commissionaire

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   chiefly British, historical: a uniformed attendant or doorman at a hotel, theater, office, or other public building

   The commissionaire opened the hotel door and called a cab for the guests.

2. 2
   noun

   a person entrusted with errands or minor commissions

   The office commissionaire carried messages between the departments.

Borrowed from French commissionnaire, from commission, ultimately from Latin commissio, 'a committing or entrusting.' It is a doublet of commissioner, but in British usage commissionaire developed the specialized sense of a uniformed attendant or doorman.

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