steward

Definition

A person who manages the property or affairs for another entity.

Etymology

From Middle English steward, stiward, from Old English stiġweard (“steward, housekeeper, one who has the superintendence of household affairs, guardian”), from stiġ (“a wooden enclosure; house, hall”) + weard (“ward, guard, guardian, keeper”), equivalent to sty + ward. Compare Icelandic stívarður (“steward”). More at sty, ward.

Example Sentences

• "There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy. Mail bags, so I understand, are being put on board. Stewards, carrying cabin trunks, swarm in the corridors. Passengers wander restlessly about or hurry, with futile energy, from place to place."
• "The gay Kibbutzniks I met were all ex-Kibbutzniks who were curretly holding jobs as El-Al stewards or in some similarly classic gay professions."
• "a steward in a Methodist church"