Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One who attends to the maintenance or cleaning of a building.
  • noun A doorman.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A doorkeeper; a porter.
  • noun A man employed to take charge of rooms or buildings, to see that they are kept clean and in order, to lock and unlock them, and generally to care for them.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Archaic A door-keeper; a porter.
  • noun One who is employed to care for a public building, or a building occupied for offices, suites of rooms, etc.; a caretaker; -- the duties may include removal of trash, cleaning of the rooms and public areas, and minor repairs.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun someone who looks after the maintenance and cleaning of a public building.
  • noun a doorman

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun someone employed to clean and maintain a building

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin iānitor, doorkeeper, from iānua, door, from iānus, archway; see ei- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin ianitor (doorkeeper)

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Examples

Comments

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  • Genitore means parent, while janitor can be translated as custode or inserviente.

    I'd like to dedicate this award to my janitors, who made me the man I am.

    March 23, 2009

  • Ha, this is not the most obvious of false friends so well-spotted!

    March 23, 2009