delineator

Noun

delineator (plural delineators)

1. One who, or that which, delineates.
   • Each bureucratic entity seems to have two faces in its operation: one is that of a delineator of public interests in its jurisdiction, and the other is that of an agent representing the interests of its constituents vis-a-vis the other interests in the bureaucratic coordinating processes...1988, Masahiko Aoki, Information, Incentives and Bargaining in the Japanese Economy, page 263
   • For example, in many situations the imperative of tension and a delineator of conflict may require that the hero be captured.2005, M. C. Lyons, The Arabian Epic: Volume 1, Introduction, page 75
   1. A road safety marker that indicates where traffic should go.
      • In fact, there is practically no change in the detection distances for the three lateral offset distances until the driver comes to within 400 feet of the first flexible post delineator.1986, Helmut T. Zwahlen, Optimization of Post Delineator Height and Spacing, page 29
      • Delineators may also be considered as an alternative to illumination. The color of the delineators should be the same as the color of the pavement markings they supplement.2003, Travel Better, Travel Longer, page 16
   2. One who makes line drawings.
      • Those who have the least idea of painting can easily conceive it was almost impossible for Vande Velde to paint on the open sea during the commotion of such an event; it was therefore necessary he should have recourse to drawing, to obtain the outlines of such objects and positions as he thought...1834, Christianus Johannes Nieuwenhuys, A Review of the Lives and Works of Some of the Most Eminent Painters, page 257
      • Robert Hills ( 1765-1844 ) was a delineator of cattle and farmyard scenes, somewhat in the style of Ibbetson.1857, A Handbook to the Water Colours, Drawings, and Engravings in the Art Treasures Exhibition, page 19
   3. One who depicts or describes a character.
      • As a delineator of character, a diviner of secrets, a searcher into the hearts and imaginations of men, Shakespeare does, and will doubtless continue to stand forth unrivaled among men.1856 July, Mary E. Fry, “Imperfect Delineation of Character”, in The Ladies' Repository, volume 16, page 429
      • As a delineator of the old Irish peasant, Banim has few rivals.1894, Percy Russell, A Guide to British and American Novels, page 85
2. A device to aid in the delineation of something.
   • The delineator consists of an upright frame-work of wood, into which is placed a sheet of transparent glass; upon this a piece of the patentee's prepared material, also transparent, is placed, which serves instead of papter for the draughtsman.1852, The Art Journal, page 199
   • The application of the principle of the delineator to such cases was very simple, but it would be difficult and perhaps useless to construct a delineator for a case where four or five wheels were running over the span.1890, Transactions of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland - Volume 33, page 74
   1. A perambulator which records distances and delineates a profile, as of a road.
   2. Any of various devices that aid a person in copying the outlines of a drawing or object, including the ability to enlarge or shrink the image.
      • Now any one can easily make a delineator, by going to the hardware store and securing a few little screws, as shown in the cut, and then making or securing four little pieces of wood, as shown in the illustration, of about two feet in length.1905, Benjamin Grant Jefferis, James Lawrence Nichols, The Household Guide, Or, Domestic Cyclopedia
      • Thus the delineator was used both to enlarge and reduce characters.1994, Printing History - Volumes 16-17, page 37
3. Any of various jobs that involve delineation, especially that of technical details.
   • The beauty of a wood-cut depends on the skill of both the delineator and the engraver; that is to say, if a drawing is cleanly and sharply executed, and then placed in the hands of a competent engraver, the result will be a type which produces an attractive print.2023, The Coah-Makers' Illustrated Hand-Book, page 357
   1. A technical illustrator.
      • The splendid illustrations were prepared under the direct and personal supervision of Dr. Cunningham, and most excellent artists were employed on this part of the work, all of them showing up as high specimens of the delineator's art, and thoroughly elucidate the text.1906, Southern Practitioner, page 121
      • Furthermore, we have purposely and deliberately avoided the obliteration of the natural form of the plants by shadows, and other less necessary things, by which delineators sometimes try to win artistic glory: and we have not allowed the craftsmen so to indulge their whims as to cause the drawing...1994, Wilfrid Blunt, William Thomas Stearn, The Art of Botanical Illustration, page 51
   2. One who makes architectural drawings.
      • The art of the delineator was fully recognized in the early years of the century, and such drawings were often signed, Griffin's by her distinctive monogram.1980, Barbara Sicherman, Carol Hurd Green, Notable American Women: The Modern Period, page 293
      • The professional architectural delineator or renderer came into prominence during the second half of the nineteenth century in England and America.1983, Jules Vallée Guérin, Jules Guerin, Master Delineator: An Exhibition, page 5
   3. One who assembles a complete technical description of wetlands.
      • The issuance of a certification does not create or grant any property interest or right for the certified wetland delineator, nor does it create any rights for an individual relying upon a wetland delineation made by a certified wetaland delineator, but is intended to facilitate the determination...1995, Federal Register - Volume 60, Issues 47-50, page 13658
      • The delineation procedure, with which to become familiar with before hiring a delineator, involves collecting maps, aerial photographs, plant data, soil surveys, stream gauge data, land use data, and other information.2000, Birute Vanatta, Guide for Industrial Waste Management, pages 4-7
4. Synonym of delimiter.
   • The values listed for fontstyle are combined using the comma as a delineator: BOLD, ULINE.1998, James Hay, Reference MWAPI, page 156
   • "gawk" is the GNU version of "awk", a powerful pattern-matching program for processing text files that may be composed of fixed- or variable-length records separated by some delineator ( by default, a newline character).2003, Ellen Siever, Stephen Figgins, Aaron Weber, Linux in a Nutshell, page 734

   Synonyms:

   delimiter

5. A suffix used in some Melanesian languages that acts like a determiner and signals that the noun to which it is attached can be used as an agent.
   • Thus certain nouns are inherently potential agents, and any other noun can be turned into one by the suffixation of the delineator.1995, Mark Durie, “Of Linguistic Evolution and the Notion 'X has a Function Y'”, in Werner Abraham, Talmy Givón, Sandra A. Thompson, editor, Discourse Grammar and Typology, page 292
   • in fact Scott further includes the class 'Potential Agent' as outranking Human on this scale, defining it as 'any proper noun representing an animate being, any personal pronoun, any inalienably-possessed kin term, or any term to which the delineator has been added. (emphasis ours).1997, Language and Linguistics in Melanesia, page 80