notary

[noh-tuh-ree]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR notary ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural no·ta·ries.

notary public.

Origin of notary

1275–1325; Middle English < Latin notārius clerk, equivalent to not(āre) to note, mark + -ārius -ary

Related formsno·ta·ry·ship, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for notary

registrar, witness, scrivener, endorser, signatory, recorder, certifier

Examples from the Web for notary

Contemporary Examples of notary

He will then hire a car to take the notary public to the prison on the day of the wedding.
Wedding Bells for Joran van der Sloot
Andrea Zarate, Barbie Latza Nadeau
June 13, 2014
Also in on the Davis con were Lydia Eileen Pearce, one of the owners of the Steward-Pearce Mortuary, and notary Barbara Ann Lynn.
The Granny Faked Funeral Case
Christine Pelisek
January 18, 2011

Historical Examples of notary

Go, my darling; call upon the notary, and tell him to be quick about you know what.
The Imaginary Invalid
Molire
But you really understand these things like a banker or a notary.
The Three Cities Trilogy, Complete
Emile Zola
One does not tell these things in public either to the notary or to the priest.
A Comedy of Marriage and Other Tales
Guy De Maupassant
He also was gazing at the lighted window over in the notary's house.
The Downfall
Emile Zola
One fine morning he took her to a notary and made her sign a deed of sale.
The Fortune of the Rougons
Emile Zola

British Dictionary definitions for notary

notary

noun plural -ries

a notary public

(formerly) a clerk licensed to prepare legal documents

archaic a clerk or secretary

Derived Formsnotarial (nəʊˈtɛərɪəl), adjectivenotarially, adverbnotaryship, noun

Word Origin for notary

C14: from Latin notārius clerk, from nota a mark, note

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for notary

c.1300, "clerk, secretary," from Old French notarie "scribe, clerk, secretary" (12c.) and directly from Latin notarius "shorthand writer, clerk, secretary," from notare, "to note," from nota "shorthand character, letter, note" (see note (v.)). Meaning "person authorized to attest contracts, etc." is from mid-14c.; especially in notary public (late 15c.), which has the French order of subject-adjective. Related: Notarial.