Also 4–6 -oure, 4–8 -our, 5 -ore, 6–7 -er. [a. OF. translator, -our, F. -eur (12th c. in Godef., Compl.), or L. translātor, agent-n. of transferre: see TRANSLATE and -OR.] One who (rarely, that which) translates.
1. One who translates or renders from one language into another; the author of a translation.
13[?]. in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1878), 25/1101. Of al translatours in to latyn He was flour enditour fyn.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 96. Whiche word þe Ebru translatoure, Aquyla interpretid, ‘and þe Lord confermede.’
1413. Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton), V. xiv. (1859), 82. The symple and vnsuffisaunt translatore of this litel book.
1509. Barclay, Shyp of Folys (1570), 260. Go Booke,… By thy submission excuse thy Translatour [rhyme honour].
a. 1680. Butler, Rem. (1759), II. 405. A Translater dyes an Author, like an old Stuff, into a new Colour.
1778. Warton, Hist. Eng. Poetry, II. Notes 19. Lapus de Castellione, a Florentine civilian, and a great translator from Greek into Latin, about the year 1350.
1837. Lockhart, Scott, II. iv. 121. Mr. Cary, the translator of Dante.
b. One who renders a painting by engraving, or the like: cf. TRANSLATION 2 b.
1855. Gentl. Mag., XLIII. 657/1. Mr. C. Blair Leighton … lithographer … was one of the earliest translators of water and oil pictures by the chromatic process.
1888. W. P. Frith, Autobiog., III. vii. 159. The delightful art of Thomas [Landseer, the engraver], so thoroughly in sympathy with his brother [Edwin, the painter], places the producer in the front rank of the company of translators.
1897. Daily News, 5 Feb., 8/6. Line engraving and mezzotint—both of them used largely in the service of the ‘translators.’
2. One who transforms, changes, or alters; spec. a cobbler who renovates old shoes.
1594. Merry Knack, in Hazl., Dodsley, VI. 566. As long as Jeffrey the translater is Mayor of the town.
1638. Brathwait, Barnabees Jrnl., A vj. That paltry Patcher is a bald Translater.
a. 1658. Cleveland, Gen. Poems (1677), 23. I’m no Translator, have no vein To turn a Woman young again.
1693. Humours Town, 77. The Jolly Translator, of Shoes, I mean, not Authors.
1700. T. Brown, Amusem. Ser. & Com., 130. The Cobler is Affronted, if you don’t call him Mr. Translator.
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, I. 198/2. I’m a ‘translator’ by trade.
1886. Daily News, 15 Oct., 3/6. ‘Translators,’ who cunningly metamorphose … old leather almost into new goods.
b. transf. pl. A ‘translated’ pair of shoes. slang.
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, I. 51/2. To wear a pair of second-hand ones [boots], or ‘translators’ (as they are called), is felt as a bitter degradation.
c. (See quot.)
1884. Knight, Dict. Mech., Supp., Translator,… an instrument whereby one form of energy is converted into another. For instance, the power of a prime motor, say a steam engine, is translated by means of a magneto-electric engine into electricity.
1891. in Cent. Dict.
† 3. One who transfers or transports. Obs.
1545. Joye, Exp. Dan. v. I v b. The changer and translator of kyngedoms and tymes.
1630. Brathwait, Eng. Gentlem. (1641), 53. That translator of the Median Empire to the Persians, victorious Cyrus.
a. 1633. Austin, Medit. (1635), 94. Constantine the Emperor (whom they make a great Translator of Bones) would not let them rest in their Graves.
4. An automatic repeater in long-distance telegraphy. Cf. TRANSLATION 6.
1855. Patent Office Specif., No. 314. The use of translators in connection with submarine cables.
1876. Preece & Sivewright, Telegraphy, iv. § 111. A distance is at last reached where direct working is impossible, and where it becomes necessary … to introduce mechanical repeaters or translators at some intermediate station to bring into play fresh currents.
5. attrib. and Comb.
1885. Pall Mall G., 29 Jan., 4/2. The extraordinary merit of their translator-engravers. Ibid. (1887), 28 Sept., 2/2. [He] has fallen into the clutches of a ‘translator-traitor’ if ever there was one, who has not only corrected no blunder, but added an enormous mass of mistranslations and misprints. Ibid. (1891), 8 Dec., 3/1. A little spurt of undignified and vindictive petulance, a new form of translator-treachery.
Hence Translatorship, the function of a translator (in quot. 1786 humorously with possessive as a title).
1786. Cowper, Lett. to Lady Hesketh, 11 Feb. You must return it [specimen of Homer] … to my translatorship.
1835. Fraser’s Mag., XII. 53. An aspirant for the honours of translatorship.
