major-domo
Americannoun
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a man in charge of a great household, as that of a sovereign; a chief steward.
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a steward or butler.
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a person who makes arrangements for another.
noun
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the chief steward or butler of a great household
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facetious a steward or butler
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of major-domo
1580–90; < Spanish mayordomo < Medieval Latin majordomūs head of the house, equivalent to major major + domūs, genitive of domus house; see dome
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.
See Examples For:
Proteins, of course; RNA acts as the major-domo, a bridge between the castes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 13, 2025
Over nearly three hours, stories spill out, with Safi, played warmly by superb Ammar Haj Ahmad, acting as a self-appointed major-domo.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 28, 2023
Chad Kelderman is deliciously ridiculous as Olivia’s pompous major-domo Malvolio, and Eric Ray Anderson gleefully cavorts as the sly party dog Sir Toby Belch.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 17, 2019
Mugleston, who plays Mrs. Pearce, the Higgins household major-domo, with a Scottish accent, waits with her at one interlude in Act 2.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 8, 2019
Donovan marveled, “What are they doing? That’s what I want to know. It looks like the Virginia reel—and Dave’s a major-domo, or I never saw one.”
From "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov
Both ceremonies were slick enough, and McDonald and Odom proved to be charming major-domos.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 27, 2021
Little Fortune was interned at war's beginning, but he was not shipped to Canada on the ill-fated Arandora Star along with most of London's Italian major-domos.
From Time Magazine Archive
They had their major-domos, their gentlemen of the bedchamber, their grand equerries, and other officers of rank.
From History of The Reign of Philip The Second King of Spain Volume The Third and Biographical & Critical Miscellanies by Prescott, William Hickling
Then the well-fed major-domos, the pages, the stablemen, the stewards, and Lady Barbe, with all her keys hanging by her side on a fine silver key-ring.
From Letters from my Windmill by Daudet, Alphonse
You know that the major-domos of the other diplomatists have become my irreconcilable enemies through envy; they cannot forgive me for having more inventive faculties and better taste than any of them!
From The Daughter of an Empress by Greene, Nathaniel
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.
