ˈkemper Sc. or arch.
[f. kemp v. + -er1; cf. MDu. kemper, MHG. kempfer, G. kämpfer, Da. kæmper.]
a. Sc. One who kemps or strives for victory, esp. in reaping. b. arch. = kemp n.1
| a. 1641 Ferguson Prov. No. 70 A' the corn in the country is not shorn by kempers. 1776 C. Keith Farmer's Ha' in Chambers Pop. Hum. Scot. Poems (1862) 28 The lasses..Are sittin at their spinnin-wheels, And weel ilk blythsome kemper dreels. 1821 Blackw. Mag. Jan. 401/1 Helping to give a hot brow to this bevy of notable kempers. |
| b. 1891 R. W. Dixon Hist. Ch. Eng. IV. 469 The spirit of the northern kempers. |