Rehearser

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who practices a speech, play, song, or other performance in advance to prepare for a public presentation
2. Someone who goes through the motions of an event or routine beforehand to ensure readiness when it matters
3. One who repeats or drills through material multiple times before delivering it in front of an audience

Etymology: "Rehearser" is a straightforward formation: the verb "rehearse" with the agent suffix "-er" attached, giving the sense of someone who rehearses. The suffix has a longer pedigree than the verb itself. It descends from Latin "-arius", which marked a person connected with a trade or activity, and it reached English by way of Old French "-ier" and Middle English "-er". Old English "-ere" was already doing similar work in words like "baecere" (baker), so English speakers have been attaching this ending to verbs and nouns for centuries. The verb "rehearse" itself goes back to Anglo-Norman and Old French "rehercier", meaning to harrow again, from "re-" (again) and "hercier" (to harrow). The sense of repeating something aloud to practise it developed later, from the notion of going over ground again. The noun "rehearser" is therefore a modern-day combination of an old Germanic-Latin suffix with a verb that has, in its own history, moved from farm labour to the stage.

Synonyms: practitioner, performer, rehearser