docentadj.n.
/ˈdəʊsənt/ A. adj.
That teaches or instructs; teaching.
ΘΚΠ
society > education > teaching > [adjective]
instructivea1492
preceptivea1525
instructing1561
documentalc1575
dogmatical1580
doctrinablea1586
doctrinal1597
didactical1603
didascalic1609
tutorly1611
schooling1614
indoctrinating1642
disciplinable1644
docenta1645
institutionary1646
protreptic1658
protreptical1662
dogmatic1678
educating1699
didactive1723
educativea1750
tuitive1776
educatory1792
didactic1799
instructional1801
tuitionary1816
instructionary1824
didascalara1846
teaching1853
tuitional1861
documentary1873
a1645 W. Laud Relation Conf. Laud & Fisher (1673) 167 The Church here is taken..as 'tis Docent, and Regent.
1845 R. W. Hamilton Inst. Pop. Educ. ix. 231 Special reasons may be found against the docent authority and right of any Established Church.
B. n.
In some American universities and colleges, a recognized teacher or lecturer not on the salaried staff; usually a post-graduate student who is allowed to lecture in some special branch. [Compare German privat-docent, private teacher, recognized by a university.]
ΘΚΠ
society > education > teaching > teacher > university or college teacher > [noun] > teacher in American universities
instructor1722
docent1880
1880 Nation (N.Y.) 30 347 The young docents, whose specialty is Semitic philology.
1890 Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 13 Sept. 4/1 Docent in Psychology at Clark University, Worcester.
1893 Register Chicago Univ. Docent in Spanish, Docent in Chemistry, Docent in Biblical Literature, [etc.].
Draft additions 1993
2. One employed to instruct visitors about exhibits at a museum, art gallery, etc., esp. as a guide at historical homes and reconstructions. Originally and chiefly U.S.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > manifestation > showing to the sight > exposure to public view > an exhibition > [noun] > museum > guide
docent1906
1906 Bull. Mus. Fine Arts (Boston) June 19/1 Through these docents, as it has been proposed to call them, the heads of departments could instruct many more persons than it would be possible for them to accompany through the galleries.
1914 L. Connolly Educ. Value of Museums 29 When a docent tells you what you see, you do not wholly see, you partly hear.
1940 Museum News 1 May 11/1 Many kinds of jobs are being carried on..by volunteers, including docent work with school children.
1978 J. Wambaugh Black Marble ii. 13 Active with Madeline in the Junior Philharmonic and the Huntington Library Docents.
1984 N.Z. Herald 17 Nov. i. 6/1 There is nothing indecent about docent... One critic of the name—chosen for the guides at the Auckland City Art Gallery and at the Museum of Transport and Technology—says it is ugly, un-English, unfamiliar and harsh-sounding.
2019 D. Milofsky Where I'm living Now 12 A prim little..woman in a Chanel suit, who..worked at the museum as a docent two mornings each week.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1897; most recently modified version published online December 2019).
<
adj.n.a1645