master

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɑːs.tə/
• (Northern England) IPA^(key): /ˈmas.tə/, (influenced by RP) /ˈmaːs.tə/
• (General American) enPR: măsʹtər, IPA^(key): /ˈmæs.tɚ/
• (Southern American English, AAVE, obsolete) IPA^(key): /ˈmɑs.tə/ (see marster)
• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈmaːs.tə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːstə(ɹ), -æstə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: mas‧ter

From Middle English maister, mayster, meister (noun) and maistren (verb), from Old English mǣster, mæġster, mæġester, mæġister, magister (“master”), from Latin magister (“chief, teacher, leader”), from Old Latin magester, from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s, (as in magnus (“great”)) + -ester/-ister (compare minister (“servant”)). Reinforced by Old French maistre, mestre (noun) and maistriier, maister (verb) from the same Latin source. Compare also Saterland Frisian Mäster (“master”), West Frisian master (“master”), Dutch meester (“master”), German Meister (“master”). Doublet of maestro and magister.

• maistre (archaic)
• Marse, marse (obsolete, dialectal, US, Caribbean)
• mas'r (dated, pronunciation spelling, representing southern US black English)
• Master
• mastre, maister, mayster (obsolete)
• Massa, massa, massah, massy, masta, Mastah, mastah, mastuh (eye dialect)
• measter (obsolete, Britain, pronunciation spelling)
• mester (dialectal), mister (dialectal)

master (plural masters, feminine mistress)

1. Someone who has control over something or someone.
   • 1881, Benjamin Jowett, Thucydides

     We are masters of the sea.

   • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […]”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], OCLC 228732398, lines 415–420, page 83:

     Maſters commands come with a power reſiſtleſs / To ſuch as owe them abſolute ſubjection; / And for a life who will not change his purpoſe? / (So mutable are all the ways of men) / Yet this be ſure, in nothing to comply / Scandalous or forbidden in our Law.

   • 1712 November 24 (Gregorian calendar)​, Joseph Addison; Richard Steele [et al.], “THURSDAY, November 13, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 535; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume VI, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, OCLC 191120697, page 97:

     When I have thus made myself master of a hundred thousand drachmas […] .

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., OCLC 222716698, pages 58–59:

     The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on a certain afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track. […] Their example was followed by others at a time when the master of Mohair was superintending in person the docking of some two-year-olds, and equally invisible.

2. The owner of an animal or slave.
3. (nautical) The captain of a merchant ship; a master mariner.

   Synonyms: skipper, captain

4. (dated) The head of a household.
5. Someone who employs others.
   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., OCLC 222716698, page 46:

     No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or otherwise his man would be there with a message to say that his master would shortly join me if I would kindly wait.

6. An expert at something.

   Mark Twain was a master of fiction.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:skilled person

   • 1843 July, [Thomas Babington Macaulay], “Art. VII—The Life of Joseph Addison. By Lucy Aikin.”, in The Edinburgh Review, number CLVII, page 231:

     But that which chiefly distinguishes Addison from Swift, from Voltaire, from almost all the other great masters of ridicule, is the grace, the nobleness, the moral purity, which we find even in his merriment.

   • 1693, [John Locke], “§189”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], OCLC 1161614482:

     No care is taken to improve young men in their own language, that they may thoroughly understand and be masters of it.

   • 1977, George Lucas, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope:

     Darth Vader I've been waiting for you, Obi-Wan. We meet again, at last. The circle is now complete. When I left you I was but the learner; now I am the master.
     Obi-Wan Kenobi Only a master of evil, Darth.

   • 2001, “People with Cancer”, in Falun Gong Stories: A Journey to Ultimate Health‎, Golden Lotus Press, →ISBN, OCLC 155384434, page 62:

     A turning point came earlier this year. In January 2000, the local Qigong master who treated me asked me to find Falun Gong material on the Internet for him.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:master.
7. A tradesman who is qualified to teach apprentices.
8. (dated) A schoolmaster.
9. A skilled artist.
10. (dated) A man or a boy; mister. See Master.
    • 1731 (date written, published 1745)​, Jonathan Swift, “Directions to Servants”, in Thomas Sheridan and John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], volume XVI, new edition, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1801, OCLC 1184656746:

      Where there are little Maſters and Miſſes in a Houſe, they are uſually great Impediments to the Diverſions of the Servants;

11. A master's degree; a type of postgraduate degree, usually undertaken after a bachelor degree.

    She has a master in psychology.

    Synonyms: masters, master's, (Quebec) magistrate

12. A person holding such a degree.

    He is a master of marine biology.

13. The original of a document or of a recording.

    The band couldn't find the master, so they re-recorded their tracks.

14. (film) The primary wide shot of a scene, into which the closeups will be edited later.

    Synonyms: establishing shot, long shot

15. (law) A parajudicial officer (such as a referee, an auditor, an examiner, or an assessor) specially appointed to help a court with its proceedings.

    The case was tried by a master, who concluded that the plaintiffs were the equitable owners of the property. […]

16. (engineering, computing) A device that is controlling other devices or is an authoritative source.

    a master wheel

    a master database

    Synonym: primary

    Antonyms: secondary, slave

17. (Freemasonry) A person holding an office of authority, especially the presiding officer.
18. (by extension) A person holding a similar office in other civic societies.
19. Short for master key.
    • 2020, Jane M. Wiggins, Facilities Manager's Desk Reference (page 517)

      The use of masters and submasters will enable suites of rooms to be controlled by one key.

20. (BDSM) A male dominant.

    Coordinate term: mistress

• mistress (feminine-specific form)

Pages starting with “master”.

• mistress (feminine form of "master")

• journeyman
• apprentice

master (not comparable)

1. Masterful.

   a master performance

2. Main, principal or predominant.
3. Highly skilled.

   master batsman

   • 1895, Marshall Mather, Lancashire Idylls (page 39)

     In another minute she lay peaceful and motionless under the anæsthetic — a statue, immobile, yet expressionful, as though carved by some master hand.

4. Original.

   master copy

master (third-person singular simple present masters, present participle mastering, simple past and past participle mastered)

1. (intransitive) To be a master.
2. (transitive) To become the master of; to subject to one's will, control, or authority; to conquer; to overpower; to subdue.
   • 1693, [John Locke], “(please specify the section number)”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], OCLC 1161614482:

     Obstinacy and willful neglects must be mastered, even though it cost blows.

   • 1898, J. Meade Falkner, chapter 4, in Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934:

     Then Elzevir cried out angrily, 'Silence. Are you mad, or has the liquor mastered you? Are you Revenue-men that you dare shout and roister? or contrabandiers with the lugger in the offing, and your life in your hand. You make noise enough to wake folk in Moonfleet from their beds.'

3. (transitive) To learn to a high degree of proficiency.

   It took her years to master the art of needlecraft.

4. (transitive, obsolete) To own; to possess.
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act V, scene i], page 183, column 2:

     […] the wealth / That the world maſters.

5. (transitive, especially of a musical performance) To make a master copy of.
6. (intransitive, usually with in) To earn a Master's degree.

   He mastered in English at the state college.

mast +‎ -er

master (plural masters)

1. (nautical, in combination) A vessel having a specified number of masts.

   a two-master

• 'maters, Amster, METARs, Stream, armest, armets, mastre, maters, matres, metras, ramets, ramset, remast, stream, tamers, tremas, trémas

From English master.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɑster/, [ˈmɑs̠t̪e̞r]
• Rhymes: -ɑster
• Syllabification^(key): mas‧ter

master

1. (BDSM) (male) dom

Borrowed from English master. Doublet of maître, inherited from Latin.

• IPA^(key): /mas.tɛʁ/

• Audio

  (file)

master m (plural masters)

1. master's degree, master's (postgraduate degree)
2. master (golf tournament)
3. master, master copy

• “master”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• trames, trémas

From Dutch master, from English master, from Middle English maister, mayster, meister, from Old English mǣster, mæġster, mæġester, mæġister, magister (“master”), from Latin magister (“chief, teacher, leader”), from Old Latin magester, from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s, (as in magnus (“great”)) + -ester/-ister (compare minister (“servant”)). Doublet of magister and mester.

• IPA^(key): [ˈmast̪ər]
• Hyphenation: mas‧têr

master (plural master-master, first-person possessive masterku, second-person possessive mastermu, third-person possessive masternya)

1. master:
   1. someone who has control over something or someone.
   2. an expert at something.
   3. the original of a document or of a recording.
   4. (education) a master's degree; a type of postgraduate degree, usually undertaken after a bachelor degree.

      Synonym: magister

• “master” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Language Development and Fostering Agency — Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic Indonesia, 2016.

master m or f

1. indefinite plural of mast

From English master. Doublet of magister.

master m (definite singular masteren, indefinite plural masterar, definite plural masterane)

1. a master's degree
2. a master's thesis
3. a person that has a master's degree
4. original document or recording

master f (definite singular mastra or mastri, indefinite plural mastrer, definite plural mastrene)

1. (pre-2012) alternative form of mast

master f

1. indefinite plural of mast

• “master” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• mēster
• māstere, mēstere

Borrowed from Vulgar Latin *maester, from Latin magister. Cognates include Old English mæġester and Old Saxon mēstar.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmaːster/

māster m

1. master
2. leader
3. commissioner

• Māster

• Saterland Frisian: Mäster
• West Frisian: master

• Bremmer, Rolf H. (2009) An Introduction to Old Frisian: History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 28

From English master. Doublet of măiestru, maestru, maistru, magistru, and meșter.

master m (plural mastere)

1. master's degree

master

1. indefinite plural of mast.

• smarte, smetar

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

master c (plural masters, diminutive masterke)

1. master

• boargemaster

• “master”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011