orator
nounUK /ˈɒ.ɹə.tə(ɹ)/ · New-York-City /ˈɑɹ.ə.tɚ/
Etymology From Middle English oratour, from Anglo-Norman oratour, from Latin ōrātor.
1
Someone who orates or delivers an oration.
2
A skilled and eloquent public speaker.
- Tam[burlaine]. Then ſhall we fight couragiouſlye with them? Or looke you, I ſhould play the Orator? Tech[elles]. No: cowards and faint-hearted runawaies, Looke for orations when the foe is neere. Our ſwordes shall play the Orators for vs.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:
- […] when it becomes obvious that I have not the slightest skill as a speaker – unless, of course, by skilful speaker they mean one who speaks the truth. If that is what they mean, I would agree that I am an orator, though not after their pattern.1954, Plato, translated by Hugh Tredennick, “Socrates on Trial: The Apology”, in The Last Days of Socrates (Penguin Classics), Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, →OCLC, page 19:
3
Obsolete Someone sent to speak for someone else; an envoy, a messenger.
4
Obsolete A petitioner, a supplicant.
- Synonyms
- speaker
- Derived terms
- oratorize, oratorlike, oratorship, oratory, oratress, public orator, stump orator