Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An employee or assistant who serves in a wide range of capacities.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun One who does everything; specifically, one who is called upon or employed to do all kinds of work for another.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A person employed to do all kinds of work or business; a person with many different responsibilities.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun dated A person having many
diverse activities orresponsibilities . - noun dated A general
servant . - noun A
jack of all trades . - noun An individual employed to do all sorts of
duties .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a servant employed to do a variety of jobs
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word factotum.
Examples
-
Squire is the protecting power, but his factotum is the active and busy agent.
Bracebridge Hall, or The Humorists Washington Irving 1821
-
When he first showed up at Sun Studios, pestering them to get an audition, Marion Kisko (ph), who was the secretary and kind of factotum there, she asked him what kind of music he sang and famously he said, I sing all kinds.
-
He was greatly liked, and the late Sir George Barlow, a landed proprietor of the neighbourhood, made him a kind of factotum on his estate.
Personal Recollections of Birmingham and Birmingham Men Eliezer Edwards 1853
-
M'Clutchy rose from the humble office of process-server to that of bailiff's follower, bailiff, head-bailiff, barony constable, until, finally, he felt himself a kind of factotum on the Castle Cumber property; and in proportion as he rose, so did his manners rise with him.
Valentine M'Clutchy, The Irish Agent The Works of William Carleton, Volume Two William Carleton 1831
-
I was, during several years, a kind of factotum servant to a country clergyman, where I pickt up a good many scraps of learning, particularly in some branches of the mathematics.
-
She wanted to ensure there was no clash in timings, "recounts Dhawan, now 72, often referred to as her factotum, confidant and shadow all rolled into one, and who was associated with her for 22 uninterrupted years.
unknown title 2009
-
"factotum," to find out what the Opposition was going to do.
The Life of the Rt. Hon. Sir Charles W. Dilke, Volume 2 Stephen Lucius Gwynn 1907
-
In the bungalow at Mill Valley he lived alone, save for Lee Sing, the Chinese cook and factotum, who knew much about the strangeness of his master, who was paid well for saying nothing, and who never did say anything.
-
Class-factotum -- You brought up a very good point!
Tex-Mex squash casserole | Homesick Texan Homesick Texan 2009
-
So, defying belief, a managerial factotum, who just happens to know the role, is shunted on posing as the missing Morelli.
kenspeckle commented on the word factotum
From the pamphlet Groatsworth of Wit: Shakespeare is "an absolute Johannes fac totum, who is in his owne conceit the onely Shake-scene in a countrey." Some elaboration here.
December 10, 2006