quartermaster

/ˌkwɔrdərˈmæstər/

Other forms: quartermasters

A quartermaster is a soldier whose job is to hand out supplies — like food and clothes — to army troops. Sometimes the quartermaster is an individual, and other times it's a whole military unit.

The quartermaster has an important job. While historically an army's quartermaster distributed uniforms and other clothing, today this officer might also procure food and other supplies. In the US Navy, a quartermaster obtains and takes care of nautical charts, and in the Boy Scouts, the quartermaster maintains camping supplies. The word has been in use since the fifteenth century, from the French quartier-maître, and it originally meant an officer on a ship who stowed goods in the ship's hold.

Definitions of quartermaster

1. noun

   an army officer who provides clothing and subsistence for troops
   type of:

   army officer

   an officer in the armed forces