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waldo

English · Thesaurus

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waldo¹

  • /ˈwɔːl.dəʊ/

Where it comes from

From the Robert A. Heinlein story Waldo, published in Astounding in 1940, derived from the name of the eponymous protagonist, Waldo F. Jones, who invented remote manipulators to overcome his own myasthenia gravis.

noun waldos · waldoes

  1. Synonym of telefactor. Waldo flexed and extended his fingers gently; the two pairs of waldoes in the screen followed in exact, simultaneous parallelism.

    Similar: telefactor, master-slave manipulator, telemanipulator

Waldo²

Where it comes from

English surname, from the obsolete English given name Waltheof, from Old English weald (“power”) + þēof (“thief”), as in "one who snatched victory from battle." Comparable to, or ultimately Anglicized from, the Old Norse equivalent Valthiófr, from vald + *ᚦᛖᚢᛒᚨᛉ (*þeubaʀ). Compare Walthall, Waldie.

proper noun Waldeve · Waldef · Waltheof

  1. A male given name from Old English, in modern American use transferred back from the surname. He was our first baby, born September 4, 1939, our only boy. Named Waldo after a kind of bakin powder I liked. 'Waldo's Cream Powder.'
  2. A surname transferred from the given name.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: meade, manipulator, teleoperator, telemanipulator, remote manipulator, telerobot, haptic interface, master-slave manipulator, telesalesman, remote worker, teleworker, teletyper, telephonist, telesalesperson, telegraph operator, telesupporter

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MLA

"waldo." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/waldo. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

waldo. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/waldo

Chicago

"waldo." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/waldo.

BibTeX
@misc{waldo_2026,
  title = {waldo},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/waldo},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}