dungeon-master

Noun

dungeon master (plural dungeon masters, abbreviation DM)

1. (roleplaying games) A game master in Dungeons & Dragons games.
   • He shrugged helplessly. "Whenever we've played before, it was so orderly: people would get their turns one by one, then the dungeon master would say what the results were, then we'd take another turn . . . but this way . . ." He shook his head.1991, Vivian Vande Velde, User Unfriendly, page 48

   Synonyms:

   game master, GM, ST, storyteller

2. A man who manages a dungeon (an underground prison or vault).
   • “After the dungeon master freed me,” Publius continued as he eagerly took bites of food and sips of wine, “I crept to my apartment, changed into work clothes, filled my briefcase with documents and all the cash I had.[…]”2009, Edward J. Fisher, “Let Loose the Hounds of War”, in The Lands of Inchoate: The Now Time, 2nd edition, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, pages 139–140
3. A man who manages a dungeon (a room dedicated to sadomasochistic sexual activity).
   • She stared at the metal bars hanging from the wood beams of the ceiling. Lined handcuffs dangled from the ends. The dungeon master would suspend his handcuffed victim from that horizontal bar. “Don’t be a pantywaist, baby. This is what you wanted.”2010, Jasmine Haynes, “Surrender to Me”, in Hers for the Evening, New York, N.Y.: Heat/Berkley Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 271
4. A man who supervises a dungeon (a room dedicated to sadomasochistic sexual activity).
   • Most club parties and private parties held in commercial dungeons in the United States have a dungeon master, mistress, or monitor (DM), whose responsibility it is to make sure that scenes are consensual and house rules are obeyed.2001, Claudia Varrin, “SM Players, Their Scene, and Their Etiquette”, in Erotic Surrender: The Sensual Joys of Female Submission, New York, N.Y.: Citadel Press, →ISBN, page 204