surveyor
Pluralsurveyors
- 1A professional who measures land and physical features to determine exact positions on the earth's surface.
The surveyor set up her tripod and recorded the elevation at each corner of the lot.
Before construction began, a team of surveyors mapped the entire valley.
Note
Behind it lies a French line: Middle English surveyour, from Anglo-Norman surveour and Old French sorveor. Read today, it is survey plus the agent suffix -or, which is why the spelling ends in -or, never -er. That history belongs equally to the poll-taker and the property inspector. The person is the surveyor; the activity is surveying.
- 2A person appointed to inspect something, such as a building, in order to assess its condition, value, or quality.
The surveyor's report flagged rising damp in the cellar and a cracked chimney.
Before the sale went through, the buyer's surveyor inspected the roof and outbuildings.
Similarinspector, assessor, appraiser
Note
A British usage that turns up whenever a house changes hands. Surveyor's fees sit alongside estate agent's commission, stamp duty and VAT among the costs of a sale, and buyers commonly engage their own surveyor to report on a property's condition or value. In American English the comparable figure is usually an inspector or an appraiser, so the word may need translating for a US reader.
- 3A person who carries out a poll or questionnaire, gathering answers and opinions from a group of people.
The surveyor compiled the responses from over a thousand households.
Surveyors stationed outside the polling station recorded how people had voted.
Similarpollster, canvasser, interviewer
Practice
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Origin
From Middle English surveyour, from Anglo-Norman surveour, from Old French sorveor; by surface analysis, survey + -or.