Library / English Dictionary |
PROTECTOR
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A person who cares for persons or property
Synonyms:
defender; guardian; protector; shielder
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("protector" is a kind of...):
preserver (someone who keeps safe from harm or danger)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "protector"):
admonisher; monitor; reminder (someone who gives a warning so that a mistake can be avoided)
bodyguard; escort (someone who escorts and protects a prominent person)
champion; fighter; hero; paladin (someone who fights for a cause)
chaperon; chaperone (one who accompanies and supervises a young woman or gatherings of young people)
custodian; keeper; steward (one having charge of buildings or grounds or animals)
fire-eater; fire fighter; firefighter; fireman (a member of a fire department who tries to extinguish fires)
foster-parent; foster parent (a person who acts as parent and guardian for a child in place of the child's natural parents but without legally adopting the child)
guard (a person who keeps watch over something or someone)
keeper (someone in charge of other people)
law officer; lawman; peace officer (an officer of the law)
patron saint (a saint who is considered to be a defender of some group or nation)
peacekeeper (someone who keeps peace)
tribune ((ancient Rome) an official elected by the plebeians to protect their interests)
watchdog (a guardian or defender against theft or illegal practices or waste)
Derivation:
protect (shield from danger, injury, destruction, or damage)
protectorship (the position of protector)
Context examples:
My attention at this time was solely directed towards my plan of introducing myself into the cottage of my protectors.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
My daughter Dora having, unhappily, no mother, Miss Murdstone is obliging enough to become her companion and protector.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
“Who should know it better than we?” said Don Pedro bitterly, “since we have had to fly to you in our trouble as to the natural protector of all who are weak.”
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Being one day abroad with my protector the sorrel nag, and the weather exceeding hot, I entreated him to let me bathe in a river that was near.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
And, best of all, I felt myself the protector of my loved one.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
I love you better now, when I can really be useful to you, than I did in your state of proud independence, when you disdained every part but that of the giver and protector.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Safie was always gay and happy; she and I improved rapidly in the knowledge of language, so that in two months I began to comprehend most of the words uttered by my protectors.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
I said he was my dearest friend, the protector of my boyhood, and the companion of my prime.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
The protector had become the protected, and the whole fabric of the feudal system was tottering to a fall.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
And I have reason to believe they had some imagination that I was of their own species, which I often assisted myself by stripping up my sleeves, and showing my naked arms and breasts in their sight, when my protector was with me.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)