Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. One that has control over another or others.
- n. The owner or keeper of an animal: The dog ran toward its master.
- n. The owner of a slave.
- n. One who has control over or ownership of something: the master of a large tea plantation.
- n. The captain of a merchant ship. Also called master mariner.
- n. An employer.
- n. The man who serves as the head of a household.
- n. One who defeats another; a victor.
- n. One whose teachings or doctrines are accepted by followers.
- n. Christianity Jesus.
- n. A male teacher, schoolmaster, or tutor.
- n. One who holds a master's degree.
- n. An artist or performer of great and exemplary skill.
- n. An old master.
- n. A worker qualified to teach apprentices and carry on the craft independently.
- n. An expert: a master of three languages.
- n. Used formerly as a title for a man holding a naval office ranking next below a lieutenant on a warship.
- n. Used as a title for a man who serves as the head or presiding officer of certain societies, clubs, orders, or institutions.
- n. Chiefly British Used as a title for any of various male law court officers.
- n. Used as a title for any of various male officers having specified duties concerning the management of the British royal household.
- n. Used as a courtesy title before the given or full name of a boy not considered old enough to be addressed as Mister.
- n. Archaic Used as a form of address for a man; mister.
- n. A man who owns a pack of hounds or is the chief officer of a hunt.
- n. An original, such as an original document or audio recording, from which copies can be made.
- adj. Of, relating to, or characteristic of a master.
- adj. Principal or predominant: a master plot.
- adj. Controlling all other parts of a mechanism: a master switch.
- adj. Highly skilled or proficient: a master thief.
- adj. Being an original from which copies are made.
- v. To act as or be the master of.
- v. To make oneself a master of: mastered the language in a year's study.
- v. To overcome or defeat: He finally mastered his addiction to drugs.
- v. To reduce to subjugation; break or tame (an animal, for example).
- v. To produce a master audio recording for.
- v. To season or age (dyed goods).
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A man who has authority; a man who exercises the chief control over something or some one; a paramount ruler, governor, or director.
- n. Specifically - A male teacher or instructor in a school, more especially the sole or head teacher; a schoolmaster.
- n. The navigator of a ship. In the merchant marine the master is the captain or commander. In men-of-war the navigator or sailing-master formerly had the specific title of master, and was a line-officer of the lowest rank. In the British navy his title is now navigating-lieutenant or staff-commander. In the United States navy he is now ranked as lieutenant (junior grade), between eusign and lieutenant, and is called the navigator.
- n. One who has another or others under his immediate control; a lord paramount or employer of slaves, vassals, domestic servants, workmen, or laborers, etc.; in law, specifically, one who has in his own right and by virtue of contract a legal personal authority over the services of another, such other being called his servant. The important distinction between the relation of master and servant and that of principal and agent lies in the fact that a master is liable to third persons for the errors of his servant to a greater degree than principals generally are for the errors of agents or employees over whom such authority does not exist, and in the fact that a servant has not always the same remedy against his master for injuries suffered in the course of employment as one not a servant might have.
- n. One charged with the care, direction, oversight, or control of some office, business, undertaking, or department: as, Master of the Rolls; a ship-, harbor-, or dock-master; master of the revels, ceremonies, etc.
- n. One who has the power of controlling or using at pleasure; an owner or proprietor; a disposer.
- n. A chief; a principal, head, or leader.
- n. A man eminently or perfectly skilled in something, as an occupation, art, science, or pursuit; one who has disposing or controlling power of any kind by virtue of natural or acquired ability; a proficient; an adept: as, a master of language, or of the violin; a master in art.
- n. A title of address, formerly in use, corresponding to magister (which see). Abbreviated M. Master is now changed to mister in ordinary speech, and used in its unchanged form only before the name of a boy, or by a servile dependent to a superior, or sometimes (especially in irony) by a superior to an inferior, as in the second quotation. See
mister . - n. A young gentleman; a boy of the better class.
- n. A title of dignity or office. A degree conferred by colleges and universities: as, master of arts.
- n. The title of the head of some societies or corporations: as, the grand master of the Knights of Malta; the master of Balliol College; the master of a lodge of freemasons.
- n. Eccles., a title applied to certain residentiaries in a minster: as, master of the lady chapel, etc.
- n. In the game of bowls, the jack.
- n. A husband.
- n. An equerry; specifically, the third great officer in the British court. He has the management of all the royal stables and bred horses, with authority over all the equerries and pages, coachmen, footmen, grooms, etc. In state cavalcades he rides next to the sovereign.
- n. See the quotation.
- Having or exercising mastery; directing or controlling; chief; principal; leading: as, a master mechanic or mariner; a master builder or printer; a master hand in trade.
- One who employs workmen in building.
- [caps.] The chief executive officer of the Knights of Labor. [U. S.]
- To become the master of; subject to one's will, control, or authority; conquer; overpower; subdue.
- To make one's self master of; overcome the difficulties of; learn so as to be able to apply or use: as, to master a science.
- To control as master or owner; possess; have power over.
- To hold the position or relation of master to; be a master to.
- In a technical use, to season or age.
- To be skilful; excel.
- n. A vessel with (a specified number of) masts: in composition: as, a three-master.
Wiktionary
- n. Someone who has control over something or someone.
- n. Owner of an animal or slave.
- n. nautical The captain of a merchant ship; a master mariner.
- n. Someone who employs others.
- n. An expert at something.
- n. A tradesman who is qualified to teach apprentices.
- n. dated A schoolmaster.
- n. A skilled artist.
- n. dated A courtesy title of a man or a boy; mister. See Master.
- n. A master's degree; a type of postgraduate degree, usually undertaken after a bachelor degree.
- n. A person holding such a degree.
- n. The original of a document or of a recording.
- n. film The primary wide shot of a scene, into which the closeups will be edited later.
- n. law A parajudicial officer (such as a referee, an auditor, an examiner, or an assessor) specially appointed to help a court with its proceedings.
- n. engineering A device that is controlling other devices or is an authoritative source (e.g. master database)
- adj. Masterful.
- adj. Main, principal or predominant.
- adj. Highly skilled.
- adj. Original.
- v. To be a master.
- v. transitive To control.
- v. transitive To learn to a high degree of proficiency.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Naut.) A vessel having (so many) masts; -- used only in compounds.
- n. A male person having another living being so far subject to his will, that he can, in the main, control his or its actions; -- formerly used with much more extensive application than now.
- n. The employer of a servant.
- n. The owner of a slave.
- n. The person to whom an apprentice is articled.
- n. A sovereign, prince, or feudal noble; a chief, or one exercising similar authority.
- n. The head of a household.
- n. The male head of a school or college.
- n. A male teacher.
- n. The director of a number of persons performing a ceremony or sharing a feast.
- n. The owner of a docile brute, -- especially a dog or horse.
- n. The controller of a familiar spirit or other supernatural being.
- n. One who uses, or controls at will, anything inanimate.
- n. One who has attained great skill in the use or application of anything.
- n. A title given by courtesy, now commonly pronounced mĭster, except when given to boys; -- sometimes written
Mister , but usually abbreviated to Mr. - n. A young gentleman; a lad, or small boy.
- n. (Naut.) The commander of a merchant vessel; -- usually called
captain . Also, a commissioned officer in the navy ranking next above ensign and below lieutenant; formerly, an officer on a man-of-war who had immediate charge, under the commander, of sailing the vessel. - n. A person holding an office of authority among the Freemasons, esp. the presiding officer; also, a person holding a similar office in other civic societies.
- v. To become the master of; to subject to one's will, control, or authority; to conquer; to overpower; to subdue.
- v. To gain the command of, so as to understand or apply; to become an adept in.
- v. obsolete To own; to posses.
- v. obsolete To be skillful; to excel.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a person who has general authority over others
- v. get on top of; deal with successfully
- n. an officer who is licensed to command a merchant ship
- n. presiding officer of a school
- n. an authority qualified to teach apprentices
- v. have a firm understanding or knowledge of; be on top of
- n. someone who holds a master's degree from academic institution
- n. an original creation (i.e., an audio recording) from which copies can be made
- adj. most important element
- n. a combatant who is able to defeat rivals
- n. key that secures entrance everywhere
- n. an artist of consummate skill
- n. directs the work of others
- v. have dominance or the power to defeat over
- v. be or become completely proficient or skilled in
Etymologies
- Old English mæġester, from Latin magister ("chief, teacher"). Reinforced by Old French maistre, mestre also from Latin magister. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old English māgister, mægister and Old French maistre, both from Latin magister. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“What General Meade wrote in May, We must expect disaster so long as the armies are not under one master mind, 32 Lincoln knew perfectly well, and gladly would he have devolved the military conduct of affairs on one man could he have found that master mind for whom he made a painful quest during almost two years.”
“We were almost entire strangers to each other; for, when I knew him at the house of my old master, it was not as a _master_, but simply as "Captain Auld," who had married old master's daughter.”
“The Colonization Society are always reminding us that the _master_ has rights as well as the slave: The Anti-Slavery Society urge us to remember that the _slave_ has rights as well as the master.”
An Appeal in Favor of that Class of Americans Called Africans
“-- "I am master of the children of the parish," said the man; "the children are masters of their mothers, the mothers are rulers of the fathers, and consequently _I am master_ of the whole parish.”
“_master_ denotes a relation, that every relation has two terms, that consequently a man cannot be his own master any more than he can be his own father; and that, not owning himself, he may not destroy himself.”
“_master_ to teach the performers is the very point where the matter sticks, there being no such person as a master among them.”
Memoirs of the Life of the Rt. Hon. Richard Brinsley Sheridan — Volume 01
“Horn was not unfamiliar with the phrase master plan.”
“Now, before a sensitive, feeling reader gets bent out of shape by my use of the word master in this context, I think that an explanation is in order.”
“His father, having grown up as the latest in a long line of sailors, earned the title master mariner when Addison was less than a year old.”
Building Beachwood, Part One « Beachwood Historical Alliance
“In one of the first posts I wrote when I started blogging (Sep. 2003), I adapted the term master narrative to mean, in press coverage, "the story that produces all the other stories.”
Jay Rosen: The Master Narrative that Went Missing During the Bush Presidency
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘master’.
-
POL - people in power
daredevil, tzar, king, boss, master, commander, chief, kingpin, top banana, bigwig, big cheese, big wheel and 452 more...
-
Linda(G4)
Accurate, address, afford, alert, analyze, ancestor, annual, apparent, arena, arrest, ascend, assist and 126 more...
-
Words Associated With Jesus
Words that indentify Jesus and His Salvation to those who seek Him.
hope, grace, love, faith, salvation, truth, eternity, heaven, god, holy spirit, bible, scripture and 191 more...
-
RELI - Genesis
Protagonists and relevant words in the Book of Creation (Source: King James Bible)
wrath, leaf, belly, prey, death, break, six, nod, dim, end, inn, judge and 1286 more...
-
RELI - words with Biblical connotations
Words in the Bible evoking biblical stories or with special spiritual meaning. Proper names have been reduced to the minimum.
ark, judgement, holy, saint, baptism, spirit, love, eternal, altar, balsam, covenant, flood and 1115 more...
-
MUSIC - ALL TERMS
With focus on non-classical styles, but not excluding terms of the latter.
banjo, accompaniment, acoustic bass, bass guitar, bass clef, ground, brass, cornet, Mute, alto saxophone, baritone saxophone, arrangement and 866 more...
-
Steampunk
Words used quite often in steampunk
ansible, airship, chymical, valve, clockwork, dirigible, thaumaturgy, copper, bronze, difference engine, gear, rivets and 516 more...
-
Steroids
Nouns that end in "ster". The -er suffix (as in blaster) doesn't count.
hamster, filibuster, aster, master, mister, baluster, banister, barrister, monster, plaster, semester, bister and 56 more...
-
RPG
rogue, alchemy, lady's favor, trollkin, herald's call, critical hit, insect plague, alteration, conjuration, destruction, mysticism, illusion and 65 more...
-
cindywrites's Words
chiaroscuro, mollycoddle, feckless, evocative, provocative, invocation, beckon, allay, becalm, console, lull, soothe and 479 more...
-
eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
-
Descriptive
The present, the future. Goals, wishes, hopes.
capricious, sericeous, sleek, flawless, charming, skilled, long-haired, versatile, beautiful, witty, fair, thin and 145 more...
-
Masonry
Due to my absolute ignorance of masonry and masonic terms, this list is shamelessly copied from this masonic dictionary.
Feel free to add words (as soon as I complete my transcription).abif, accepted, accord, active member, adjournment, admonish, adoration, adversity, affiliate, affirmation, lawful age, aid of deity and 143 more...
-
Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
contemplate, container, consumer, consultant, consensus, conscious, conscience, connection, confusion, confront, conflict, confident and 4334 more...
-
Scriptie: The Two Towers
dampen, treacherous, black gate, man-flesh, precious, elvish, dwarf, pursuit, quarry, hobbit, sprinters, horse lords and 236 more...
-
artoparts's Words
illation, finite, edify, abide, abrade, vouch, amiss, vociferate, perusing, techantiquery, rigamarole, holon and 615 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for master.

dimã©lion loving the Zelda quote. you wouldn't believe how many years it took for me to realise it takes heart containers, and not triforce pieces, to get the Master Sword. Nov 21, 2008
whichbe Wondering if this word has anything to do with mast. Nov 21, 2008
chained_bear Well, probably a 4th-grade level... Just a guess. ;)
It's a neat idea, though, for a teacher (or student) to use Wordie for lists of spelling words. Kinda makes me wish I *had* a list of spelling words... Nov 29, 2007
vanishedone Any idea what level of competence might be expected in Unit 21? Nov 29, 2007
chained_bear Is Moore4th perhaps a 4th-grader in Ms. Moore's classroom? I'm guessing because, apparently, "Willaim smells." Nov 29, 2007
vanishedone 'Master it and you can have this.'
I'm not sure what to make of these comments... Nov 29, 2007
moore4th Willaim smells Feb 15, 2007
moore4th you are my leader
Feb 15, 2007
moore4th Henry is not cool Feb 15, 2007
moore4th Rachel thinks she is the mastor.(not)
schyler Feb 15, 2007
moore4th The jedi master
Feb 15, 2007