mister
See also Mister
English
Pronunciation
- enPR: mĭsʹ-tər, IPA: /ˈmɪstər/, X-SAMPA: /"mIst@r/
- (UK) IPA: [ˈmɪstə(ɹ)], X-SAMPA: ["mIst@(r\)]
- (US) IPA: [ˈmɪstɚ], X-SAMPA: ["mIst@`]
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Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɪstə(r)
- Homophones: Mr., Mister
Etymology 1
Unaccented variant of master
Noun
mister (plural misters)
- Title conferred on an adult male.
- You may sit here, mister.
- 1855, George Musalas Colvocoresses, Four Years in the Government Exploring Expedition, J. M. Fairchild & co., page 358:
- Fine day to see sights, gentlemen. Well, misters, here's the railing round the ground, and there's the paling round the tomb, eight feet deep, six feet long, and three feet wide.
- 1908, Jack Brand, By Wild Waves Tossed: An Ocean Love Story, The McClure Company, page 90:
- There's only three misters aboard this ship, or, rather, there's only two.
Coordinate terms
Translations
title of adult male
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Verb
mister (third-person singular simple present misters, present participle mistering, simple past and past participle mistered)
- (transitive) To address by the title of "mister".
Etymology 2
From Anglo-Norman mester, meister (et al.), from Latin misterium, a medieval conflation of Latin ministerium (“ministry”) with Latin mysterium (“mystery”).[1]
Noun
mister (plural misters)
- (obsolete) Someone's business or function; an occupation, employment, trade.
- (now rare, dialectal) A kind, type of.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.ix:
- The Redcrosse knight toward him crossed fast, / To weet, what mister wight was so dismayd [...].
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.ix:
- (obsolete) Need (of something).
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book VI:
- for of your helpe I had grete mystir: For I drede me sore to passe this foreste.
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book VI:
- (obsolete) Necessity; the necessary time.
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book I.15:
- As for hym sayd kynge Carados, I wylle encountre with kynge bors, and ye wil rescowe me whan myster is [...].
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book I.15:
Verb
mister (third-person singular simple present misters, present participle mistering, simple past and past participle mistered)
- (obsolete, impersonal) To be necessary; to matter.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.vii:
- As for my name, it mistreth not to tell; / Call me the Squyre of Dames that me beseemeth well.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.vii:
Etymology 3
Noun
mister (plural misters)
- A device that makes or sprays mist.
- Odessa D. uses a mister Sunday to fight the 106-degree heat at a NASCAR race in Fontana, California.
Derived terms
References
- ^ David Wallace, Chaucerian polity: absolutist lineages and associational forms in England and Italy, Stanford University Press, 1997
Anagrams
Portuguese
Etymology 1
From Old Portuguese mester, from Latin ministerium (“employment”).
Pronunciation
Alternative forms
Adjective
mister m and f (plural mister; comparable)
- (law) of the utmost importance
- necessary
Noun
mister m (plural misteres)
- office, work, employment, occupation, profession
- position in a profession
- need; necessity
Synonyms
Etymology 2
Noun
mister m (plural misters)
- Alternative form of míster.