owner of a business; wealthy person
Meanings
2 senses · 6 examplesnoun
owner (of a store or enterprise); proprietor
archaicHistorically used to refer to the boss or proprietor of a shop, factory, or trading company, especially in pre-modern and early modern Chinese contexts. The term carries an archaic flavor.
The owner of the time-honored pharmacy personally inspects the quality of the medicinal herbs.
The proprietor of this old-style bank is a very shrewd person.
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The owner decided to expand the scale of the shop.
noun
moneybags; wealthy person; rich landlord
archaicRefers specifically to a rich person, often a landlord or a local magnate, who possesses significant wealth and property. This sense has historical and sometimes slightly derogatory connotations.
The richest man in the village owned over a hundred mu of farmland.
That heartless rich man never helped the poor.
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In the old society, peasants often had to borrow usurious loans from wealthy landlords.