guiser Chiefly Sc. and north.
(ˈgaɪzə(r))
Forms: 5 gyser, 5, 8 gysar, 6 gysour, 9 guisar, -or, guizer, guyser, guiser.
[f. guise v. + -er1.]
One who guises (see guise v. 3); a masquerader, a mummer. (Cf. guisard, geezer.)
| 1488 Ld. Treas. Acc. Scotl. (1877) I. 93 Item, in Lannerik, to dansaris and gysaris, xxxvis. 1572 Satir. Poems Reform. xxxviii. 14 For gysours, deuysours, the Guysianis ar gude. a 1586 Sir R. Maitland in Pinkerton M. Poems (1786) 298, I saw no gysars all this yeir, Bot—kirkmen cled lyk men of weir. 1864 Burton Scot Abr. I. v. 309 Those who thus go a-masking on New Year's eve..are called..guizers. 1880 T. Hardy Ret. Native 124 The guisers themselves..could not afford to offend those by whose assistance they so largely profited. |
Hence ˈguiser v. intr., to act as a mummer, to go masquerading; cf. guisard v.
| 1907 D. H. Lawrence in Notts. Guardian 7 Dec. 17/2 Hey, we're going to the Mill guysering. 1932 J. M. E. Saxby Trad. Lore 77 On Hallowe'en the Grüliks went a-guisaring. |