greeter

English

Etymology

From Middle English greter, gretter, equivalent to greet +‎ -er.

Noun

greeter (plural greeters)

1. A person who greets people on their arrival.

   Walmart greeter

   • 1976, Daniel M. Gaby, Merle H. Treusch, Election Campaign Handbook, page 303:

     The greeter is standing most or all of the time, and the weather may be unpleasant at that time of the year. If the greeter can bring a folding chair to sit on in slow periods, so much the better.

   • 1986, James Cleary, Prosecuting the Shoplifter: A Loss Prevention Strategy, page 220:

     Plaintiff testified that the store greeter was talking in a loud and rude manner.

   • 1995, Paul Seibert, Facilities Planning and Design for Financial Institutions, page 163:

     The greeter makes immediate eye contact with customers, making them feel important, and unknown guests can be addressed as they enter to determine their purpose, which also discourages robbers.

   • 2004, Daniel D. McCracken, Rosalee Jean Wolfe, User-centered Website Development, page 141:

     At the beginning of the test, the greeter welcomes the test user to the test facility and carries out all the necessary pretest activities, which include ice-breaking, explaining the purpose and format of the test, obtaining informed consent, and perhaps administering a pre-test questionnaire.

   • 2014, Annette Schroeder, Welcome to Our Church:

     What do I do if someone faints during the worship service? It's only natural as an usher or greeter to have questions like these.

   • 2024 January 14, Tim Adams, “The big picture: layers of nostalgia on London’s Oxford Street”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     But it is the combination of the self-consciously vintage HMV sign – with all its vinyl associations – and the bowler-hatted man at the kerbside (a now redundant Oxford Street “greeter”) that properly opens up those possibilities.

2. (tourism) A volunteer who shows tourists around their home city or region for free.
   • 1998, Proceedings from the Australian Tourism and Hospitality Research Conference, page 208:

     Visitors are matched with a volunteer Greeter according to shared interests and languages spoken, and their 3-4 hours together is a combination of what the Greeter has to offer and the visitor wants to know.

   • 2013, John A. Richardson, Grey Nomads, page 75:

     The greeter system — a free service provided by volunteers — is popular in several cities throughout the world.

   • 2017, Maria Gravari-Barbas, Sandra Guinand, Tourism and Gentrification in Contemporary Metropolises, page 54:

     This tourism is based on tourists' quest for an 'authentic experience', by spreading throughout the entire city (admittedly with a predilection for gentrifying neighbourhoods), seeking 'off the beaten track' (but always secure) itineraries (Djament-Tran and Guinand, 2014; Maitland, 2013; Maitland and Newman, 2014), going for a walk with a local 'greeter' and, above all, staying in a local's home.

   • 2021, Isabelle Frochot, A Practical Guide to Managing Tourist Experiences:

     Many greeter associations now exist across the world.

• “greeter”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

• regreet

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English greeter.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡʁi.tœʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

greeter m or f by sense (plural greeters)

1. (tourism, anglicism) greeter (volunteer who shows tourists around their home city or region for free)