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comprador|kɒmprəˈdɔə(r)|
Also compa-, compi-, compo-, compendor(e.
[a. Pg. comprador buyer:—late L. comparātōr-em, agent-n. f. comparāre to provide, purchase (in Pg. comprar to purchase, buy), f. com- together + parāre to furnish. One of the Portuguese words adopted in the East.]
†1. Formerly, the name of a native servant employed by Europeans, in India and the East, to purchase necessaries and keep the household accounts: a house-steward. Obs. in India.
1615R. Cocks Diary, Japan (1883) I. 19 (Y.) The Hollanders..thrust their comprador (or cats buyer) out of dores for a lecherous knave. 1711C. Lockyer Trade in India 108 Every Factory had formerly a Compradore, whose Business it was to buy in Provisions and other Necessarys. 1773E. Ives Voy. 50 (Y.) Compidore, the office of this servant is to go to market and bring home small things, such as fruit, etc. 1789I. Munro Narrative 27 (Y.) A Cook at 3, a Compradore at 2, and Kitchen-boy at 1 pagoda. 1810Williamson E. India Vade-m. I. 270 (Y.) The Compadore..acts as purveyor.
2. Now, in China, the name of the principal native servant, employed in European establishments, and especially in houses of business, both as head of the staff of native employés, and as intermediary between the house and its native customers. (The Chinese name is mâi-pan ‘purveyor’.)
1840Mountain Mem. (1857) 164 (Y.) About 10 days ago..the Chinese..kidnapped our Compendor. 1865Daily Tel. 14 Nov. 3/6 The water-thieves have friends among the compradors of Hong Kong and Shanghai. 1880I. L. Bird Japan I. 46 Each firm has its Chinese compradore, a factotum, middleman, and occasionally a tyrant. |