scrivener

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He was by business what was then called a scrivener, a term which has received judicial interpretation, and imported a person who arranged loans on mortgage, receiving a commission for so doing.

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Definitions (8)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun A professional copyist; a scribe: "Gutenberg's invention of movable type . . . took words out of the sole possession of monastic scriveners and placed them before the wider public” (Irvin Molotsky).
  2. noun A notary.

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Examples (50)

  • A scrivener was a kind of cross between an attorney and a law stationer, whose principal business was the preparation of deeds, “to be well and truly done after my learning, skill, and science,” and with due regard to the interests of more exalted personages. —  Life of John Milton
  • He was originally a scrivener, and afterwards became, not only a director, but the most active manager of the South-Sea company. —  Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
  • His grandfather didn't exactly belong to the gentry--it was better than that: he was an Irish clerque who had become a scrivener, and then risen to a professorship A. T. Stewart was heir to a goodly amount of decent pride, which always kept him in the society of educated people, and made him walk with the crown of his head high and his chin in. —  Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 11 Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Businessmen
  • He was by business what was then called a scrivener, a term which has received judicial interpretation, and imported a person who arranged loans on mortgage, receiving a commission for so doing. —  Obiter Dicta Second Series
  • What are you What am I Ay, your profession, your calling; lawyer, M.D., scrivener--which I am a naturalist A what A naturalist Ralph," said Peterkin slowly, "have you been long troubled with that complaint Yes," I replied, laughing; "I have suffered from it from my earliest infancy, more or less I thought so," rejoined my companion, shaking his head gravely. —  The Gorilla Hunters
 

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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English scriveiner, from scrivein, from Old French escrivein, from Vulgar Latin *scrība, scrībān-, from Latin scrība, scribe; see scribe.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Early modern English also scrivenour; from Middle English scrivener, scryvener, screvener, skrivenere, with superfluous suffix -ere (English -er, -er) (as in musicianer, parishioner, etc.), from scriven, a notary: see scriven. Hence the surnames Scrivener, Scribner.
 

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/ˈskrɪvnər/
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