janitor
[ jan-i-ter ]
/ ˈdʒæn ɪ tər /
noun
a person employed in an apartment house, office building, school, etc., to clean the public areas, remove garbage, and do minor repairs; caretaker.
Archaic.
a doorkeeper or porter.
verb (used without object)
to be employed as a janitor.
Origin of janitor
1575–85; < Latin
jānitor doorkeeper, equivalent to
jāni- (combining form of
jānus doorway, covered passage) +
-tor
-tor
OTHER WORDS FROM janitor
jan·i·to·ri·al [jan-i-tawr-ee-uh l, -tohr-] /ˌdʒæn ɪˈtɔr i əl, -ˈtoʊr-/, adjective un·der·jan·i·tor, nounWords nearby janitor
Example sentences from the Web for janitor
British Dictionary definitions for janitor
janitor
/ (ˈdʒænɪtə) /
noun
Scot, US and Canadian
the caretaker of a building, esp a school
mainly US and Canadian
a person employed to clean and maintain a building, esp the public areas in a block of flats or office building; porter
Derived forms of janitor
janitorial (ˌdʒænɪˈtɔːrɪəl), adjective janitress, fem nWord Origin for janitor
C17: from Latin: doorkeeper, from
jānua door, entrance, from
jānus covered way (compare
Janus
1); related to Latin
īre to go