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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
arbiter
noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
final
▪ The party has the right of appeal to the Secretary of State who is the final arbiter.
▪ Science is the final arbiter and a self-correcting process in the development of trustworthy knowledge.
▪ But he is, none the less, the head of the family, the final arbiter.
▪ That was the key - the final arbiter of success or failure.
▪ The Houses of Parliament are also the final arbiters of the tenure of office of judges of the Supreme Court.
▪ Who will be the final arbiter?
■ VERB
become
▪ After Newcastle died in 1768 it was the latter who became the arbiters of the county's taste and public behaviour.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Many a western arbiter of taste frowned upon the above paintings when in the form of gilt-framed reproductions.
▪ Once again the United States seemed to be the arbiter of war and peace in the Middle East.
▪ That was the key - the final arbiter of success or failure.
▪ The best sort of customers were important in themselves but they were more important as the arbiters of social fashion.
▪ The Houses of Parliament are also the final arbiters of the tenure of office of judges of the Supreme Court.
▪ The real arbiters of fashion at the Super Show are the retailers.
▪ Though everybody pays lip service to performance, politics is often the ultimate arbiter of their fate.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Arbiter

Arbiter \Ar"bi*ter\, n. [L. arbiter; ar- (for ad) + the root of betere to go; hence properly, one who comes up to look on.]

  1. A person appointed, or chosen, by parties to determine a controversy between them.

    Note: In modern usage, arbitrator is the technical word.

  2. Any person who has the power of judging and determining, or ordaining, without control; one whose power of deciding and governing is not limited.

    For Jove is arbiter of both to man.
    --Cowper.

    Syn: Arbitrator; umpire; director; referee; controller; ruler; governor.

Arbiter

Arbiter \Ar"bi*ter\, v. t. To act as arbiter between. [Obs.]

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
arbiter

late 14c., from Old French arbitre or directly from Latin arbiter "one who goes somewhere (as witness or judge)," in classical Latin used of spectators and eye-witnesses, in law, "he who hears and decides a case, a judge, umpire, mediator;" from ad- "to" (see ad-) + baetere "to come, go." The specific sense of "one chosen by two disputing parties to decide the matter" is from 1540s. The earliest form of the word attested in English is the fem. noun arbitress (mid-14c.) "a woman who settles disputes."

Wiktionary
arbiter

n. 1 A person appointed, or chosen, by parties to determine a controversy between them; an arbitrator. 2 {{context|with (term of English)|lang=en}} A person or object having the power of judge and determining, or ordaining, without control; one whose power of deciding and governing is not limited. 3 (context electronics English) A component in circuitry that allocates scarce resources. vb. (context transitive English) To act as arbiter.

WordNet
arbiter
  1. n. someone with the power to settle matters at will; "she was the final arbiter on all matters of fashion" [syn: supreme authority]

  2. someone chosen to judge and decide a disputed issue [syn: arbitrator]

Wikipedia
Arbiter

An arbiter or arbitrator is a person by whose decision the parties to a dispute agree to be bound in arbitration.

Arbiter may refer to:

Arbiter (Halo)

In the Halo science fiction universe, the Arbiter is a ceremonial, religious, and political rank bestowed upon alien Covenant Elites. In the 2004 video game Halo 2, the rank is given to a disgraced commander as a way to atone for his failures. Although the Arbiter is intended to die serving the Covenant leadership, the High Prophets, he survives his missions and the Prophets' subsequent betrayal of his kind. When he learns that the Prophets' plans would doom all sentient life in the galaxy to extinction, the Arbiter allies with the Covenant's enemies—humanity—and stops the ringworld Halo from being activated. The Arbiter is a playable character in Halo 2 and its 2007 sequel Halo 3; a different Arbiter appears in the 2009 real-time strategy game Halo Wars, which takes place 20 years before the events of the main trilogy.

The appearance of the Arbiter in Halo 2 and the change in perspective from the main human protagonist Master Chief to a former enemy was a plot twist Halo developer Bungie kept highly secret. The character's name was changed from " Dervish" after concerns that the name reinforced a perceived United States-versus- Islam allegory in the game's plot. Award-winning actor Keith David lends his voice to the character in Halo 2, 3 and 5, while David Sobolov voices the Arbiter of Halo Wars.

The Arbiter has appeared in three series of action figures and other collectibles and marketing in addition to appearances in the games. Bungie intended the sudden point of view switch to a member of the Covenant as a plot twist that no one would have seen coming, but the character in particular and the humanization of the Covenant in general was not evenly received by critics and fans. Computer and Video Games derided the Arbiter's missions as "crap bits" in Halo 2. Conversely, IGN lamented the loss of the Arbiter's story in Halo 3 and missed the added dimension the character provided to the story.

Arbiter (electronics)

Arbiters are electronic devices that allocate access to shared resources.

Usage examples of "arbiter".

Congressional legislation, thus affords some protection from state legislation inimical to the national commerce, and that in such cases, where Congress has not acted, this Court, and not the state legislature, is under the commerce clause the final arbiter of the competing demands of state and national interests.

Anthony Pelletier, the doyenne of Hobe Sound, was the arbiter of all social d.

Like all girls, you spend your time fawning over the harridans who have established themselves as arbiters of taste.

In my own land I was the son of the hereditary gerefa, the local arbiter of the law, but I wanted to know more.

Beaumont in the annals of Ironwood Ranch, and that my transgression, however minor, would be duly reported to Louise Crenshaw, the final arbiter of client affairs.

In 1861 he accepted the post of Arbiter of the Peace, a magistrature that had been introduced to supervise the carrying into life of the Emancipation Act.

Alys Vorpatril was widely acknowledged as the premier social arbiter of Vorbarr Sultana, not least because of her frequent duties at the Imperial Residence as official welcomer for wifeless, motherless, sisterless Emperor Gregor.

The visitor from the night was in the presence of Yat Soon, the arbiter of Chinatown.

I, Yat Soon the arbiter, would then declare that you, The Shadow, had been an instrument in its return.

As arbiter of Chinatown, Yat Soon was well acquainted with the devious motives that actuated those within the boundaries of the Oriental district.

But Yat Soon had received no word from The Shadow since that one visit in which the arbiter had given his veiled approval of the quest for the Joss.

He was experiencing that tactful treatment which had enabled Yat Soon to gain his fame as arbiter.

CHAPTER XII THE CRAFT OF DOCTOR TAM WHILE Yat Soon, the arbiter, was still pondering on the facts presented by the mandarin, Shan Kwan, two men were guarding the Fate Joss in its obscure abode.

How did the millisecond electronic decision-making inside the telephone switch become a nationwide arbiter of resources?

Dionusos, as Sovereign of Nature, or the sensuous world personified, is official Arbiter of the Mysteries, and guide of the soul, which he introduces into the body and dismisses from it.