steward

See also: Steward

English

Etymology

From Middle English steward, stiward, from Old English stīweard, stiġweard (“steward, housekeeper, one who has the superintendence of household affairs, guardian”), from stiġ (“a wooden enclosure; house, hall”) + weard (“ward, guard, guardian, keeper”), equivalent to sty +‎ ward. Compare Icelandic stívarður (“steward”). More at sty, ward.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈstjuː.əd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈstuɚd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: stew‧ard

Noun

steward (plural stewards, feminine stewardess)

1. A person who manages the property or affairs for another entity
   1. (historical) A chief administrator of a medieval manor.
3. (nautical) A ship's officer who is in charge of making dining arrangements and provisions.
   • 1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC:

     There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy. Mail bags, so I understand, are being put on board. Stewards, carrying cabin trunks, swarm in the corridors. Passengers wander restlessly about or hurry, with futile energy, from place to place.

4. A flight attendant, especially male.
5. A union member who is selected as a representative for fellow workers in negotiating terms with management.
6. A person who has charge of buildings, grounds, and/or animals.
7. Someone responsible for organizing an event
8. Bartender
9. A fiscal agent of certain bodies.

   a steward in a Methodist church

10. A junior assistant in a Masonic lodge.
11. (higher education) An officer who provides food for the students and superintends the kitchen; also, an officer who attends to the accounts of the students.
12. (Scotland) A magistrate appointed by the crown to exercise jurisdiction over royal lands.
    • 2001, The Innes Review:

      These lands must have been retained by some earlier Steward, perhaps Walter II (1204-41), when most of Erskine had been made into a fief for Henry, first known ancestor of the Erskine family.

13. (information technology) Somebody who is responsible for managing a set of projects, products or technologies and how they affect the IT organization to which they belong.
14. (motor racing) Person responsible for the arbitration of incidents at a motor racing event and whether or not fines/penalties should be issued for such incidents.

Usage notes

With regard to airlines, steward is usually distinguished from the more common and exclusively feminine stewardess in colloquial speech, while the gender-neutral flight attendant is usually preferred to both in formal contexts. The word "stewardess" is still commonly used in Singapore and Malaysia, but is now dated and considered sexist in the United States. For the sake of brevity, steward is sometimes treated as a gender-neutral term itself and applied to both male and female flight attendants.

Synonyms

• (medieval overseer): bailiff, provost
• (member of a flight crew): air steward, airline steward; see also flight attendant or cabin crew
• (union member): shop steward
• (person in charge of buildings, grounds, etc.): caretaker, custodian, keeper; groundskeeper (of estates)

Hyponyms

• (member of a flight crew) See flight attendant

Derived terms

• airline steward
• air steward
• shop steward
• Steward
• stewardish
• stewardism
• stewardly
• stewardry
• stewardship
• Stewart
• under-steward

 

Translations

any administrator of the property or affairs of another

• Bulgarian: управител (bg) m (upravitel), иконом m (ikonom)
• Catalan: administrador m, representant (ca) m, apoderat (ca) m
• Czech: správce (cs) m
• Finnish: isännöitsijä (fi) (real estate), pehtori (fi) (farm), edustaja (fi) (general)
• French: intendant (fr) m
• Galician: administrador (gl) m
• German: Verwalter (de) m
• Gothic: 𐍆𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌰𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌾𐌰 m (fauragaggja)
• Greek:

  Ancient: οἰκονόμος m (oikonómos)

• Hungarian: intéző (hu)
• Irish: maor m
• Latin: prōmus m, baiulus (Medieval)
• Manx: stiurt m, meoir m
• Portuguese: intendente (pt) m, procurador (pt) m, mordomo (pt)
• Romanian: intendent (ro) m, administrator (ro) m
• Spanish: administrador (es), gestor (es), representante (es), apoderado (es)
• Swahili: wakili (sw) class 5/6
• Swedish: förvaltare (sv)

the administrator of a medieval manor

• Bulgarian: управител на имение (upravitel na imenie)
• Dutch: meier (nl) m
• Finnish: tilanhoitaja (fi)
• Galician: mordomo (gl) m
• Gothic: 𐍆𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌰𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌾𐌰 m (fauragaggja)
• Hungarian: intéző (hu), ispán (hu), tiszttartó (hu), jószágigazgató (hu)
• Irish: maor m
• Italian: amministratore (it) m, supervisore (it) m
• Latin: ballivus
• Manx: baylee m, meoir m
• Russian: управля́ющий (ru) m (upravljájuščij)
• Scottish Gaelic: maor m, bàillidh m
• Serbo-Croatian: kaštelan (sh) m, majordom (sh) m

ship's officer in charge of making dining arrangements and provisions

• Bulgarian: стюард m (stjuard)
• Dutch: hofmeester (nl) m
• Finnish: purseri (fi)
• Hebrew: כַּלְכַּל‎ (he) m (kalkal)
• Maori: tuari
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: stuert m

  Nynorsk: stuert m

• Portuguese: assistente (pt)
• Russian: стю́ард (ru) m (stjúard), стюа́рд (ru) m (stjuárd)
• Spanish: mozo (es)
• Swedish: steward (sv) c

flight attendant — see flight attendant

union member representing fellow workers

• Finnish: luottamusmies (fi)
• Hungarian: szakszervezeti megbízott
• Maori: tuari
• Swedish: ombudsman (sv)

any caretaker of buildings, estates, or animals

• Finnish: tilanhoitaja (fi), (farm) pehtori (fi)
• Hungarian: gondnok (hu), házfelügyelő (hu), házmester (hu)
• Irish: maor m
• Portuguese: zelador (pt)

IT: somebody responsible for managing a set of projects, products or technologies

Verb

steward (third-person singular simple present stewards, present participle stewarding, simple past and past participle stewarded)

1. To act as the steward or caretaker of (something)
   • 2007 May 1, Richard G. Jones, “An Acting Governor’s Balancing Act: Taking the Lead Without Stepping on Toes”, in New York Times‎^[3]:

     Assemblyman John S. Wisniewski, a Democrat from Middlesex County, said, “It’s an uncomfortable situation,” but added that Mr. Codey is nevertheless “ably stewarding the state.”

Anagrams

• drawest, strawed, swarted, wardest

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English steward.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌsty.ʋɑrt/, /ˌsti.ʋɑrt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ste‧ward

Noun

steward m (plural stewards, feminine stewardess)

1. (aviation) steward, male flight attendant

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English steward.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /stju.waʁd/, /sti.waʁd/, /sti.waʁt/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /stu.wœʁd/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

steward m (plural stewards)

1. steward

Further reading

• “steward”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Polish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English steward.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈstju.art/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uart
• Syllabification: ste‧ward

Noun

steward m pers (feminine stewardesa)

1. (aviation) steward, flight attendant, air host

Declension

Declension of steward

	singular	plural
nominative	steward	stewardzi/stewardowie/stewardy (deprecative)
genitive	stewarda	stewardów
dative	stewardowi	stewardom
accusative	stewarda	stewardów
instrumental	stewardem	stewardami
locative	stewardzie	stewardach
vocative	stewardzie	stewardzi/stewardowie/stewardy (deprecative)

Further reading

• steward in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English steward.

Noun

steward m (plural stewarzi)

1. steward

Declension

Declension of steward

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) steward	stewardul	(niște) stewarzi	stewarzii
genitive/dative	(unui) steward	stewardului	(unor) stewarzi	stewarzilor
vocative	stewardule		stewarzilor

Related terms

• stewardesă

References

• steward in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)