absentee
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: absentée
Contents
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
absentee (plural absentees)
- A person who is absent from his or her employment, school, post, duty, etc. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.][1]
- (chiefly UK, historical) A landholder who lives in another district or country than the one in which his estate is situated. [First attested in the early 17th century.][1]
- 1840, Lord Byron, "Letter 374: to Mr. Moore (24 May 1820)," in The Works of Lord Byron: With His Letters and Journals, and His Life, John Murray (London), page 317:
- My trustees are going to lend Earl Blessington sixty thousand pounds (at six per cent.) on a Dublin mortgage. Only think of my becoming an Irish absentee!
- 1840, Lord Byron, "Letter 374: to Mr. Moore (24 May 1820)," in The Works of Lord Byron: With His Letters and Journals, and His Life, John Murray (London), page 317:
- One that is nonextistent or lacking.
- A voter that is not present at the time of voting; absentee voter. [First attested in the early 20th century.][1]
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
A person who is absent
A landholder who lives in another district or country than the one in which his estate is situated
Adjective[edit]
absentee (not comparable)
- (attributive) Pertaining to one that is absent. [First attested in the mid 19th century.][1]
References[edit]
- “absentee” in An American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster, 1828.
- absentee in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- “absentee” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Lesley Brown (editor), The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition (Oxford University Press, 2003 [1933], ISBN 978-0-19-860575-7), page 8
