▪ I. fother, n.
(ˈfɒðə(r))
Forms: 1 fóðer, 3–4 south. voðer, 4–6 fother, -yr, futher, -ir, (6 fouther, fowther), 5–7 fuder, -yr, fudder, Sc. -ir, 5–9 fodder, (5–6 foder, -yr, 6 fodar, 7 fooder), 6–7 Sc. fidder, 4– fother.
[OE. fóðer str. neut. = OS. fôthar (MDu. voeder, Du. voer), OHG. fuodar (MHG. vuoder, Ger. fuder):—WGer. *fôþr(o); the continental words mean ‘cartload’, ‘a certain weight supposed to represent a cartload’, ‘a certain measure of wine’ (see fooder, fudder). The root is usually believed to be an ablaut variant of faþ- to stretch out: see fathom n.]
1. A load; a cart-load (of hay, turf, wood, etc.). Obs. exc. dial.
| O.E. Chron. an. 852 (Laud MS.) He scolde gife ilca ᵹear in to þe minstre sixtiᵹa foðra wuda and twælf foður græfan and sex foður ᵹearda. c 1205 Lay. 25762 Ban unimete, bi atlinge heom þuhte þritti uoðere. 1375 Barbour Bruce x. 198 Ane fudyr..greter..Than eny he broucht..befor. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 530 With him ther was a Plowman, was his brother That hadde y-lad of dong ful many a fother. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 6007 Þe sledd it bare so grete fothir. 1469 Plumpton Corr. 21 Your tenant..hath not gotten but xii foder of hay. 1490 Acta Dom. Conc. 181 Withhaldin..fourtj fuder of pettis [= peats] of ane yere bipast. 1568 Wowing Jok & Jynny vii, Fyve fidder of raggis to stuff ane jak. 1569 in Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees 1835) 307 Lxxx fudders of barke xx l. 1774–5 Act 14 Geo. III in Brand Newcastle (1789) I. 652 Four fother of clod lime, and fifteen fothers of good manure, on each acre. 1813 Misc. in Ann. Reg. 507/2, 20 fothers of additional thickness in clay were thrown in. 1892 Northumbld. Gloss. s.v., A fother of muck, or of lime, &c. |
| fig. a 1225 Ancr. R. 140 Þu hauest imaked uoðer to heui uorte ueðren mide þe soule. |
b. transf. A mass; a quantity, ‘lot’.
| 13.. K. Alis. 1809 Darie..makith thretyng ful a fothir. Ibid. 6467 Heore nether lippe is a foul fother. c 1450 Lonelich Grail xiii. 490 Vnder hem bothe was there fair fothir. 1513 Douglas æneis x. Prol. 159, I compt not of thir pagane Goddis ane futhir. 1515 Scot. Field 44 There they fell, at the first shotte Many a fell fothir. 1567 Satir. Poems Reform. vi. 52 King, Quene and Lord, they pass into ane fidder. |
c. Used for an enormous quantity, a ‘cart-load’ of gold or money.
| c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1050 Another, That coste largely of gold a fother. 14.. Partonope App. 3147 Ffor though a man wolde gyfe a fother Of golde he myght not sell to another. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xxvi. 62 Out of thair throttis thay schot on vdder Hett moltin gold, me thocht a fudder. 1863 Robson Bards Tyne 287 Where the brass hez a' cum frae nebody can tell..But..they mun have at least had a fother. |
2. spec. A definite weight of some specified substance. a. Of lead: Now usually 19½ cwt.
| 1375–6 [see fotmal]. 1463 Mann. & Househ. Exp. 154 My mastyre sent to my lorde a fodyr and di. off leede. 1541 Ld. Treas. Acc. Scotl. in Pitcairn Crim. Trials I. 310 For þe fraucht of thre fidder of leid. 1622 Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 269 Foure of these Loads will make a Fother of Lead of twentie hundreth. 1747 Hooson Miner's Dict. J iv, In both the Peaks the Merchants deal and sell the Lead by Fodders. 1866 Rogers Agric. & Prices I. x. 168 The charrus contains nearly 19½ hundreds, that is, it corresponds to the fodder, or fother, of modern times. |
b. ellipt. in phr. to fall as a fother (of lead); hence, a crushing blow.
| 13.. Coer de L. 1732 On his head falleth the fother. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 641 Euery strok þat þou me rauȝt falleþ doun as a foþer. |
c. Of coals: (see quot. 1851).
| 1607 Cowell Interpr., Fother is a weight of twenty hundred which is a waine or cartload. 1765 Lond. Chron. 17 Dec. 582 Several fothers of coals this week have been found short of the standard measure. 1851 Greenwell Coal-trade Terms Northumb. & Durh. 26 Fother, a measure of coals, being one-third of a chaldron, of 172/3 cwt.; a good single horse cart load. |
▪ II. fother, v. Naut.
(ˈfɒðə(r))
Also 9 fodder.
[prob. ad. Du. voederen (now voeren), or LG. fodern = Ger. füttern to line (used also Naut. as below); cf. further ON. fóðra to line, f. OTeut. *fóđro- sheath, etc. (mentioned under fodder n.: see also fur, forel).]
1. trans. To cover (a sail) thickly with oakum, rope yarn, or other loose material fastened on it, with the view of getting some of it sucked into a leak, over which the sail is to be drawn.
| 1789 A. Duncan Mariner's Chron. (1805) IV. 36 The leak began..to gain upon them, a second sail was fothered and got under the bottom. 1790 Ann. Reg. 263 Fothering it round with oakum, to fill up. 1811 Naval Chron. XXV. 4 The..sail had been fothered, and drawn under the ship. 1833 M. Scott Tom Cringle iii. (1859) 93 Get the boatswain to fother a sail then. |
2. To stop a leak by this method.
| 1800 Naval Chron. III. 473 By foddering, and those excellent pumps, we kept her above water. 1820 Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. II. 449 The different plans which..had been adopted to stop a leak..were..1. To fother. |
Hence ˈfother (fodder) n., the material used for fothering. ˈfothering vbl. n., the action of the vb. Also attrib., as fothering-mat, fothering-sail.
| 1800 Naval Chron. III. 473 We could get a sail with fodder over. 1815 Falconer's Dict. Marine (ed. Burney) s.v., A superior method of fothering is now practised. 1819 J. H. Vaux Mem. I. 226 Applying what is termed a fothering mat to her bows. 1820 Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. II. 451 A bunch of rope-yarns..might enter some of the larger leaks..through the medium of a fothering sail. |
▪ III. fother
obs. form of fodder.