intendant

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in·ten·dant

(ĭn-tĕn′dənt)

1. An administrative official serving a French, Spanish, or Portuguese monarch.

2. A district administrator in some countries of Latin America.

[French, from Old French, administrator, from Latin intendēns, intendent-, present participle of intendere, to intend; see intend.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

intendant

(ɪnˈtɛndənt)

1. (Historical Terms) history a provincial or colonial official of France, Spain, or Portugal

2. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) a senior administrator in some countries, esp in Latin America

3. a superintendent or manager

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

in•tend•ant

(ɪnˈtɛn dənt)

n.

1. a person who directs a public business; superintendent.

2. an administrator serving under the French, Spanish, or Portuguese monarchies.

3. a district administrator in Latin America.

[1645–55; < French < Latin intendere]

Translations

intendant

n → Intendant(in) m(f)

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

References in classic literature ?

Meanwhile the cradle continued to float peacefully along the canal till, on the outskirts of the royal gardens, it was suddenly perceived by the intendant, one of the highest and most respected officials in the kingdom.

The gardener did as he was bid, and soon placed the cradle in the hands of the intendant.

The wife accepted the baby with joy, and though the intendant saw quite well that it must have come from the royal palace, he did not think it was his business to inquire further into the mystery.

The following year another prince was born and sent adrift, but happily for the baby, the intendant of the gardens again was walking by the canal, and carried it home as before.

Like its brothers, it was found by the intendant of the gardens, and adopted by him and his wife, and all three were brought up with the greatest care and tenderness.

The intendant was careful to bring them up as befitted their real rank, and soon appointed a tutor to teach the young princes how to read and write.

In order to set off these accomplishments, the intendant resolved that his foster children should not be pent up any longer in the narrow borders of the palace gardens, where he had always lived, so he bought a splendid country house a few miles from the capital, surrounded by an immense park.

When everything was ready, the intendant threw himself at the Sultan's feet, and after referring to his age and his long services, begged his Highness's permission to resign his post.

Five or six months passed away in the pleasures of the country, when death attacked the intendant so suddenly that he had no time to reveal the secret of their birth to his adopted children, and as his wife had long been dead also, it seemed as if the princes and the princess would never know that they had been born to a higher station than the one they filled.

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He could already see the intendant's beaming smile change to a contortion of grief.

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"What relation are you to Intendant General Kiril Andreevich Denisov?" asked Kutuzov, interrupting him.

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Mouston, whose personal corpulency, quite enough at any time to hide one man from another, was effectually doubled by a scarlet coat which the intendant was holding up for his master's inspection, by the sleeves, that he might the better see it all over.