janitor
/ˈdʒanɪtə
/noun chiefly North American
A caretaker or doorkeeper of a building.Fitzgerald himself worked as a janitor and doorman to help pay for college and Harvard Law School....
- They took jobs with low pay and little advancement potential, working as busboys, waiters, gardeners, janitors, and domestic help in cities.
- The New York contract, covering 33,000 janitors, doormen, elevator operators and other maintenance workers, expires on April 21.
Synonyms
caretaker, custodian, porter, concierge, doorkeeper, doorman, steward, warden, watchman;
cleaner, maintenance man;
North American superintendent
Derivatives
janitorial
- The new jobs that are being created, a huge percentage of them are minimum wage jobs, fast-food restaurants, janitorial jobs, part-time jobs, low-wage jobs, jobs with no benefits.
- I said get rid of them, but he returned the next day to report that the janitorial service refused to clean unlined baskets if people threw away wet garbage like coffee grounds or food.
- It supplies linen to hotels, restaurants and hospitals, as well as renting out work-wear and supplying hygiene paper supplies and janitorial chemical supplies.
Origin
Mid 16th century: from Latin, from janua 'door'.
A caretaker or doorkeeper in North America is referred to as a janitor, a word that was borrowed into English from Latin junua ‘door’. This comes from Janus, the name of an ancient Italian god regarded as the doorkeeper of heaven, and the guardian of doors and gates. He was traditionally represented with two faces, so that he could look both backwards and forwards. January comes from a Latin word meaning ‘month of Janus’, and marks the entrance to the year.