housemastern.
/ˈhaʊsˌmɑːstə/, /ˈhaʊsˌmastə/, U.S. /ˈhaʊsˌmæstər/ 1. The male head of a family, household, or clan. Cf. housefather n. 1.Frequently in the contexts of non-English cultures.rare before 19th cent.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > rule or government of family or tribe > head of family, tribe, or clan > [noun] > head of household
houselordOE
husbandOE
lordOE
goodmanc1275
husbandmanc1330
master1536
man of the house1539
housemaster1593
major-domo1649
house head1864
old baas1882
1593 A. Munday tr. C. Estienne Def. Contraries xii. 95 Then were none so simple, but sate at the table with the house-mayster [Fr. tenir table d'hote], and fed as at a franke marriagefeast.
1821 W. Hutton Voy. Afr. vii. 160 I had occasion, once or twice, to present our house-master, and the Ashantee captain, with a bottle, for their politeness and attention.
1863 Jrnl. Royal Geogr. Soc. 33 248 Mtonga threw a leaf to the housemaster, which gesture appeared to appease him.
1878 W. E. Hearn Aryan Househ. xii. §5. 289 The Aryan House-master was the member of an organized clan under the presidency of a chief.
1882 Queen's Printers' Bible-Aids Gloss. at Goodman The ‘goodman’ of Prov. vii. 19 was the house-master or husband.
1924 M. W. Beckwith Jamaica Anansi Stories (2007) 259 There was a man at slave time had a wife, and the wife kept two other men... One night, one came home first and then the house-master came home.
2008 N. M. Dauenhauer et al. Russians in Tlinglit Amer. v. 105/2 The most common term for a house leader is..‘house master’.
2.
a. A teacher (originally a male teacher) responsible for the welfare of pupils in a house at a boarding school or (originally a boys') public school. Also: a teacher in charge of a house at a day school. Also in extended use. See house n.1 7c.
ΘΚΠ
society > education > teaching > teacher > schoolteacher or schoolmaster > [noun] > housemaster or housemistress
housefather1777
housemaster1839
housemother1844
house head1862
housemistress1884
house dad1919
house mum1961
1839 A. D. Bache Rep. Educ. in Europe i. i. 37 Ten or a dozen boys are invited to take tea in the teacher's room during his term of duty as house-master.
1884 Pall Mall Gaz. 4 Sept. 4/2 It is to be wondered whether parents..ever realize the multifarious duties of a housemaster.
1899 R. Kipling Stalky & Co. 66 King and Macrea, fellow house-masters, had borne it in upon him that by games, and games alone, was salvation wrought.
1931 Lowell (Mass.) Sun 28 Apr. 8/3 As guest of honor [at Lowell house in Harvard] he sat to the right of House Master Julian L. Coolidge.
1963 R. Pedley Comprehensive School iii. 124 The house in a day school simply has not got this basis... Take, for example, a housemaster who does quite a lot of administration.
1993 I. Welsh Trainspotting (1994) 88 Lyin in the Links at the bottom ay the running track, away from the beady eyes ay that bastard Vallance, the housemaster.
2006 Daily Tel. 10 Mar. 5/6 Eton broke with a 566-year tradition yesterday by appointing its first woman housemaster.
b. An assistant governor responsible for one of the ‘houses’ or groups of offenders at a borstal (see Borstal n. a). Now historical.
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society > authority > punishment > imprisonment > prisoner > [noun] > official in charge of prison
wardenc1330
governor1753
housemaster1931
ham and beef1941
1931 Ann. Amer. Acad. Polit. & Social Sci. 157 165/1 In the Borstal Institutions..the governor is assisted by a number of housemasters, each one being in charge of seventy lads.
1966 Listener 10 Mar. 342/2 We continue to put some offenders..under the care of individual probation officers and Borstal housemasters.
2004 Times (Nexis) 28 July 29 His first posting was as a housemaster to HM Prison Sherwood, a borstal in Nottinghamshire.
Derivatives
(In sense 2a.)
ˌhouseˈmastering n. the action or work of a housemaster.
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society > education > teaching > systematic or formal teaching > [noun] > school-teaching > types of
student teaching1861
ushering1866
substitute teaching1873
housemastering1884
supply teaching1914
1884 Pall Mall Gaz. 4 Sept. 4/2 With other duties to perform besides housemastering.
1995 Times (Nexis) 19 Aug. Along with the enthusiasm he puts into his teaching and housemastering,..[he] remains a very active scholar.
ˈhousemasterly adj. like or characteristic of a housemaster.
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society > education > teaching > teacher > schoolteacher or schoolmaster > [adjective] > housemaster
housemasterly1961
1961 A. Wilson Old Men at Zoo ii. 112 I should have to hear myself speak in these housemasterly tones many times before I had done with the business.
1999 Church Times 25 June 6/3 The Cardinal was not in the least a democratic figure, and there was a hard spine of housemasterly authoritarianism in him.
ˌhouseˈmastership n. the position or office of a housemaster.
ΘΚΠ
society > education > teaching > teacher > schoolteacher or schoolmaster > [noun] > housemaster or housemistress > position of
housemastership1874
1874 Malburian 11/2 Mr. Dawson succeeds to Mr. Lloyd's Housemastership.
1998 P. Snow Time of Renewal v. 12 The masters—particularly those elevated to housemasterships by sometimes mysterious reasoning—included of course some eccentrics.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1593