setter

What it means

1. A typesetter.

   Any query to the setter is required to be addressed as such (e.g., "Setter: Please check"); otherwise it will be treated as a query to the author.

   Synonyms: compositor

2. One who sets something, such as a challenge or an examination.

   The exam was so hard we assumed the question setter must have been in a bad mood.

   3 more examples

   The setter of this crossword has been known to throw us all for a loop occasionally.

   In this sample, twenty of the twenty-seven fire setters received a primary or secondary diagnosis of conduct disorder, compared with only eleven of twenty-seven nonsetters.

   2000, Rita Wicks-Nelson, Allen C. Israel, Behavior Disorders of Childhood, page 188

   One of the most admired and best-known crossword setters in the English language, Graham was known for his idiosyncratic style and extended anagrams.

   2013 November 26, John Plunkett, “Rev John Graham, aka crossword setter Araucaria, dies aged 92”, in The Guardian

3. Any of several long-haired breeds of hunting dog that set when they have scented game.

   She has a spaniel and a red setter.

   1 more example

   The two Gordon setters came obediently to heel. Sir Oswald Feiling winced as he turned to go home. He had felt a warning twinge of lumbago.

   1931, Francis Beeding, “7/2”, in The Norwich Victims

In a sentence

Any query to the setter is required to be addressed as such (e.g., "Setter: Please check"); otherwise it will be treated as a query to the author.

Where it comes from

1. Proto-Indo-European*sed-
2. Proto-Indo-European*sodéyeti
3. Proto-Germanic*satjaną
4. Proto-West Germanic*sattjan
5. Old Englishsettan
6. Middle Englishsetten
7. Middle Englishsettere
8. Englishsetter

From Middle English settere, equivalent to set + -er. Compare West Frisian setter, Dutch zetter, German Low German Setter, German Setzer. The hunting dogs are so named because when they scent the game, they set (that is, strike a certain stance).