cellarman

cellarman

English

Etymology

cellar +‎ -man

Noun

cellarman (plural cellarmen)

1. A person in charge of the alcoholic drinks (traditionally the wine cellar) in a tavern etc.
   • 1815, William Berry, The History of the Island of Guernsey, London: Longman, Hurst, Bees, Orme and Brown, p. 298,

     The merchant and wealthy shopkeeper here differ widely from the English character:— Immersed in business from morn till night, they dine at one or two, on plain wholesome fare; abstemious to a degree, drink less wine than their cellarmen, and without relaxing from the cares of business—the want of exercise and retirement makes as little impression on their health as their purses.

   • 1923, Ivan Bunin, The Village, translated by Isabel Hapgood, London: Martin Secker, Part One, Chapter XXI, pp. 118-9,

     But on a stool by the counter sat a drunken man with blue, glassy eyes and shiny purplish face, in a round grey-peaked cap topped with a button—the cellarman from the whiskey distillery of Prince Lobanoff.

   • 1933 January 9, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 13, in Down and Out in Paris and London, London: Victor Gollancz […], OCLC 2603818:

     By a rule of the hotel the waiters were not allowed to keep stores of spirits, but had to go to the cellarman for each drink as it was ordered. As the cellarman poured out the drinks he would set aside perhaps a teaspoonful from each glass, and he amassed quantities in this way.