grand mastern.
/ˌɡran(d) ˈmɑːstə/, /ˌɡran(d) ˈmastə/, U.S. /ˌɡræn(d) ˈmæstər/ 1. The chief officer of a royal household.Except in early use chiefly with reference to foreign royal households.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > office > holder of office > official of royal or great household > [noun] > chief > in royal household
steward?a955
(Lord) Steward of the King's Household1428
Lord Chamberlain1464
Great Master1531
grand master1537
1537 J. Husee Let. 15 Mar. in Lisle Lett. (1981) (modernized text) V. 68 There shall be..a Grand Master de Hostel made and certain Spears made.
1549 H. Latimer 1st Serm. before Kynges Grace sig. Ciiv God is great grand master of ye kynges house, and wyll take account of euery one that bearith rule therin for the executing of their offices.
1556 in J. G. Nichols Chron. Grey Friars (1852) 55 The lord Richard Ryche was made chaunseler of Ynglond, and the lord Sent Jone that was lorde grandmaster gave it up.
?c1663 B. Whitelocke Diary (1990) 302 Wh[itelocke] sent 2 of his servants with letters to Prince Adolphe the Grand Master.., desiring to know where he shou'd repayre to attend the Q[ueen].
1677 J. Phillips tr. J.-B. Tavernier Persian Trav. i. ix. 42 in tr. J.-B. Tavernier Six Voy. (1678) The King advanc'd him to the Office of Nazar, or Grand Master of the House.
1748 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 25 Dec. (1966) II. 415 [She came] attended with the greatest part of her Court, her Grand Master.., the first Lady of her Bedchamber [etc.].
1781 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 2) XVIII. 5972/1 Next to the prime minister are the na-dir, or grandmaster of the househould.
1893 A. Conan Doyle Refugees ii. 16 There was the grand master of the robes, the first lord of the bed-chamber, the Duc du Maine, a pale youth clad in black velvet.
1971 W. M. Johnston Austrian Mind i. ii. 39 The grand master of the court stood first in command among the four high officers, ranking above the grand chamberlain, the grand marshall of the court, and the master of the stable.
2002 Japan Econ. Newswire (Nexis) 1 May Hayashida, 60, succeeded Kiyoshi Furukawa, who retired as grand master of the [Japanese Imperial] household on Wednesday.
2.
a. The head of a military order of knighthood (as the Templars, Hospitallers, etc.).
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > warrior > member of order of knights, etc. > [noun] > master of
Master of Pruce1442
Great Masterc1480
grand master1563
marshal1615
master1654
Master of the Temple1706
1563 T. Becon Reliques of Rome (rev. ed.) f. 59 Of the Templares orders... For when their g [r] aundmaster Iames Burgonion was burnt at Paris [etc.].
1603 R. Knolles Gen. Hist. Turkes 59 Otto, grand master of the Templars.
1756 tr. J. G. Keyssler Trav. I. 223 As to the order of St. Maurice it has the king for grand master... The marquis de Morus, chancellor of the order. The count de Provana, great hospitaler.
1777 R. Watson Hist. Reign Philip II I. iv. 100 The Sieur de la Valette, grand-master of the knights of Malta.
1819 W. Scott Ivanhoe III. vii. 156 On an elevated seat..sate the Grand Master of the Temple.
1871 W. Porter Malta & Its Knights viii. 212 The sixteen then elected the Grand Master, and in case of an equality of votes, the knight of the original triumvirate had a casting vote.
1932 C. Photiadès Count Cagliostro ix. 201 The daughter of the Governor of Trebizonde had scarcely disembarked at Malta, when she captured the heart of the Grand Master.
1942 Life 4 May 54/2 Upon it stands Valletta, built by La Valette, Grand Master of the Knights of St. John.
2006 Islands Jan. 87 A Grand Master ruled over them all, and his reconstructed palace stands at the far end of the street.
b. A person elected to oversee a Masonic grand lodge (lodge n. 7); the head of a society with a similar constitution.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > an association, society, or organization > secret society > [noun] > the Freemasons > member > type of member or official
fellow-craft1696
master mason1696
grand master1722
master1722
wardena1723
pass-master1762
mark (master) mason1769
superexcellent1796
markman1853
Templar1859
1722 tr. H. de Longeville Long Livers (title page) Most humbly dedicated to the Grand master, Masters, Wardens and Brethren of the most Antient and most Honourable Fraternity of the Free-Masons of Great Britain and Ireland.
1742 (title) An Epistle from Dick Poney, Esq. Grand-Master of the Right Black-Guard Society of Scald-Miserable Masons.
1753 Scots Mag. Sept. 426/2 George Drummond, of the society of Free Masons in Scotland Grand Master.
1841 C. Dickens Old Curiosity Shop i. xiii. 161 The perpetual Grand Master of the Glorious Appollers.
1888 Dict. National Biogr. at Ernest Augustus He was elected..grand master of the Orange lodges of Ireland two years later.
1905 Secret Service 7 July 4/2 The grand master of the Hip Sing Ling,..usually known to European travelers as the Chinese Free-Masons.
1949 Billboard 20 Aug. 55/2 Hugh J. Johnston, Grand Master of Michigan, and George W. Drew, 33d degree Mason of Traverse City, Mich., were special guests.
1986 N. Tosches Power on Earth i. 3 Gelli was the grand master of a secret Masonic lodge known as Propaganda Due, or P-2.
2009 B. Karg & J. K. Young 101 Secrets of Freemasons ii. xxxiv. 74 Grand Lodges have governing bodies within the lodge that include a Grand Master and his staff.
3. A person who is highly accomplished or expert in any field. Cf. master n.1 16a.From the 19th cent. also as an extended use of sense 5.In later use frequently found in Far Eastern contexts, esp. with reference to martial arts.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > ability > skill or skilfulness > [noun] > skilful person > expert
grand master1590
adept1674
dab1691
dabster1708
dab hand1828
dead-hand1848
ringer1848
expert1853
skull1880
1590 R. Greene Mourning Garment 29 Ouid that was the grand-master of loue.
a1641 T. Heywood Captives (1953) ii. ii. 44 That grand Master off mechall lusts. that bulke off brothelree.
1644 J. Bulwer Chirologia 98 Ovid that grand Master of love knacks.
1744 J. Paterson Compl. Comm. Paradise Lost 279 He was a grand Master of Astronomy, Astrology, &c. and also a Divine Prophet.
1800 Anti-Jacobin Rev. & Mag. Aug. 513 The author of it..has surpassed Voltaire and all the grand masters of Atheism.
a1898 W. C. Brann Brann Iconoclast (1899) II. 378 He's past grand master of the science of anacamptics.
1952 Sci. Amer. May 30 To take an apt title from the terminology of chess players, Sherrington was a grand-master of science.
1963 Sponsor 25 Nov. 29/1 The karate hopeful tries to duplicate the grand master's feat.
1983 Black Belt Jan. 42/2 He was only 20 years old, but already a grandmaster of wing chun.
1992 Wire Apr. 18/1 The young turks of the West Coast of the 50s have become the grandmasters of cool jazz.
2007 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 2 Dec. ii. 25/2 He is clearly the grandmaster of insult comedy.
4. A leading member or head of a trade guild or union.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > an association, society, or organization > types of association, society, or organization > [noun] > guild of medieval origin > a member > official
steward10..
aldermanc1316
dean of guild1389
master1389
skevin1389
warden1389
searcher1417
quartermaster1556
grand master1615
jurat1714
1615 J. Stephens Satyrical Ess. 293 [He] is never free of the Company,..till he hath drunk out his Apprentise-hood among the graund Masters.
1832 W. Hone Year Bk. Daily Recreation 477 Des Morets himself was the first grand master of the guild.
1846 C. F. Henningsen Revelations of Russia in 1846 (ed. 3) I. viii. 222 In allusion to Kokoschkine, the grand-master of police, some mention has already been made of the systematic corruption which pervades this body.
1860 W. L. Sargant R. Owen & Social Philos. 325 Owen was elected at once Grand Master of the Miscellaneous Lodge; and soon afterwards, one of the delegates of a trades' union congress.
1925 Cent. Mag. Jan. 347/1 Here they sit side by side..former grandduke and former grandmaster of the plumbers' union.
1977 R. Bendix Nation-building & Citizenship (new ed.) iii. 91 The elders or grand master of a guild represent it in a municipal assembly.
2005 T. Wallace-Murphy & M. Hopkins Custodians of Truth xviii. 236 He was not only hereditary Grand Master of the craftmasons,but also of all the hard and soft guilds in Scotland.
5. Chess. (A title accorded to) a chess player of the highest class; esp. one who has achieved a stipulated level of performance in international tournaments (cf. master n.1 18a).The first official use of the title grandmaster was at the Ostend Chess tournament in 1907, where it was used of players who had previously won an international tournament.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > board game > chess > [noun] > player > expert
grand master1841
master1852
chess-master1886
master1894
1838 Bell's Life 18 Feb. 4/2 Cannot we venture to draw some indistinct sketch of Chess precedence...Let us first place our past grand master, Lewis, on the platform of exclusive privilege.]
1841 G. Walker New Treat. Chess (ed. 3) ii. x. 109 Our Chess-grand-master stands alone in this doctrine.
1860 Chess Player's Chron. 3rd Ser. 324 Heydebrand von der Lasa is decidedly the strongest German player; he [sc. Max Lange] calls him the grandmaster of Germany.
1927 Brit. Chess Mag. 47 61 Yates made a characteristic recovery and added to his growing bag the scalps of two ‘grand masters’.
1936 B. Harley Chess & its Stars 121 The ultra-caution which is merely a symptom of her progress to the grand-master class of chess.
1955 N.Y. Times 20 Feb. 2/5 The famous Soviet grandmasters who have maintained world supremacy ever since their series of victories during 1954.
1995 Stornoway Gaz. 13 July 11/1 Grandmaster Nigel Short will compete in a chess tournament against Grandmasters Judit Polgar, Paul Motwani and Simen Agdestein.
2009 Private Eye 18 Sept. 28/2 He..finessed his opponents like a chess grand master.
Derivatives
grandˈmasterly adj.
ΚΠ
1815 Morning Chron. 13 Sept. 2/5 Gneisenaw began that decisive and incessant pursuit..which, to his praise and that of the army, must be allowed to have been the grand masterly stroke.
1965 New Statesman 9 Apr. 590/1 Here..is a case of..truly grandmasterly chess.
1993 Chess June 2/2 (advt.) The ChessMachine..won against Flear to obtain a grandmasterly tournament performance rating of 2525.
grand ˈmasterdom n. the office of grand master; the state of being a grand master.
ΚΠ
1762 P. Murdoch tr. A. F. Büsching New Syst. Geogr. V. 450 The administration of the grand masterdom [Ger. die Administration des Hochmeisterthums] is ever since become a mere title.
1864 C. F. L. Wraxall Hist. Bye-ways I. vii. 144 As czar, [Paul] fostered the notion of the Maltese grand-masterdom.
1991 Times (Nexis) 28 Dec. Judit's breakthrough into grandmasterdom and her demolition of Fischer's record.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2015; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1537