| 释义 |
factotum|fækˈtəʊtəm|
[ad. med.L. factōtum (f. fac, imper. of facĕre to do + tōtum the whole) in phrases Johannes Factotum, Dominus Factotum, Magister factotum, which appear to be renderings in etymological equivalents of Romanic expressions = ‘John Do-everything’, ‘Mr. Do-Everything’; cf. It. fa il tutto, fattutto of similar formation. These phrases are found in 16th c. in Eng., and Frère Jean Factotum (Paré a 1590), Dominus Factotum also in Fr.; their source has not yet been discovered. The word factotum without the prefixed words is used in German (as neuter n.) from 16th c. (Grimm cites Fischart 1579), and in Fr. and It. from 17th c.]
1.
†a. In L. phrases: Dominus factotum, used for ‘one who controls everything’, a ruler with uncontrolled power; Johannes factotum, a Jack of all trades, a would-be universal genius. Also fig.
†b. One who meddles with everything, a busybody.
c. In mod. sense: A man of all-work; also, a servant who has the entire management of his master's affairs.
1566Gascoigne Supposes iii. iv. (1572) 31 He had the disbursing..of al my masters affaires..he was Magister fac totum. [Ariosto 1525: era fa il tutto.] 1584R. Parsons Leicester's Commw. 65 Throughout all England my L. of Leycester is taken for Dominus fac totum. 1592Greene Groatsw. Wit E iv, Being an absolute Johannes fac totum [he] is in his owne conceit the onely Shake-scene in a Countrey. 1618S. Ward Serm. Exod. xviii. 21–22, 65 Is there no mean between busibodies and tell-clockes, between fac-totum and fay't neant? 1630B. Jonson New Inn ii. ii, Tip. Art thou the dominus? Host. Fac-totum here, sir. 1662H. Foulis Plots of Saints (1674) 278 Robert Passellew..was dominus fac totum in the middle—and fac nihil towards the end—of the reign of Henry III. 1782Cowper Lett. 18 Mar., The garden where I am my own fac-totum. 1824Miss Mitford Village 1st Ser. (1863) 9 The pensioner and factotum of the village, amongst whom he divides his services. 1863M. E. Braddon Eleanor's Vict. III. ii. 25 A butler, or factotum,—for there was only one male servant in the house. 1940J. H. Jagger English in Future ii. 31 Have is another factotum, but gets off more lightly than get.
attrib.1859G. Meredith R. Feverel xi, The small fac⁓totum footman.
2. Printing: see quots.
1681Blount Glossogr. 255 Fac-totum signifies among Printers, a Border in the middle of which any Letter of the Alphabet may be put in for use, and then taken out. 1721–1800in Bailey. 1823in Crabb Technol. Dict. 1914R. B. McKerrow in Bibliogr. Soc. Trans. 1911–13 XII. 238 An ornamental block having a space in the centre for the insertion of a capital letter of an ordinary fount of type is called a ‘factotum initial’, or more properly a ‘factotum’.
Hence facˈtotumship, the office of a factotum.
1660Fisher Rusticks Alarm Wks. (1679) 345 During the long time of their Dominus fac-totum-ship, in whole Christendom. |