Mister vs Minister - What's the difference?
mister | minister |
Title conferred on an adult male, usually when the name is unknown. Also (often parent to young child) referring to a man whose name is unknown.
* 1855 , George Musalas Colvocoresses, Four Years in the Government Exploring Expedition , J. M. Fairchild & co., page 358:
* 1908 , Jack Brand, By Wild Waves Tossed: An Ocean Love Story , The McClure Company, page 90:
(obsolete) Someone's business or function; an occupation, employment, trade.
A kind, type of.
* 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , I.ix:
(obsolete) Need (of something).
* :
(obsolete) Necessity; the necessary time.
* :
(obsolete, impersonal) To be necessary; to matter.
* 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , III.vii:
A device that makes or sprays mist.
A person who is trained to perform religious ceremonies at a Protestant church.
A politician who heads a ministry (national or regional government department for public service).
* (Francis Bacon) (1561-1626)
At a diplomacy, the rank of diplomat directly below ambassador.
A servant; a subordinate; an officer or assistant of inferior rank; hence, an agent, an instrument.
* Bible, (w) xxiv. 13
* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
To attend to (the needs of); to tend; to take care (of); to give aid; to give service.
to function as a clergyman or as the officiant in church worship
(archaic) To afford, to give, to supply.
* Bible, 2 Corinthians ix. 10
* Jeremy Taylor
* 1610 , , act 2 scene 1
In transitive terms the difference between mister and minister
is that mister is to address by the title of "mister" while minister is to attend to (the needs of); to tend; to take care (of); to give aid; to give service.mister
English
Etymology 1
Unaccented variant ofNoun
(en noun)- You may sit here, mister .
- Go and ask that mister if you can get your ball out of his garden.
- Fine day to see sights, gentlemen. Well, misters , here's the railing round the ground, and there's the paling round the tomb, eight feet deep, six feet long, and three feet wide.
- There's only three misters aboard this ship, or, rather, there's only two.
Coordinate terms
* (title of adult male) master, mistress, , DoctorEtymology 2
From (etyl) mester, (meister) (et al.), from (etyl) misterium, a medieval conflation of (etyl) .David Wallace,Chaucerian polity: absolutist lineages and associational forms in England and Italy, Stanford University Press, 1997
Noun
(en noun)- The Redcrosse knight toward him crossed fast, / To weet, what mister wight was so dismayd.
- And thenne the grene knyghte kneled doune / and dyd hym homage with his swerd / thenne said the damoisel me repenteth grene knyghte of your dommage / and of youre broders dethe the black knyghte / for of your helpe I had grete myster / For I drede me sore to passe this forest / Nay drede you not sayd the grene knyghte / for ye shal lodge with me this nyghte / and to morne I shalle helpe you thorou this forest
- It was by Merlyns auyse said the knyghte / As for hym sayd kynge Carados / I wylle encountre with kynge bors / and ye wil rescowe me whan myster is / go on said they al / we wil do all that we may
Verb
(en verb)- As for my name, it mistreth not to tell; / Call me the Squyre of Dames that me beseemeth well.
Etymology 3
.Noun
(en noun)- Odessa D. uses a mister Sunday to fight the 106-degree heat at a NASCAR race in Fontana, California.
Derived terms
* demisterReferences
Anagrams
* ----minister
English
Noun
(en noun) (minister)- Ministers to kings, whose eyes, ears, and hands they are, must be answerable to God and man.
- Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua.
- I chose / Camillo for the minister , to poison / My friend Polixenes.
Verb
(en verb)- A newspaper headline: Couple leaves business world to minister to inner-city children
- He that ministereth seed to the sower.
- We minister to God reason to suspect us.
- I do well believe your highness; and did it to / minister occasion to these gentlemen [...] (to give opportunity to these gentlemen)