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A factotum is a person whose job is to do many different kinds of work for someone else — fetch, fix, write, carry, answer the door. Old houses had servants like this. Today you still hear it for the office person who does all the jobs nobody else wants. It is a slightly old-fashioned, word, often used with a smile. It can be kind (“I could not run this place without my factotum”) or a little cutting, as if the person has no one special role, only whatever is left. Though actually, the Latin joke inside it is “do the whole lot”: someone asked to handle every task.
打雜的人；雜役（什麼事都做的幫手）
原始詞典資料5 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
factotumnoun/fækˈtəʊ.təm/
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A person employed to perform all sorts of duties.
- Biden’s and Bush’s factotums had to walk their statements quickly back, emphasizing that U.S. policy had not changed.
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A jack of all trades.
- He lives with his devoted sister and factotum, Cyril (Lesley Manville), and a series of women who tend to be quietly eased out when they demand too much time and attention or — heaven forfend! — dare to speak during Woodcock’s monastic creative routine.
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historicalmediaprintingpublishingA large decorative printing block with a central space into which any letter can be inserted, used to mark the beginning of a chapter of a book in early printing.
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datedA person having many diverse activities or responsibilities.
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datedA general servant.
- I had almost forgotten Monee, the grinning old man who prepared our meal. […] He was Po-Po’s factotum—cook, butler, and climber of the bread-fruit and cocoa-nut trees; and, added to all else, a mighty favourite with his mistress; with whom he would sit smoking and gossiping by the hour.
- Susan Bonner’s mistress hearing of Strong’s arrival sent for him at this juncture, and the Chevalier went up to her ladyship not without hopes that he should find her more tractable than her factotum Mrs. Bonner.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。