visitorn.
/ˈvɪzᵻtə/, U.S. /ˈvɪzᵻdər/ 1. One who visits officially for the purpose of inspection or supervision, in order to prevent or remove abuses or irregularities:
a. An ecclesiastic, or a lay commissioner, appointed to visit religious establishments, churches, etc., for this end, either at regular intervals or on special occasions.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > member of the clergy > other clergy > [noun] > visitor
visitor1426
visitator1536
visitera1613
society > faith > church government > laity > lay functionaries > visitor or searcher > [noun]
visitor1426
searchera1450
visitator1536
visitera1613
1426 J. Lydgate tr. G. de Guileville Pilgrimage Life Man 23985 Our noble Visitour, Which doth his peyne and his labour to looke for lucre and fals guerdoun.
c1450 Alphabet of Tales (1905) II. 272 Þe Abbott..oppynlie in þe chapitr..putt forth all þies trispas of þis yong man, when þer visitur was þer.
1483 Cath. Angl. 402/2 A Visitoure, reformator proprie in religione, visitator.
a1513 R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) II. f. lxxxiv The Maister of ye Templers, with an other great Ruler of the sayd Ordre, which was named Uisitour of the same.
1550 R. Crowley One & Thyrtye Epigrammes sig. Civ These visitours found many stout priestes but chieflye one, That hadde sondrye benefices.
1587 F. Thynne Ann. Scotl. 440/1 in Holinshed's Chron. (new ed.) II After they had discharged bishops, they agreed to haue superintendents, commissioners, and visitors.
1628 E. Coke 1st Pt. Inst. Lawes Eng. 96 Where a speciall Visitor is appointed vpon the foundation, the complaint must be made to that Visitor.
1676 S. Degge Parson's Counsellor ii. xv. 201 The Clergy and Religious Houses came to this composition, every one to pay such a proportion to their visitors to be freed of that great oppression.
1721 in Publ. Catholic Rec. Soc. (1910) 8 305 Whatever the Visitor ordains, the Mother Abbesse and all her Religious shall receive and execute with respect and obedience.
1732 D. Neal Hist. Puritans I. 18 The management of which was committed to the Lord Cromwel with the title of Visitor General.
1788 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall V. xlix. 102 The formidable name and mission of the Dragon his visitor-general.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. vi. 90 An Act was..passed, which..took away from the Crown the power of appointing visitors to superintend the Church.
1872 W. H. Jervis Gallican Church I. Introd. 18 An officer, called the Visitor, usually one of the bishops of the province, was appointed to preside over the proceedings.
b. One who has a right or duty of supervision (usually exercised periodically) over a university, college, school, or similar institution.
ΘΚΠ
society > education > educational administration > [noun] > institutional visitor
visitor1553
visitera1613
1553 R. Ascham Let. 24 Mar. in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Eminent Lit. Men (1843) 16 The Visitors have taken this ordre, that every man shall professe the studie eyther of divinitie, law, or physick.
1587 Ld. Burleigh in C. R. L. Fletcher Collectanea (1885) I. 204 The Archbishop of Canterburie youre Visitor.
1643 J. Caryl Expos. Job (1676) I. v. 480 And over Colledges, Hospitals, and such publick Foundations, Visitors are appointed, to see [etc.].
1691 Case of Exeter-Coll. 14 In order to which he gets an Appeal drawn up, and carries it to the Lord Bishop of Exeter, visitor of the Colledge, then at London.
1709 J. Swift Project Advancem. Relig. 29 Whatever Abuses..have crept into the Universities..they might in a great Degree be reformed by strict Injunctions..to the Visitors and Heads of Houses.
1808 W. Wilson Hist. Dissenting Churches I. 229 He was appointed by the Protector Oliver, one of the New Visitors of that University.
1829 R. Gilbert Liber Scholast. 306 The appointment of the mastership [of Sedberg] is vested in the Master and Fellows of St. John's College, Cambridge, who are the Visitors to the school.
1832 R. Whately in E. J. Whately Life & Corr. R. Whately (1866) I. 155 In certain Colleges..fundamental statutes can only be changed by visitors.
c. In other connections.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > office > holder of office > public officials > [noun] > visitor
visitator1536
visitor1555
visitador1698
the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > investigation, inspection > inspection, survey > [noun] > formal or official > as visit > person conducting
searchera1450
visitor1555
visitationer1670
1555 in J. D. Marwick Extracts Rec. Burgh Edinb. (1871) II. 228 Thomas Boyis vesitour of the baxter craft within this burgh.
1574 in A. Macdonald & J. Dennistoun Misc. Maitland Club (1833) I. 104 Superflowis bankatting,..as the bailleis and eldaris than vesatouris presentlie declarit.
1600 R. Hakluyt tr. in Princ. Navigations (new ed.) III. 862 An expert mariner or two called Visitors of the shippes, to know whether the..ships be well tackled: whether they haue men sufficient.
1624 W. Bedell Copies Certaine Lett. vi. 94 The French discourse printed at Antwerp cum priuilegio, and approbation of the Visitor of bookes.
1654 tr. M. Martini Bellum Tartaricum 154 This Governour, by reason of some corruption, and Avarice of the Visitor of the Country, had some difficulties with him.
1765 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. I. 468 The founder [i.e. the King], his heirs, or assigns, are the visitors of all lay-corporations.
1766 J. Entick Surv. London in New Hist. London IV. 170 The visitor (now called the ordinary of Newgate).
1897 Daily News 1 Feb. 7/5 Visitor..is the..name given to those vigilant officers of the Board whose business it is to run truants to earth.
1901 Daily Chron. 29 Aug. 7/1 In 1899 four ladies were appointed as health visitors.
2.
a. One who visits from charitable motives or with a view of doing good.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social attitudes > philanthropy > [noun] > visiting for philanthropic purposes > philanthropic visitor
visiterc1384
visitorc1430
visitant1661
prison visitor1837
slummer1887
slum-sister1890
c1430 J. Lydgate Minor Poems (Percy Soc.) 205 Vertuous visitour to folkys in prisoun.
1536 in T. Wright Three Chapters Lett. Suppression Monasteries (1843) 133 Most gracyus lord and most worthyst vycytar that ever cam amonckes us.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) ii. i. 12 Seb. He receiues comfort like cold porredge. Ant. The Visitor will not giue him ore so. View more context for this quotation
1833 J. Tuckerman (title) Visitor of the Poor.
1863 Biogr. Sk. E. Fry 45 The cheerfulness visible in their [sc. prisoners'] countenances..conspired to excite the..admiration of their visitors.
1870 M. Bridgman Robert Lynne I. iv. 43 ‘What are the duties of a district-visitor?’..‘She scolds the men for frequenting public-houses, abuses the women for being idle and slatternly.’
b. One who visits with punishment. rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > punishment > [noun] > one who punishes
punishera1387
chastiserc1440
scourger1533
visitor1545
executioner1578
visiter1608
lictor1638
animadverter1694
1545 G. Joye Brife Supput. in Expos. Daniel f. 12 I am..the visitour and seker out of the wykednes of the fathers in their childern.
3. One who pays a visit to another person or to a household; one who is staying for a time with friends.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabitant > temporary inhabitant > [noun] > in another's house
strangerc1400
visitor1576
visiter1592
house guest1609
sojourner1609
visitant1769
house party1827
cuckoo1872
society > leisure > social event > visit > visitor > [noun]
resorter1533
comer1576
visitor1576
visiter1592
visitant1601
caller1786
visitress1827
visiting fireman1926
a1616 W. Shakespeare Timon of Athens (1623) i. i. 42 You see this confluence, this great flood of visitors . View more context for this quotation
1662 J. Strype in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Eminent Literary Men (1843) (Camden) 177 I hear also my brother Sayer is often a visitor.
1693 J. Dryden tr. Juvenal in J. Dryden et al. tr. Juvenal Satires vi. 113 She hires Tormentors, by the Year; she Treats Her Visitours, and talks.
1695 J. Collier Misc. upon Moral Subj. 128 They do not care to be crowded with Visitors,..and to be always yoked in Ceremony.
1766 O. Goldsmith Vicar of Wakefield I. v. 46 Tell me, Sophy, my dear, what do you think of our new visitor?
1797 A. Radcliffe Italian I. Prol. p. iv Too singular in his conduct, to pass unnoticed by the visitors.
1813 J. Austen Pride & Prejudice III. ii. 35 On the very morning after their own arrival at Lambton, these visitors came. View more context for this quotation
1838 E. Bulwer-Lytton Alice I. i. iv. 36 She filled the rooms of the visitors with flowers.
1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. I. xxx. 407 After sharing the supper of their hosts, the visitors stretched themselves out and passed the night in..slumber.
1871 E. C. G. Murray Member for Paris I. 287 ‘Oh, I'm only a visitor’, answered Horace modestly.
4.
a. One who visits a place, country, etc., esp. as a sightseer or tourist.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > aspects of travel > traveller > [noun] > visitor
comerc1390
repairera1464
resorter1533
visitant1601
visitor1728
visiter1843
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Cynics The Novelty of the Thing drew abundance of Visitors to the Village.
1841 E. W. Lane tr. Thousand & One Nights I. 71 Sometimes the visitors.., after having hired a person to perform a longer recitation, go away before he commences.
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps ii. xvii. 315 It is usual for visitors to the Montauvert to descend to the glacier.
1895 B'ham Y.M.C.A. Record Oct. 3/2 The usual time of year for the arrival in India of visitors is the middle of October.
b. An animal or bird which occasionally or at regular seasons frequents a certain locality or area.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > by habits or actions > [noun] > migrating animal
seven sleepers1750
migrater1770
visitant1774
winterer1831
visiter1843
visitor1859
immigrant1880
1859–62 J. Richardson et al. Museum Nat. Hist. (1868) I. 425 The Puffin..is a summer visitor to our shores.
1863 C. Lyell Geol. Evid. Antiq. Man 15 The presence of the wild swan, now only a winter visitor.
1870 N. F. Hele Aldeburgh vii. 71 The Glead or Kite..is a very rare visitor.
c. Sport. A member of a visiting team. Usually in plural.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > player or sportsperson > [noun] > team or group > member of > touring or visiting
visitor1900
tourist1975
1900 W. J. Ford Cricketer on Cricket xiv. 162 Setting aside one unpleasant incident of the present trip..our visitors can hardly complain of the treatment they have received at the hands of the players, the public, or the press.
1916 E. F. Benson David Blaize iv. 60 The home team took the visitors off to the dormitories to put on their flannels.
1930 H. G. Wells Autocracy Mr. Parham ii. iii. 109 That complete lack of information about the visitors attributed to the home team.
1976 G. L. Greaves Over Summers Again xvi. 105 September 1966 saw Yorkshire once again..needing an outright win over Kent to give them yet another championship... Trueman and Nicholson..soon had Kent in trouble and the visitors, all out for 119, closed 91 behind.
5. A menstrual discharge; = visit n. 4. slang.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > organs of excretion > excretions > menses > [noun]
monthlyeOE
menstruuma1398
flowerc1400
menstrue?a1425
women's evilc1450
menstruosity1503
courses1563
monthly time1564
reds1568
month courses1574
purgation1577
women's courses1577
month1578
menses1597
menstruals1598
flourish1606
nature1607
fluors1621
mois1662
period1690
catamenia1764
turn1819
visitor1980
1980 Quarto June 3/2 It was shortly before my thirteenth birthday that I first had ‘Visitors’. Mother..had told me about the monthly cycle... My first ‘visitor’ was a light one.
1983 Maledicta 1982 6 26 Menstruation (females):..visitor.
1984 New Yorker 29 Oct. 45/3 Girls used to say they had the curse. Or they had a visitor.
Compounds
visitor centre n. originally U.S. a building in a tourist area in which exhibitions, slide-shows, etc., are displayed as an introduction to the locality.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > holiday-making or tourism > [noun] > building providing information for tourists
visitor centre1964
1964 P. Jensen National Parks i. 18 Park headquarters is also here. A visitor center explains the features of the area.
1979 Farmington (New Mexico) Daily Times 27 May 3 c/6 Visitor centers will tell tourists the speed limits will be enforced.
1979 United States 1980–1 (Penguin Travel Guides) 239 A 25-minute movie about the Battle of Shiloh is shown in the Visitor Center.
1983 Leisure, Recreation & Tourism Abstr. VIII. iv. 205/2 A new accommodation concept, and an existing visitor centre facility.
visitors' book n. a book in which visitors may write their names and addresses, and, sometimes, comments.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > record > written record > register or record book > [noun] > other types of registers
Domesday Book1178
register1426
white bookc1432
town booka1547
christening book1558
muster1565
minute-book1566
Domes-booke1610
Newgate Calendar1686
time book1786
press book1808
provision book1840
visitors' book1846
guestbook1849
poison book1870
poison register1894
war diary1917
sign-in1966
society > leisure > social event > visit > visiting > [noun] > visitors' book
album1775
visiting-book1818
visitors' book1846
1846 Punch 20 June 278/2 (heading) Ibrahim Pacha's visitors' book.
1870 Punch 1 Oct. 138/2 The Emperor Nicholas..‘expressed himself much pleased’, as the visitors' books have it.
1910 H. Belloc Pongo & Bull vii. 96 The Duke..had very properly insisted upon the retention of the visitors' book.
1976 L. Deighton Twinkle, twinkle, Little Spy xvi. 157 There was a visitors' book..a beautiful leather-bound volume..dutifully signed by the Reid-Kennedys' guests.
1984 Times 25 May 7/5 (caption) All smiles: the Queen leaving the town hall..after signing the visitors' book.
visitors' list n. a public list of those making a visit to a place, esp. to a resort; in quot. a1865, a list of official visitors (sense 1b).
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > record > list > [noun] > list of names or people
bead-roll1529
scroll1546
checker-roll1571
bead-row1576
panel?1578
list1604
nomenclature1635
lexicon1647
head-roll1819
name-scroll1861
visitors' lista1865
roll-call1867
test-roll1879
line-up1890
a1865 E. C. Gaskell Wives & Daughters (1866) I. i. 8 Though my name has been down on the visitors' list these three years, the countess has never named me in her note... her ladyship would be as hurt as any one when she did not see Phœbe among the school visitors.
1904 A. E. W. Mason Truants II. vi. 105 She..bought a visitors' list at the kiosk.
1907 E. Glyn Three Weeks iv. 53 The simplest thing..seemed to descend into the hall and look at the Visitors' List... There were only a few people in the hotel.
1927 E. Bowen Hotel iii. 27 Victor..took up the local paper and began to read the visitors' list.
Derivatives
ˈvisitoress n. = visitress n.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social attitudes > philanthropy > [noun] > visiting for philanthropic purposes > philanthropic visitor > woman
visitoressa1843
visitress1861
a1843 R. Southey Common-place Bk. (1849) 2nd Ser. 30/2 Their superior was called the Prepostress, and they had Visitoresses, Rectresses, and other dignitaries.
visitorish adj.
visitorless adj.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1917; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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