Lemma 1măgīstĕr

nounmasculine

teacher, tutor, master, expert, chief; pilot of a ship; rabbi

Morphology2 analyses

nominative singularmagister · regular

vocative singularmagister · regular

Lewis & Short

key · magisterFull entry

măgister, tri, m. [a double comparative in form, from magis, and comparative ending -ter; cf.: minister, sinister]

I.a master, chief, head, superior, director, president, leader, commander, conductor, etc.

II.Lit.

A.In gen., the dictator in the earliest times was called magister populi, the chief of the people — Magister equitum, the chief of the cavalry, appointed by the dictator: Müll. — So, magister peditum (analogous to magister equitum), chief of the infantry. — The censor is called magister morum, master of morals; et saep.: vici, the overseer of a quarter or ward; P. Terentius operas in portu et scripturā Asiae pro magistro dedit, i. e. has performed the functions of a magister, was vice-director, 10, 1; an officer charged with distributing money among the people. — Law t. t., an agent or assignee to dispose of a debtor's goods: convivii, the master or president of a feast, Müll.: navis, the master or captain of a ship; the steersman, pilot. — In inscrr. are found also: fani, horreorum, collegii, memoriae, munerum, Augustalis, admissionum, epistolarum, libellorum, etc.; likewise: a bibliothecā, ab marmoribus, etc.

B.In partic.

1.A teacher, instructor — Transf., of inanim. things.

2.An educator of children, a tutor, pedagogue.

3.A master, owner, keeper.

4.A master of his art, professor.

III.Trop., an adviser, instigator, author of any thing (very rare). — As adj.