proprietor
(prəʊˈpraɪɪtər)
[Anomalously formed and substituted in 17th c. for the etymological word proprietary: cf. also proprietory. App. first used of the ‘proprietors’ of the North American colonies.
An OF. proprieteur (once in Godef.) and its fem. proprieteresse (thrice) occur each time in a legal document (1419–1533). There may have been a Law Latin *proprietor, but it does not appear to be recorded.]
1. Amer. Hist. = proprietary n. 4. Also lord proprietor.
| 1639 in E. Hazard Hist. Coll. (1792) I. 458, I Sir Ferdinando Gorges Lord proprietor and owner of the province of Maine in New England [etc.]. 1688 Col. Rec. Pennsylv. I. 230 The Chieff Proprietor and Govr acquainted them that he had little more to say. 1747 Franklin Let. Wks. 1887 II. 93 We have petitioned the Proprietor to send us some from England. 1851 Dixon W. Penn xxxi. (1872) 291 The future lord proprietor of Pennsylvania. |
2. One who holds something as property; one who has the exclusive right or title to the use or disposal of a thing; an owner.
peasant proprietor, a person of the peasant class who is the owner of the land he cultivates.
| 1645 Col. Rec. Mass. (1854) III. 27 Mr. Glouer [and 3 others] are appointed a committee to lay out ye way and judge of ye satisfaccion yey shall give to ye proprietors. a 1667 Cowley Ess. Verse & Prose, Agric. Wks. (1684) 99 They who are Proprietors of the Land are either too proud, or for want of that kind of Education, too ignorant to improve their Estates. 1681 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) I. 142 The proprietors of the 800 iron guns here..have orders..not to dispose of them. 1736 Butler Anal. ii. vii. 359 The Maker and Proprietor of the World. 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop xix, One of [the travellers] was the proprietor of a giant. 1849 Grote Greece ii. liii. VI. 559 A large proprietor and worker of gold mines. 1861 Craik Hist. Eng. Lit. I. 98 A large proportion..of the inferior landed proprietors. |
| fig. 1742 Young Nt. Th. vi. 283 Hearts are proprietors of all applause. |
b. attrib. (usually appositive).
| 1898 Westm. Gaz. 26 Apr. 8/3 The proprietor barber..insisted on a gratis shave. 1901 Daily News 18 Feb. 6/6 Even a proprietor-manager could hardly afford such regal garments. 1903 Westm. Gaz. 30 Mar. 5/1 An engineer and landed proprietor-farmer. |