tapster
(ˈtæpstə(r))
Forms: 1 tæppestre, 4 tappester, 4–6 tapester, 5 tap(p)estere, tapstere, 5–6 tappyster, Sc. and n. dial. tapstare, 6 -ar, 5– tapster.
[OE. tæppestre, fem. of tæppere, tapper1: see -ster.]
† 1. orig. A woman who tapped or drew ale or other liquor for sale in an inn; a hostess. Obs.
| c 1000 ælfric Gram. ix. (Z.) 36 Caupona, tæppestre. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 241 He knew..euerich Hostiler and Tappestere. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 486/2 Tapstare, ducillaria, propinaria, clipsidraria. 1474 Caxton Chesse iii. vi. h vj b, That I haue sayd of the seruauntes beyng men, the same I say of the women as chaumberers and tapsters. c 1485 Digby Myst. iii. 495 With sum praty tasppysster wold I fayne rown. a 1518 Skelton Magnyf. 420 A tappyster lyke a lady bryght. 1568 Satir. Poems Reform. xlviii. 100 Thre lassis..That tyme that thay wer tapstaris. |
2. A man who draws the beer, etc. for the customers in a public house; the keeper of a tavern.
The word in the first three
quots. may be feminine.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 1594 Tauerners, tapsters, all the toune ouer. c 1450 Mankind 267 in Macro Plays 11, I haue be sethen with ȝe comyn tapster of Bury. 1530 Palsgr. 279/1 Tapster, boutelier, boutiliere. 1570 Levins Manip. 77/4 A Tapster, promus. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. i. iii. 17 An old Cloake, makes a new Ierkin: a wither'd Seruingman, a fresh Tapster. 1612 W. Parkes Curtaine-Dr. (1876) 26 Ther's Tom the Tapster peerelesse for renowne, That drank three hundred drunken Dutch-men downe. 1676 Lond. Gaz. No. 1103/4 John Bowman, late Tapster at the Bear Inn in Bath. 1720 Swift Stella's Birthday 9 Though the treach'rous tapster Thomas Hangs a new angel two doors from us. 1871 Smiles Charac. i. (1876) 14 The decayed serving-men and tapsters who filled the Commonwealth's army. |
† 3. One who sells by retail or in small quantities.
| 1402 Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 95 Me thynkith ȝe ben tapsteres, in alle that ȝe don; ȝe tappe ȝour absoluciones that ȝe bye at Rome. c 1450 Godstow Reg. 101 The abbesse graunted that her men of Wycombe shold be tempters or tapsters of brede and ale in the fee of the same abbesse. |
4. Comb., as
tapster-like adj.| 1607 R. C[arew] tr. Estienne's World of Wonders A iv b, Leauing inkhorne phrases and tapsterlike termes for the tauerne. 1842 F. Howes Horace's Sat. i. 2 This tapster⁓like retailer of the laws. |
Hence
ˈtapstering ppl. a., acting as a tapster;
ˈtapsterly a., characteristic of or befitting a tapster;
ˈtapstership, the office of a tapster;
† ˈtapstry, a tap-room.
| 1861 Sala Dutch Pict. xii. 187 Is he going to scour the country with his marauding, *tapstering butchers? |
| 1589 Nashe Pref. Greene's Menaphon (Arb.) 9 In anie *tapsterlie tearmes whatsoeuer. 1598 Barret Theor. Warres i. i. 5 Honest and valiant men, not tapsterly praters. |
| 1597 1st Pt. Return fr. Parnass. v. ii. 1538 As for youre *tapstershipp in hell, it were a good office in soe whott a place. |
| 14.. Beryn 299 The Pardoner..Stalkid in to the *tapstry. |