different between director vs usher

English

Alternative forms

• directour (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French directeur and its source Late Latin director, directorem, from Latin directus.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d????kt?(?)/, /da????kt?(?)/, /da??????kt?(?)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /d????kt?/, /da????kt?/
• Rhymes: -?kt?(?)

Noun

director (plural directors, feminine directress or directrix)

1. One who directs; the person in charge of managing a department or directorate (e.g., director of engineering), project, or production (as in a show or film, e.g., film director).

2. A counselor, confessor, or spiritual guide.
3. That which directs or orientates something.
   • 1971, United States. Office of Saline Water, Distillation Digest (volume 3, page 76)

     Installed longer flow director; it now just covers the entire diameter of the 6-in. brine return nozzle, and is 4 in. high […]

4. (military) A device that displays graphical information concerning the targets of a weapons system in real time.
5. (chemistry) The common axis of symmetry of the molecules of a liquid crystal.

Derived terms

• director circle
• director conic

Translations

Anagrams

• creditor

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin director, directorem, from Latin directus, attested from 1696.

Noun

director m (plural directors, feminine directora)

1. director
2. conductor
3. headteacher, principal

Related terms

• direcció
• dirigir
• directe

Further reading

• “director” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “director” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “director” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

References

Portuguese

Adjective

director m (feminine singular directora, masculine plural directores, feminine plural directoras, comparable)

1. Superseded spelling of diretor. (superseded in Brazil by the 1943 spelling reform and by the Orthographic Agreement of 1990 elsewhere. Still used in countries where the agreement hasn’t come into effect and as an alternative spelling in Portugal.)

Noun

director m (plural directores, feminine directora, feminine plural directoras)

1. Superseded spelling of diretor. (superseded in Brazil by the 1943 spelling reform and by the Orthographic Agreement of 1990 elsewhere. Still used in countries where the agreement hasn’t come into effect and as an alternative spelling in Portugal.)

Romanian

Etymology

From French directeur

Noun

director m (plural directori)

1. director

Declension

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin director, directorem, from Latin directus.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -o?

Noun

director m (plural directores, feminine directora, feminine plural directoras)

1. director
2. conductor (of musical ensembles)
3. (school) principal (North America), headmaster (Britain)

Derived terms

Related terms

• directora
• dirección
• dirigir
• directo

English

Etymology

From Middle English ussher, uscher, usscher, from Anglo-Norman usser and Old French ussier, uissier (“porter, doorman”) (compare French huissier), from Vulgar Latin *usti?rius (“doorkeeper”), from Latin ?sti?rius, from ?stium (“door”). Akin to ?s (“mouth”). Probably a doublet of ostiary and huissier.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ?sh?-?r, IPA^(key): /?????/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): [?a?.?(?)]
• (UK) IPA^(key): [???.?(?)]
• (US) IPA^(key): [???.?]
• Rhymes: -???(?)
• Hyphenation: ush?er

Noun

usher (plural ushers)

1. A person, in a church, cinema etc., who escorts people to their seats.
2. A male escort at a wedding.
3. A doorkeeper in a courtroom.
4. (obsolete) An assistant to a head teacher or schoolteacher; an assistant teacher.
   • 1751, Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, I.12:

     [H]e defrayed the expence of his entrance, and left him in the particular care and inspection of the usher, who […] though obliged by the scandalous administration of fortune to act in the character of an inferior teacher, had by his sole capacity and application, brought the school to that degree of reputation which it never could have obtained from the talents of his superior.

   • 1791, James Boswell, Life of Johnson, Oxford 2008, p. 33:

     He began to learn Latin with Mr. Hawkins, usher, or under-master of Lichfield school, ‘a man (said he) very skilful in his little way.’

5. (dated, derogatory) Any schoolteacher.

Synonyms

• (male attendant at a wedding): groomsman, bridesman

Derived terms

• usherette
• usheress

Translations

Verb

usher (third-person singular simple present ushers, present participle ushering, simple past and past participle ushered)

1. To guide people to their seats.
   • 1836, Charles Dickens, Sketches by Boz, "The curate. The old lady. The half-pay captain."

     Her entrance into church on Sunday is always the signal for a little bustle in the side aisle, occasioned by a general rise among the poor people, who bow and curtsey until the pew-opener has ushered the old lady into her accustomed seat, dropped a respectful curtsey, and shut the door;
2. To accompany or escort (someone).
   • 1898, John Lothrop Motley, The Rise of the Dutch Republic, page 509

     Margaret was astonished at the magnificence of the apartments into which she was ushered.

3. (figuratively) To precede; to act as a forerunner or herald.
   • 1912, Elizabeth Christine Cook, Literary Influences in Colonial Newspapers, 1704-1750, page 31

     Thus the Harvard poets and wits ushered The New England Courant out of existence.

4. (figuratively, transitive) to lead or guide somewhere

Derived terms

• usher in

Translations

Anagrams

• Huser, Rhues, Ruhes, Uhers, erhus, huers, shure