usher

 
Pronunciation: /ˈʌʃə/

noun

  • 1a person who shows people to their seats, especially in a cinema or theatre or at a wedding.
  • British a person employed to walk before a person of high rank on special occasions.
  • 2an official in a law court whose duties include swearing in jurors and witnesses and keeping order.
  • 3 archaic an assistant teacher.

verb

[with object and adverbial of direction]
  • 1show or guide (someone) somewhere: a waiter ushered me to a table
  • 2 (usher something in) cause or mark the start of something new: the railways ushered in an era of cheap mass travel

Origin:

late Middle English (denoting a doorkeeper): from Anglo-Norman French usser, from medieval Latin ustiarius, from Latin ostiarius, from ostium 'door'