# butler

Pronunciation: US say "BUT-ler" /ˈbʌt.lɚ/; UK say "BUT-luh" /ˈbʌt.lə(ɹ)/

## Noun

1. The head male servant of a household, who manages the other staff, receives guests, directs the serving of meals, and provides various personal services.
   - Simple: The head male servant in a home, who runs the other staff, greets guests, oversees meals, and helps the family.
   - _The butler took our coats and showed us into the drawing room._
   - _She inherited the estate along with its cook, its gardeners, and an elderly butler who had run the house for decades._
2. A man employed as someone's personal attendant; a valet.
   - Simple: A man whose job is to take care of one person's daily needs.
   - _The senator's butler laid out his suit and packed his bags for the trip._
   - _He traveled with a butler who shaved him each morning and kept his wardrobe in order._
3. A male servant responsible for the wines and liquors kept in a household.
   - Simple: A male servant who looks after the wine and other strong drinks in a home.
   - _The butler went down to the cellar for another bottle of claret._
   - _Every bottle that left the cellar was recorded in the butler's ledger._

## Verb

4. To serve out wine or liquor, or more generally to act in a butler's place.
   - Simple: To pour and serve drinks, or to do the job of a butler.
   - _Two students were hired to butler at the reception, keeping every glass filled._
   - _For one summer he butlered at a country house, pouring the wine at dinner._

## Origin

From Middle English butler, boteler, from Old French buttiler, boteillier ("officer in charge of wine"), from Medieval Latin botellārius, equivalent to bottle + -er. It is a piecewise doublet of bottler.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/butler (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).