headwaiter

noun

head·​wait·​er ˈhed-ˈwā-tər How to pronounce headwaiter (audio)
: the head of the dining-room staff of a restaurant or hotel

Examples of headwaiter in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Featured Recipe Mint Julep View Recipe → For dinner after the race, served over a tablecloth: roast beef with potatoes, watercress and Henry Bain sauce, a condiment that came out of Louisville’s Pendennis Club during the 19th century and is named for the headwaiter there who developed it. Sam Sifton, New York Times, 2 May 2025 Or as a headwaiter. Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail.com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. Judith Martin, The Mercury News, 23 Dec. 2024 Assistant headwaiter Eric Matiko makes the best cocktails, like a Highlands buttered rum with rooibos and cinnamon that staves off the chilly evenings. Saumya Ancheri, Condé Nast Traveler, 4 Apr. 2022 Liang Chen, 52, a headwaiter, was setting tables and welcoming his regular customers back as old friends. Anjali Tsui, New York Times, 10 Mar. 2021 Go get the flowers, Casey Kasem.’ She and Tony are the headwaiters. New York Times, 3 Mar. 2020 Many of the notations track information attributed to the headwaiter Leon Gaskill in a 1957 Holiday magazine article, suggesting that Mr. Dewey took his own notes while the reporter interviewed Mr. Gaskill. John Freeman Gill, New York Times, 6 Mar. 2020 According to the Holiday story, the headwaiter was a 51-year veteran of Gage & Tollner at the time, meaning his restaurant memories reached back to the first decade of the 1900s. John Freeman Gill, New York Times, 6 Mar. 2020 The headwaiter looked like a ’tacheless Salvador Dalí and drank a ball of cognac and was sustained. Kevin Barry, Harper's magazine, 28 Oct. 2019

Word History

First Known Use

1714, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of headwaiter was in 1714

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Headwaiter.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/headwaiter. Accessed 25 May. 2025.

Kids Definition

headwaiter

noun
head·​wait·​er -ˈwāt-ər How to pronounce headwaiter (audio)
: the head of the dining-room staff of a restaurant or hotel

More from Merriam-Webster on headwaiter

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!