purveyor

Meaning

1. One who purveys (“furnishes, provides; gets, procures”); a supplier; specifically, one in the business of supplying food or other necessary material goods; a provisioner.
2. (UK, historical) One who purveys (“furnishes, provides; gets, procures”); a supplier; specifically, one in the business of supplying food or other necessary material goods; a provisioner.
3. (figuratively) A person or group that promotes or spreads an idea, a viewpoint, etc.
4. (obsolete) One who arranges or prepares something; an arranger, an orchestrator, a preparer.

Synonyms

supplier

provider

procurer

caterer

furnisher

grocer

outfitter

provisioner

securer

shopkeeper

storekeeper

victualler

acquirer

going about one’s business

bringer

business

expediter

Translations

fournisseur

Lieferant

proveedor

fornitore

fornecedor

προμηθευτής

satıcı

subministrador

leverancier

مورد

pourvoyeur

Ausstatter

Anbieterin

Auftragnehmer

Pronounced as (IPA)

/pə(ɹ)ˈveɪə(ɹ)/

Etymology

From Middle English purveiour (“one who procures or supplies necessities, provider; city, military, religious, or household employee in charge of provisions, steward; one in charge, overseer; one who goes ahead to prepare the way, forerunner; one who arranges accommodations for a traveller; (figurative) one who gathers greedily”), from Anglo-Norman purveour, Middle French pourveur, pourvoyeur, and (chiefly Northern) Old French purveour (“one who procures or supplies necessities or things in general; one who arranges or prepares something”) (modern French pourvoyeur), from porveoir, purveer, purveir (“to equip, furnish, provide, purvey; to foresee; to look at; to obtain, procure”) (modern French pourvoir) + -or (suffix forming agent nouns). Porveoir is derived from Latin prōvidēre, the present active infinitive of prōvideō (“to care for, look after; to foresee; to provide, see to”), from prō- (prefix meaning ‘before; forward’) + videō (“to see; to look out for, care for, provide, see to”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see”)). By surface analysis, purvey + -or (suffix forming agent nouns denoting people or things which do the actions denoted by the stems). Doublet of proveditor and provedore.