INTERLOCUTOR

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does interlocutor mean? 

• INTERLOCUTOR (noun)
  The noun INTERLOCUTOR has 2 senses:

1. the performer in the middle of a minstrel line who engages the others in talk

2. a person who takes part in a conversation

  Familiarity information: INTERLOCUTOR used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INTERLOCUTOR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The performer in the middle of a minstrel line who engages the others in talk

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

interlocutor; middleman

Hypernyms ("interlocutor" is a kind of...):

minstrel (a performer in a minstrel show)

Holonyms ("interlocutor" is a member of...):

minstrel show (a troupe of performers in blackface typically giving a comic program of negro songs and jokes)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A person who takes part in a conversation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

conversational partner; interlocutor

Hypernyms ("interlocutor" is a kind of...):

conversationalist; conversationist; schmoozer (someone skilled at conversation)

 Context examples 

I perceived, of course, the drift of my interlocutor.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Mobile and flexible, it was never intended to be compressed in the eternal silence of solitude: it is a mouth which should speak much and smile often, and have human affection for its interlocutor.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

"May it be right then," I said, as I rose, deeming it useless to continue a discourse which was all darkness to me; and, besides, sensible that the character of my interlocutor was beyond my penetration; at least, beyond its present reach; and feeling the uncertainty, the vague sense of insecurity, which accompanies a conviction of ignorance.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Your garb and manner were restricted by rule; your air was often diffident, and altogether that of one refined by nature, but absolutely unused to society, and a good deal afraid of making herself disadvantageously conspicuous by some solecism or blunder; yet when addressed, you lifted a keen, a daring, and a glowing eye to your interlocutor's face: there was penetration and power in each glance you gave; when plied by close questions, you found ready and round answers.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)