groom of the stool
/ˈɡɹum əv ðə ˈstul/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.27 in modern English
24
Scrabble Score
15
Letters
2
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
name
Originally an official responsible for helping the English monarch use the toilet; later a senior official who was allowed access to the monarch's privy chamber and served as a personal secretary.
British usage
name
Alternative letter-case form of Groom of the Stool.
Example Sentences
- "Holonym: royal household"
- "The leſſer Corporations were [...] his Majeſties gratuities to the Lord of, &c. Marqueſs, &c. Q[ueen] Mother, Lady Nurſe, Groom of the ſtool, that is, the Cloſe ſtool, whether King or Queen (high and advantageous honours) and this diſcended to outlandiſh, as in Land commodities; yea, to pins and brooms; and it was ſaid, to Rags for paper, and Marrow-bones for Kitchin-ſtuff, or greaſe; [...]"
- "The King hath thirteen Gentlemen of the Bed-Chamber, who conſiſt uſually of the Prime Nobility of England, whereof the firſt is call'd Groom of the Stool [...] The meaning is a Groom or Servant of the Robe or Veſtment. He hath the Office and Honour to put on his Majeſties Shirt every morning, and to order the things of the Bed-Chamber[.]"
- "[T]he Statute enjoyns the Clergy-man to be reſident in and upon his Living, that is, his Parſonage or Vicarage-Houſe, if he have any, and not at any other Houſe in the Pariſh; [...] But the Chaplains of the Chancellor of the Dutchy, Augmentations, Firſt-fruits, Maſter of the Wards, Surveyor General, Treaſurer of the Chamber and Augmentations, and Groom of the Stool, are to be Reſident twice in a year at leaſt, Eight days at each time: [...]"
- "MONTMORENCY (Anne de) firſt baron, peer, mareſchal, high-ſteward, conſtable of France; knight of St. Michael, and of the garter, groom of the ſtool, and governor of Languedoc, &c. was ſecond ſon to William lord of Montmorency."
- "The Queen then rises and goes to the faldstool, at which she is to be anointed and crowned, placed between King Edward's chair and the steps of the altar, where the Groom of the Stool to her Majesty (with the two Ladies of her Bedchamber) take off her rich circlet or coronet; when the Queen kneels down, and the Archbishop pours the holy oil on the crown of her head, in the form of a cross, using these words, "In the name of the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost, let the anointing of this oil increase thine honour," &c."
Etymology
From groom (“officer of the English royal household”) + of + the + (close-)stool (“a chamber pot enclosed in a stool or box”).
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈɡɹum əv ðə ˈstul/
- British English: /ˈɡɹuːm əv ðə ˈstuːl/
Usage
- British usage
Inflected Forms
Frequently Paired Words
Synonyms
Groom of the Stole