ductor

English

Etymology

From Latin ductor, agent noun of duco (“to lead”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdʌktə(ɹ)/

Noun

ductor (plural ductors)

1. (obsolete) One who leads.
   • 1658, Thomas Browne, “The Garden of Cyrus. […]. Chapter II.”, in Hydriotaphia, Urne-buriall, […] Together with The Garden of Cyrus, […], London: […] Hen[ry] Brome […], →OCLC, page 115:

     The Rhombus or Lozenge figure ſo viſible in this order, vvas alſo a remarkable form of battle in the Grecian Cavalry, […] As being moſt ready to turn every vvay, and beſt to be commanded, as having its ductors, or Commanders at each Angle.

2. (printing) A device, usually in the form of an oscillating roller, for transferring ink from a source to the ink train rollers in a controlled manner.
   • 1883, Andrew Overend, "Inking apparatus for printing-machines", US patent US363760, filed 9 November 1883, issued 24 May 1887.

     The combination, with a fountain-roller and an ink-cylinder, of a ductor movable between said roller and cylinder for delivering ink from one to the other...

   • 2004, Daniel Gamota, Printed Organic and Molecular Electronics, Springer, published 2004, →ISBN:

     Ink is transferred to the ink distribution rollers by a ductor roller.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “ductor”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Latin

Etymology

From dūcō (“to lead, guide”) +‎ -tor.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈduk.tor/, [ˈd̪ʊkt̪ɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈduk.tor/, [ˈd̪ukt̪or]

Noun

ductor m (genitive ductōris); third declension

1. leader; e.g., king, chieftain, prince, etc.
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.36-38:

     “[...] dēspectus Iarbās / ductōrēsque aliī, quōs Āfrica terra triumphīs / dīves alit [...].”

     “[...] Iarbas was scorned, and [those] other leaders, [the kind] whom the African land, abundant in war triumphs, nurtures [...].”
     (Ancient readers would have recalled Roman military victories over Africa.)

2. commander, general
3. (figuratively) iron worker (one who draws out)

Declension

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	ductor	ductōrēs
genitive	ductōris	ductōrum
dative	ductōrī	ductōribus
accusative	ductōrem	ductōrēs
ablative	ductōre	ductōribus
vocative	ductor	ductōrēs

Derived terms

• armiductor
• ductrix

Related terms

• dūcō
• ductus

Descendants

• → English: ductor
• Spanish: ductor

References

• “ductor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ductor”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ductor in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• ductor in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• ductor in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[1], pre-publication website, 2005-2016

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin ductor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /duɡˈtoɾ/ [d̪uɣ̞ˈt̪oɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: duc‧tor

Noun

ductor m (plural ductores)

1. guide, conductor
2. probe (surgical)

Further reading

• “ductor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy, 2023 November 28