17 May 2016

factotum

[fak-toh-tuh m]

noun

1. a person, as a handyman or servant, employed to do all kinds of work around the house.
2. any employee or official having many different responsibilities.

Origin of factotum

1560-1570; < Medieval Latin, equivalent to Latin fac make, do (imperative of facere) + tōtum, neuter of tōtus all

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for factotum

Historical Examples

He had a factotum named Charley Breen who was his valet, cook, hostler and assistant surveyor.
Ten years in the ranks, U.S. army
Augustus Meyers

He was her factotum, in whom she had greater faith than in any member of her household.
Chatterbox, 1906
Various

Ted cried, when my father, with some circumlocutionary hesitancy and great delicacy, conveyed his decision to our factotum.
The Record of Nicholas Freydon
A. J. (Alec John) Dawson

Entering the ground, he was confronted by his factotum, the Italian, Silvio.
Mary Louise Solves a Mystery
L. Frank Baum

I hired a Greek servant, whom I intended should serve as interpreter and factotum.
Visits To Monasteries in the Levant
Robert Curzon

Bonhomme Michel was the old watchman and factotum of the monastery.
The Golden Dog
William Kirby

The instant the factotum had closed the door, Valentin addressed the girl with an entirely new earnestness.
The Innocence of Father Brown
G. K. Chesterton

Everything went smoothly when the factotum was not interfered with.
The Ghost Girl
H. De Vere Stacpoole

For many years Baha acted in Bagdad (1852-67) as factotum for Azal, and acknowledged him as supreme.
Bahaism and Its Claims
Samuel Graham Wilson

We found him in his library in consultation with his factotum Jahn.
Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 61, No. 378, April, 1847
Various

Anagram

coma tuft
cut of mat

Today’s quote

Sooner or later you’re going to realize just as I did that there’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.

– Morpheus, The Matrix

On this day

17 May – International Day Against Homophobia.

17 May 2000 – Thomas Blanton Jr and Bobby Frank Cherry, former Ku Klux Klan members, are arrested and charged with murder for the 1963 bombing of a church in Alabama which killed four girls. The two men were sentenced to life in prison.

17 May 2012 – Disco singer, Donna Summer dies from lung cancer. She was born on 31 December 1948.