Quick Definition
a head of a household
Strong's Definition
the head of a family
Derivation: from G3624 (οἶκος) and G1203 (δεσπότης);
KJV Usage: goodman (of the house), householder, master of the house
Thayer's Greek Lexicon
οἰκοδεσπότης, οἰκοδεσπότου, ὁ (οἶκος, δεσπότης), master of a house, householder: Mat_10:25; Mat_13:27; Mat_20:11; Mat_24:43; Mar_14:14; Luk_12:39; Luk_13:25; Luk_14:21; ἄνθρωπος οἰκοδεσπότης (see ἄνθρωπος, 4 a.), Mat_13:52; Mat_20:1; Mat_21:33; οἰκοδεσπότης τῆς οἰκίας, Luk_22:11, on this pleonasm cf. Bornemann, Schol. at the passage; Winers Grammar, § 65, 2. (Alexis, a comic poet of the IV. century B.C. quoted in Pollux 10, 4, 21; Josephus, contra Apion 2, 11, 3; Plutarch, quaest. Rom. 30; Ignatius ad Eph_6:1-24 [ET]. Lob. ad Phryn., p. 313 shows that the earlier Greeks said οἴκου or οἰκίας δεσπότης.)
Mounce Concise Greek Dictionary
οἰκοδεσπότης oikodespotēs 12x
the master or head of a house or family, Mat_10:25 ; Mat_13:27 ; Mat_13:52 landowner; master; owner.
Abbott-Smith Greek Lexicon
*† οἰκο -δεσπότης , -ου , ὁ
( < οἶκος , δεσπότης ),
the master of a house, a householder: Mat_10:25 ; Mat_13:27 ; Mat_20:11 ; Mat_24:43 , Mar_14:14 , Luk_12:39 ; Luk_13:25 ; Luk_14:21 ; ἄνθρωπος οἰ ., Mat_13:52 ; Mat_20:1 ; Mat_21:33 ; pleonast., oἰ . τ . οἰκίας , Luk_22:11 ( v. B l., § 81, 4).†
Moulton & Milligan — Vocabulary of the Greek NT
οἰκοδεσπότης [page 441]
Like the verb, this non-classical subst. is found in horoscopes, e.g. P Lond 98 recto .60 (i/ii A.D.) (= 1. p. 130) ὁ φυ [σικὸς ο ]ἰκ [οδεσπότης ] τῆς γενέσεως Ἀφροδείτης καὶ Ἑρμοῦς , similarly ib. 110 (A.D. 138) (= I. p. 132), and PSI III. 158 .80 (iii/A.D.?) σκοπ̣ε̣ῖν δὲ ἐπὶ παντὸς εἴδους τοὺς οἰκοδεσπότας τῶν φώτων . The word in the sense of house-steward (cf. Mat_10:25 al. ) occurs in the late P Meyer 24 .2 (vi/A.D.), where the writer states that he is prevented from receiving the visit of a high dignitary ὑπὸ κηδίας τοῦ οἰκοδεσπότου , owing to the death of the house-steward. Hatch ( JBL xxvii. p. 142) cites the Isaurian inscr. υἱοὺς τοὺς οἰκοδεσπ [ότα ]ς from PAS iii. p. 150. Epictetus applies the term to God, iii. 22. 4 ἔστι γάρ τις καὶ ἐνθάδ᾽ οἰκοδεσπότης ἕκαστα [ὁ ] διατάσσων , for here too is a master of the house who orders everything (Sharp, P. 25).
Liddell-Scott — Intermediate Greek Lexicon
οἰκοδεσπότης οἰκο-δεσπότης, ου, ὁ, "the master of the house, the good man of the house", NTest.
STEPBible — Tyndale Abridged Greek Lexicon
οἰκο-δεσπότης, -ου, ὁ
(οἶκος, δεσπότης),
the master of a house, a householder: Mat.10:25 13:27 20:11 24:43, Mrk.14:14, Luk.12:39 13:25 14:21; ἄνθρωπος οἰ., Mat.13:52 20:1 21:33; pleonast., oἰ. τ. οἰκίας, Luk.22:11 (see Bl., § 81, 4).†
(AS)