Adjacent Words

quartermaster definitions

	Tweet

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: an army officer who provides clothing and subsistence for troops

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 15th century 1. a petty officer who attends to a ship's helm, binnacle, and signals 2. an army officer who provides clothing and subsistence for a body of troops

Britannica Concise

Officer who oversees arrangements for the quartering and movement of troops. The office dates at least to the 15th cent. in Europe. The French minister of war under Louis XIV created a quartermaster general's department that dotted the countryside with strategically located stockpiles of food, forage, ammunition, and equipment. By the 18th cent. his duties in some European countries included coordinating marches and deployments and drafting operational orders; in the U.S. he remained a specialized administrative and logistical functionary until 1962, when the Quartermaster Corps was absorbed by other agencies.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a regimental officer in charge of quartering, rations, etc. 2 a naval petty officer in charge of steering, signals, etc. Phrases and idioms: Quartermaster General the head of the army department in charge of quartering etc. quartermaster sergeant a sergeant assisting an army quartermaster.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Quartermaster Quar"ter*mas`ter, n. [Quarter + master: cf. F. quartier-ma[^i]tre.] 1. (Mil.) An officer whose duty is to provide quarters, provisions, storage, clothing, fuel, stationery, and transportation for a regiment or other body of troops, and superintend the supplies. 2. (Naut.) A petty officer who attends to the helm, binnacle, signals, and the like, under the direction of the master. --Totten. Quartermaster general (Mil.), in the United States a staff officer, who has the rank of brigadier general and is the chief officer in the quartermaster's department; in England, an officer of high rank stationed at the War Office having similar duties; also, a staff officer, usually a general officer, accompanying each complete army in the field. Quartermaster sergeant. See Sergeant.

Moby Thesaurus

OD, boatswain, captain, caterer, chandler, chief engineer, chief mate, commander, commissariat, commissary, deck officer, donor, furnisher, manciple, master, mate, merchant, naval officer, navigating officer, navigator, patron, pipes, provider, provisioner, purveyor, retailer, sailing master, second mate, shipmaster, skipper, steward, stock clerk, storekeeper, supplier, sutler, the Old Man, victualer, vivandier, watch officer