▪ I. edder, n. Obs. exc. dial.
(ˈɛdə(r))
Also 8–9 eather.
[Of doubtful etymology; some have identified it with OE. eodor, eder enclosure = OHG. etar, ON. jaðarr edge, border.]
Osiers, hazelrods, or other light flexible wood, used for interlacing the stakes of a hedge at the top. Also in stake and edder (eather) fence. Hence ˈedder v.; also ether, trans. to interlace or bind (a hedge) at the top with osiers, etc. ˈeddering vbl. n., (a) the action of the verb; (b) concr. the materials used in the operation.
| [Beowulf 1038 Mearas..on flet teon in under eoderas. a 1000 Wanderer (Gr.-Wülcker) 77 Stondað..hryðge ða ederas.] 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §126 Whan thou haste made thy hedge and eddered it well, than take thy mall agayne and dryue downe thy edderinges. 1577 Tusser Husb. xxxiii. (1878) 73 Save edder and stake, strong hedge to make. 1664 Spelman Gloss. s.v. Etarchartea, Angli..hoc ipsum the edar and ethar appellantes. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. II. s.v. Quickset, Edder..is to bind the Top of the Stakes in with some small long Poles, or Sticks on each Side. 1784–1815 A. Young Ann. Agric. VII. 25 The stake and eather fence, for new made fences, is the cheapest. 1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. (1807) II. 626 Hurdles, fagots, stakes and edders. 1863 Morton Cycl. Agric. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Ethering is running a line of hazel, or other flexible rods, intertwiningly along the top of a hedge. |
▪ II. edder
obs. and dial. var. of adder n.1, eider.