Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Chiefly British A uniformed attendant, such as a doorman.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. An attendant attached to hotels in continental Europe, who performs certain miscellaneous services, such as attending the arrival of railway-trains and steamboats to secure customers, looking after luggage, etc.
- n. A kind of messenger or light porter in general; one intrusted with commissions. In some European cities (as in London) a corps of commissionaires has been organized, drawn from the ranks of military pensioners.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. One intrusted with a commission, now only a small commission, as an errand; esp., an attendant or subordinate employee in a public office, hotel, or the like.
- n. One of a corps of pensioned soldiers, as in London, employed as doorkeepers, messengers, etc.
- n. British a uniformed doorman.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a uniformed doorman
Etymologies
- French, from Latin commissio. (Wiktionary)
- French, from Medieval Latin commissiōnārius, from Latin commissiō, commissiōn-, commission; see commission. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“It converts its German distributor to a stripped-risk intermediary called a commissionaire to limit what would otherwise be sales margins taxable in Germany.”
“She not only gave me the required direction, but called a commissionaire, and bid him take charge of me, and — not my trunk, for that was gone to the custom-house.”
“Enter R. an important-looking personage with a long white beard, wearing a costume which might be, called a commissionaire's if it wasn't so like a harlequin's.”
“I was _en route_ all night, and in the morning, very weary, I went to a hotel, called a commissionaire, and bade him get my passport from the police, and have it _visee_, and secure me a passage on the boat to Leghorn.”
“She not only gave me the required direction, but called a commissionaire, and bid him take charge of me, and -- _not_ my trunk, for that was gone to the custom-house.”
“A margate is a particular kind of commissionaire who sees you every day and is on cheerful Christian-name terms with you, then one day refuses to let you in because you've forgotten your identify card.”
“Then came the charge of our "commissionaire" for his services.”
“commissionaire' of the hotel -- I don't know what a 'commissionaire' is, but that is the man we went to -- and told him we wanted a guide.”
“commissionaire" had gone after our Passports, for which we paid first the charge of the Papal Police, which I think was about three francs; then for the _visé_ of our several Consuls, we Americans a dollar each, which (though but half what is charged by our Consuls at other Italian ports) is more than is charged by those of any other nation.”
“Following a key personnel move -- Jose Villarreal was named commissionaire general -- the pavilion has pulled itself back from the brink.”
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