Emily Dickinson Lexicon

MAS'TER, n. [Fr. maître, for maister; Russ. master; D. meester; G. meister; Sw. mästare; Dan. mester; Arm. meastr; It. and Sp. maestro; L. magister, compounded of the root of magis, major, greater, and the Teutonic ster, Sax. steoran, to steer. See Steer. The word then signifies a chief director. See Minister.]

1. A man who rules, governs or directs either men or business. A man who owns slaves is their master; he who has servants is their master; he who has apprentices is their master, as he has the government and direction of them. The man who superintends and directs any business, is master, or master workman. O thou my friend, my genius, come along, / Thou master of the poet and the song. Pope. Nations that want protectors, will have master. Ames.
2. A director, head, or chief manager; as, the master of a feast.
3. The owner; proprietor; with the idea of governing. The master of a house may be the owner, or the occupant, who has a temporary right of governing it. It would be believed that he rather took the horse for his subject, than his master. Dryden.
4. A lord; a ruler; one who has supreme dominion. Caesar, the world's great master and his own. Pope.
5. A chief; a principal; as, the master root of a plant. Mortimer. One master passion swallows up the rest. Pope.
6. One who has possession, and the power of controlling or using at pleasure. When I have made myself master of a hundred thousand drachmas. Addison.
7. The commander of a merchant ship.
8. In ships of war, an officer who takes rank immediately after the lieutenants, and navigates the ship under the direction of the captain.
9. The director of a school; a teacher; an instructor. In this sense the word is giving place to the more appropriate words, teacher, instructor, and preceptor; at least it is so in the United States.
10. One uncontrolled. Let every man be master of his time. Shak.
11. An appellation of respect. Master doctor, you have brought those drugs. Shak.
12. An appellation given to young men. Where there are little masters and misses in a house. Swift.
13. A man eminently or perfectly skilled in any occupation, art or science. We say, a man is master of his business; a great master of music, of the flute or violin; a master of his subject, &c.
14. A title of dignity in colleges and universities; as, Master of Arts.
15. The chief of a society; as, the Grand Master of Malta, of free-masons, &c.
16. The director of ceremonies at public places, or on public occasions.
17. The president of a college. England. Master in chancery, an assistant of the lord chancellor, chosen from among the barristers to sit in chancery, or at the rolls. Encyc. Master of the rolls, an officer who has charge of the rolls and patents that pass the great seal, and of the records of the chancery. Encyc. To be master of one's self, to have the command or control of one's own passions. The word master has numerous applications, in all of which it has the sense of director, chief, or superintendent. As a title of respect given to adult persons, it is pronounced mister; a pronunciation which seems to have been derived from some of the Northern dialects. [supra.]