Definitions

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

  • noun One who assigns names, as in scientific classification.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A person who calls things or persons by their names.
  • noun One who or that which gives names, or applies individual or technical names.
  • noun A list of names arranged alphabetically or in some other system; a glossary; a vocabulary; especially, a list of scientific names so arranged.

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

  • noun One who calls persons or things by their names.
  • noun One who gives names to things, or who settles and adjusts the nomenclature of any art or science; also, a list or vocabulary of technical names.

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

  • noun An assistant who specializes in providing timely and spatially relevant reminders of the names of persons and other socially important information.
  • noun One who assigns or constructs names for persons or objects or classes thereof, as in a scientific classification system.
  • noun A document containing such name assignments.

Etymologies

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

[Latin nōmenclātor, a slave who accompanied his master to tell him the names of people he met, variant of nōmenculātor : nōmen, name; see nŏ̄-men- in Indo-European roots + calātor, servant, crier (from calāre, to call; see kelə- in Indo-European roots).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin nōmenclātor ("slave who told master names of persons master met"), from nōmen ("name") + calō ("call together").

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Examples

  • Still, the work could lead to breakthroughs in AI and VR and lots of other very exciting acronyms and lead to the development of a 'nomenclator' - a device that can provide people with information about others when they meet for the first time.

    silicon.com : 2009

  • The challenge is inspired by the idea that the whole waking life of an individual will be able to fit on a single computer disc in 20 years 'time. virtual reality, leading to the development of technologies such as a care companion for the elderly or a' nomenclator '- a device that can provide people with information about others when they first meet.

    silicon.com : 2009

  • One was called the nomenclator: a catalog of numbers, each standing for a word, syllable, phrase or letter.

    Two Centuries On, a Cryptologist 2009

  • [8] A nomenclator was a slave who attended a great noble in his walk through the city to remind him of the names of those whom he met.

    The Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus During the Reigns of the Emperors Constantius, Julian, Jovianus, Valentinian, and Valens Ammianus Marcellinus 1851

  • An issue with these tools, according to Mr. Patterson's criteria, is that a nomenclator is too tough to memorize.

    Two Centuries On, a Cryptologist 2009

  • He was also an adept nomenclator, and many of his names, French and Indian, still dapple the land.

    A Forgotten Explorateur 2008

  • 'Very probably, sir: though I am not of the first accuracy as the gentleman's nomenclator.'

    Camilla 2008

  • If Obama runs for President, he'll need a good nomenclator.

    Sound Politics: Marcy Burner? 2006

  • When Napolitano nomenclator Mario Diaz went over to Jim Pederson's campaign, that was an indication that she took an interest in the race.

    Archive 2006-06-01 2006

  • There is no truth to the rumor that it is former Clinton and Babbitt nomenclator Fred DuVal.

    Archive 2006-08-01 2006

Comments

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  • "In ancient Rome candidates canvassing for office, when appearing in public, were attended each by a nomenclator, who informed the candidate of the names of the persons they met, thus enabling him to address them by name." --CD

    April 14, 2011