maître d'
noun
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Maître d' is short for maître d'hôtel, which comes from French and literally means "master of the house." Maître d'hôtel was used in English for a head butler or steward of a household before it referred to the head of a dining-room staff. For the record, the plural of maître d'hôtel is maîtres d'hôtel whereas the plural of maître d' is maître d's.
Examples of maître d' in a Sentence
Susan Selasky, Detroit Free Press, 10 Mar. 2024
Brown was a maitre d' in a Chicago restaurant.
—Charisse Jones, USA TODAY, 11 July 2020
Trust maitre d' Massimiliano to point you in the direction of the day's best catch; and trust his parents, Ruggero and Lucia, to cook it to perfection.
—Travel + Leisure, 6 July 2021
The maitre d' is heard explaining that the menu starts at 160 euros ($190) per person.
—Saskya Vandoorne and Rob Picheta, CNN, 6 Apr. 2021
Minasian and Karl Uecker, a maitre d', were responsible for escorting Kennedy through the hotel kitchen immediately after winning the California primary.
—Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY, 16 Mar. 2021
Mars has said the face was originally modeled after a Chicago maitre d' named Frank Brown.
—Alexandra Olson, chicagotribune.com, 24 Sep. 2020
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'maître d'.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Maître d'.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ma%C3%AEtre%20d%27. Accessed 3 Jun. 2024.
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