garbler
(ˈgɑːblə(r))
[f. garble v. + -er1.]
1. An official who garbled spices, etc. (i.e. removed the refuse from them); a sifter. Obs. exc. Hist.
| 1592 Greene Upst. Courtier F ij a, You buy of the Garbellers of spices, the refuse that they sift from y⊇ Marchant. 1707 Act 6 Anne c. 68 §3 A fit and able person to execute the office of garbler within the city of London. 1800 Colquhoun Comm. Thames xi. 332 A Garbler who, at the request of the Owner of any Spices or Drugs garbleable..shall garble the same. 1829 Heath Grocers' Comp. (1854) 61 Thomas Halfmark was chosen and sworn garbeller of spices and of sotill ware. |
2. † a. A censor of the press (
obs.).
b. One who garbles or mutilates (literary works, statements, etc.).
| a. 1656 Earl of Monmouth Advt. fr. Parnass. 170 The publick garblers of Poetry..brought these two Latin verses to the test. 1693 in Wood Life (O.H.S.) III. 430 If thus th' Athenian garblers should proceed Their great Bodleian library to weed. |
| b. a 1693 Urquhart Rabelais iii. Prol. 16 You Pettifoggers, Garbellers, and Masters of Chicanery. 1710 Swift Examiner No. 19 ¶8 There was a farther Secret in this Clause, which may best be discovered by the first Projectors, or at least the Garblers of it. |
Hence
† ˈgarblership, the office or function of a garbler.
| 1569 Proc. Crt. Com. Counc. Lond. Repert. 16 lf. 494 The office of the garbelershippe of spices. 1720 Stow's Surv. Lond. (ed. Strype) II. 239/2 Suit was made by some light Persons for an Office of Garblership of foreign wools. |