Dictionary

lector en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈlɛktə(ɹ)/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Middle English lector, lectoure, lectour, from Late Latin lēctor, from legō (“to read”). “Voice-over” sense probably adapted from Polish lektor. Doublet of lecture and lecturer.

Meanings

1. A lay person who reads aloud certain religious texts in a church service.
2. A public lecturer or reader at some universities.
3. (US, historical, qualifier:cigar industry) A person who reads aloud to workers to entertain them, appointed by a trade union.
   • Its lyrical, poetic flights seem much more at home in the romantic musings of two sisters competing for the attention of the new, handsome lector, a man hired to read stories to workers in a Florida cigar factory, who might otherwise be mesmerized by the repetitive boredom of their jobs. 2004 October 27, D. J. R. Bruckner, “New Inflections and Nuance in a Florida Cigar Factory”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
4. A person doing voice-over translation of foreign films, especially in Eastern European countries.
   • The Hungarian viewer of The Colbert Report wants to experience authentic American comedy, and the lector—like an interpreter performing chuchotage at a high-level meeting of heads of state—serves primarily as a check on the viewer's grasp of the real thing. 2011, David Bellos, chapter 12, in Is that a Fish in Your Ear?:

Forms

Deriveds

lectorship · lectress · caveat lector · archlector

Relateds

lecture · lection · lectionary · lectern

Translations (12)

bg лектор (public lecturer or reader) · it lettrice (lay person who reads aloud certain religious texts) · vi thầy đọc sách (lay person who reads aloud certain religious texts) · id lektor (lay person who reads aloud certain religious texts) · vi thầy đọc kinh (lay person who reads aloud certain religious texts) · pt leitora (lay person who reads aloud certain religious texts) · it lettore (lay person who reads aloud certain religious texts) · vi người đọc kinh (lay person who reads aloud certain religious texts) · cmn 咏者 (lay person who reads aloud certain religious texts) · bg четец (lay person who reads aloud certain religious texts) · pt leitor (lay person who reads aloud certain religious texts) · vi thừa tác viên Lời Chúa (lay person who reads aloud certain religious texts)

lector en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /ˈlɛktə(ɹ)/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Middle English lector, lectoure, lectour, from Late Latin lēctor, from legō (“to read”). “Voice-over” sense probably adapted from Polish lektor. Doublet of lecture and lecturer.

Meanings

1. To perform service as a lector in a religious context.
2. To do a voice-over translation of a film.
   • How much of Colbert's political satire can be truly grasped by a Hungarian viewer of a lectored episode is slightly beside the point: something gets through. 2011, David Bellos, chapter 12, in Is that a Fish in Your Ear?:

Forms