master
master (măsʹtər) noun
Abbr. M.
1. One that has control over another or others.
2. The owner of a slave or an animal.
3. One who has control over or ownership of something: the master of a large tea plantation.
4. The captain of a merchant ship. Also called master mariner.
5. An employer.
6. The man who serves as the head of a household.
7. One who defeats another; a victor.
8. a. One whose teachings or doctrines are accepted by followers. b. Master Jesus.
9. A male teacher, schoolmaster, or tutor.
10. One who holds a master's degree.
11. a. An artist or a performer of great and exemplary skill. b. An old master.
12. A worker qualified to teach apprentices and carry on the craft independently.
13. An expert: a master of three languages.
14. a. Used formerly as a title for a man holding a naval office ranking next below a lieutenant on a warship. b. Used as a title for a man who serves as the head or presiding officer of certain societies, clubs, orders, or institutions. c. Chiefly British. Used as a title for any of various male law court officers. d. Master Used as a title for any of various male officers having specified duties concerning the management of the British royal household. e. Master Used as a courtesy title before the given or full name of a boy not considered old enough to be addressed as Mister. f. Archaic. Used as a form of address for a man; mister.
15. Master A man who owns a pack of hounds or is the chief officer of a hunt.
16. An original, especially an original audio recording, from which copies can be made.
adjective
1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of a master.
2. Principal or predominant: a master plot.
3. Controlling all other parts of a mechanism: a master switch.
4. Highly skilled or proficient: a master thief.
5. Being an original from which copies are made.
verb, transitive
mastered, mastering, masters
1. To act as or be the master of.
2. To make oneself a master of: mastered the language in a year's study.
3. To overcome or defeat: He finally mastered his addiction to drugs.
4. To reduce to subjugation; break or tame (an animal, for example).
5. To produce a master audio recording for.
6. To season or age (dyed goods).
[Middle English, from Old English māgister, mægister Old French maistre, both from Latin magister.]
masʹterdom noun