Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Janitor |
JanitorNoun1. Someone employed to clean and maintain a building. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "janitor" was first used: 1584. (references) |
Etymology: Janitor \Jan"i*tor\, noun. [Latin expression, from janua door.]. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
19th Century Satire | From jangle, to quarrel, and torrid, meaning hot. Hot and quarrelsome. Source: Foolish Dictionary, 1904. |
Dream Interpretation | To dream of a janitor, denotes bad management and disobedient children. Unworthy servants will annoy you. To look for a janitor and fail to find him, petty annoyances will disturb your otherwise placid existence. If you find him, you will have pleasant associations with strangers, and your affairs will have no hindrances. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted .... |
Occupations | Keeps working areas in production departments of industrial establishment in clean and orderly condition, performing any combination of following duties: Transports raw materials and semifinished products or supplies between departments or buildings to supply machine tenders or operators with materials for processing, using handtruck. Arranges boxes, material, and handtrucks or other industrial equipment in neat and orderly manner. Cleans lint, dust, oil, and grease from machines, overhead pipes, and conveyors, using brushes, airhoses, or steam cleaner. Cleans screens and filters. Scrubs processing tanks and vats. Cleans floors, using water hose, and applies floor drier. Picks up reusable scrap for salvage and stores in containers. Performs other duties as described under CLEANER (any industry) I Master Title. May burn waste and clean incinerator. May pick up refuse from plant grounds and maintain area by cutting grass or shoveling snow. May operate industrial truck to transport materials within plant. May start pumps to force cleaning solution through production machinery, piping, or vats. May start pumps to lubricate machines. May be designated according to area cleaned as Alley Cleaner (textile); Can-Filling-Room Sweeper (beverage); Casting-And-Locker-Room Servicer (plastic-synth.); Ceiling Cleaner (any industry); Engine-Room Cleaner (any industry); Floor Cleaner (any industry); Overhead Cleaner (any industry). (references) |
| Keeps hotel, office building, apartment house, or similar building in clean and orderly condition and tends furnace, air-conditioner, and boiler to provide heat, cool air, and hot water for tenants, performing any combination of following duties: Sweeps, mops, scrubs, and vacuums hallways, stairs and office space. Regulates flow of fuel into automatic furnace or shovels coal into hand-fired furnace. Empties tenants' trash and garbage containers. Maintains building, performing minor and routine painting, plumbing, electrical wiring, and other related maintenance activities, using handtools. Replaces air-conditioner filters. Cautions tenants regarding complaints about excessive noise, disorderly conduct, or misuse of property. Notifies management concerning need for major repairs or additions to lighting, heating, and ventilating equipment. Cleans snow and debris from sidewalk. Mows lawn, trims shrubbery, and cultivates flowers, using handtools and power tools. Posts signs to advertise vacancies and shows empty apartments to prospective tenants. May reside on property and be designated Manager, Resident (any industry). (references) | |
| Keeps premises of office building, apartment house, or other commercial or institutional building in clean and orderly condition: Cleans and polishes lighting fixtures, marble surfaces, and trim, and performs duties described in CLEANER (any industry) I Master Title. May cut and trim grass, and shovel snow, using power equipment or handtools. May deliver messages. May transport small equipment or tools between departments. May setup tables and chairs in auditorium or hall. May be designated according to duties performed as Hall Cleaner (hotel & rest.); Light-Fixture Cleaner (any industry); Marble Cleaner (any industry); Metal Polisher (any industry); Paint Cleaner (any industry); or according to equipment used as Scrubbing-Machine Operator (any industry). (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
A \'janitor' is a person who takes care of building, particularly a school. He or she is usually responsible for cleaning, maintenance and security. The name derives from the Latin word for "door". In England, a janitor is more often called a "caretaker".Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Janitor."
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Stopper | Janitor, doorkeeper, porter, warder, beadle, cerberus, ostiary. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Janitor |
| English words defined with "janitor": concierge ♦ Janitrix ♦ super, superintendent. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Just pretend you're a janitor. Janitors are never terrified (Notorious; writing credit: Ben Hecht) Nah, the janitor will take care of that (Family Guy; writing credit: Dolores Payás) I'm the janitor. (All in the Family; writing credit: Johnny Speight; Norman Lear) That only goes to the janitor. (All in the Family; writing credit: Johnny Speight; Norman Lear) | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Janitor (1921) Sweedy and the Janitor (1916) The Janitor (1916) Fireworks and the Janitor Love (1915) The New Janitor (1914) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Henry, janitor, Dickinson College, Carlisle, Penna. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Absentee posters. An employee in the janitor service of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, New Haven, Connecticut designed this poster which stresses the importance of full attendance to plant workers. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |
| "Rusted mop pail" by Johnnie Crash Commentary: "A janitor mop and pail close up on the pail. Very much rusted." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Worker Rights | India | In August another inmate tested positive for pregnancy, and it was discovered that the janitor was the inmates' baby's father. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Janitor" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Janitor" is used about 28 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 28 | 65,706 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "janitor"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | rojë (custodian, escort, guard, guards, guardsman, keeper, look out, picket, piquet, sentinel, sentry, vigil, ward, watchman), portier (doorkeeper, doorman, gate keeper, goalee, goalie, goalkeeper, keeper, porter, usher). (various references) | |
Arabic | ناطور (concierge, guard), الحاجب (door keeper), بواب (doorman, porter). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | разсилен (commissionaire, errand boy, office boy, runner, usher), вратар (doorkeeper, gate keeper, goalee, goalkeeper, porter, usher, wicket keeper), портиер (concierge, doorkeeper, doorman, door's man, gate keeper, porter, warden). (various references) | |
Chinese | 管理员 (Administrator, Overseer, registrar). (various references) | |
Czech | vrátný (commissionaire, door keeper, doorkeeper, doorman, door-man, door's man, gate keeper, gatekeeper, porter), domovník (caretaker, doorkeeper), školník. (various references) | |
Danish | den vagthavende. (various references) | |
Dutch | dienstdoend lid van het bewakingspersoneel. (various references) | |
Farsi | فراش مدرسه , سرایدار (Caretaker, Custodian), راهنمای مدرسه , دربان (Doorkeeper, Porter). (various references) | |
Finnish | vahtimestari (attendant, porter, verger), talonmies (caretaker), ovenvartija (door-keeper, porter), ovensuu (door-keeper, porter). (various references) | |
French | portier, gardien de service, gardien, concierge. (various references) | |
German | Portier (concierge, doorman, porter, receptionist). (various references) | |
Greek | φύλακας υπηρεσίας, επιστάτησ κτίριου (super), επιστάτησ (caretaker, custodian, foreman, gaffer, steward, stewardess, superintendent, supervisor), επιστάτης κτίριου, θυρωρόσ (doorkeeper, doorman, door's man, porter, portress). (various references) | |
Hebrew | שוער (doorkeeper, doorman, gatekeeper, porter), שרת (caretaker, custodian, custody, operator, service personnel, serviceman, servo), חצרן (courtier). (various references) | |
Hungarian | portás (desk clerk, door keeper, doorman, doormen, gate keeper, hall porter, porter), gondnok (caretaker, curator, custodian, Guardian, manciple, overseer, warden), segéd-házfelügyelő, pedellus (apparitor), iskolai altiszt, házmester (caretaker, housekeeper), házfelügyelő (caretaker, concierge, hall porter, superintendent), cerberus, ajtónálló (commissionaire, door keeper, doorman, porter). (various references) | |
Indonesian | pembersih (cleaner). (various references) | |
Italian | custode (attendant, caretaker, custodian, doorkeeper, Guardian, keeper, warden), bidello (beadle). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 玄関番 (doorkeeper), 用務員 (orderly), 掃除人 (cleaner), 使丁 (messenger, servant). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | そうじにん (cleaner), してい (assignment, designation, messenger, pointing at, private residence, servant, specification, teacher and student, youngpeople), ようむいん (orderly), げんかんばん (doorkeeper). (various references) | |
Korean | 수위. (various references) | |
Manx | dorryser (commissionaire, doorman, usher). (various references) | |
Maya | miis (broom, cat). (various references) | |
Norwegian | vaktmester, portvakt. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | anitorjay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | zelador (caretaker, keeper, taskmaster), servente (attendant, boy, knave, servant), porteiro (concierge, doorkeeper, doorman, door's-man, gatekeeper, porter, usher, warder), guarda de serviço. (various references) | |
Romanian | portar (door keeper, gate keeper, goal keeper, house-porter, porter), administrator (administrator, bailiff, director, economist, governor, housekeeper, land agent, manager, master, receiver, reeve, steward, suitor, superintendent, trustee, warden). (various references) | |
Russian | привратник (doorkeeper, door-keeper, doorman, gate keeper, gatekeeper, gate-keeper, porter). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | poslužitelj (battler, butler), nastojnik (major domo, superintendent), domar (custodian, superintendent). (various references) | |
Spanish | portero (caretaker, commissionaire, concierge, doorkeeper, doorman, door's man, gatekeeper, goalie, goalkeeper, harborer, harbourer, paddock, porter, usher), el conserje, conserje de servicio, conserje (caretaker, commissionaire, concierge, doorkeeper, doorman, porter), bedel (beadle, bulldog). (various references) | |
Swedish | portvakt (caretaker, doorkeeper, doorman, door's man, gate keeper, janitress, porter). (various references) | |
Thai | ภารโรง. (various references) | |
Turkish | kapıcı (care-taker, commissionaire, custodian, doorkeeper, doorman, gatekeeper, porter, super, superintendent, usher), hademe (care-taker, scout, servant, skip), bina sorumlusu (super, superintendent). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | швейцар (commissionaire, doorkeeper, doorman, porter, usher), прибиральник (cleaner, porter, swabber). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | custodem, custodes, custodi, custodibus, custodis, custodum, custos, ianitor, ianitores, ianitoribus, ianitorum, janua. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "janitor": janitorial, janitors. (additional references) | |
| |
"Janitor" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: janator, janetor, janitore, janitory, Jantos, jenitor, Nantmor, vanitory. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "janitor" (pronounced ja"nuter) |
| 4 | -n u t er | monitor, progenitor, Sen, senator. |
| 3 | -u t er | editor, elater, accelerometer, altimeter, Amphitheater, anemometer, arbiter, auditor, barometer, capacitor, catheter, comparator, competitor, conservator, conspirator, contributor, creditor, densitometer, depositor, diameter, distributor, estimator, executor, exhibitor, fluorometer, goniometer, hydrometer, hygrometer, inheritor, inhibitor, inquisitor, interferometer, interlocutor, interpreter, kilometer, magnetometer, marketer, micrometer, odometer, orator, orbiter, parameter, perimeter, photometer, picketer, polarimeter, predator, proprietor, quieter, rioter, sequitur, solicitor, spectrometer, speedometer, telemarketer, tensiometer, Theater, theatre, thermometer, trumpeter, visitor. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-i-j-n-o-r-t" | |
-1 letter: aroint, ration. | |
-2 letters: intro, joint, nitro, noria, ratio, riant, rioja, train, trona. | |
-3 letters: airn, airt, anti, inro, into, iota, iron, jato, jiao, join, jota, naoi, noir, nori, nota, rain, rani, rant, rato, riot, roan, rota, roti, tain, tarn, taro, tiro, tora, tori, torn, trio. | |
-4 letters: ain, air, ait, ani, ant, art, ion, jar, jin. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-i-j-n-o-r-t" | |
+1 letter: janitors. | |
+2 letters: juniorate. | |
+3 letters: abjuration, adjuration, janitorial, journalist, juniorates, trajection. | |
+4 letters: abjurations, adjurations, conjuration, jargonistic, journalists, objurgating, objurgation, trajections. | |
+5 letters: conjurations, journalistic, majoritarian, objurgations, projectional, rejuvenation. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Images: Digital Art 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Expressions: Internet 11. Translations: Modern 12. Translations: Ancient | 13. Derivations 14. Rhymes 15. Anagrams 16. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
