officer 
All the principal ministers of the British crown are popu- 
larly called the great officers of state. VYTTJW 
Kncyc. Brit., XXII. 458. 
3. Used absolutely: (a) One who holds a 
commission in the army or navy. In the army 
general officers are those whose command extends to a body 
of forces composed of several regiments, as generals, lieu- 
tenant-generals, major-generals, and brigadiers. Staf- 
officers belong to the general staff, and include the quar- 
termaster-general, adjutant-general, aides-de-camp, etc. 
Commissioned officers, in the British army, include colonels, 
lieutenant-colonels, and majors (field-officers), and captains, 
lieutenants, and sub-lieutenants (company officers), and are 
appointed by a commission from the crown or from a lord 
lieutenant; in the United States army these hold their com- 
missions from the President, the lowest grade being that 
of second lieutenant. Brevet officers are those who hold a 
nominal rank above that for which they receive pay. Non- 
commissioned officers are usually appointed by the com- 
manding officers of the regiments, and are intermediate 
between commissioned officers and private soldiers, as 
sergeant-majors, quartermaster-sergeants, sergeants, cor- 
porals, and drum- and fife-majors. Officers in the navy 
are distinguished as commissioned officers, holding their 
commissions in the British navy from the lords of the Ad- 
miralty and in the United States navy from the Presi- 
dent ; warrant officers, holding warrants in the British navy 
from the Admiralty, and in the United States navy from 
the Secretary of the Navy, as boatswains, gunners, carpen- 
ters, and sailmakers; and petty officers, appointed by the 
captain or officer commanding the ship. Officers in the 
navy are also classed as line or combatant officers, and staff 
or non-combatant officers, the latter comprising paymasters, 
and medical, commissariat, and other civil officers. See 
Km2, 14. (6) In the law of corporations, one 
who holds an office, such as a director or cash- 
ier, as distinguished from one who is an em- 
ployee, as a bookkeeper. It is disputed whether a 
bank-teller Is properly included in the designation of of- 
ficers or not. The question would often be determined 
by a reference to the charter or by-laws of the particular 
bank. More specifically, in popular use, an officer is an 
executive officer, such as the president, secretary, or trea- 
surer, as distinguished from a member of the board of di- 
rectors or an employee, (c) A policeman, consta- 
ble, or beadle. 
It is no solecism to call a police-constable an officer, al- 
though the chief constable would speak of him as one of 
his "men." A police-constable is a peace officer, with the 
rights and duties of such, and is therefore entitled to be 
styled an officer. N. and Q., 7th ser., VI. 237. 
(d) In some honorary orders, amemberof higher 
rank than the lowest; in the Legion of Honor/, 
the degree next higher than that of chevalier 
or knight. Executive officer. See executive. Gen- 
eral Officer, an officer who commands an army, a division, 
or a brigade ; a general. See def. 3 (o). Marine officer, 
naval officer, etc. See the adjectives. Officer de fac- 
to, in law, a person who by some color of right is in pos- 
session of an office and for the time being performs its du- 
ties with public acquiescence. Hence his acts are gener- 
ally valid as to the public, though he may have no right 
as against the state. Officer de Jure, a person who, pos- 
sessing the legal qualifications, has been lawfully chosen to 
the office in question, and has fulfilled the conditions pre- 
cedent to the performance of its duties. Hence he has a 
right to retain the office and receive its compensation. 
Cooley. Officer of arms, in her. , one of the officials con- 
cerned with heraldry, as a king-at-arms, herald, or pursui- 
vantOfficer of the day, an officer who has charge, for 
the time being, of the guard, prisoners, and police of a mili- 
tary force or camp, and inspects the guard, messes, barracks, 
storehouses, corrals, etc. Officer Of the deck, the offi- 
cer who has charge, for the time being, of the manage- 
ment of a ship. Officer of the guard, a commissioned 
officer who is detailed daily to command the guard. He 
is under the orders of the officer of the day ; he instructs 
the non-commissioned officers and privates of the guard 
in their duties, inspects the reliefs, visits the sentinels, 
and is responsible for the good order and discipline of the 
guard and prisoners, and also for the property they use. 
Officer of the watch. See watch-officer. Orderly 
officer. See orderly. 
officer (of'i-ser), i\ [< officer, .] I.t intrans. 
To minister ; be of service. 
The small store he set on princes and the nobility, unless 
they were officering to the welfare of the community of 
their fellow -men. 
Booke of Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.X ii. 95, Com- 
[mentary. 
II. trans. 1. To furnish with officers; appoint 
officers over. 
These vessels, owned, controlled, and officered by the 
Confederate Government, sailed sometimes under the Brit- 
ish flag. J. R. Soley, Blockade and Cruisers, p. 226. 
2. To serve as officers for. 
Men of education . . . pass certain examinations, pay 
for their own outfit and food, work hard in the army for 
a year, are then dismissed on passing another examination, 
and become available in war chiefly to officer the reserves. 
FortniyhUy Rev., N. S., XLIII. 11. 
Office-seeker (of 'is-se"ker), . One who seeks 
public office. 
official (o-fish'al), a. and n. [< ME. official (n.), 
< OF. official, bfficiel, F. off del = Sp. oficial = 
Pg. official = It. oficiale, ofiziale, uficiale, < LL. 
officialis, of or belonging to duty or office (ML. 
as a noun, an official), < L. officium, duty, office : 
see office.] I. a. 1. Of or pertaining to office 
or the performance of the duties of an office : 
as, official duty; official cares or responsibility. 
4092 
Whose heavy hours were passed with busy men 
In the dull practice of th' official pen. 
Crabbe, Works, IV. 119. 
2. Derived from the proper office or officer, or 
from the proper authority; made or communi- 
cated by virtue of authority; hence, author- 
ized: as, an official statement or report. 3f. 
Performing duties or offices ; rendering useful 
service; ministering. 
The stomach and other parts official unto nutrition. 
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., iii. 2. 
Official arms, in her., arms assumed because represent- 
ing an office or dignity, and impaled or in other way com- 
bined with the paternal arms : thus, a bishop impales the 
arms of his see with his personal arms. 
II. . 1. One who is invested with an office 
of a public nature ; one holding a civil appoint- 
ment : as, a government official; a railway offi- 
cial. 
There shal no jugge imperial, 
Ne bisshop, ne official, 
Done jugement on me. 
Rom. of the Rose, 1. 6420. 
offing 
officiate (o-fish'i-at), v.; pret. and pp. officiated, 
ppr. officiating. [< ML. officiates, pp. of offici- 
are, perform an office, < L. officium, office: see 
office. Of. office, v.] I. intranx. To perform 
official duties ; perform such formal acts, duties, 
or ceremonies as pertain to an office or post ; 
serve. 
On the top of the hill [at Cairo] is the uninhabited con- 
vent of St. Michael, to which a priest goes every Sunday 
to officiate. Pococke, Description of the East, I. 25. 
II. trans. 1. To perform or take part in. 
Household and privat Orisons were not to be officiated 
by Priests ; for neither did public Prayer appertain onely 
to their office. Milton, Eikonoklastes, xxiv. 
2f. To supply ; give out. 
All her number'd stars, that seem to roll 
Spaces incomprehensible . . . merely to officiate light 
Hound this opacous earth. Milton, P. L., viii. 22. 
officiator (o-fish'i-a-tor), n. [< ML. officiator, 
< officiare, "officiate : "see officiate.] One who 
.. v ,..~, .. -~. officiates. 
One of those legislators especially odious to officials- officinal (o-fis'i-nal), a. .and n, = * #*<' 
an independent "large-acred" member. = Sp. oficinal = Pg. officinal = It. officinale, < 
Btrfwer, My Novel, ix. 4. ML. officinalis, of the shop or office, NL. spe- 
The hardest work of all, in one sense, falls on that much- cifically of an apothecary's shop, < L. officina, 
abused official, the Chief Clerk, who has to sit in a public a workshop, laboratory, ML. also office : see 
room, accessible to every one. o /R c j He .] f. . 1. Of or pertaining to a shop or 
X. Schuyler, Amer. Diplomacy p. 16. 
used in a shop or laboratory. Es- 
... I , I i " M < i ! ' ' l v . 1 1 :-M < i lit ai CMIV t-uiiu*. j 
2. In Eng. cedes, laic, a person appointed as pec j a u y _2. of an apothecary's shop: applied 
judge by a bishop, chapter, or archdeacon, to iu pnarmae y to preparations made according 
hear causes in the ecclesiastical courts. to recognized prescriptions; specifically, pre- 
scribed in the pharmacopoaia. Hence 3. In 
hot., used in medicine or the arts. 
II. n. A drug or medicine sold in an apothe- 
cary's shop; specifically, a drug prepared ac- 
officialdom (o-fish'al-dum), n. [< official + 
-dom.] Officials collectively or as a class. 
The language of officialdom is entirely French, indeed, 
thinly cloaked in a departmental disguise of English ter- 
minations. Cornhill Mag., Oct., 1888. 
officialism (o-fish'al-izm), . 
1. Official position; office-holding; public office. 
He is the first Irish leader of whose party no member 
could be tempted by the extravagant salaries with which 
officialism is endowed in Ireland. 
Fortnightly Rev., N. S., XXXIX. 13. 
2. An official system. 
Military officialism everywhere tends to usurp the place 
of civil officialism. II. Spencer, Prin. of Sociol., 266. 
In what relation does His Headship stand to the political 
and social organizations that call themselves Churches, 
and the officialisms they have created ? 
Contemporary Rev., LI. 212. 
3. That view of official position which regards 
office, and the mere discharge of official duty, 
without reference to public or other interests, 
as all-important ; excessive attention to official 
routine and office detail; official strictness or 
stiffness; "red-tapeism." 
The melancholy years at St. Helena, which will, we fear, 
prove only more and more ignoble when officialism allows 
its records to see the light. Westminster Ren., CXXVI. 838. 
4. Perfunctoriness. 
There is necessarily an indefinite amount of unreality 
and officialism in worship i. e., of worship simulated by 
mechanical imitation. Contemporary Rev., L. 15. 
officiality (o-fish-i-al'Uti), n. [< official + -ity.] 
Same as officially. Hume. 
officialize (o-fisb'al-Iz), v. t. ; pret. and pp. offi- 
cialized, ppr. officializing. [< official + -ize.] 
To render official in character. 
officially (o-fish'al-i), adv. 1. In an official ca- 
pacity ; as an official : as, I am not officially cog- 
nizant of the matter ; officially connected with 
some undertaking. 2. By the proper officer, 
or in accordance with official requirements; 
duly and formally, as by an official : as, accounts 
or reports officially verified; persons officially 
notified. 
, cording to the pharmacopoaia. 
[< offleta*+ -WH.] O ffi c i net (of'i-sin), n. [< OF. officine, offecine = 
Sp. oficina = Pg. It. officina, a shop, laboratory, 
apothecary's shop, < L. officina, a shop, labora- 
tory, ML. also office, NL. an apothecary's shop, 
contr. of opificina, < opifex (opific-), a worker, 
mechanic, < opus, work, + facere, do: see opus 
and/acf, and cf. office.] A workshop or labora- 
tory. Fuller. 
officious i 
officiosus, dutiful, obliging, < officium, service, 
duty : see office.] 1 . Doing or ready to do kind 
offices; attentive; courteous and obliging; 
hence, friendly, in a general sense. 
To whom they would haue bin officious helpers in build- 
ing of the Temple. Pvrchas, Pilgrimage, p. 151. 
Ask how you did, and often, with intent 
Of being officious, be impertinent. 
Donne, Expostulation. 
2. Having a bearing on or connection with 
official duties, but not formally official. 
Old diplomatists must know the difference between an 
officious and an official conversation. The first is the free 
interchange of opinions between two ministers, and it com- 
promises neither ; the latter would do so, and would bind 
their Governments. Diary of Lord Malmeslmry, quoted in 
[N. and Q., 7th ser., VI. 65. 
3. Forward in tendering services; zealous in 
interposing uninvited in the affairs of others; 
meddling; obtrusive. 
You are too officious 
In her behalf that scorns your services. 
Shak., M. N. D., iii. 2. 330. 
I have a traveler's dislike to officious ciceroni. 
Irving, Alhambra, p. 53. 
Officious will, a will by which a testator leaves his prop- 
erty to his family. Wharton. = Syn. 3. Impertinent, Offi- 
cious (see impertinent) ; Active, Busy, etc. (see active); 
meddlesome, obtrusive, interfering, intermeddling, prag- 
matical. 
It. Dutifully; 
Trusting only upon our Saviour, we act wisely and justly, 
gratefully and officiously. Barrow. 
Officially (o-fish'al-ti), n. [< official + -ty.] officiously (o-fish'us-li), adv 
Eecles.: (a) The charge or office of an official, with proper service. 
Ayliffe. (&) The court or jurisdiction of which 
an official is head, (c) The building in which 
an ecclesiastical court or other deliberative or 
governing body assembles, or has its official 
seat ; a chapter-house : as, the officially of the 
Cathedral of Sens in France. Also officiality. 
officiant (o-fish'i-ant), n. [< ML. offician(t-)s, 
ppr. of officiare, officiate : see officiate.] Eecles., 
one who officiates at or conducts a religious 
service ; one who administers a sacrament or 
celebrates the eucharist. 
Celebrant" is also used 
2f. Kindly ; with solicitous care. 
We came much fatigued to a village where they very of- 
ficiously supplied us with fewel, and provided a plentiful 
supper, without expecting any return. 
Pococke, Description of the East, II. ii. 82. 
3. In a forward or obtrusive manner; with 
importunate forwardness ; meddlingly. 
The family . . . shook him heartily by the hand, while 
little Dick officiously reached him a chair. 
Goldsmith, Vicar, ri. 
other solemn offices, such as vespers. Caih. ~D&t., p. 132. officiousnesS (o-fish'us-nes), . The character 
officiary (o-fish'i-a-ri), a. [< ML. officiarivs, < of being officious; readiness or eagerness to 
L. officium, office: see office, officer.] 1. Re- render unsolicited service; well-intentioned 
lating to an office ; official. [Bare.] meddlesomeness; superserviceableness. 
Some sheriff s were hereditary and some officiary and had officium (o-fish'i-um), H. See office, 10 (6). 
jurisdiction over the counties. offing (6f'ing), . [< off + -ing 1 .] That part 
Pilkinffton, Derbyshire, II. 11. of tne open yjgible sea that is remote from the 
2f. Subservient; subordinate. Heylin (1600- shore, beyond the anchoring-ground, or beyond 
1662). (Davits.) the mid-line between the shore and the horizon. 
for the chief officiant at 
