The Collaborative International Dictionary
maitre d'hotel \mai`tre d'ho*tel"\, maitre d'hotel \ma[^i]`tre d'h[^o]*tel`\(m[=a]"t[~e]r d[=o]*t[e^]l" or m[=a]"tr[u^] d[=o]*t[e^]l"); pl. maitres d'hotel. n.
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A headwaiter.
Syn: captain, head waiter.
The manager or owner of a hotel.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1530s, "head domestic," from French maître d'hôtel, literally "house-master," from Old French maistre "master; skilled worker, educator" (12c.), from Latin magistrum (see magistrate). Sense of "hotel manager, manager of a dining room" is from 1890. Shortened form maître d' is attested from 1942; simple maitre from 1899.
WordNet
n. a diningroom attendant who is in charge of the waiters and the seating of customers [syn: captain, headwaiter, maitre d']
Usage examples of "maitre d'hotel".
Once there, he stood in the line waiting before the maitre d'hotel's table.
The air was warm and it was only halfway through the t meal when one of the women diners, who wore a sleeveless dress and a decollete, commented to the maitre d'hotel that a chill had entered:' the air that the windows were closed.
And then I opened the first box, the second and the third, and I knew exactly how the same gourmet would have felt if, while still adjusting his napkin, the maitre d'hotel had come along and told him that the shop was shut for the night.
The maitre d'hotel bowed and turned, leading them through the half-open dark oak doors and past a false leaded glass window showing the first landing at Camelot, framed by deep maroon velvet hangings.