Commissionaires

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Uniformed attendants who guard the entrance of a hotel, theatre or office building and assist visitors
2. Smartly dressed doormen posted at the door of a hotel, theatre or public building to greet and help people
3. Liveried staff, often former soldiers, who stand at the entrance of a building and direct or assist those who arrive

Etymology: "Commissionaires" is the plural of "commissionaire", a noun borrowed from French, where a "commissionaire" was an agent who carried out orders or transactions on another's behalf. The French word traces back to Latin "commissio", a noun meaning a commission or a charge entrusted to someone, which is the same root that gave English "commission" and, through a different path, "commissioner". That makes "commissionaire" a doublet of "commissioner": two words from one source that entered English by different routes and took on different shades of meaning. In English, the term has been used for uniformed men who guard the doors of hotels, theatres and public buildings, opening doors, hailing cabs and running errands. The sense of a person acting on another's commission, a go-between or agent, is the older idea underneath that later job description.

Synonyms: doorman, porter, concierge