obsonator

English

Etymology

From Latin.

Noun

obsonator (plural obsonators)

1. (obsolete or historical) A caterer, a manciple.
   • 1840, John James Smith, editor, The Cambridge Portfolio, volume 1, page 275:

     Thus also in Caius College the Obsonator and Dispensator were Scholars, and the Promus too: but this was altered in 1634 — “cum multa incommoda et non leve damnum Collegium sæpius sustinuit″ and it was determined to elect some “virum idoneum et non Scholarum.”

   • 1897, Douglas Macleane, A History of Pembroke College, Oxford, Anciently Broadgates Hall, page 500:

     1814. The offices of Obsonator, or Manciple, and Cook severed. Tuition fees to be increased, viz. Gentlemen Commoners to twenty-six guineas, Scholars and Commoners to thirteen guineas.

   • 1952, Thomas B. Costain, The Silver Chalice, page 399:

     He looked down at Demetrius, the Obsonator, who sat on a platform several feet below him. “Will you have them bring in the cask? I confess, Demetrius, that I am anxious about it. It is an experiment this time.”

Latin

Verb

obsōnātor

1. second/third-person singular future passive imperative of obsōnō

References

• “obsonator”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• obsonator in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.