 P. Roazen Helene Deutsch xiv. 248 Helene was acutely aware of student needs as well as the evaluative task of a supervisor. |
4. Computing. A computer program that controls the execution of other programs and the allocation of resources; = operating system s.v. operating vbl. n. b.
| [1956 Proc. Western Joint Computer Conf. 21 (heading) An automatic supervisor for the IBM 702.] 1964 Discovery Oct. 51/2 In this machine, the operator does not control the programme directly but acts through an intermediary, a control programme usually called the ‘Supervisor’ or ‘Director’. 1970 O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing ix. 128 The supervisor program belongs to what are called the system programs of a computer system. 1980 C. S. French Computer Sci. xxviii. 246 The resultant interrupt causes an immediate exit from the program to the supervisor. 1984 Austral. Personal Computer Feb. 9/2 To run more than one program in the same machine, you need a sophisticated supervisor. |