maitre d'hotel

A form of maître d'hôtel — Synonym of maître d' (“headwaiter”).

Meanings

nounmaitre d'hotel (plural maitres d'hotel)

plural maitres d'hotel

  1. alternativeAlternative spelling of maître d'hôtel.

    We have a Maitre d’Hotel, or Steward — A Cook who has under him, two Scullions — Moozhiks.

    1810 December, John Quincy Adams, “1809–1814: St. Petersburg”, in David Waldstreicher, editor, Diaries, volume I (1779–1821), New York, N.Y.: The Library of America, published 2017, →ISBN, page 195
    5 more examples

    Julius Vanice, the maitre d’hotel of the Pennsylvania, New York City, came to that position from the Detroit Statler.

    1920, The Hotel World: The Hotel and Travelers Journal, volume 90, →OCLC, page 47, column 2

    I never got seated. 1 stood in the entrance half an hour, bypassed again and again by a maitre d’hotel who had clearly been through all this many times before. Walking to a seat, I realized, would gain me nothing. No waiter would take my order.

    1963 April, Robert Silverberg, “To See the Invisible Man”, in Frederik Pohl, editor, Worlds of Tomorrow, volume 1, number 1, New York, N.Y.: The Barmaray Co., Inc., →ISSN, page 155, column 1

    Avignon was a friend of cops who knew he would make them look good in the papers, and loved by bribable maitres d’hotel who he paid well for tips about when Cher was around with her latest lover.

    1992 March, Michael Jahn, “Fireflies Across the Graveyard”, in City of God (A Lieutenant Bill Donovan Mystery), New York, N.Y.: Thomas Dunne Books, →ISBN, page 49

    The manager pushed his waiter aside, grabbed some menus, draped a linen napkin over his arm, and with the flair of a maitre d’hotel, escorted us to a prominent table.

    2016, Jerry Eckert, “‘If I Have Served My People - - -’”, in Weeping Kings and Wild Boars: Moments of Magic and Sorrow in Forty Years Trying to Save the World, Fort Collins, Colo.: Hot Chocolate Press, →ISBN, page 144

    Little wonder, then, that despite Sir Isidore’s interest in popular catering, Westminster’s cookery courses were concerned solely with haute cuisine while anyone wishing to become a waiter aimed to be a maitre d’hotel.

    2016, Miles Quest, Jim Cartwright, “[Between the wars – and into wartime] Who was doing the training?”, in Service on a Plate: The Story of Contract Catering, Gravesend, Kent: H2O Publishing, →ISBN, page 20

Synonyms & antonyms

nouna dining-room attendant who is in charge of the waiters and the seating of customers

Broader
dining-room attendantrestaurant attendant

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Cite this entry
APA

maitre d'hotel. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/maitre%20d'hotel

MLA

“maitre d'hotel.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/maitre%20d'hotel. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “maitre d'hotel,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/maitre%20d'hotel.

Source: maitre d'hotel on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.