maître d'hôtel
Americannoun
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a headwaiter.
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a steward or butler.
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the owner or manager of a hotel.
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Cooking. a sauce of melted butter, minced parsley, and lemon juice or vinegar.
noun
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a head waiter or steward
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the manager or owner of a hotel
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of maître d'hôtel
First recorded in 1530–40; from French: “master of (the) house”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He has even developed a compound honey-chipotle butter, which you can spoon atop the grilled beef, like a Mexican version of maître d’hôtel butter.
From Washington Post • Sep. 9, 2020
The bride’s father is the maître d’hôtel at L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, a French restaurant in New York.
From New York Times • Jul. 8, 2018
His father Jack was a chef and maître d’hôtel at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach and his mother Fran was a waitress there — a background that helped produce Mr. Schneider’s formidable culinary skills.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 18, 2017
—Dimitrov is the maître d’hôtel at Tower Bar and at the Sunset Tower Hotel in Los Angeles.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 2, 2016
"Your frients haff gone up-stairs," the German maître d'hôtel said in English.
From "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
