Dressor

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who prepares, trims or finishes materials such as stone, leather or meat ; a tool used to shape, true or smooth a surface like a grinding wheel
2. One who readies or refines raw material like stone, hide or meat ; an implement employed to shape or level a working surface such as a millstone
3. A worker who cuts, trims or finishes materials before use ; a device for truing or smoothing the face of an abrasive wheel or similar surface

Etymology: The verb "dress" once meant simply "to make straight." It comes via Old French "dresser" from Latin "directus," "straight," the same root that gives "direct." Its sense of putting something in order then widened to preparing things, such as cutting and finishing stone, leather, or cloth, and that is the sense behind this noun. A dressor is the person who does that finishing work, trimming or shaping material so it is even and ready for use. The ending "-or" is the common English agent suffix, borrowed from Latin, that turns a verb into the name of the person who performs it. Dressers are not the same as the furniture "dresser," a sideboard for displaying dishes, which is a separate word with its own history.

Synonyms: dresser