master

Someone who has control over something or someone.

Adjective

  1. Masterful.
    • a master performance
  2. Main, principal or predominant.
  3. Highly skilled.
    • master batsman
    • In another minute she lay peaceful and motionless under the anæsthetic — a statue, immobile, yet expressionful, as though carved by some master hand. - 1895, Marshall Mather, Lancashire Idylls, page 39:
  4. Original.
    • master copy

Origin

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *meǵh₂-der.? Proto-Indo-European *meh₂-der.? Proto-Italic *magisteros Latin magister, magistrum Old French maistrebor. ▲ Latin magisterder. Old English mǣġester Middle English maister English master From Middle English maister, mayster, meister (noun) and maistren (verb), from Old English mǣster, mæġster, mæġester, mæġister, magister (“master”), from Latin magister (“chief, teacher, leader”), from Old Latin magester, from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s (as in magnus (“great”), also cognate of English much and mickle) + -ester/-ister (compare minister (“servant”)). Reinforced by Old French maistre, mestre (noun) and maistriier, maister (verb) from the same Latin source. Compare also Saterland Frisian Mäster (“master”), West Frisian master (“master”), Dutch meester (“master”), German Meister (“master”). Doublet of maestro, magister, and meister.

Forms

maistre Marse marse mas'r Master mastre maister mayster Massa massa massah massy masta Mastah mastah mastuh measter mester mister

Derived

master chief petty officer master chief warrant officer master eye master gunnery sergeant master joint master reset master seaman master shot master spirit master stock masterstroke master vibrator master warrant officer

Noun Entry 2

  1. Someone who has control over something or someone.
    • We are masters of the sea. - 1881, Benjamin Jowett, Thucydides:
    • Maſters commands come with a power reſiſtleſs / To ſuch as owe them abſolute ſubjection; / And for a life who will not change his purpoſe? / (So mutable are all the ways of men) / Yet this be ſure, in nothing to comply...
    • When I have thus made myself master of a hundred thousand drachmas […]. - 1712 November 23 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “WEDNESDAY, November 13, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 535;...
  2. The owner of an animal or slave.
  3. The captain of a merchant ship; a master mariner.
    • Master at two-and-twenty, and married at twenty-three— - 1896, Rudyard Kipling, The Mary Gloster:

    Synonyms: skipper captain

  4. A male head of household.
  5. Someone who employs others.
    • No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or otherwise his man would be there with a message to say that his master would shortly join me if I would kindly wait. - 1897...
  6. An expert at something.
    • Mark Twain was a master of fiction.
    • But that which chiefly distinguishes Addison from Swift, from Voltaire, from almost all the other great masters of ridicule, is the grace, the nobleness, the moral purity, which we find even in his merriment. - 1843...
    • No care is taken to improve young men in their own language, that they may thoroughly understand and be masters of it. - 1693, [John Locke], “§189”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and...

    Synonyms: adept ace artist buff crackerjack crack hand dab dab hand dabster don hand expert Jedi Master master maven old hand old soldier old stager past master proficient top gun whiz wiz wizard veteran

  7. A tradesman who is qualified to teach apprentices.
  8. A male schoolteacher.
  9. A skilled artist.
  10. A man or a boy; mister. See Master.
    • Where there are little Maſters and Miſſes in a Houſe, they are uſually great Impediments to the Diverſions of the Servants; - 1731 (date written; published 1745), [Jonathan] Swift, Directions to Servants […], London:...
  11. A master's degree; a type of postgraduate degree, usually undertaken after a bachelor degree.
    • She has a master in psychology.

    Synonyms: masters master's magistrate

  12. A person holding such a degree.
    • He is a master of marine biology.

Forms

masters maistre Marse marse mas'r Master mastre maister mayster Massa massa massah massy masta Mastah mastah mastuh measter mester mister

Hyponyms

mistress

Related

mistress journeyman apprentice

Derived

archmaster baggagemaster ballet master balletmaster bandmaster bargemaster barge master barmaster battlemaster beachmaster beastmaster Beefmaster beemaster bergmaster blogmaster boarding-master boatmaster bodymaster boroughmaster botmaster bowmaster brewmaster bridgemaster burghermaster

Noun nautical, transport

  1. A vessel having a specified number of masts.
    • a two-master

Origin

Etymology tree English mast Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzijos Latin -āriusnom. Latin -āriusbor. Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz Proto-West Germanic *-ārī Old English -ere Middle English -ere English -er English master From mast + -er.

Forms

masters

Derived

four-master

Verb

  1. To be a master.
  2. To become the master of; to subject to one's will, control, or authority; to conquer; to overpower; to subdue.
    • Obstinacy and willful neglects must be mastered, even though it cost blows. - 1693, [John Locke], “(please specify the section number)”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill,...
    • Then Elzevir cried out angrily, 'Silence. Are you mad, or has the liquor mastered you? Are you Revenue-men that you dare shout and roister? or contrabandiers with the lugger in the offing, and your life in your hand....
  3. To learn to a high degree of proficiency.
    • It took her years to master the art of needlecraft.
  4. To own; to possess.
    • […]the wealth / That the world maſters. - c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
  5. To make a master copy of.
  6. To earn a Master's degree.
    • He mastered in English at the state college.

Forms

masters mastering mastered maistre Marse marse mas'r Master mastre maister mayster Massa massa massah massy masta Mastah mastah mastuh measter mester mister

Derived

bemaster masterable overmaster overmasteringly remaster