factotumn.

Brit.

/fakˈtəʊtəm/, U.S.

/fækˈtoʊdəm/

Inflections: Plural factotums, (rare) factota.

Origin: Formed within English, by clipping or shortening. Etymon: dominus factotum n.

Etymology: Shortened < dominus factotum n.Compare post-classical Latin fac totum (1535, in the passage translated in quot. 1575 at sense 1b), Middle French, French fac totum , factotum (1545), factoton (17th cent.), German Factotum (1540; now usually Faktotum ), Italian fa il tutto (1525, in the passage translated in quot. 1573 for Magister factotum n. at sense 2a), fac totum , factotum (1595), fattutto , fatutto (18th cent.), all ultimately reflecting similar shortening. With elaborated variants at sense 2 compare Middle French Frère Jean Factotum (a1590; son fac totum grand Jean is in a text of 1556), docteur fac-totum (1598); Magister Ioannes fac totum is given as the equivalent of a French phrase in a post-classical Latin text of 1649. In the plural form factota by analogy with the plurals of Latin neuter nouns in -um, chiefly for humorous effect.

a. An employee who does all kinds of work; spec. (esp. in earlier use) a domestic servant or employee who undertakes all kinds of household tasks.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > [noun] > odd-job or handyman

factotum1562

Magister factotum1573

Johannes factotum1592

Jack of all trades1618

Tom of all trades1631

John-of-all-trades1639

handyman1742

odd man1743

gimcrack1766

Jack of all work1773

orraman1802

bottle washer1835

Jack1836

odd-jobs man1859

roustabout1862

hob-jobber1873

rouster1882

odd-jobber1886

knockabout1889

orra-loon1895

rouser1896

trouncer1896

leatherneck1898

loppy1898

rouseabout1901

bluetongue2002

the world > action or operation > doing > activity or occupation > [noun] > one who engages in an activity or occupation > one who does everything

factotum1562

do-all1631

kitchen porter1769

bottle washer1835

society > authority > subjection > service > servant > types of servant > [noun] > factotum

both-hands1631

man Fridaya1809

factotum1824

man-of-all-work1830

bottle washer1835

bumboy1907

1562 H. Killigrew Let. 16 Oct. SP 70/42, f. 14^v I am now fac totum vntyll the reast com I meane harbenger, stower of victuailes and shepe keper.

1620 tr. G. Boccaccio Decameron I. iii. i. f. 80 He..would serue there no longer: but making his accounts euen, with the Factotum or Bayliffe [It. castaldo] belonging to the house, returned thence to the village of Lamporechio.

1699 W. Baron Just Def. Royal Martyr ii. iv. 179 An Old Man, who..was the Fac totum in the Family, and had more especially charge of the Cellar.

1782 W. Cowper Let. 18 Mar. (1981) II. 39 The garden, where I am my own fac totum.

1824 M. R. Mitford Our Village I. 13 The pensioner and factotum of the village, amongst whom he divides his services.

1863 M. E. Braddon Eleanor's Victory III. ii. 25 A butler, or factotum,—for there was only one male servant in the house.

1892 F. E. W. Harper Iola Leroy v. 40 As a general factotum in the army, he was ever ready and willing to serve anywhere and at any time.

1935 ‘A. Bridge’ Illyrian Spring i. 12 He..contrived to convey to his factotum precise instructions about a restaurant, a table and an early dinner.

1983 L. Deighton Berlin Game vi. 53 Mrs Dias, our Portuguese cook, housekeeper and general factotum, was always staying late to cook dinner.

2008 Atlantic Monthly Sept. 92/2 His business card defines him as a ‘compradore’, an all-purpose factotum steeped in local culture, the kind of enabler who was vital to the running of the British East India Company.

b. figurative. A thing that does or suits all kinds of things.

ΚΠ

1575 T. Vautrollier tr. M. Luther Comm. Epist. to Galathians f. 124 Faith therefore (if I may so say) is Fac totu[m] [L. fac totum] in faithful works. [margin] Fac totum is that which is all in all, and doth all alone.

1619 C. A. tr. L. Richeome Holy Pictures xiii. 252 The hand may well signifie workes; for it is the Instrument of instruments, and the Factotum [Fr. le factotum] both of spirit and body.

1688 G. Parker & J. Stalker Treat. Japaning xvi. 47 Some variety of metals indeed may be admitted, but in a very slender proportion to that of gold, which is the Fac totum, the general ornament of right genuine Japan-work.

1707 P. A. Motteux Farewel Folly iii. 65 Here's his Superexcellent Nostrum, call'd Physick's Factotum! It cures Ninety Nine deadly Distempers.

1771 T. James Hist. Herculean Straits I. i. ix. 153 This Portus Gaditanus..is the common retreat of the galleons that came from the Indies to Spain; which is by the Spaniards called their fac totum.

1826 C. Swan Jrnl. Voy. Mediterranean II. xvi. 219 We cooked our coffee in a pan which we had brought along with us, and which served for every purpose—the factotum of our establishment.

1893 (title) The doctor's factotum: a bi-monthly journal.

1907 E. Montgomery Philos. Probl. Light Vital Organization ii. v. 304 Motion can..nowise be an all-efficient agent such as mechanical science makes use of as its factotum.

1940 J. H. Jagger Eng. in Future ii. 31 Have is another factotum, but gets off more lightly than get.

2003 Text 15 157 This empty box invites these classes of readers to supplement the text..; it is a factotum signifying a dialogic relationship between writing and printing.

2. literary. In elaborated variants, with prefixed Latin title or name; cf. dominus factotum n.

†a. Magister factotum n. Obsolete (a) a person in charge of everything, esp. in a household; (b) a person who or (figurative) animal which can do many different things.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > [noun] > odd-job or handyman

factotum1562

Magister factotum1573

Johannes factotum1592

Jack of all trades1618

Tom of all trades1631

John-of-all-trades1639

handyman1742

odd man1743

gimcrack1766

Jack of all work1773

orraman1802

bottle washer1835

Jack1836

odd-jobs man1859

roustabout1862

hob-jobber1873

rouster1882

odd-jobber1886

knockabout1889

orra-loon1895

rouser1896

trouncer1896

leatherneck1898

loppy1898

rouseabout1901

bluetongue2002

1573 G. Gascoigne tr. Ariosto Supposes iii. iv, in Hundreth Sundrie Flowres 31 He had the disbursing..of al my masters affaires..he was Magister fac totum. [It. era fa il tutto.]

1599 T. Nashe Lenten Stuffe sig. D3 The redde herring was this old Ticklecob or Magister fac totum, that brought in the red ruddocks and the grummell seed as thicke as oatmeale, and made Yarmouth for argent to put downe the citty of Argentine.

1837 New Monthly Mag. 49 524 That renowned and all-accomplished animal,..the Prægrandem simiam,..which so excelled in many arts, that it was named Magister Factotum.

b. Johannes factotum n. a person who can do many different kinds of work; a Jack of all trades.Originally and still often (after quot. 1592) with reference to Shakespeare.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > [noun] > odd-job or handyman

factotum1562

Magister factotum1573

Johannes factotum1592

Jack of all trades1618

Tom of all trades1631

John-of-all-trades1639

handyman1742

odd man1743

gimcrack1766

Jack of all work1773

orraman1802

bottle washer1835

Jack1836

odd-jobs man1859

roustabout1862

hob-jobber1873

rouster1882

odd-jobber1886

knockabout1889

orra-loon1895

rouser1896

trouncer1896

leatherneck1898

loppy1898

rouseabout1901

bluetongue2002

1592 Greenes Groats-worth of Witte sig. F^v Beeing an absolute Iohannes fac totum, [he] is in his owne conceit the onely Shake-scene in a countrey.

1844 J. P. Collier Life Shakespeare in Wks. Shakespeare I. p. cxxxii Shakespeare was the Johannes Fac-totum who could turn his hand to any thing connected with his profession.

1861 Atlantic Monthly Dec. 765/1 What a weight for the shoulders of our poor Johannes Factotum! He is the commissionnaire of mankind, their guide, philosopher, and friend.

a1898 W. Brann in J. D. Shaw Brann, Iconoclast (1905) II. 274 He was a kind of half-baked poetaster or he-bulbul, a Johannes Factotum in the province of dilettanteism.

1939 H. J. Massingham Country Relics v. 112 Sam Tipping..was a typical Johannes Factotum of the big farms of the past. He had done cartering; he had been blacksmith's assistant; [etc.].

1970 A. Burgess Shakespeare vii. 109 A real Johannes factotum of the book trade, ready to write, print, playmake, or do anything with words.

2013 L. Woiwode Words for Readers & Writers iii. xv. 149 Chaucer..served as Johannes factotum to kings such as Edward and Richard II.

†3. A person who meddles with everything, a busybody. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > doing > activity or occupation > acting in another's business or intervention > [noun] > being a busybody or officiousness > a busybody

busybody1526

busyhead1555

stiffler1566

Jack-stickler1579

pragmatical1593

polypragmon1596

polypragmonist1609

polypragmist1613

factotum1618

ardelio1624

polypragmatist1631

pragmatic1634

polypragmatic1636

pragmatist1640

stickler1702

gad1756

pantopragmatic1860

butterinsky1902

eager beaver1942

1618 S. Ward Serm. Exod. xviii. 21–2, 65 Is there no mean between busibodies and tell-clockes, between fac-totum and fay't neant?

†4. A person in charge of everything, a ruler. Obsolete.In quot. 1631 the speakers (the second of whom is the host at an inn) are engaging in Latin wordplay (cf. dominus factotum n.); the exact meaning is vague, and may be closer to sense 1a.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > [noun] > of all things

factotum1631

omniarch1848

1631 B. Jonson New Inne ii. v. 44 Tip. I'le set him vp, then. Art thou the Dominus? Host. Fac-totum here, Sir.

1743 C. Perry View of Levant 203 Ishmael Bey, who was then the chief Ruler and Factotum in the City.

5. Printing. An ornamental printing block with a space into which a (capital) letter can be inserted; a printed area produced using such a block. Now chiefly historical.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > printing > types, blocks, or plates > blocks, plates, or transfers > [noun] > blocks

factotum1676

fac1841

key block1867

type-block1875

1676 E. Coles Eng. Dict. Fac-totum, a border, in whose midle any letter may be put for use, and taken out again.

1713 J. Watson in tr. J. de La Caille Hist. Art of Printing Pref. 9 Curiously cut Head-Pieces, Finis's, Blooming-Letters, Fac-totums, Flowers, &c .

1904 Trans. Bibliogr. Soc. 7 43 Mr. Madan in his book on the Oxford Press states that he has notes of no fewer than fifteen factotums in use at Oxford, as well as of twelve initial alphabets.

1949 Papers Bibliogr. Soc. Univ. Virginia 1 52 The A factotum having been a woodblock, the B printer did not have, and could not go out and buy, a duplicate.

2004 P. Kennedy in P. L. Fleming et al. Hist. Bk. in Canada I. x. 223 No mere decoration, a heraldic factotum or the royal arms served to convey an impression of state authority without the cost of ribbons and wax or the labour of impressing a seal.

Compounds

General attributive and appositive in sense 1a, as factotum butler, factotum servant, etc.

ΚΠ

1791 R. Burns Let. 22 Apr. (1985) II. 87 I was for several of my earlier years, a kind of factotum servant to a country Clergyman.

1859 G. Cupples Hinchbridge Haunted xx. 342 He astonished the respectable old factotum butler..by direct praise of the old wine as good.

1859 G. Meredith Ordeal Richard Feverel I. xiv. 202 The small factotum footman.

1879 Jrnl. Hort., Cottage Gardener & Home Farmer 14 Aug. 121/2 Mildew, which my factotum gardener says he never saw before among his Cucumbers.

1890 in S. Baring-Gould Old Country Life i. 5 (caption) Old dames with their factotum butler.

1936 R. H. Mottram Portrait of Unknown Victorian iv. 133 Jonah Dye, more than a gentleman's gentleman, factotum valet, companion of Sir Robert, entered upon the humble duties of a messenger to Gurneys'.

1970 P. M. Pasinetti From Acad. Bridge i. 12 The first person who took care of me was Alphonse's factotum secretary.

2005 J. Sutherland So you think you know Thomas Hardy? 42 Who is Giles's 'trusty man and familiar' (i.e. factotum servant)?

Derivatives

facˈtotumship n. rare the office or position of factotum.

ΚΠ

1921 H. E. Krehbiel tr. A. W. Thayer Life Beethoven III. viii. 228 Schindler..gives his views in a style characteristic of his attitude toward Beethoven during the period of Holz's factotumship.

1986 D. Soggot Namibia xii. 76 The widening belief in the SYL that their destiny was to propel them into the historical arena, not confine them to a humdrum factotumship.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2014; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	factotum
释义	factotumn. Brit. /fakˈtəʊtəm/, U.S. /fækˈtoʊdəm/ Inflections: Plural factotums, (rare) factota. Origin: Formed within English, by clipping or shortening. Etymon: dominus factotum n. Etymology: Shortened < dominus factotum n.Compare post-classical Latin fac totum (1535, in the passage translated in quot. 1575 at sense 1b), Middle French, French fac totum , factotum (1545), factoton (17th cent.), German Factotum (1540; now usually Faktotum ), Italian fa il tutto (1525, in the passage translated in quot. 1573 for Magister factotum n. at sense 2a), fac totum , factotum (1595), fattutto , fatutto (18th cent.), all ultimately reflecting similar shortening. With elaborated variants at sense 2 compare Middle French Frère Jean Factotum (a1590; son fac totum grand Jean is in a text of 1556), docteur fac-totum (1598); Magister Ioannes fac totum is given as the equivalent of a French phrase in a post-classical Latin text of 1649. In the plural form factota by analogy with the plurals of Latin neuter nouns in -um, chiefly for humorous effect. 1. a. An employee who does all kinds of work; spec. (esp. in earlier use) a domestic servant or employee who undertakes all kinds of household tasks. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > [noun] > odd-job or handyman factotum1562 Magister factotum1573 Johannes factotum1592 Jack of all trades1618 Tom of all trades1631 John-of-all-trades1639 handyman1742 odd man1743 gimcrack1766 Jack of all work1773 orraman1802 bottle washer1835 Jack1836 odd-jobs man1859 roustabout1862 hob-jobber1873 rouster1882 odd-jobber1886 knockabout1889 orra-loon1895 rouser1896 trouncer1896 leatherneck1898 loppy1898 rouseabout1901 bluetongue2002 the world > action or operation > doing > activity or occupation > [noun] > one who engages in an activity or occupation > one who does everything factotum1562 do-all1631 kitchen porter1769 bottle washer1835 society > authority > subjection > service > servant > types of servant > [noun] > factotum both-hands1631 man Fridaya1809 factotum1824 man-of-all-work1830 bottle washer1835 bumboy1907 1562 H. Killigrew Let. 16 Oct. SP 70/42, f. 14^v I am now fac totum vntyll the reast com I meane harbenger, stower of victuailes and shepe keper. 1620 tr. G. Boccaccio Decameron I. iii. i. f. 80 He..would serue there no longer: but making his accounts euen, with the Factotum or Bayliffe [It. castaldo] belonging to the house, returned thence to the village of Lamporechio. 1699 W. Baron Just Def. Royal Martyr ii. iv. 179 An Old Man, who..was the Fac totum in the Family, and had more especially charge of the Cellar. 1782 W. Cowper Let. 18 Mar. (1981) II. 39 The garden, where I am my own fac totum. 1824 M. R. Mitford Our Village I. 13 The pensioner and factotum of the village, amongst whom he divides his services. 1863 M. E. Braddon Eleanor's Victory III. ii. 25 A butler, or factotum,—for there was only one male servant in the house. 1892 F. E. W. Harper Iola Leroy v. 40 As a general factotum in the army, he was ever ready and willing to serve anywhere and at any time. 1935 ‘A. Bridge’ Illyrian Spring i. 12 He..contrived to convey to his factotum precise instructions about a restaurant, a table and an early dinner. 1983 L. Deighton Berlin Game vi. 53 Mrs Dias, our Portuguese cook, housekeeper and general factotum, was always staying late to cook dinner. 2008 Atlantic Monthly Sept. 92/2 His business card defines him as a ‘compradore’, an all-purpose factotum steeped in local culture, the kind of enabler who was vital to the running of the British East India Company. b. figurative. A thing that does or suits all kinds of things. ΚΠ 1575 T. Vautrollier tr. M. Luther Comm. Epist. to Galathians f. 124 Faith therefore (if I may so say) is Fac totu[m] [L. fac totum] in faithful works. [margin] Fac totum is that which is all in all, and doth all alone. 1619 C. A. tr. L. Richeome Holy Pictures xiii. 252 The hand may well signifie workes; for it is the Instrument of instruments, and the Factotum [Fr. le factotum] both of spirit and body. 1688 G. Parker & J. Stalker Treat. Japaning xvi. 47 Some variety of metals indeed may be admitted, but in a very slender proportion to that of gold, which is the Fac totum, the general ornament of right genuine Japan-work. 1707 P. A. Motteux Farewel Folly iii. 65 Here's his Superexcellent Nostrum, call'd Physick's Factotum! It cures Ninety Nine deadly Distempers. 1771 T. James Hist. Herculean Straits I. i. ix. 153 This Portus Gaditanus..is the common retreat of the galleons that came from the Indies to Spain; which is by the Spaniards called their fac totum. 1826 C. Swan Jrnl. Voy. Mediterranean II. xvi. 219 We cooked our coffee in a pan which we had brought along with us, and which served for every purpose—the factotum of our establishment. 1893 (title) The doctor's factotum: a bi-monthly journal. 1907 E. Montgomery Philos. Probl. Light Vital Organization ii. v. 304 Motion can..nowise be an all-efficient agent such as mechanical science makes use of as its factotum. 1940 J. H. Jagger Eng. in Future ii. 31 Have is another factotum, but gets off more lightly than get. 2003 Text 15 157 This empty box invites these classes of readers to supplement the text..; it is a factotum signifying a dialogic relationship between writing and printing. 2. literary. In elaborated variants, with prefixed Latin title or name; cf. dominus factotum n. †a. Magister factotum n. Obsolete (a) a person in charge of everything, esp. in a household; (b) a person who or (figurative) animal which can do many different things. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > [noun] > odd-job or handyman factotum1562 Magister factotum1573 Johannes factotum1592 Jack of all trades1618 Tom of all trades1631 John-of-all-trades1639 handyman1742 odd man1743 gimcrack1766 Jack of all work1773 orraman1802 bottle washer1835 Jack1836 odd-jobs man1859 roustabout1862 hob-jobber1873 rouster1882 odd-jobber1886 knockabout1889 orra-loon1895 rouser1896 trouncer1896 leatherneck1898 loppy1898 rouseabout1901 bluetongue2002 1573 G. Gascoigne tr. Ariosto Supposes iii. iv, in Hundreth Sundrie Flowres 31 He had the disbursing..of al my masters affaires..he was Magister fac totum. [It. era fa il tutto.] 1599 T. Nashe Lenten Stuffe sig. D3 The redde herring was this old Ticklecob or Magister fac totum, that brought in the red ruddocks and the grummell seed as thicke as oatmeale, and made Yarmouth for argent to put downe the citty of Argentine. 1837 New Monthly Mag. 49 524 That renowned and all-accomplished animal,..the Prægrandem simiam,..which so excelled in many arts, that it was named Magister Factotum. b. Johannes factotum n. a person who can do many different kinds of work; a Jack of all trades.Originally and still often (after quot. 1592) with reference to Shakespeare. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > [noun] > odd-job or handyman factotum1562 Magister factotum1573 Johannes factotum1592 Jack of all trades1618 Tom of all trades1631 John-of-all-trades1639 handyman1742 odd man1743 gimcrack1766 Jack of all work1773 orraman1802 bottle washer1835 Jack1836 odd-jobs man1859 roustabout1862 hob-jobber1873 rouster1882 odd-jobber1886 knockabout1889 orra-loon1895 rouser1896 trouncer1896 leatherneck1898 loppy1898 rouseabout1901 bluetongue2002 1592 Greenes Groats-worth of Witte sig. F^v Beeing an absolute Iohannes fac totum, [he] is in his owne conceit the onely Shake-scene in a countrey. 1844 J. P. Collier Life Shakespeare in Wks. Shakespeare I. p. cxxxii Shakespeare was the Johannes Fac-totum who could turn his hand to any thing connected with his profession. 1861 Atlantic Monthly Dec. 765/1 What a weight for the shoulders of our poor Johannes Factotum! He is the commissionnaire of mankind, their guide, philosopher, and friend. a1898 W. Brann in J. D. Shaw Brann, Iconoclast (1905) II. 274 He was a kind of half-baked poetaster or he-bulbul, a Johannes Factotum in the province of dilettanteism. 1939 H. J. Massingham Country Relics v. 112 Sam Tipping..was a typical Johannes Factotum of the big farms of the past. He had done cartering; he had been blacksmith's assistant; [etc.]. 1970 A. Burgess Shakespeare vii. 109 A real Johannes factotum of the book trade, ready to write, print, playmake, or do anything with words. 2013 L. Woiwode Words for Readers & Writers iii. xv. 149 Chaucer..served as Johannes factotum to kings such as Edward and Richard II. †3. A person who meddles with everything, a busybody. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > doing > activity or occupation > acting in another's business or intervention > [noun] > being a busybody or officiousness > a busybody busybody1526 busyhead1555 stiffler1566 Jack-stickler1579 pragmatical1593 polypragmon1596 polypragmonist1609 polypragmist1613 factotum1618 ardelio1624 polypragmatist1631 pragmatic1634 polypragmatic1636 pragmatist1640 stickler1702 gad1756 pantopragmatic1860 butterinsky1902 eager beaver1942 1618 S. Ward Serm. Exod. xviii. 21–2, 65 Is there no mean between busibodies and tell-clockes, between fac-totum and fay't neant? †4. A person in charge of everything, a ruler. Obsolete.In quot. 1631 the speakers (the second of whom is the host at an inn) are engaging in Latin wordplay (cf. dominus factotum n.); the exact meaning is vague, and may be closer to sense 1a. ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > [noun] > of all things factotum1631 omniarch1848 1631 B. Jonson New Inne ii. v. 44 Tip. I'le set him vp, then. Art thou the Dominus? Host. Fac-totum here, Sir. 1743 C. Perry View of Levant 203 Ishmael Bey, who was then the chief Ruler and Factotum in the City. 5. Printing. An ornamental printing block with a space into which a (capital) letter can be inserted; a printed area produced using such a block. Now chiefly historical. ΘΚΠ society > communication > printing > types, blocks, or plates > blocks, plates, or transfers > [noun] > blocks factotum1676 fac1841 key block1867 type-block1875 1676 E. Coles Eng. Dict. Fac-totum, a border, in whose midle any letter may be put for use, and taken out again. 1713 J. Watson in tr. J. de La Caille Hist. Art of Printing Pref. 9 Curiously cut Head-Pieces, Finis's, Blooming-Letters, Fac-totums, Flowers, &c . 1904 Trans. Bibliogr. Soc. 7 43 Mr. Madan in his book on the Oxford Press states that he has notes of no fewer than fifteen factotums in use at Oxford, as well as of twelve initial alphabets. 1949 Papers Bibliogr. Soc. Univ. Virginia 1 52 The A factotum having been a woodblock, the B printer did not have, and could not go out and buy, a duplicate. 2004 P. Kennedy in P. L. Fleming et al. Hist. Bk. in Canada I. x. 223 No mere decoration, a heraldic factotum or the royal arms served to convey an impression of state authority without the cost of ribbons and wax or the labour of impressing a seal. Compounds General attributive and appositive in sense 1a, as factotum butler, factotum servant, etc. ΚΠ 1791 R. Burns Let. 22 Apr. (1985) II. 87 I was for several of my earlier years, a kind of factotum servant to a country Clergyman. 1859 G. Cupples Hinchbridge Haunted xx. 342 He astonished the respectable old factotum butler..by direct praise of the old wine as good. 1859 G. Meredith Ordeal Richard Feverel I. xiv. 202 The small factotum footman. 1879 Jrnl. Hort., Cottage Gardener & Home Farmer 14 Aug. 121/2 Mildew, which my factotum gardener says he never saw before among his Cucumbers. 1890 in S. Baring-Gould Old Country Life i. 5 (caption) Old dames with their factotum butler. 1936 R. H. Mottram Portrait of Unknown Victorian iv. 133 Jonah Dye, more than a gentleman's gentleman, factotum valet, companion of Sir Robert, entered upon the humble duties of a messenger to Gurneys'. 1970 P. M. Pasinetti From Acad. Bridge i. 12 The first person who took care of me was Alphonse's factotum secretary. 2005 J. Sutherland So you think you know Thomas Hardy? 42 Who is Giles's 'trusty man and familiar' (i.e. factotum servant)? Derivatives facˈtotumship n. rare the office or position of factotum. ΚΠ 1921 H. E. Krehbiel tr. A. W. Thayer Life Beethoven III. viii. 228 Schindler..gives his views in a style characteristic of his attitude toward Beethoven during the period of Holz's factotumship. 1986 D. Soggot Namibia xii. 76 The widening belief in the SYL that their destiny was to propel them into the historical arena, not confine them to a humdrum factotumship. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2014; most recently modified version published online June 2022). < n.1562
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