Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Usher

Ush′er (ŭsh′ẽr), n. [OE. ussher, uschere, OF. ussier, uisser, oissier, hussier, huissier, fr. L. ostiarius a doorkeeper, fr. ostium a door, entrance, fr. os mouth. See Oral, and cf. Ostiary.]

1. An officer or servant who has the care of the door of a court, hall, chamber, or the like; hence, an officer whose business it is to introduce strangers, or to walk before a person of rank. Also, one who escorts persons to seats in a church, theater, etc. "The ushers and the squires." Chaucer.

These are the ushers of Marcius. Shak.

☞ There are various officers of this kind attached to the royal household in England, including the gentleman usher of the black rod, who attends in the House of Peers during the sessions of Parliament, and twelve or more gentlemen ushers. See Black rod.

2. An under teacher, or assistant master, in a school.

Ush′er, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ushered; p. pr. & vb. n. Ushering.] To introduce or escort, as an usher, forerunner, or harbinger; to forerun; — sometimes followed by in or forth; as, to usher in a stranger; to usher forth the guests; to usher a visitor into the room.

The stars that usher evening rose. Milton.

The Examiner was ushered into the world by a letter, setting forth the great genius of the author. Addison.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.