butler

Everyday

1. A butler is the chief male servant in a large, rich house, who looks after the wine, the dining room and the other servants. tree →
2. Butler is also a surname. tree →

In the lessons

In stories and films butlers open doors, serve meals and are often polite and calm; in mystery stories people joke «the butler did it». In history lessons pupils learn about servants in big country houses.

Examples

• The butler opened the front door and bowed. tree →
• In the old house, the butler served dinner. tree →
• Everyone in the mystery suspected the butler. tree →
• The butler polished all the silver. tree →
• Batman's butler is called Alfred. tree →
• The family no longer had a butler. tree →
• Then, clapping her hands, she summoned the chief butler. tree →

Note

Few homes have butlers today. A woman in charge of the servants was usually a «housekeeper».

In Jewish tradition

In Pharaoh's court, the butler was the officer who served the king's wine and cup. The chief butler was in prison with Joseph.

Interpretation. The rabbis said the butler's forgetting Joseph meant Joseph had to wait two more years, because he had trusted a man instead of God.

Examples

• Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgot him. (Torah GEN.40.23, JPS 1917) tree →
• Then spoke the chief butler unto Pharaoh, saying: 'I make mention of my faults this day: (Torah GEN.41.9, JPS 1917) tree →
• And he restored the chief butler back unto his butlership; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand. (Torah GEN.40.21, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Few homes have butlers today. A woman in charge of the servants was usually a «housekeeper».