janitor

jan·i·tor

J0015600 (jăn′ĭ-tər)n.1. One who attends to the maintenance or cleaning of a building.2. A doorman or doorwoman.

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[Latin iānitor, doorkeeper, from iānua, door, from iānus, archway; see ei- in Indo-European roots.]

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jan′i·to′ri·al (-tôr′ē-əl) adj.Word History: In Latin iānus was the word for "archway, gateway, or covered passage" and also for the god of gates, doorways, and beginnings in general, known in English as Janus. Our month January—a month of beginnings—is named for the god. Latin iānitor, the source of our word janitor and ultimately also from iānus, meant "doorkeeper or gatekeeper." Probably because iānitor was common in Latin records and documents, it was adopted into English. In an early quotation Saint Peter is called "the Janitor of heaven." The term can still mean "doorkeeper," but in Scots usage janitor also referred to a minor school official. Apparently this position at times involved maintenance duties and doorkeeping, and the maintenance duties took over the more exalted tasks, giving us the position of janitor as we know it today.

janitor

(ˈdʒænɪtə) n1. Scot and US and Canadian the caretaker of a building, esp a school2. chiefly US and Canadian a person employed to clean and maintain a building, esp the public areas in a block of flats or office building; porter[C17: from Latin: doorkeeper, from jānua door, entrance, from jānus covered way (compare Janus¹); related to Latin īre to go] janitorial adj ˈjanitress, ˈjanitrix fem n

jan•i•tor

(ˈdʒæn ɪ tər)

n. 1. a person employed in an apartment house, office building, school, etc., to keep the public areas clean and do minor repairs; caretaker. 2. Archaic. a doorkeeper or porter. [1575–85; < Latin jānitor doorkeeper =jāni-, comb. form of jānus doorway, covered passage + -tor -tor] jan`i•to′ri•al (-ˈtɔr i əl, -ˈtoʊr-) adj.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

janitor - someone employed to clean and maintain a buildingcustodian, keeper, steward - one having charge of buildings or grounds or animals

janitor

noun caretaker, porter, custodian, concierge, doorkeeper My mother was the janitor in the town school.

Translations

看门人

janitor

(ˈdʒӕnitə) – feminine ˈjanitress – noun a caretaker or a doorkeeper. 看門人，門房 看门人

janitor

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