maintainer

From Anglo-Norman maintenour, Old French mainteneor, from maintenir (“to maintain”); with later remodelling of the suffix after -er.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /meɪnˈteɪnə/
• Rhymes: -eɪnə(ɹ)

maintainer (plural maintainers)

1. Someone who keeps or upholds something; a steward.

   He become the maintainer of the software project.

   • 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Matthew:

     Blessed are the maynteyners of peace: for they shalbe called the chyldren of God.

2. A person who does maintenance work.
   • 2022 January 26, Philip Haigh, “The 'holes in the Swiss cheese' that led to train derailment”, in RAIL, number 949, page 46:

     RAIB looked at why the washers were missing. This took it into the relationship between the wagon's owner and maintainers.

3. (dentistry) A device used to keep teeth in a given position.

• maintenance