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- •mil a boy attached to a knight as the first stage in training to the knighthood.
- •one who is employed to run errands, carry messages, or act as a guide in a hotel, theater, or club.
- •one who is similarly employed in the U.S. Congress or another legislature.
- •a boy who holds the bride's train at a wedding.
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paladin
- •any of the twelve peers of Charlemagne's court, of whom the Count Palatine
was the chief
- •a knight errant;
- •a champion
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~ Palatine
- •nob. of a noble or feudal lord having local authority that
elsewhere belongs only to a soverign, e.g. Earl Palatine
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paliser, also palliser, palisser, palesser
- •a maker of palings or fences
- •one who has charge of a park
- •someone who tended the fences of a Norman enclosure or park - such as that
at Erringden. The name is from the French palisse. This and associated
words are often corrupted to palace
[CHC]
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palliard
- •a medieval beggar who showed his sores and deformities.
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palmer
- •In the Middle Ages, a palmer (Latin: palmarius or palmerius) was a Christian Pilgrim, normally from Western Europe, who had visited the holy places in Palestine, and who, as a token of his visits, brought back a palm leaf, or a palm leaf folded into a cross. [WIKI]
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panhandler
(=begger)
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pantier
- •Chief of the pantry.
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parliamentarian
- •a follower of Cromwell during the English Civil War, opposed to the
Royalists;
- •a Roundhead
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parolee
- •one who is released on parole
(=release of a prisoner on condition of sustained lawful behavior).
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parson
- •eccl an Anglican cleric with full legal
control of a parish under ecclesiastical law;
a rector.
- •a member of the clergy, esp. a Protestant minister.
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parvenu
/paar´və noo/
- •a person who has recently gained wealth or position.
cf: arriviste, nouveau riche.
- •an upstart.
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pastor
- •eccl a Christian priest or minister in charge of a church or congregation.
- •a layperson having spiritual charge of a congregation or other group.
- •a shepherd.
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paterfamiias
- •L the father or head of household
- •Rom. law the head of a family or household,
having legal authority over persons composing it.
- •a person of either sex and any age who is sui juris
and free from parental control.
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pathmaster
- •one whose job it is to care for and maintain public paths and roads.
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patrolman
(
 ~woman)
- •a policeman who patrols or polices an assigned area.
- •one who patrols an assigned area.
-
pattern maker
- •a maker of a clog shod with an iron ring. A clog was a wooden pole with
a pattern cut into the end.
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pavilioner
- •a tent-maker
-
pawn
- •a person or entity used to further the purposes of another.
-
pawnbroker
- •one who lends money at interest
in exchange for personal property deposited as security.
-
payle-maker
- •(payle=pale) A maker of cheese scoops.
-
peasant
- •a member of the class constituted by small farmers and tenants,
sharecroppers, and laborers on the land where they form the
main labor force in agriculture.
- •an uncouth, crude or ill-bred person; a boor.
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peddler
Also: Chiefly Brit. pedlar
- •an itinerant seller of wares;
a hawker.
-
pensioner
(=commoner)
- •one who recieves or lives on a pension. (=a regular payment made during a person's retirement from an investment fund to which that person or their employer has contributed during their working life)
- •a hireling.
- •a student at Cambridge University who pays for his or her commons and other expenses, and is not supported by any foundation.
- •obs. a gentleman-at-arms
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peregrinator
- •an itinerant wanderer
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perker
- •= parker, a park-keeper
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peruker
- •a wig maker
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peterman, peteman
- •sl. a safecracker
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pettifogger
- •a shyster lawyer
-
-phobe
- •one who has a morbid fear, horror, or dislike of a particular thing, e.g.
hydrophobe = fear of water;
Anglophobe = the English;
-
picker
- •a person who gathers or collects, as a rag-picker, fruit-picker
- •one who picked raw wool clean of foreign bodies as a stage in
cloth-making.
The wool was then oiled to resist damage during the carding
and spinning processes.
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picklock
- •one, esp a thief, who opens a locked door by picking the lock.
(=opening a lock by manipulation without a key)
-
pickpocket
- •a thief who specializes in stealing things from the pockets of others.
rel: dip, stall
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pickpurse
- •one who steals purses, or from purses; a pickpocket.
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pieman
sp: arch pyeman
- •one who makes or sells pies.
Simple Simon met a pyeman,
Going to the fair.
Says Simple Simon to the pyeman,
Let me taste your ware
1820 nursery rhyme [OED]
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pigman
- •a crockery dealer
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pilgrim
- •A pilgrim (from the Latin peregrinus) is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) who is on a journey to a holy place. (=Typically, this is a physical journeying (often on foot) to some place of special significance to the adherent of a particular religious belief system. In the spiritual literature of Christianity, the concept of pilgrim and pilgrimage may refer to the experience of life in the world (considered as a period of exile) or to the inner path of the spiritual aspirant from a state of wretchedness to a state of beatitude.) [WIKI]
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pilot
- •aero one who operates the controls of an aircraft
- •naut a person specially qualified to take charge of a ship entering or leaving a harbor;
a trained captain so employed by a harbormaster
- •arch a steersman, helmsman
- pilot officer
- •Brit the lowest commissioned rank in the RAF
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pindar
- •an official in charge of a pinfold (=cattle pen)
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pirate
- •one (or a company) who commits an act of robbery, hijacking, etc of ships at sea,
or more recently, airplanes.
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planter
- •a person who cultivates the soil
- •the manager or occupier of a plantation, e.g. of cotton, coffee, tobacco, etc.
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plater
- •one who plates (=coats objects of one metal with a thin layer of another metal by a process of electroplating or other means), e.g. baser metals with silver or gold, dull metals with bright. Usually in comb. form with that which is covered, that which is applied, or the process used. (e.g. harness plater, coach harness plater, coach plater, tin plater, electro-plater, nickle-plater)
- •one engaged in the application of metal plates, esp. in shipbuilding.
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plebe
- •mil a first year student at a military academy
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plenipotentiary
- •dipl a person (esp a diplomat) invested with full power of independent action
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plumber
- •one who applied sheet lead for roofing and set lead frames for plain or
stained glass windows.
- •a person who fitted or repaired the apparatus of
water supply systems or drains.
(=from the use of lead for pipes, L. plumbum lead)
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poinder
- •a person, esp an official, who poinds or distrains goods.
(=enclose, shut in or impound)
- •one who has charge of fences, hedges and woods, and pounds cattle that trespass.
A pounder.
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police reporter
- •a newspaper reporter with assignment to cover news in a police department.
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policeman
(~woman)
Also: ~ officer
- •civ a member of an organized law enforcement department.
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pontoneer
sp: ~ier
Also: pontooneer
- •one who has charge of pontoons,
or the construction of a pontoon bridge.
[OED]
-
poormaster
- •obs. a job position similar to that of paymaster.
Most of the states in the early United States had their own poormaster.
- •one whose duties were to validate those who appied for relief and issue funds.
The position was often a political sinecure before the Great Depression, and
not without its risks.
Rejected applicants often held a grudge and it was not unknown for the poormaster to be attacked or killed.
The position ceased to exist after the 1940s, with the advent of social assistance.
[WIKI]
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porter
- •Brit. dom. one in charge of a gate or door
(=L. porta=gate)
- •a person employed to carry burdens,
esp. an attendant who carries travelers' baggage at a hotel or transportation station
- •a railroad employee who waits on passengers in a sleeping car or a parlor car.
- •a maintenance worker for a building or institution.
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portraitist
- •an artist who specializes in portraits.
- cf landscapist
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potter
- •a tradesman who makes ceramic vessels usually by turning clay on a wheel and firing the result in a kiln.
- •a fisherman who catches crabs, lobsers &c, in a basket-like trap. (=formerly using pots)
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poulterer
- •one who raises or deals in poultry
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pound-keeper
- •one charged with responsibility for keeping a pound
(=an enclosure for domestic animals, such as cattle)
-
pounder
- •one whose office it is to impound cattle, etc.
(=pound-keeper), (=pindar), (=poinder)
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precentor
- •a cleric who directs the choral services of a church or cathedral.
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priest
(~ess)
- •eccl in many Christian churches, a member of the second grade of clergy, ranking below a bishop , but above a deacon,
and having authority to administer the sacraments.
- •one empowered to perform and administer religious rites.
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prig
- •a person who demonstrates an exaggerated conformity or propriety, especially in an irritatingly arrogant or smug manner.
- •Brit a petty thief or pickpocket.
- •arch a conceited dandy; a fop.
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prigger
- •a horse thief
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principal
- •a chief or head.
- •the head or director of a school or, especially in England, a college.
- •a person who takes a leading part in any activity, as a play; chief actor or doer.
- •the first player of a division of instruments in an orchestra (excepting the leader of the first violins, who is the concertmaster).
The reference may be to the player (e.g. principal oboeist) or to the instrument itself (e.g. principal flute).
-
printer's devil
- •a printing office errand boy
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prior
(~ess)
- •the superior officer at a priory
(=a monastery governed by a prior or a convent governed by a prioress.)
- •(in an abbey) the officer next under the abbot.
-
privateer
- •nav an armed vessel privately owned and staffed holding a government commission
and authorized for war service
- •a commander or crew member of such a vessel
- •euph a pirate
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proofreader
- •one who read copy or proof in order to find errors and mark corrections.
[AHD]
-
proprietor
- •a holder of property.
- •the owner of a business, esp. a hotel.
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puddler
- •a wrought iron worker
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pugilist
- •sp a boxer, esp. a professional
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puisne ~
/pyoo̅′nē/
- •chiefly Brit lower in rank; junior; esp. an associate judge
-
pulter
- •poulterer, official who attended to the purchase of poultry and other provisions.
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punkawallah
- •hist in India and Pakistan, the operator of a manual fan. (punkah=a type of ceiling fan.)
- •nowadays a person selling, repairing or making fans, both handheld and electric, would also be known colloquially as a punkha wala, since the term simply means fan guy or the guy with the fans.
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puppet
- •one whose behavior is determined by the will of another or others
cf quisling
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purser
- •nav. the officer in charge of money matters aboard ship, or in commercial aircraft
-
purveyor
- •one who obtains or provides provisions (=food)
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